I laud your approach and totally agree with your eloquent identification of the main problem, but the main problem I see and have with that main problem/these people is that the people I know personally who swallowed these lies, actively discriminated against the unvaxxed or never and still don't raise a peep about it, are people who are well educated professionals, deem themselves to be either progressive or conservative but always liberal and very tolerant, were raised with knowledge and conscience about their own country's history and atrocities and continuously blurped 'my body, my choice' or 'never again' or 'could not have happened here' or 'I would have been in the resistance'.
And I see absolutely no personal admission of their errors, let alone apologies, self-criticism, shame or guilt with them.
To the contrary, they are either doubling down on their self-righteousness and vileness, like all their high-priests do, or they are staying apathetic.
So, needless to say, it is more difficult for me than for you to prevent my anger from becoming hate, although my primary feeling and action towards them really is 'just' contempt, and I am much more sceptical than you about a positive development or solution and about preventing a repeat.
My focus is therefore just on getting closer to like-minded people and on living my life so that I am least impacted by them and by businesses and the state's restrictions, primarily hoping for niches of freedom and sanity to remain, live in and support. In short:
I recently had a conversation with two dear friends who wanted to understand me better regarding my stances on all things covid. I was so honored that they would ask and prepared a lengthy essay in response (edited to add that I wrote it out so I wouldn’t have to speak off the cuff and thus risk falling into a defensive and emotionally-driven mode.) I really concentrated on how the mandates have affected me, how I’ve been mistreated and discriminated against. They listened to every word. They didn’t argue back. They were loving and kind. But in the end, I never heard them say they were sorry for how I’ve been mistreated, that I deserved to get my teaching job back. Instead, their response was a shrug and a defeated “What can little ol’ me do about it?” In other words, they weren’t willing to see how they contribute to the continuing segregation by attending places where you have to show your vax status. They feel like they can’t fight the government (we live in the state of WA, where the governor just permanently mandated that all gov workers need to be fully vaxed and boosted - no exceptions - by next July.) They see what they want to see, and their perceptions have confirmed their biases.
At first I was deflated and disappointed, but I realized they were hearing this information for the first time. They weren’t ruminating on it daily and exposing themselves to new information as I have been for the past two years. I’m hoping and praying that the truth will come to light, and they will have that ah-ha moment. For now, I wait, and I pray that the next booster shot won’t do damage to their health.
The fact that they listened is huge. If they do nothing right now, it may be because they are bewildered. They don't know what to think. But they will likely be more receptive to future counter-narrative information, which is sure to come....
Hi Lori, I also live in WA state and I am personally very sorry you were mistreated in this way. You did not deserve it and neither did I and neither did the many thousands of us here in WA state alone. The wound is still raw and I am sad that your friends could not yet apologize to you. Maybe they will be able to in the future. I don't know. Maybe they will never apologize because then they will have to face how truly hurtful and unconscious their actions were and are. Most people are so attached to their image of themselves as 'good' people that they cannot admit to serious wrongdoing. Me being me however, I'm busy plowing on ahead and continuing to give people information they don't want to hear. Some folks who attacked and ostracized me are now reaching out and acting like nothing happened. No apology, no recognition at all of what they did. I don't trust them anymore; but if they let me get close enough to put a bug in their ear, I will. I'm kind of subversive that way.
They haven’t personally mistreated me. They are lovely friends. But I was surprised that they couldn’t express empathy in this area. I do think they need more time.
Understood Lori. Guess I extrapolated a bit from what you were actually saying. There are folks in my community who did not directly attack me, but definitely there is now a coolness from them that wasn't there before. And while that does not hurt as badly as outright censure, it has greatly impacted my relationships with all of them. These are the very same folks who in the many decades I have worked closely with and known them, would have spoken out in the past and protested strongly against multiple other types of discrimination and yet they did not say a word about how I and others were being treated, not even privately to me. Even if they felt helpless, they could have at least acknowledged the unfairness of it. If the situations were reversed, I would most certainly have spoken up. Turns out my own definition of friendship and community is rather different from theirs. Better late than never to discover this I suppose. The upside is I am very much enjoying getting to know new folks who I most likely would have never interacted with pre-covid. I am still grieving my old community tho, especially now we are all out and about more and I keep running into them. I guess I am just a crusty old warrior in that I want folks I can trust to have my back in a crisis; or at the very least not turn on me out of panic and fear or ignore that others are doing so. While I can understand and have empathy for the distress many experienced; after well over two years I would have expected them to start thinknig more clearly and asking questions and not just continue on with knee jerk reactions. I have no trouble forgiving them, but I surely won't trust them to be there for me in any important way in the future.
I completely empathize with you as well. My friends brought up that I do not experience the same type of discrimination since I made a choice (as opposed to being born this way). I’m not sure how that makes it ok for me to lose my job, be treated differently in public, or mocked for my medical decision. Again, I think they just need some time (I hope) to come around and see things from my side.
I also have discovered new friends who do understand, and interacting with the online community also helps.
My fear is that they will retreat back to the previous odious behavior when in the fall they become convinced that once again somebody is to blame for numbers going up and therefore they or someone they know will die from covid.
Been a sad & hard way to learn who our friends are, who we can trust. Turns the world upside-down when this happens. Hey, wait, huh? Like you, I was hoping things would settle down after the hysteria of the unvaccinated are selfish lepers message. As I've said many times to deaf ears, "If you believe the vax are effective, I'm not being selfish." Out of all this, the most selfish, self-absorbed I know are proudly wearing the self-less vax banner as proof they care about the "common good." One of the most liberal-minded people I know, or thought I knew, was confronting strangers about not wearing a mask. Again, "if you believe the mask protects you, why do you care?" His answer, "Because every person needs to do their part," which isn't an answer. It really means he wants everyone to do what he wants. Comfort in conformity.
If the shot is an automatic death sentence within five years, it really doesn’t matter if they apologize to you. They voided themselves. The more they realize this, the more some of them will get busy with the Judas Goats in “media” and “medicine.”
Highly unlikely. I don't discount the 'time bomb ticking' theories, but I do think they are probably just as flawed as the original silly projections of hundreds of millions of deaths from the virus: some people get a thrill from this nonsense.
“… the people I know personally who swallowed these lies, actively discriminated against the unvaxxed or never and still don't raise a peep about it, are people who are well educated professionals.”
The compulsory education system in the west (I am not familiar with the east), has nothing to do with education, is just a conditioning apparatus, dehumanizing the students, destroying curiosity, visioning and the ability to think, is “a system of forced ignorance” (Noam Chomsky). So please change the “well educated professionals” to “well conditioned professionals” and the narrative takes another perspective.
I feel your frustration as I have experienced the same. “Why can’t they see the errors of their ways?” They are undergoing Mass Formation (mind control) as described by professor Matthias Desmet. Humans are easily programmed and this intentional mind control is being weaponized at an all time level right now. Knowing this I have much more compassion and acceptance. Time to focus our attention on those people who are emerging from the spell vs the ones still in it. 🙏🏻
"To the contrary, they are either doubling down on their self-righteousness and vileness, like all their high-priests do, or they are staying apathetic."
Or, maybe they are still waiting for the great reveal from there trusted sources. The mainstream media, CDC, etc.....
Thanks. I appreciate the essay. I suspect much of the critical feedback you receive has a lot to do with the rawness of all things Covid and so depending on who and where one is in grasping the last couple years - piggybacked on decades leading up to it - is fully related to what degree have you been red pilled so it's hard to focus on elements of the story and attempt rational analysis. It's still ongoing, it's disorienting and traumatizing and those behind it are not done. So, my point is, it's gonna trigger. For some time. And we still don't know enough. So balanced and sane in the midst of upside-down, inside-out, feels... maybe too soon. Too polite. Outrage still feels more appropriate to me, but you can't do that all day. I don't know. I appreciate the thoughtfulness.
Perhaps outrage can be channeled into anger - not aimed at individuals but at the realities facing us. We’ve collectively created (or been subjected to? both, maybe) a global civilization that rewards deceit and control, among many other unfortunate side effects. I think everything we are witnessing and experiencing are signs of what lie ahead: This current civilization is in collapse. William Ophuls describes the symptoms we are now experiencing as trademarks of a civilization in rapid decline.
In such times it seems essential to speak truth while also nurturing everything it means to be human. Explore more deeply why we all are here, and how we would choose to live and love if time was limited.
I got together with our friends Madhava Setty and Josh Mitteldorf yesterday for a lively and wide ranging chat. Madhava mentioned that one of his pieces for CHD that was gently and factually critical of a popular alternative health expert was among the most commented upon pieces he’d posted. 90% negative. His point in the article was that our counterclaims to the deceits being foisted upon us by the CDC need to be strong and grounded in fact. Stronger, actually, because we are the dissenting voices.
I appreciate so much the work you both are doing. We will need voices of peace more than ever in the coming days. I suspect we all feel the groundswell coming. Sri Lanka... Netherlands... people anchored in material reality are pushing back now en masse. The container has become too tight. We need bridge builders and weavers now more than ever.
IMHO it's never going to stop. They've cashed in on something so powerful - even the threat of a nuclear bomb will not return people to reality. The cause? The cell phones. Every single person is addicted to them. It's worse and more lethal than every other addition combined. That's how they got away with all of it. Not only is it a deliberate an intentional diversion, it's an dumbing down of the entire world. One has to assume this can be easily solidified where cell phones don't exist.
People now live in a world completely devoid of all reality! Just walk the streets and look how people are dressed and NOT THINK to yourself - you can't possibly, possibly be serious? It's not about lack of class or intelligence but rather a taking over of society! Worse than a plague. The fact of the matter is everyone suffers from addiction! People think drugs and alcohol - food and gambling. The entire time they can't LIVE without their phones. They spend more time with them then they they do working!
They now live in a world of delusion! It worked - it was deliberate. You can't bring these people back. The only way possible is to destroy the cell phones. Everywhere you go they have them in their hand. Politicians, celebrities everyone!! They won there's no coming back from this - the force is to strong. The narcissism is epidemic.
