Some thoughts below a bit thrown together.
The self apart from spirit ends in complete failure, i.e. it dies physically. The nonsense of a pleasure based sense of self where sensually one’s pleasures is greater than one’s pain or suffering. However much pleasure one affords oneself, in the sense of a contest between pleasure and pain, with death pain “triumphs” absolutely on this plane. “Yes but until death, whilst alive, one’s pleasure outweighed one’s suffering.” Ok, but it still ends in total defeat of the sensual self.
So the self defining itself on this plane is underneath everything very insecure, because however much pleasure it tries to afford itself, the ultimate defeat of the physical, sensual self is certain. If only something like a vaccine could keep death at bay . . .
The bourgeois essence as a lived ethos is that on the material plane, one is part of a successful group of society where pleasure outweighs suffering. As far as one is or becomes a pure member of this class, one does not think independently but from this communal spirit or bourgeois soul, and the core here is self-perpetuation and self-exaltation. It’s not enough to simply be winning sensually, living in luxury, etc, however much we try to reduce things, we also need to believe in one’s virtue also. So it’s a combination of pleasure and a sense of virtuousness and self-righteousness, and all the veneers of elegance help lend credence to this virtuous nature. The short story, After the Ball by Tolstoy is very much about this phenomenon of veneer versus essence.
One of the key traits of bourgeois-ism is the exaltation of sensual pleasures as if they were even intellectual truths or spiritual essences. One is exalted by for instance by the refinement of one’s tastes regarding coffee. So this is the underlying essence of pleasure on the sensual plane being played out, and where the sensual pleasures are supposedly imbued with some sense of higher values also! The refinement of one’s tastes mark one out as truly of the victorious bourgeois class which is triumphing on the sensual field of existence over suffering!
So remember this is where it all goes back to: life on the plane of pleasure versus suffering, and one’s partaking of a class that is here winning. It’s not enough to experience sensual pleasure; one also has to believe in the exaltation of this essence and class as a whole. Doubts after all bring suffering back into the equation. So of course one has to be fully imbued with a sense of virtue also, and thus the importance of the convincing and elegant veneers. The veneers also serve to conceal the sensual essence, as for example, watching pornography is also within this world of sensual pleasure, but it’s very hard to convince oneself this is also somehow virtuous! Thus the need for polished veneer and refinement so we can get beyond any thoughts of crudeness regarding this all!
To add, there of course may be nothing wrong with something like good coffee, but it’s the “spiritual” exaltation of sensual pleasure and one’s ability to experience such refinements that it is the kind of bourgeois essence I’m talking about here.
The communal spirit is the self-perpetuating of the class, and of course one’s membership of it. Thus if it appears deeply conservative, this isn’t actually in terms of values but simply of self-preservation of oneself and one’s successful position within the structure of society. Thus it is deeply amoral in essence, and so the bourgeois class is only accidentally moral - depending on the ruling ethos of society. If for instance that society, in terms of its ideological engine-room starts becoming infected and deranged - “birthing persons”, etc - then the bourgeois soul will effortlessly adapt to be in sync with this, and will convince itself that, just as with sensual pleasures and their refinement, their ability to believe the new values is a mark again of its own refinement. In terms of susceptibility to spiritual temptation in the negative sense therefore, it is wide open to willingly receive concealed but pretty bloody obvious inner darknesses.
One other thought is that presumably one of the principal facets of fasting as a spiritual discipline is the deliberate undercutting of our inclination and even enslavement to sensual pleasure.
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