…everything became weaponized. Race, gender, education, medical institutions, governments, media, even our emotions, hijacked into acceptable VS unacceptable. Camps formed, gaps grew and decades and decades later, the inevitable happened, much before our eyes: We’re a nation, no, a world, divided.
Back in the 90’s when I lived on the west coast, a neighbor lamented to me about going into debt to send his kids to college where they were being indoctrinated. He was sad; they were coming home with conflicting ideas and much of them worried him. My kids were young, one still a toddler and he advised, “Don’t send your kids to college. Trust me, you’ll regret it. You may even lose them for good.”
I thought he was over-reacting. His kids were growing up and simply coming into their own. Looking back now I see it was a warning I could not hear. Back then I didn’t think of formal higher education as an oxymoron, as I do now. Though already aware of the programming - to some degree - I was surprised by his advice given higher education was pretty much ubiquitously seen as an opportunity parents would want for their sons and daughters. (Yeah, then it was okay to assign a gender.)
It’s impossible not to reflect on all the ways I’ve been conditioned, and what and where I am still not seeing it. Which makes me wonder - in our alternative world of seeking what’s real, what’s true, who’s right who’s wrong - if we haven’t created a bubble effect as well?
Of course we have.
Taking in and focusing on all the bad news and the very real dangers we are presented with, has, distorted my current version of reality. Focus is like placing a frame over the world. It create contexts and the meaning we find, depends on that context.
Even though I think “ours” is far more reflective of reality, than the massive and cognitively irrational distortions found in normie-land, it still must include distortions.
Assuming my perception includes distortions, it occurs to me how whether we are right on wrong on any given issue, is not the most important factor in orienting ourselves. It can’t be. We’re always going to miss something, over-emphasize something, connect imaginary dots, personalize or emotionalize and so… distort. Plus, there is always going to be the humbling element of ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’.
Right or wrong is not a stable place in which to build a foundation for a shared reality. Once someone or some information is perceived as ‘wrong’ we quickly shut down listening to them/it anymore. That was the idea with “conspiracy theory” being weaponized by the C.I.A., and we know how effective that’s been.
My point is right and wrong is a pretty rudimentary way of gauging reality. Like gender, information is not binary. (That one was just to see if you were still paying attention.)
You’ll note it’s not included in the founding documents of our country. For very good reason, because when being right is elevated, information will quickly become manipulated by those who want to control things: Follow the (paid) science and by extension the (paid) experts, who determine the science. That’s where we are.
It’s not about being right; it’s about our right to be right or wrong. Our rights themselves. And when those rights are being ignored - as they have been for sometime - it’s our right, even duty - to do something about it.
Let’s remember those founding documents that claim and codify our rights, are mere reflections of our innate, natural rights as sovereign individuals. They hold no power in and of themselves - that resides with us. No body or government extends them to you or me. As described they just are: Self-evident.
Here’s the larger point: Where we claim rights we are simultaneously claiming choice. What does a “sovereign individual” even mean without choice?
Choice is key, it’s at the heart of the matter.
Making a choice is the purview of a free individual. Our ability and right to make individual choices is what has been under attack for a long time, and in screamingly obvious ways now. (Not that everyone sees this, which makes you want to scream all the more.)
Making a choice goes to the very heart of who we are. In our increasingly totalitarian world, they would like to frame or shape our sense of choice. As example, the WHO in asserting its role as the world wide arbiter of health decisions, doesn’t ask the world’s people, “Do you want us to be in charge?” No they ask, “What would you like us to take into consideration as the world’s arbiters of health?”
It’s a narrowed choice, a limited choice. Actually, it’s the illusion of choice.
With each decision we make, each choice, we’re either stepping into ourselves more fully and accepting responsibility for ourselves, or pulling away from ourselves and handing over that responsibility. We’re either becoming more embodied as a sovereign human being, or becoming more hollow.
Many of us won’t think about it this way, some won’t think about it at all. (And I’m not talking about “Do you want cheese with that?” choices. Though even there, we can stay present to what’s the right choice for us, or push it away.)
Times like these accelerate in both directions - we are either moving further away from who we are, or closer to it.