There is no denying the injections are killing more people than covid ever did or will and still NOTHING! Parents grandparents husbands and wives were brutally murdered by denying them early treatment and lying to them and still no outrage! How is it possible? What could possibly take precedence or be more important? That would be narcissism fueled by the phones and of course social media. It's truly sad what's going to happen all because of it. Thinking it's going to change or stop is a pipe dream. You can't beat this. I think that's that's why there's never been a cyber attack.
Catherine Austin Fitts has quite a following of intellectuals. She too concurs the cell phones are causing the destruction and added only 10% of her audience watches TV!
I want to share an anecdote that supports your case, BJ. Back in 2011 or so, before I had a cell phone, I was at a meeting and some new co-workers who'd just moved to the city I live in were discussing where to go for lunch. One of them had heard about some place and shared it via his cell phone to another who was concerned about how to get there and the first guy said, "No need to worry, with these things we don't even have to think!"
That comment put me off getting one for a few more years.
Having said that, while I think I might agree that they've been a net harm to human psychology, I also feel like if one consciously uses them, such as to read/listen to Charles' work, to find meditations, to hear inspiring music, to write something lovely to a friend...well, then they can be a positive force.
Perhaps that's just me justifying having one, however. Anyway, I enjoy Fitts and have for many years. Oh, and your comment on why their hasn't been a cyber attack seems like a reasonable theory to me.
Hey Bryan - thanks for the reply. Although I do agree about not having to think per se (question anything - which is absolutely part of this problem) I still chalk it up to being more about a massive diversion. It's kinda like doing something "fun" to avoid responsibility. Get my drift?
People are so ensconced with these - it's almost as though they deliberately want to avoid reality because this is so much more entertaining - hence why I said what is about to happen (and so preventable) is just so sad. It's so obvious in offices - everybody is playing with them instead of WORKING!
I can't help but think history book being written a hundreds years from now asking why they didn't do anything? How could they let this happen? All because of such idiocy. I respect what you say about some of the good things that come of them - but is sacrificing human existence truly worth it? And of course did we not all survive without them? Wasn't the world a better place which again I also attribute to them.
(I also feel like if one consciously uses them, such as to read/listen to Charles' work, to find meditations, to hear inspiring music, to write something lovely to a friend...well, then they can be a positive force.)
I say with all due respect but cannot all of this still be done without them? Although I'm middle aged I'm not a curmudgeon - I just look at the destruction they've caused. How could anyone possibly be so blind to what is currently going on? There is only one answer. What could possibly be pre-occupying them instead? The writing is on the wall - celebrities are dropping dead left and right - athlete's - died suddenly is now number one of death charts and STILL NO OUTRAGE?
I thought the Beiber video would do it and still nothing!
There is only one thing you could possibly exploit to keep people this distracted. For some unbeknownst reason we now live in a "it's about me society". I'm just not sure which came first. Perhaps that's why there's no outrage - it's not about them so they don't care!
Yeah, I generally agree with where you are coming from and yes, we could do those things without phones. Still, I have lived in central Japan for 18 years and I've often wondered if I would have stayed this long if it wasn't for the Internet. I very much doubt it because I enjoy being able to communicate in my native tongue in a very deep way and such conversations are very hard to find around here. On the other hand, no 'Net and my Japanese would have likely gotten a lot better, a lot faster!
Oh, well...ultimately, I try not to focus too much attention on arguing against what is, and think more about what world can I help create. It's challenging right now as things are falling apart---some days, I do struggle with wondering if there's a point in trying to make something better.
Anyway, you have a great day, too...if nothing else, we shared a nice exchange so that's a positive for this global communication, right?
I've no qualms with the Internet. It's where I spend my free time READING! But only reputable sources - it's just the phones I find to be a waste. That said, JAPAN - great Country! The most unique in the world, I envy you! And so does my Shiba Inu!
As far as things falling apart - there is not anyone that is not saying the exact same. Old young and every conceivable culture and lifestyle. I wish more people would start writing about the variables and how and or when this is all going to end. We seem to be moving closer and closer to the edge of the cliff every day.
1st timer. Gosh, All the commentators here are so eloquent and clever - I feel both out of my depth and privileged to read you all. Thank you for sharing.
I just want to agree with you, BJ, about mobile phones - I have said it for YEARS! For many of them I felt like a lonely voice in the wilderness - I have been proved absolutely right. Unfortunately my three children are as addicted as everyone else. BUT they will NEVER get me! I will NEVER have one! It is my silent protest.
I detest what they have done to people's brains and community spirit - most especially young people, who would die rather than interact with anyone when they are out - and mobile phones make this entirely possible. I see them everywhere, zombified, and wonder whatever are they looking at.
I watched a film a while back with industry whistleblowers and one said to never forget that there are thousands of people on the other side of a screen making sure you spend as long as possible on your phone so they can maximise advertising revenue. All these victims of coercion - in the name of corporate greed!
Also, the more they take over as predicted, the running of your entire life, with covid passports, banking, social credit scores etc the more controlling they will become.
What is ironic is that in an emergency the first thing the authorities do is block all the phones. And what happens if/when the network fails or is cyber attacked... Utterly Defenceless!!
WELCOME CHARLES! You'll find that Substack is unequivocally the very best place to obtain information. Not only are the writers superb - you learn just as much if not more from the comments. What a far cry from social media! I hope this venue never gets poisoned because it is truly the ultimate resource.
Regarding your silent protest - I just see cell phones as the most colossal waste of time not to mention brain cells on the entire face of this earth. I was forced to get one for work. I returned it the following morning after wasting 40 minutes just trying to figure out how to even turn it on. They screamed at me for not giving it enough "time" I was livid thinking about all the time I had wasted - all the things I could have done instead in those 40 minutes! THINK ABOUT THAT! A phone is a phone should you need to get in touch with me - period! When I am not at work my flip phone is not even ON and in the car.
This new generation has no concept of time. It's also a lazy man diversion - anything to avoid responsibility and or work. Nothing infuriates me more than the dog walkers who can't leave the house without it. Poor dog is eating crap on the ground and half way in the street with the retractable leashes. If I had money I would make a billboard with a baby and a puppy that reads: PUT THE PHONE DOWN AND PAY ATTENTION TO US - WE'RE ONLY YOUNG ONCE! It totally astounds me that people cannot stop thinking about themselves for one split second. I pass comments all the time - what could possibly be THAT IMPORTANT that you can't wait? It is truly unfathomable not to mention the rudest thing on Planet Earth! The phone rings and the person you're talking to immediately stops to answer it as though you don't exist. I walk away. I will not compete with a piece of plastic. The first person who starts staring at a phone while I'm dining in a restaurant with them - I get up and leave. If it sounds arrogant so be it but I see myself as being so far superior to these people who just can't stop. Everyone makes fun of me and I reply at least I'm not throwing my life away on such garbage. The best is when they say they don't know how they got somewhere and they just followed the GPS. 15 cars per day were all driving into a sand pit on the way to a casino in Atlantic in NJ because they were all following GPS! It never dawned on them something might be wrong? I can't help but think of the folks lying on their death beds - I wonder if anyone of them will ever say they wished they spent MORE TIME playing with their phone!
BJ, I think we might be brothers! I love it! Thank you so much. I am totally with you.
But I do feel sorry for them - their phones are designed to be 100% addictive - and boy does that work! It's also where most get all their information from - no wonder they have been so susceptible to mass psychosis...
And I don't know what's more stupid, driving into a sandpit or going to a casino!
They actually did incorporate the same additive technique used in video games or so I read. I think it's really sad how people consider themselves informed when I think I read the average time they spend on an article on their phone is something like 15 seconds - whereas the average article I read (I love how some sites state reading time) is about 8 minutes. It's such a sad world I tell friends all the time how people will spend hours and days researching the latest phone yet turn on the TV or open their phone and beleive everything they read
I recently went to a restaurant where you were not only required to scan a QR code to see the menu, but you also had to order from the app itself, while you were sitting at the table! And input your credit card info and email address. The server came by to collect our plates and we literally could not ask her for a beer - we would have had to get out a phone, scroll through and try to find it, and place the order that way. It was insane. Easier for the restaurant, but a terrible customer service experience.
The only reason I didn't leave is because my friend unknowingly chose the place and I didn't want to be rude. Never again, though. My dinner does not need to be mediated through a cell phone. (I also learned that when you scan menu QR codes, there is software collecting info about you and tying it to others in your party who also scan it. Ask for a paper menu!)
Instant gratification addiction. I experienced the same thing with a menu scan & requested a real menu. Server said she didn't know if they had one. They did. I would have left before giving my email & having to order by app. Understand why you didn't. Ordered from a food truck & they insisted on texting when my order was ready. Um, how about you please tell me as I'm standing 4' away. Actually, in some situations it's fun to force people to rethink what they're expecting. They look genuinely confused.
Because of Covid, my vet requires people call when waiting outside to enter. I don't & knock on the door. Gee, texting or calling is easier than simply knocking on a door?
I have a cell & only use it when traveling. My husband's the only person who has the number. No one can text me & I text no one. That's freedom. Apps--forget them. Doing everything I need without apps invading whatever privacy is left. Somehow, I've never gotten lost without an app for directions.
Aside from more insidious health consequences of cells, users get forward head, bad for neck/spine. People bent forward looking like turtles. Look up, see the sky, see what's in front, see what's ahead.
We must be twins separated at birth because the more you push this crap with me the angrier I get and simply walk away. I don't even know what an app is! I too am the same way with food - at Habit (a burger place) they try and hand me some idiotic huge piece of plastic that buzzes when my order is done. I don't even acknowledge it and simply leave it and step back 4 FEET! Same thing with vets. I love mine dearly but I've told her she has to stop and wake up. At least now she allows you inside but pushes the mask thing just as bad. I now question her intelligence. I have a flip phone and tell people I don't text - if you want me CALL but it's only for work otherwise it's off. And here's some great irony - I drive for a living for the past 45 years and never use GPS or anything else. I simply glance at a map before I leave to get a general idea of where I'm going! I COULD NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS listen to something like that babbling while I'm driving! The very worst however is how everyone has them attached to the dashboard. I can think of few things more hazardous!
The very one thing I've learned for this is that the entire world suffers from addiction. People assume booze and drugs but it's the disposition - they can't stop! It's the worst thing that was ever invented. People are taking YEARS off their lives.
Oh! my! God! That is the best story I think I've ever read. So what happens to someone like myself sans cell phone? I intend to pass this on to all my friends! And here I thought all this woke shit was bad!
Yep Apj, We have the same in UK in a huge chain called Weatherspoons. I once had to take my daughter to McDonald's - I didn't have a clue what to do! She didn't bat an eyelid...
It might well be more convenient and cheaper for companies, but what about all the jobs it was supporting. We don't make anything anymore (we've given it all to Chiiina) and we can't all be celebrities or social media influencers - which is what many youngsters aspire to.
Yet another nail in the coffin of our social fabric!
Ditto. I will never own a cell phone, and my employers have offered to pay for everything, plans, phones etc.. I simply do not want to be reachable all the time. It's not happening for me.
Hi Pradeep Apparently you can downgrade to models with only basic functionality like calls and texts - you don't need the knowledge of the world at your fingertips and social media is generally toxic anyway. Might be a compromise.
They work like old-fashioned telephones - which is the last thing most young people would ever use them for - they are TERRIFIED of interaction with people they don't know and will do anything not to make an actual tel call. It's got to the extent that many have no idea of how to even hold a conversation. Japan has huge social issues with their young being totally socially isolated - and it's spreading everywhere.
Meanwhile, our local supermarket, Sainsbury's UK, has just culled the majority of their tills in favour of self-serve. Not me! I will always choose to interact with a person rather than a machine - and I always use cash! Even though digital is coming... Total Control!!
I will do it soon. To prepare, I have been leaving it at home whenever I go out. I have not missed it at all, nor have I needed it. I prefer to talk with someone without a screen..it's distracting. I like listening to the voice. I think a phone with only messaging will work fine. I have a computer, and will use it at home for emails and finding out information through the internet. We lived before just fine without the smart phones, and I will be just fine again. There is no self-exile without one. In fact, if you think about it, everyone is in their own little exile when they use one. They are unaware of what is happening around them. They are not connected, but rather disconnected. I love BJ's actions..I have done some of the same.
Fear of intimacy...used to be something we thought of as a sexual relationship issue primarily. Seems like it has extended for many youth to casual, daily contact. They must have LOVED social distancing and home confinement/lockdown! Using cash is also more intimate, which, aside from saving your retailer 2% of their profits on each transaction, taking it away from Wall Street Banks, is something I am hoping to get together. All changes in habits have an upfront energy cost, if you know what I mean. I got rid of my oh so convenient smart phone years ago, but did buy a GPS for my car , BUT I carry maps in the car and try to use them over the GPS. Map reading is a skill and I don't want to lose it.
My son has just learnt to drive and I have begged him to turn off the GPS, bought him a map and encouraged him to use his own brain so that he has an understanding of where places are in relation to each other.
If ever the phones go down, by design or accident, everyone will be utterly helpless because they can't read maps and have no idea of general directions. And boy is that GPS ever distracting with that voice constantly telling you what to do. No thank you. I have a brain - and I will happily use it.
I found the GPS really helpful for not missing turns on vastly complicated freeway junctions, for example when I commuted around Berkeley. That is one situation where it feels dangerous to pull over and read a map, in a relatively unfamiliar very busy metro area, and even then the map is not that helpful. So I hope I'm striking a happy medium there. But yes, your story about your son evoked an omg of course, yes, there will be people who have never even learned to read a map. How is he finding it, a chore, or kind of interesting?
I talk to people everywhere all the time - having a dog helps - I fear it does their head in, but most respond positively and I have some lovely interesting chats.
Theo, Of course you are absolutely right! Youngsters are supposed to be seen and not heard until they are 18 years of age in UK, at which time they can legally contribute to society by binging alcohol and fueling the night time economy. All the youth services have been cut as there is no money for anything anymore. Meanwhile they can all find their virtual tribe online - however toxic.
I tried to like this with the heart thing but it didn't work! just want to say totally agree about the cars. I'm sure all the flat animals on the road will agree with you.
Apropos to your smart phone comments, here is a short video teasing out the effects of all things digital from a student of Marshall McLuhan’s media postulates who is also an investigative reporter. Two standouts for me: 1) science has been conflated with technology and 2) the entire covid caper started with a computer generated model of ‘the virus’ being sent around the world as the template to start testing with PCR machines - also a computer. The author argues that this entire event is kept going through digital means at all levels. See what you think: https://chironreturn.org/eric-francis-on-sam-bailey-channel-how-full-digital-conditions-influenced-the-lockdown-crisis/
Watersnake, Thanks for the video link. Dr Sam Bailey and hubbie Mark from NZ were two of the first people I came across in this madness. Both brilliant! And Sam is heavily involved in the book Virus Mania which initially blew my mind but now seems perfectly sane and logical.
It's funny, my whole world view has been turned on its head, I wonder if anything we are taught to believe about anything is actually true and I await the coming of the dystopian, totalitarian digital age with utter dread.
BJ, this is such an important and…touchy topic you brought up. Thank you!!! This thread in particular has given me much to ponder. Thank you (typing this on my phone but needs must!)
This is a beautiful and awful understanding: “A population dispossessed of its spiritual sovereignty can be made to believe any absurdity.”
I am so grateful that the inversion of reality in late winter of 2020 forced me to reckon with the resource anchor, to use Tara Brach’s phrase, of my own intuition.
But help me understand a question that troubles me: Can a spiritual sovereign being enjoy dark humor? This sounds trite, but it’s not, to me. The art that vibrates the deepest chords of my soul is dark, aching, ironic, and absurd (not all at the same time:) I often find that people who are on this journey to transcend the “menu,” and who are cognizant of the programming, don’t enjoy dark music and humor. Did the British wit come from the loss of belief, and is it possible to retain the wit while regaining the belief? Can God listen to Gillian Welch and laugh at Ricky Gervais? I think of Townes Van Zandt saying, “there are two kinds of music: the blues, and zippadeedoodah.”
Where does irreverence belong in a joyful and reverent world?
Oh my gosh Big at Large, my very spiritual native elders made fun of everything and everybody including themselves. Either everything is sacred or nothing is sacred. Take your pick. Most indigenous traditions have a long history of sacred clowns who poked holes in posturing of all kinds, thereby revealing the absurdity of it all. Some folks find their connection to spirt through irreverence, others through reverence, others through a combination thereof. There is a noticeable lack humor in society today that is quite depressing actually. I mean laughing is dangerous right? Just like singing it spreads the dreaded virus.........Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! And the politically correct language police might come and haul you away if you laugh at the wrong thing. I have so many clown things I was aching to do throughout this whole pandemania. I may still yet if they try to shut us down again. My favorite idea was to dress in a hazmat suit and gas mask and stand on a busy street corner waving at everyone while holding a sign that says STAY SAFE! Please, please keep laughing, we all desperately need it!
Can't get the like button to work, so an old-fashioned way of saying I enjoy your post.
Many cultures have a tradition of tricksters, an archetype. Sadly, we don't see many in contemporary Western culture unless they're animated. Shakespeare had tricksters in his comedies. Charlie Chaplin, so brilliant, portrayed a trickster. Andy Kaufman was one & The Cat in the Hat. Many more, of course. Seems Western culture tricksters are predominantly outsiders.
We're in desperate need of clowns/tricksters. Important role to show the absurdity. They blur the binary. I adore irreverence. Love your hazmat idea. Hope you do it.
I absolutely agree Gerri. So many comedians are being censored and canceled now that more and more folks are afraid to make jokes or even laugh. This is not a good thing. I so so wish George Carlin was still around. Today is my birthday and it is also Bastille Day. I find that quite funny. I am having a dance party at a local park concert event and am dressing up in ceremonial clown regalia. I am sure the arbitrators of all things native will have alot of negative things to say about that. I mean the world is falling apart but we must, we must have an alert and vocal tribal fashionista police. It is so important to our health and well being. I do have some ability and willingness to go into thoughtful discussion about how we got here , where we are headed and how we can change. But my true default mode is really much more naturally Monty Pythonish and Addams Family. Here are some of my latest sign ideas:
BEWARE!!! LIVING ULTIMATELY LEADS TO DEATH!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! WE CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SAFETY!!! WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE!!!! NEWS FLASH EVERYONE -
NO MATTER HOW MANY LIKES OR FOLLOWERS YOU HAVE - YOU WILL STILL DIE!!!!!!!!!!
This culture is so freaking terrified of death that it is killing itself ever faster so it can pretend to at least have some control over the time and manner of that death. So hey let's blow ourselves up with nuclear warheads before a random comet or solar flare or a super volcano takes us out.
Happy birthday (& Bastille Day)! Oh, a dance party. Wish I could dance with you to celebrate. Damn the tribal fashionista police. With you on George Carlin, a hero of mine. Good comics are our best social critics. Frequently think what George would be saying about our recent madness & Lenny Bruce, Lucky to have seen George in concert years ago. Fan of Monty Python & the Addams family, too. Named a cat Gomez after Gomez Addams.
Fabulous sign ideas. The last is my favorite. True how we're terrified of death. Great book The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, an anthropologist. Won a non-fiction Pulitzer.
Looks great--thanks. I couldn't find when. The link given isn't active yet. Reminded me to rewatch Robin Williams concerts. I love him. I was raised Jewish, a cultural identity. My family wasn't in the least religious. Been asked why are Jews funny, why so many Jewish comics? To keep from crying, to assert ourselves in a world that hates us. That role seems to now be POC & I get where they're coming from.