We can fight the insanities we are living with now, with data, with claims of being ‘right’ (and I’m not saying that doesn’t have its place) but that’s really not where the issue lies. Data is not not the basis of our rights. Choice is.
Lining up to be a guinea pig for Big Pharma companies that have a history of fraud and deception looked like an irrational choice to me. I wouldn’t, didn’t do it. Many others did, and that was their choice. To be fair to them, it was an uninformed choice, it was a propaganda-fueled choice, it was in many ways, a choice grounded in illusion.
But they had a right to make that choice same as I had a right to make mine.
One of the things I noticed in my resistance to all things Covid, was every time I pushed back over the false choices presented, I grew in my sense of self. At times that came with great discomfort, nervousness, etc. But when I did it, my sense of being a human being with the right to choose, grew. That’s the effect, making conscious choices has. It’s remarkable.
Complying has an effect as well. I would suggest it takes us out of ourselves, it makes us smaller.
Many people know something is deeply wrong even if they don’t know what that is. It’s likely the majority of people, as Matias Desmet has pointed out - 60-75%. A small percentage knows what’s going on - even if they don’t have all the details right. Another small percentage fell hook, line and sinker. But for that majority who feel uncomfortable and decided it was easier to just comply, they are the ones who would benefit most from being honest with themselves, and owning the power of choice. It’s not too late. Self-honesty is one of the most powerful tools we have, to grow in awareness and break the hypnosis.
We’ve all heard the excuses, the rationalizations of the compliers:
“Well, other people are afraid, so I wear it for them.”
“I can’t work if I don’t take a weekly test.”
“I have to get the jab, or I lose my job.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
We understand. Of course. Real consequences happened for non-compliers over the last couple years. Many of us are still dealing with them in loss of friendships, lack of opportunities, lost jobs and income, having to suddenly pivot. These are the stories for those of us who said no.
What’s often missing in the responses for complying - and complying is the main problem I see - is self-honesty. How many people have you heard say:
“I wear them because I’m afraid of being yelled at.”
“I don’t want people to think I don’t care about them.”
“I’m afraid of becoming an object of ridicule.”
“It’s easier to go along.”
Radical self-honesty is not always easy, but so what? When we are honest with ourselves, we find the places within where we are hiding. If we’re not interested in that - what are we even doing here?
Finding your hiding places is how you wake up. When we avoid, deflect, project, or out and out lie to ourselves, we hide more deeply, and shrink from who we are. (It’s kind of like saying, “I’m not really here.”)
Obvious yet often missed: self-honesty is empowering, self-deception, disempowering.
It also serves everyone. It frees up those around us when we practice it. Just as public acts of courage makes it easier for others to be courageous. Steve Kirsch and Robert Malone come to mind. While all the data they provide helps the cause, for me, what’s most powerful about them, is their willingness to say they were wrong.
Some good questions to ask that will help you snap out of the dream (or nightmare) you’ve been living in:
What do I stand for? Where do I find meaning? What do I really care about? What are my values? (That’s actually an easy one; it’s where you spend your time, energy and money.) Where am I hiding from myself?
It all seems to be culminating now in daily absurdities. Too many to name. What difference does it make? Reality-Show-World-of-Manufactured-Crises is crumbling before our very eyes. The world that’s coming - that’s up to us. And the best way to assure a positive outcome is to start by being honest with yourself.
Ahh… a honeysuckle scented breeze just came by. I’ll take it a sign to wrap this one up.
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wonderful discussion, self-honesty. I maintain that far too many people are self deceived. People tend to take some type of mantle, to try to paint an image they want others to perceive of self.
We are actors on a stage that we set for others to see us as we want to be seen. Too often we use worldly views and values. Ego helps us to set the stage, provide the props, adjust the lighting, set the camera angle for the best possible portrait. In all of that we become blind.
You continue to highlight pieces that float through my brain. I so appreciate that. (you are much more thorough) I return to my own life living with out a massive piece of information for most of it. Making choices all along the way w/o it. So my choices were limited by parameters of what I was aware of, an obvious statement. Full agreement with David and the many self deceived as I know personally what that feels and looks like. I would have thought I was honest with myself. Now I see so much more. I suppose knowing there is often more awareness waiting around the next corner keeps us humble and open. Thanks as always for thoughtful discussion.