Here is an (mabye overly sincere) attempt at a reply. I think that dark art belongs very much to a person with an interest in wisdom. People somewhat grounded in material and spiritual reality know that death belongs to life, pain belongs to joy, that all things end, including worlds. If you look at it that way, it is only natural to enjoy dark art. The part of you that knows and accepts these things about death and about pain and their place in the world, that part wants to see them reflected in art as well.
For that matter, our (perhaps wiser) ancestors did not exclusively enjoy cheerful art, not at all. Ancient spiritualities, as well, were full of cruelty and melancholy. Honestly, I think a refusal to welcome the dark, is a refusal of material and spiritual reality, more than the opposite.
For myself Charles , what have I learned ? I described to you in the last post how difficult my choices were . Certainly I was very much convinced by the science , if I’m honest it’s because when your son has a machine in his chest that keeps him alive you tend to have to have “ a rock to cling to “ . However what has been revealed in the Pandemic is the somewhat clumsy and not so “ deviously clever “ manipulations of the characters you mentioned ie Swabb , Gates , Biden and co . This is the difficulty and useful “ non - cohesion “ that a nefarious cabal displays , at the end of the day each of them is scrambling for the bigger cut or “ big dog” , the behaviour of a uncooperative pack
. I asked you also in one of my responses how we discern truth ,? indeed I do find some of the science from an anti vaxx perspective to be crowd sourced and I’m also shudder at the nomination through the term sheep . As a clinician it is important for me to have good data but also that I remain open minded in how I work with articles papers etc . Flexible and open is a true path of science . Indeed however as these global characters peel away their disguises , one can’t help but see the “ gargoyles “ that emerge so one is directed to find truth . The data sets are getting larger and certainly more representative of global nuance in terms of geography , however like a child with a lost parent I see now we cannot trust the intentions of these global planners , this is not limited to the Pandemic , there’s the War ,the food crisis and I guess more to come . So part of truth is -“ who is telling you the story “ not necessarily what they are saying .
Fran, I really appreciate your comment as I struggle not to blame the believers and try to figure out how to short circuit the decievers. Perhaps the most telling moment in my understanding of this was years before covid when I was leading a ceremony at a climate strike rally and as I looked out over the crowd holding hundreds of protest signs, there was one that really stood out for me. It was held up by a young girl, maybe 10 or 12 yrs old, and written on it in big bold letters were the word; "Science Never Lies'. In that moment I deeply grokked how effectively the leaders of this spiritually bankrupt society have suceeded in replacing God with Science. And that in spite of decades of well documented evidence to the contrary; people still want to believe in the absolute infallability of Science. By Fauci saying he was Science, ( I do not believe that was accidental) he put himself squarely at the top of the God/Science pyramid of collective faith. Where he has of course remained untouchable. We have built an entire civilization on our faith in Science. If we collectively admit that Science is not only quite fallible but has obviously been deliberately corrupted and manipulated in many instances; then where does that leave us? We are faced with having to develop our own individual spiritual sovereignty and that is pretty darn terrifying for alot of people. So the question I hear you asking, that I think the whole world is asking right now is this; how do we discern the truth admist the confusion and lies of multiple agendas fosted on us by psychopathic power hungry leaders? There are many good and caring people who simply do not know what to believe any more. I think this is an inevitable part of the process which forces us to turn within and learn to trust ourselves. We have relied almost exclusively on intellectual knowledge and mentally processed information for far too long. We need to open back up and broaden our natural sensory receptors to other input. You trusted your faith in medicine and your own intuition based on experience. That wasn't wrong. But now you have new information and experience and intuitive knowing to add to that ;so your view of truth is simply gotten bigger. That's all.
Well said, I really appreciate the way you think. How do we discern the truth indeed..this whole Covid experience has forced me to dig deep in to what is my own truth and how do I discover that? And how do I trust myself?
PJ it took me awhile to reply cuz I have been thinking deeply about this trust of self thing. What does that really mean? Now that I am an elder I find myself thinking more about and framing things in the way that the elders of my youth did. They were so busy just trying survive incredibly difficult times that they didn't really question in the way we are doing now. This is really a luxury. My own and I think most of our ancestors were swept up in circumstances and had to respond as best they could, hope for the best and make peace with or fun of the horrible things they could not control. Life taught them they had to trust themselves, even if they made the 'wrong' decisions. Our world expects us to come up with the 'right' answers, we are told that if we just micromanage things correctly, life will be great and we and our families will be safe! I don't think there is or ever has been any kind of flashing neon sign pointing to the 'right way'. And there has never been any real guarantee of safety or that we will have a great life and all will be well if we just get things 'right'. I mean even if we could instantly and effectively change human actions on a global scale right this minute and turn all the 'bad' things around, A random cosmic or natural event could still takes us out quite quickly. Humans are incredibly fragile, both mentally and phsyically. It really doesn't take much to bring us down. This is a very hard truth for folks to accept I think. Just some thoughts I was having this morning.
"And there has never been any real guarantee of safety or that we will have a great life and all will be well if we just get things 'right'."
Yes! It's all part of our ego delusion of being all - powerful and 'above' the natural world. There is nothing more certain than life is full of uncertainties and we are not 'in control'!!
“ A bigger truth “ - I like this very much more that that I understand it .
I know there are many good scientists out there who are like explorers .
Indeed at the cutting edge of science now Hoffman describes a new mathematics that he’s says points to a world beyond our current definitions of Space time indeed be extrapolates into the future to imagine there are layers beyond layers of a life which we think we understand yet is only a crude interface .
If we can hold the bigger truth , not denigrate the wisdom of elders and exchange it for Google search answers I think we have a chance . Science as questioning can be held and also the questioning born of dreams , intuition and feeling can be held to be an equal way of learning .
I admit to being a little lost at the moment , thank you for your reply
Fran, Not trying to put my own understanding on you here, but I like to think of bigger truth as the universe that somehow manages to embrace and balance all realities or truths simutaneously. I believe we are much much bigger than we percieve ourselves to be and that we have the ability to encompass many seeming polar opposites. We do it all the time. We are comfortable with both day and nite, winter and summer etc. For me lies are simply the other face of truth in that they point out truth more clearly and vice versa. Sort of a multi-faced Janus god type thing if you will. Looking at it this way helps me not become completely polarized or paralyzed even when I get very angry and outspoken about the pernicious lies and manipulations all around us.
Thank you , I do think it’s an interesting perspective . I always thought that some of the greatest evil can be perpetrated through certainity . Moving away from pure certainity might alllow us to see how things shift and better understand through feeling the intention of the cosmic winds . What I see is that , In a desert universe of shifting sands under gentle winds , everything is coming and going .
A virtue held too deeply can easily become a vice . Honesty held to its utmost can be seen to be unkind . I love your line about day and night .
When I spent some serious time last summer meditating on just why I was so opposed to getting any CV19 vaccine, I surprised myself when I went to record my answer for my podcast and began pondering "the ends justify the means" and that iconic phrase supposedly from a Vietnam War era military commander, "we had to destroy the village in order to save it." Thus, I was very pleased to learn this quote from Ursula K. Le Guin---indeed, we never do reach those ends, do we? These ends are always the Promised Land, just around the bend... I believe one of our psychological invitations from the leap into the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible is to recognize that the means create the ends, that HOW we live and behave determines what kind of society we live in.
This is as eloquent, balanced, thorough, and (dare I say 'forgiving') a peek down the rabbit hole as I have read, and especially over the last couple of years, I've read a lot. Bravo Charles. More than a cut above my pay grade.
I began reading philosophy of science, and then philosophy 'proper' back in the mid 70's as an undergrad to find my own personal ground of sanity to stand on. Like the wild side of a mandelbrot set gone mad, I'm seeing in your essay, Charles, a fractal of myself, and something I once read by Gandhi ... education (as opposed to job training) as the constant process of discovering what it means to be human.
But as much as I admire Ursula K. Le Guin (big influence on the Studio Ghibli brand over here in Japan), there is something troubling about that opening quote ... ''The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end?''
Metaphysically, I can fully agree with the quote. T.S. Kuhn's 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions' lays out a very good argument that contrary to Bertrand Russell's flippant dismissal of traditional religion as 'turtles, all the way down' ... it is probably true for even the mathematical rigor of physics. Mathematical models, though sometimes predictive, are also either provisional or parochial metaphors. If we live long enough as a species, I can imagine a future generation looking back on us and our 'planck unit' or 'spooky action at a distances' as quaint metaphors, similar to the way we might judge the 1803 Dalton model of the atom.
But no end to human nature? Maybe because my undergrad was in biology, I try my best to avoid a reductionist view of human nature. And maybe being the permanent outsider, the 'professional foreigner' in Japan Inc. for 40 years has colored my opinion of what it means to be human. I'm certain it has. But with one foot in the Far East, one in the West, one in the natural sciences, one in the liberal arts ... I can't help but to see something (or maybe 'sense' is a better word?) fundamental to human nature, something that does have an end. It might be as simple as Schopenhauer's 'will to power', or more profanely 'the law of the jungle'.
By temperament, I want to believe in the Platonic ideals of 'the good', 'the true', and 'the beautiful' as something we are all capable of finding on the altruistic end our moral bell curve. But persistence of dark-triad behavior traits at every level of social organization, from the nuclear family to a new world order, whispers to me that collectively, we may be incapable of learning from the past. Those dark-triads, Susan Sontag's 'cruel 10%' — the pathological narcissists, machiavellian opportunists, and morphologically defined psychopaths among us — will, as you point out, arise to replace the Gates, Schwabs, and Zuckerbergs of this world.
But what if there is no system or sustainable heuristics that will allow us to prevent these destructive behaviors from periodically rising to sociopathic levels? What if self-destruction is built into the advantages of scale? Maybe there is something to that quote ... 'Quantity has a quality all its own.' But what if that quality expands so far away from the empathetic roots of our morality, that it is self-destructively 'bad'?
Exploring the moral implications of exceeding Dunbar's number, or by-passing our mirror neurons through the Trolley Car problem are good openings into questions without end. I don't have good answers to those questions. There might not even be good answers or solutions. But from experience and observation, I suspect there is an 'end', or rather a 'constraint' on what it means to be human ... some kind of existential limit grounded in our biology.
Perhaps the collective failure to learn from the past is what drives us to imaginative worlds without end. But the time and resources to dream, and share those dreams, or even take the time to understand them ... are limited to those who have the luxury of freedom from living at the edge as a wage-slave.
Will end my own navel gazing for the moment with another familiar quote regarding ends. ''Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?' — Robert Browning.
No answers here Charles, but gratitude for your craftsmanship of thought, and your moral thrust. I will be passing your essay on to a few friends who I'm sure will likewise be inspired and motivated by your essay.
Steven, I think there are limits to the physical universe, to how far into separation (evil) one can go and humanity is reaching it. I call it Divine Mercy. Every time humanity reaches this point, we have a choice to evolve or self-destruct. It remains to be seen what choice we are making this time around.
Hi Kandy, I had to think of that for a moment ... but it soon made sense, and I can go with that. My assumptions and reasons to understand you goes something like this:
If hell is the absence of love, then heaven is love.
And if love is connecting with everything, hell (or at least its portal) is that which we are not connected with.
Maybe that portal is Divine Mercy, and we are at the precipice?
As a collective species, we can only guess. But intuitively, based on our personal trials and tribulations, it makes sense to me.
Cheers from Japan Kandy! I had never thought of it that way. Looking forward to reading more of you blazing a new path through the word salad around us.
I really like your comment. To me, it speaks an idealistic goal that there is some utopian future where human beings live in harmony. I'm not saying it's not possible, but a belief in it is just that, a belief, and sometimes a naive one. Maybe the cycle of abusive power in human collectives is useful, even good, for spiritual growth. To not firmly land in one or the other, in a future Utopia, or hellscape, leaves people more open to aligning with the spontaneous arising of reality. (If one experiences reality as such). That reality, or beingness that is arising in each of us as well will open us to what is needed for ourselves and others. Sometimes it will illuminate our limitations that need to be digested. Sometimes it will call forth our mature essential qualities to be exercised. Our beliefs can get in the way of seeing things as they are, and knowing the limitations of our individual perceptions of society. (Even the belief that a spontaneous reality that by its nature is essentially good exists without the direct experience of it is also a limitation). Can we exist without firmly landing somewhere... our ego likes somewhere to hang it's hat, somewhere firm to stand. Take good care. ❤️
I think that stopping people (or statistics) from lying is unlikely, at least not anytime soon. And I’m not convinced that’s even a good thing. If people stop lying, we’d never have the opportunity to learn inner discernment. Plus, relying on others to change their behavior puts us in the position of victim as we project our power outwards onto them, rather than empowering outselves.
How about using our own inner guidance to discern truth, to know when a person or document is lying? Isn’t that part of the whole Cosmic Covid Experiment, to encourage people to withdraw a little from the outer world in order to find the Truth within?
We certainly have some examples… How do mothers know when their kids are lying? Even though we don’t have the best vocabulary to explain this, it clearly happens, as moms and kids are well aware. Some call it “women’s intuition” as if that is a mystical phenomenon…but it actually is just about being in touch with one’s subtle inner guidance in order to discern the vibration of Truth. Mostly, at least for me, this inner guidance doesn’t come in words, but in feelings - a sensing in the gut, or in the heart. Practices like yoga or meditation can help people be more consciously receptive of their own deeper knowledge.
I think I read between your lines that our innate guidance system is the most effective way “to immunize we the people against future fascistic exploitation” or any kind of personal or societal exploitation, and is the antidote to “a population dispossessed of its spiritual sovereignty"...
It occurs to me that this journey to understanding the more subtle Truths within might be the next step in evolution.
I continue to marvel at how clear and soulful your perception and insights continue to be in the face of the atrocities unfolding. My tendency to become numb and shut down is challenged whenever I read your posts. You are regularly able to reawaken my humanity, compassion and intellect so that I can survive to fight another day. You are such a pure enlightened wise man who, more than any other person, somehow gives me hope, against all my cynicism and despair. Now, to act on what you are sharing.
When they first started talking about the new MRNA COVID shots (they are not vaccines, as we later found out), and then got emergency authority from FDA to start jabbing everyone, I did all the research I could to find out what was in them, whether they were actually effective, and whether they were safe. It quickly became clear that: 1) safety was not known, as the clinical trials most vaccines have to go through were completely bypassed; 2) no real data on effectiveness, either (in terms of preventing infection with COVID, and preventing vaccinated individuals from transmitting COVID. The only thing they said they "knew" was that the shot could reduce severity of symptoms in some individuals, particularly those with comorbidities; and 3) the whole notion that, through use of messenger RNA we could teach our bodies to produce a protein that would trigger an immune response, was completely unproven and experimental. With this information, NOT getting the shot quickly became a no-brainer for me. I do not authorize any medical procedure on my body until I fully understand both the (potential) benefits and the risks. Since there was no solid information on potential benefits (particularly for someone like me, who is in good health, with no comorbidities), and there CLEARLY WERE BIG RISKS in taking the shot, I knew I did not want it. Fortunately, I had retired from my job (federal govt) a few years before COVID came along. Had I still been working, I would have been FORCED to get the shot, against my will, or resign (after 20-some years of service). That is an absolute outrage. I still cannot believe all of the (supposedly intelligent) people I know that all lined up like sheep to get their shots, without hesitation. By the way, I did come down with COVID, later in 2020. Had a relatively mild sickness for 5-6 days, then recovered. Based on the reputable studies I have read (dozens of them), I now have natural immunity that is very likely to be long-lasting. The CDC keeps warning me that I need the shot, because natural immunity is not as good as the shot. That was when I knew they were absolutely LYING. I am not aware of any viral disease in history where a vaccine was superior to natural immunity from a prior infection. CDC cited one flawed study (from Kentucky, as I recall), with just a few participants, to support their claim, which was laughable. Clearly, CDC and the other public health authorities are being controlled by outside forces here..........most likely Big Pharma. Money and the drive for profits drives everything in America, and the OBSCENE profits that Big Pharma has made from these shots is enough to make me sick. And they have complete protection from liability, should anyone get sick and/or die from the shots (and many clearly have). What a great deal for them! My eyes have been opened as a result of this whole outrageous experience with COVID and the shots. Any trust I had in the health authorities (and most govt. officials) is gone, and cannot be restored easily. I'm just glad I was skeptical enough at the beginning to do my own research, and hold off on having anything done to my body until I understood what was going on here.
I felt similarly and declined to get the vaccine, though in my seventies
In 2023 I started traveling again, and each time (3) I caught covid, unfortunately. Each bout was less severe than the first. I have had no lingering effects that I am aware of, besides perhaps being somewhat less ill each time, and losing most of my senses of smell and taste afterwards for awhile.
I've been wondering if it's possible to re-frame the narrative, in a way that accurately depicts the main transgressions (which is putting it mildly) by the authorities, without letting cognitive dissonance and knee-jerk denialism take root. I'm thinking of this specifically in terms of the general populace who will often (privately) acknowledge something is not right, but have a firm desire to not look deeper into the problem. I can understand that mentality, but it's unacceptable at this point in the saga, and I feel like a solution (other than exiting and building parallel societies) needs to still be pursued. I would view this attempted re-frame as a gentle push, rather than coddling a willful ignorance. But I'm also not sure this re-framing is even possible, given the scope of the deceit you eloquently laid out.
Thank you for staying grounded in the center, Charles. And for pointing out the "avatar" status of figureheads like Klaus and Gates. Removing them from position of authority will not simply remove the root of the problem, rather only obfuscate it even more.
I don’t know what to do with the problem of feeling that I have to treat people’s beliefs about Covid “precautions” as sacred religions, lest I lose those relationships. When someone who purports to trust scientific conclusions says things in direct contradiction to clear and good data, and I can’t bring that up because we’ve all “agreed to disagree,” what has happened to the pursuit of what truth there might be that is accessible to our consciousness in this shared reality? How long can we live in such different movies?
yeah I hear you, especially in terms of living in "different movies" ... but I strongly feel that the smallest blip in perspective can change that. And I would argue that covid precautions aren't so much sacred religions as they are the result of very intense conditioning. Most seem to have forgotten simple concepts like natural immunity, but it's what has kept humans going for thousands and thousands of years before we started all this bio-manipulation.
I'm gonna try an analogy (apologies if it's convoluted) ... there's been a shipwreck. All of us in the general populace are now in the water, and there was a mass release of life preservers and floaty things for people to latch onto. Many simply tread water while getting a sense of their surroundings (those banking on natural immunity) but the majority seem to forget about this intuitive ability and, in an understandable panic, hastily seek out these inflated contraptions for a sense of safety. While there is plenty of these life preservers to go around, we see clear signs of deflation occurring, and rather than relying on these failing life preservers, we could cooperate in seeking out stable ground (i.e. allowing the pathogen to run it’s course and evolutionarily decrease in virulence). This analogy is within the assumption that SARS-CoV-2 would revert back to being a seasonal pathogen in circulation, which seems clear now based on all available evidence.
The current societal crisis is that individuals in the water feel compelled to give explicit orders to others on how to best survive during this slow-acting shipwreck of a civilization, when it’s rather clear that it’s an issue of personal autonomy. If each person attempting to tread water somehow brought others who chose the life preservers down (i.e. the shots prevented transmission) then there could some validity to these explicit orders of behavior. But that’s simply not the case, and two+ years into this thing, people just gotta remember that treading water is indeed (usually) a valid option. (Unless we poison ourselves/strap weights to our legs).
If anyone wants an eye and mind-opening read check out Wetiko: Healing the Mind-Virus That Plagues Our World and Dispelling Wetiko: Dispelling The Curse of Evil both by Paul Levy. Finished the first book in three days and am blazing through the second book now. I think what Charles is really getting at in these essays is that each one of us needs to do our shadow work. When we take responsibility for our ability to perpetrate evil (and I am speaking of anything that comes from a place of separation: of an ego island that is not connected to others and life), then we can better discern the evil out in the world. But until we are fully aware of our shadow, we will be projecting it onto others which makes us very susceptible to fear, propaganda, lies, and mind control. Instead of othering people, it really is time for each of us to understand the role we are playing in the perpetuation of this evil in the first place. How did humanity attract this evil? How did our world get to this point of multiple crises? If we don't get to the root of the problem, we will just re-create more of the same (what we have been doing for thousands of years), but we don't have thousands of years to raise our consciousness now. We have mere decades...maybe...if we don't nuke ourselves first.
I appreciate your anti-mainstream position, Charles. It’s why I keep reading: Because I agree that the NBC, CNN, etc crowd continue to get a lot wrong with their unquestioned trust in certain authorities (and, at times, authoritarianism).
This essay clarified why I also take issue with so much of your writing on Covid: You fail to explore the ways that anti-mainstream positions (e.g., many of the Substack writers you cite) have *also* frequently been ignorant and deceitful.
Put another way, you seem to believe that if someone has spiritual sovereignty then they will interpret incredibly complex datasets about vaccines and masks and viruses the same way you do. In reality, spiritual sovereignty just means that we never let a “team” dictate our beliefs. Two people might have spiritual sovereignty and come to opposite conclusions about the data — perhaps because they’re looking at different datasets or perhaps because they don’t have training in unpacking complex and evolving datasets, which is a skill unto itself.
What I’m suggesting, to get more specific, is that it might be possible to have spiritual sovereignty *and* believe that the data shows that the vaccines and N95 masks have been a net good even if they have also been oversold. Just because someone believes this doesn’t mean they don’t have spiritual sovereignty.
I laud your approach and totally agree with your eloquent identification of the main problem, but the main problem I see and have with that main problem/these people is that the people I know personally who swallowed these lies, actively discriminated against the unvaxxed or never and still don't raise a peep about it, are people who are well educated professionals, deem themselves to be either progressive or conservative but always liberal and very tolerant, were raised with knowledge and conscience about their own country's history and atrocities and continuously blurped 'my body, my choice' or 'never again' or 'could not have happened here' or 'I would have been in the resistance'.
And I see absolutely no personal admission of their errors, let alone apologies, self-criticism, shame or guilt with them.
To the contrary, they are either doubling down on their self-righteousness and vileness, like all their high-priests do, or they are staying apathetic.
So, needless to say, it is more difficult for me than for you to prevent my anger from becoming hate, although my primary feeling and action towards them really is 'just' contempt, and I am much more sceptical than you about a positive development or solution and about preventing a repeat.
My focus is therefore just on getting closer to like-minded people and on living my life so that I am least impacted by them and by businesses and the state's restrictions, primarily hoping for niches of freedom and sanity to remain, live in and support. In short:
"May the bridges I burn light the way."
I recently had a conversation with two dear friends who wanted to understand me better regarding my stances on all things covid. I was so honored that they would ask and prepared a lengthy essay in response (edited to add that I wrote it out so I wouldn’t have to speak off the cuff and thus risk falling into a defensive and emotionally-driven mode.) I really concentrated on how the mandates have affected me, how I’ve been mistreated and discriminated against. They listened to every word. They didn’t argue back. They were loving and kind. But in the end, I never heard them say they were sorry for how I’ve been mistreated, that I deserved to get my teaching job back. Instead, their response was a shrug and a defeated “What can little ol’ me do about it?” In other words, they weren’t willing to see how they contribute to the continuing segregation by attending places where you have to show your vax status. They feel like they can’t fight the government (we live in the state of WA, where the governor just permanently mandated that all gov workers need to be fully vaxed and boosted - no exceptions - by next July.) They see what they want to see, and their perceptions have confirmed their biases.
At first I was deflated and disappointed, but I realized they were hearing this information for the first time. They weren’t ruminating on it daily and exposing themselves to new information as I have been for the past two years. I’m hoping and praying that the truth will come to light, and they will have that ah-ha moment. For now, I wait, and I pray that the next booster shot won’t do damage to their health.
The fact that they listened is huge. If they do nothing right now, it may be because they are bewildered. They don't know what to think. But they will likely be more receptive to future counter-narrative information, which is sure to come....
Yes, HUGE! I agree with this comment 100%! I realized they need more time, and now that it’s all out in the open, I just have to calmly wait.
Hope is free. . .
Hi Lori, I also live in WA state and I am personally very sorry you were mistreated in this way. You did not deserve it and neither did I and neither did the many thousands of us here in WA state alone. The wound is still raw and I am sad that your friends could not yet apologize to you. Maybe they will be able to in the future. I don't know. Maybe they will never apologize because then they will have to face how truly hurtful and unconscious their actions were and are. Most people are so attached to their image of themselves as 'good' people that they cannot admit to serious wrongdoing. Me being me however, I'm busy plowing on ahead and continuing to give people information they don't want to hear. Some folks who attacked and ostracized me are now reaching out and acting like nothing happened. No apology, no recognition at all of what they did. I don't trust them anymore; but if they let me get close enough to put a bug in their ear, I will. I'm kind of subversive that way.
They haven’t personally mistreated me. They are lovely friends. But I was surprised that they couldn’t express empathy in this area. I do think they need more time.
Understood Lori. Guess I extrapolated a bit from what you were actually saying. There are folks in my community who did not directly attack me, but definitely there is now a coolness from them that wasn't there before. And while that does not hurt as badly as outright censure, it has greatly impacted my relationships with all of them. These are the very same folks who in the many decades I have worked closely with and known them, would have spoken out in the past and protested strongly against multiple other types of discrimination and yet they did not say a word about how I and others were being treated, not even privately to me. Even if they felt helpless, they could have at least acknowledged the unfairness of it. If the situations were reversed, I would most certainly have spoken up. Turns out my own definition of friendship and community is rather different from theirs. Better late than never to discover this I suppose. The upside is I am very much enjoying getting to know new folks who I most likely would have never interacted with pre-covid. I am still grieving my old community tho, especially now we are all out and about more and I keep running into them. I guess I am just a crusty old warrior in that I want folks I can trust to have my back in a crisis; or at the very least not turn on me out of panic and fear or ignore that others are doing so. While I can understand and have empathy for the distress many experienced; after well over two years I would have expected them to start thinknig more clearly and asking questions and not just continue on with knee jerk reactions. I have no trouble forgiving them, but I surely won't trust them to be there for me in any important way in the future.
I completely empathize with you as well. My friends brought up that I do not experience the same type of discrimination since I made a choice (as opposed to being born this way). I’m not sure how that makes it ok for me to lose my job, be treated differently in public, or mocked for my medical decision. Again, I think they just need some time (I hope) to come around and see things from my side.
I also have discovered new friends who do understand, and interacting with the online community also helps.
Wishing you all the best…
My fear is that they will retreat back to the previous odious behavior when in the fall they become convinced that once again somebody is to blame for numbers going up and therefore they or someone they know will die from covid.
Been a sad & hard way to learn who our friends are, who we can trust. Turns the world upside-down when this happens. Hey, wait, huh? Like you, I was hoping things would settle down after the hysteria of the unvaccinated are selfish lepers message. As I've said many times to deaf ears, "If you believe the vax are effective, I'm not being selfish." Out of all this, the most selfish, self-absorbed I know are proudly wearing the self-less vax banner as proof they care about the "common good." One of the most liberal-minded people I know, or thought I knew, was confronting strangers about not wearing a mask. Again, "if you believe the mask protects you, why do you care?" His answer, "Because every person needs to do their part," which isn't an answer. It really means he wants everyone to do what he wants. Comfort in conformity.
If the shot is an automatic death sentence within five years, it really doesn’t matter if they apologize to you. They voided themselves. The more they realize this, the more some of them will get busy with the Judas Goats in “media” and “medicine.”
Highly unlikely. I don't discount the 'time bomb ticking' theories, but I do think they are probably just as flawed as the original silly projections of hundreds of millions of deaths from the virus: some people get a thrill from this nonsense.
So true ! Thanks for this comment ! I've had some similar experience.
“… the people I know personally who swallowed these lies, actively discriminated against the unvaxxed or never and still don't raise a peep about it, are people who are well educated professionals.”
The compulsory education system in the west (I am not familiar with the east), has nothing to do with education, is just a conditioning apparatus, dehumanizing the students, destroying curiosity, visioning and the ability to think, is “a system of forced ignorance” (Noam Chomsky). So please change the “well educated professionals” to “well conditioned professionals” and the narrative takes another perspective.
Excellent point.
I feel your frustration as I have experienced the same. “Why can’t they see the errors of their ways?” They are undergoing Mass Formation (mind control) as described by professor Matthias Desmet. Humans are easily programmed and this intentional mind control is being weaponized at an all time level right now. Knowing this I have much more compassion and acceptance. Time to focus our attention on those people who are emerging from the spell vs the ones still in it. 🙏🏻
https://rumble.com/v18t85q-mattias-desmet-and-the-psychology-of-totalitarianism.html
"To the contrary, they are either doubling down on their self-righteousness and vileness, like all their high-priests do, or they are staying apathetic."
Or, maybe they are still waiting for the great reveal from there trusted sources. The mainstream media, CDC, etc.....
👏👍 Well said.
Thanks. I appreciate the essay. I suspect much of the critical feedback you receive has a lot to do with the rawness of all things Covid and so depending on who and where one is in grasping the last couple years - piggybacked on decades leading up to it - is fully related to what degree have you been red pilled so it's hard to focus on elements of the story and attempt rational analysis. It's still ongoing, it's disorienting and traumatizing and those behind it are not done. So, my point is, it's gonna trigger. For some time. And we still don't know enough. So balanced and sane in the midst of upside-down, inside-out, feels... maybe too soon. Too polite. Outrage still feels more appropriate to me, but you can't do that all day. I don't know. I appreciate the thoughtfulness.
Perhaps outrage can be channeled into anger - not aimed at individuals but at the realities facing us. We’ve collectively created (or been subjected to? both, maybe) a global civilization that rewards deceit and control, among many other unfortunate side effects. I think everything we are witnessing and experiencing are signs of what lie ahead: This current civilization is in collapse. William Ophuls describes the symptoms we are now experiencing as trademarks of a civilization in rapid decline.
In such times it seems essential to speak truth while also nurturing everything it means to be human. Explore more deeply why we all are here, and how we would choose to live and love if time was limited.
I got together with our friends Madhava Setty and Josh Mitteldorf yesterday for a lively and wide ranging chat. Madhava mentioned that one of his pieces for CHD that was gently and factually critical of a popular alternative health expert was among the most commented upon pieces he’d posted. 90% negative. His point in the article was that our counterclaims to the deceits being foisted upon us by the CDC need to be strong and grounded in fact. Stronger, actually, because we are the dissenting voices.
I appreciate so much the work you both are doing. We will need voices of peace more than ever in the coming days. I suspect we all feel the groundswell coming. Sri Lanka... Netherlands... people anchored in material reality are pushing back now en masse. The container has become too tight. We need bridge builders and weavers now more than ever.
IMHO it's never going to stop. They've cashed in on something so powerful - even the threat of a nuclear bomb will not return people to reality. The cause? The cell phones. Every single person is addicted to them. It's worse and more lethal than every other addition combined. That's how they got away with all of it. Not only is it a deliberate an intentional diversion, it's an dumbing down of the entire world. One has to assume this can be easily solidified where cell phones don't exist.
People now live in a world completely devoid of all reality! Just walk the streets and look how people are dressed and NOT THINK to yourself - you can't possibly, possibly be serious? It's not about lack of class or intelligence but rather a taking over of society! Worse than a plague. The fact of the matter is everyone suffers from addiction! People think drugs and alcohol - food and gambling. The entire time they can't LIVE without their phones. They spend more time with them then they they do working!
They now live in a world of delusion! It worked - it was deliberate. You can't bring these people back. The only way possible is to destroy the cell phones. Everywhere you go they have them in their hand. Politicians, celebrities everyone!! They won there's no coming back from this - the force is to strong. The narcissism is epidemic.
There is no denying the injections are killing more people than covid ever did or will and still NOTHING! Parents grandparents husbands and wives were brutally murdered by denying them early treatment and lying to them and still no outrage! How is it possible? What could possibly take precedence or be more important? That would be narcissism fueled by the phones and of course social media. It's truly sad what's going to happen all because of it. Thinking it's going to change or stop is a pipe dream. You can't beat this. I think that's that's why there's never been a cyber attack.
Catherine Austin Fitts has quite a following of intellectuals. She too concurs the cell phones are causing the destruction and added only 10% of her audience watches TV!
I want to share an anecdote that supports your case, BJ. Back in 2011 or so, before I had a cell phone, I was at a meeting and some new co-workers who'd just moved to the city I live in were discussing where to go for lunch. One of them had heard about some place and shared it via his cell phone to another who was concerned about how to get there and the first guy said, "No need to worry, with these things we don't even have to think!"
That comment put me off getting one for a few more years.
Having said that, while I think I might agree that they've been a net harm to human psychology, I also feel like if one consciously uses them, such as to read/listen to Charles' work, to find meditations, to hear inspiring music, to write something lovely to a friend...well, then they can be a positive force.
Perhaps that's just me justifying having one, however. Anyway, I enjoy Fitts and have for many years. Oh, and your comment on why their hasn't been a cyber attack seems like a reasonable theory to me.
Hey Bryan - thanks for the reply. Although I do agree about not having to think per se (question anything - which is absolutely part of this problem) I still chalk it up to being more about a massive diversion. It's kinda like doing something "fun" to avoid responsibility. Get my drift?
People are so ensconced with these - it's almost as though they deliberately want to avoid reality because this is so much more entertaining - hence why I said what is about to happen (and so preventable) is just so sad. It's so obvious in offices - everybody is playing with them instead of WORKING!
I can't help but think history book being written a hundreds years from now asking why they didn't do anything? How could they let this happen? All because of such idiocy. I respect what you say about some of the good things that come of them - but is sacrificing human existence truly worth it? And of course did we not all survive without them? Wasn't the world a better place which again I also attribute to them.
(I also feel like if one consciously uses them, such as to read/listen to Charles' work, to find meditations, to hear inspiring music, to write something lovely to a friend...well, then they can be a positive force.)
I say with all due respect but cannot all of this still be done without them? Although I'm middle aged I'm not a curmudgeon - I just look at the destruction they've caused. How could anyone possibly be so blind to what is currently going on? There is only one answer. What could possibly be pre-occupying them instead? The writing is on the wall - celebrities are dropping dead left and right - athlete's - died suddenly is now number one of death charts and STILL NO OUTRAGE?
I thought the Beiber video would do it and still nothing!
There is only one thing you could possibly exploit to keep people this distracted. For some unbeknownst reason we now live in a "it's about me society". I'm just not sure which came first. Perhaps that's why there's no outrage - it's not about them so they don't care!
HAVE A GREAT DAY!
Yeah, I generally agree with where you are coming from and yes, we could do those things without phones. Still, I have lived in central Japan for 18 years and I've often wondered if I would have stayed this long if it wasn't for the Internet. I very much doubt it because I enjoy being able to communicate in my native tongue in a very deep way and such conversations are very hard to find around here. On the other hand, no 'Net and my Japanese would have likely gotten a lot better, a lot faster!
Oh, well...ultimately, I try not to focus too much attention on arguing against what is, and think more about what world can I help create. It's challenging right now as things are falling apart---some days, I do struggle with wondering if there's a point in trying to make something better.
Anyway, you have a great day, too...if nothing else, we shared a nice exchange so that's a positive for this global communication, right?
I've no qualms with the Internet. It's where I spend my free time READING! But only reputable sources - it's just the phones I find to be a waste. That said, JAPAN - great Country! The most unique in the world, I envy you! And so does my Shiba Inu!
As far as things falling apart - there is not anyone that is not saying the exact same. Old young and every conceivable culture and lifestyle. I wish more people would start writing about the variables and how and or when this is all going to end. We seem to be moving closer and closer to the edge of the cliff every day.
Be well
Be safe
1st timer. Gosh, All the commentators here are so eloquent and clever - I feel both out of my depth and privileged to read you all. Thank you for sharing.
I just want to agree with you, BJ, about mobile phones - I have said it for YEARS! For many of them I felt like a lonely voice in the wilderness - I have been proved absolutely right. Unfortunately my three children are as addicted as everyone else. BUT they will NEVER get me! I will NEVER have one! It is my silent protest.
I detest what they have done to people's brains and community spirit - most especially young people, who would die rather than interact with anyone when they are out - and mobile phones make this entirely possible. I see them everywhere, zombified, and wonder whatever are they looking at.
I watched a film a while back with industry whistleblowers and one said to never forget that there are thousands of people on the other side of a screen making sure you spend as long as possible on your phone so they can maximise advertising revenue. All these victims of coercion - in the name of corporate greed!
Also, the more they take over as predicted, the running of your entire life, with covid passports, banking, social credit scores etc the more controlling they will become.
What is ironic is that in an emergency the first thing the authorities do is block all the phones. And what happens if/when the network fails or is cyber attacked... Utterly Defenceless!!
WELCOME CHARLES! You'll find that Substack is unequivocally the very best place to obtain information. Not only are the writers superb - you learn just as much if not more from the comments. What a far cry from social media! I hope this venue never gets poisoned because it is truly the ultimate resource.
Regarding your silent protest - I just see cell phones as the most colossal waste of time not to mention brain cells on the entire face of this earth. I was forced to get one for work. I returned it the following morning after wasting 40 minutes just trying to figure out how to even turn it on. They screamed at me for not giving it enough "time" I was livid thinking about all the time I had wasted - all the things I could have done instead in those 40 minutes! THINK ABOUT THAT! A phone is a phone should you need to get in touch with me - period! When I am not at work my flip phone is not even ON and in the car.
This new generation has no concept of time. It's also a lazy man diversion - anything to avoid responsibility and or work. Nothing infuriates me more than the dog walkers who can't leave the house without it. Poor dog is eating crap on the ground and half way in the street with the retractable leashes. If I had money I would make a billboard with a baby and a puppy that reads: PUT THE PHONE DOWN AND PAY ATTENTION TO US - WE'RE ONLY YOUNG ONCE! It totally astounds me that people cannot stop thinking about themselves for one split second. I pass comments all the time - what could possibly be THAT IMPORTANT that you can't wait? It is truly unfathomable not to mention the rudest thing on Planet Earth! The phone rings and the person you're talking to immediately stops to answer it as though you don't exist. I walk away. I will not compete with a piece of plastic. The first person who starts staring at a phone while I'm dining in a restaurant with them - I get up and leave. If it sounds arrogant so be it but I see myself as being so far superior to these people who just can't stop. Everyone makes fun of me and I reply at least I'm not throwing my life away on such garbage. The best is when they say they don't know how they got somewhere and they just followed the GPS. 15 cars per day were all driving into a sand pit on the way to a casino in Atlantic in NJ because they were all following GPS! It never dawned on them something might be wrong? I can't help but think of the folks lying on their death beds - I wonder if anyone of them will ever say they wished they spent MORE TIME playing with their phone!
BJ, I think we might be brothers! I love it! Thank you so much. I am totally with you.
But I do feel sorry for them - their phones are designed to be 100% addictive - and boy does that work! It's also where most get all their information from - no wonder they have been so susceptible to mass psychosis...
And I don't know what's more stupid, driving into a sandpit or going to a casino!
They actually did incorporate the same additive technique used in video games or so I read. I think it's really sad how people consider themselves informed when I think I read the average time they spend on an article on their phone is something like 15 seconds - whereas the average article I read (I love how some sites state reading time) is about 8 minutes. It's such a sad world I tell friends all the time how people will spend hours and days researching the latest phone yet turn on the TV or open their phone and beleive everything they read
I recently went to a restaurant where you were not only required to scan a QR code to see the menu, but you also had to order from the app itself, while you were sitting at the table! And input your credit card info and email address. The server came by to collect our plates and we literally could not ask her for a beer - we would have had to get out a phone, scroll through and try to find it, and place the order that way. It was insane. Easier for the restaurant, but a terrible customer service experience.
The only reason I didn't leave is because my friend unknowingly chose the place and I didn't want to be rude. Never again, though. My dinner does not need to be mediated through a cell phone. (I also learned that when you scan menu QR codes, there is software collecting info about you and tying it to others in your party who also scan it. Ask for a paper menu!)
Instant gratification addiction. I experienced the same thing with a menu scan & requested a real menu. Server said she didn't know if they had one. They did. I would have left before giving my email & having to order by app. Understand why you didn't. Ordered from a food truck & they insisted on texting when my order was ready. Um, how about you please tell me as I'm standing 4' away. Actually, in some situations it's fun to force people to rethink what they're expecting. They look genuinely confused.
Because of Covid, my vet requires people call when waiting outside to enter. I don't & knock on the door. Gee, texting or calling is easier than simply knocking on a door?
I have a cell & only use it when traveling. My husband's the only person who has the number. No one can text me & I text no one. That's freedom. Apps--forget them. Doing everything I need without apps invading whatever privacy is left. Somehow, I've never gotten lost without an app for directions.
Aside from more insidious health consequences of cells, users get forward head, bad for neck/spine. People bent forward looking like turtles. Look up, see the sky, see what's in front, see what's ahead.
We must be twins separated at birth because the more you push this crap with me the angrier I get and simply walk away. I don't even know what an app is! I too am the same way with food - at Habit (a burger place) they try and hand me some idiotic huge piece of plastic that buzzes when my order is done. I don't even acknowledge it and simply leave it and step back 4 FEET! Same thing with vets. I love mine dearly but I've told her she has to stop and wake up. At least now she allows you inside but pushes the mask thing just as bad. I now question her intelligence. I have a flip phone and tell people I don't text - if you want me CALL but it's only for work otherwise it's off. And here's some great irony - I drive for a living for the past 45 years and never use GPS or anything else. I simply glance at a map before I leave to get a general idea of where I'm going! I COULD NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS listen to something like that babbling while I'm driving! The very worst however is how everyone has them attached to the dashboard. I can think of few things more hazardous!
The very one thing I've learned for this is that the entire world suffers from addiction. People assume booze and drugs but it's the disposition - they can't stop! It's the worst thing that was ever invented. People are taking YEARS off their lives.
One of the saddest things I've seen were two kids sitting in the same room texting each other instead of talking.
Oh! my! God! That is the best story I think I've ever read. So what happens to someone like myself sans cell phone? I intend to pass this on to all my friends! And here I thought all this woke shit was bad!
Yep Apj, We have the same in UK in a huge chain called Weatherspoons. I once had to take my daughter to McDonald's - I didn't have a clue what to do! She didn't bat an eyelid...
It might well be more convenient and cheaper for companies, but what about all the jobs it was supporting. We don't make anything anymore (we've given it all to Chiiina) and we can't all be celebrities or social media influencers - which is what many youngsters aspire to.
Yet another nail in the coffin of our social fabric!
I love travelling in the UK, so thank you for the warning; we will avoid Weatherspoons now!
Ditto. I will never own a cell phone, and my employers have offered to pay for everything, plans, phones etc.. I simply do not want to be reachable all the time. It's not happening for me.
Amazing that you have resisted. I want to eliminate my cell phone, but it seems almost tantamount to self-exile.
Hi Pradeep Apparently you can downgrade to models with only basic functionality like calls and texts - you don't need the knowledge of the world at your fingertips and social media is generally toxic anyway. Might be a compromise.
They work like old-fashioned telephones - which is the last thing most young people would ever use them for - they are TERRIFIED of interaction with people they don't know and will do anything not to make an actual tel call. It's got to the extent that many have no idea of how to even hold a conversation. Japan has huge social issues with their young being totally socially isolated - and it's spreading everywhere.
Meanwhile, our local supermarket, Sainsbury's UK, has just culled the majority of their tills in favour of self-serve. Not me! I will always choose to interact with a person rather than a machine - and I always use cash! Even though digital is coming... Total Control!!
Thank you. I always try to choose the human interaction option vs the self checkout.
I will do it soon. To prepare, I have been leaving it at home whenever I go out. I have not missed it at all, nor have I needed it. I prefer to talk with someone without a screen..it's distracting. I like listening to the voice. I think a phone with only messaging will work fine. I have a computer, and will use it at home for emails and finding out information through the internet. We lived before just fine without the smart phones, and I will be just fine again. There is no self-exile without one. In fact, if you think about it, everyone is in their own little exile when they use one. They are unaware of what is happening around them. They are not connected, but rather disconnected. I love BJ's actions..I have done some of the same.
Fear of intimacy...used to be something we thought of as a sexual relationship issue primarily. Seems like it has extended for many youth to casual, daily contact. They must have LOVED social distancing and home confinement/lockdown! Using cash is also more intimate, which, aside from saving your retailer 2% of their profits on each transaction, taking it away from Wall Street Banks, is something I am hoping to get together. All changes in habits have an upfront energy cost, if you know what I mean. I got rid of my oh so convenient smart phone years ago, but did buy a GPS for my car , BUT I carry maps in the car and try to use them over the GPS. Map reading is a skill and I don't want to lose it.
Hi Janine, Agree with every word.
My son has just learnt to drive and I have begged him to turn off the GPS, bought him a map and encouraged him to use his own brain so that he has an understanding of where places are in relation to each other.
If ever the phones go down, by design or accident, everyone will be utterly helpless because they can't read maps and have no idea of general directions. And boy is that GPS ever distracting with that voice constantly telling you what to do. No thank you. I have a brain - and I will happily use it.
I found the GPS really helpful for not missing turns on vastly complicated freeway junctions, for example when I commuted around Berkeley. That is one situation where it feels dangerous to pull over and read a map, in a relatively unfamiliar very busy metro area, and even then the map is not that helpful. So I hope I'm striking a happy medium there. But yes, your story about your son evoked an omg of course, yes, there will be people who have never even learned to read a map. How is he finding it, a chore, or kind of interesting?
So Proud! Go Girl! You will soon be FREE!
I talk to people everywhere all the time - having a dog helps - I fear it does their head in, but most respond positively and I have some lovely interesting chats.
Theo, Of course you are absolutely right! Youngsters are supposed to be seen and not heard until they are 18 years of age in UK, at which time they can legally contribute to society by binging alcohol and fueling the night time economy. All the youth services have been cut as there is no money for anything anymore. Meanwhile they can all find their virtual tribe online - however toxic.
I tried to like this with the heart thing but it didn't work! just want to say totally agree about the cars. I'm sure all the flat animals on the road will agree with you.
My love heart is working randomly and inconsistently too! Thank you all for your comments - you would have received hearts
Apropos to your smart phone comments, here is a short video teasing out the effects of all things digital from a student of Marshall McLuhan’s media postulates who is also an investigative reporter. Two standouts for me: 1) science has been conflated with technology and 2) the entire covid caper started with a computer generated model of ‘the virus’ being sent around the world as the template to start testing with PCR machines - also a computer. The author argues that this entire event is kept going through digital means at all levels. See what you think: https://chironreturn.org/eric-francis-on-sam-bailey-channel-how-full-digital-conditions-influenced-the-lockdown-crisis/
Watersnake, Thanks for the video link. Dr Sam Bailey and hubbie Mark from NZ were two of the first people I came across in this madness. Both brilliant! And Sam is heavily involved in the book Virus Mania which initially blew my mind but now seems perfectly sane and logical.
It's funny, my whole world view has been turned on its head, I wonder if anything we are taught to believe about anything is actually true and I await the coming of the dystopian, totalitarian digital age with utter dread.
I truly thank God I am old!
Me too. 😅
BJ, this is such an important and…touchy topic you brought up. Thank you!!! This thread in particular has given me much to ponder. Thank you (typing this on my phone but needs must!)
This is a beautiful and awful understanding: “A population dispossessed of its spiritual sovereignty can be made to believe any absurdity.”
I am so grateful that the inversion of reality in late winter of 2020 forced me to reckon with the resource anchor, to use Tara Brach’s phrase, of my own intuition.
But help me understand a question that troubles me: Can a spiritual sovereign being enjoy dark humor? This sounds trite, but it’s not, to me. The art that vibrates the deepest chords of my soul is dark, aching, ironic, and absurd (not all at the same time:) I often find that people who are on this journey to transcend the “menu,” and who are cognizant of the programming, don’t enjoy dark music and humor. Did the British wit come from the loss of belief, and is it possible to retain the wit while regaining the belief? Can God listen to Gillian Welch and laugh at Ricky Gervais? I think of Townes Van Zandt saying, “there are two kinds of music: the blues, and zippadeedoodah.”
Where does irreverence belong in a joyful and reverent world?
Oh my gosh Big at Large, my very spiritual native elders made fun of everything and everybody including themselves. Either everything is sacred or nothing is sacred. Take your pick. Most indigenous traditions have a long history of sacred clowns who poked holes in posturing of all kinds, thereby revealing the absurdity of it all. Some folks find their connection to spirt through irreverence, others through reverence, others through a combination thereof. There is a noticeable lack humor in society today that is quite depressing actually. I mean laughing is dangerous right? Just like singing it spreads the dreaded virus.........Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! And the politically correct language police might come and haul you away if you laugh at the wrong thing. I have so many clown things I was aching to do throughout this whole pandemania. I may still yet if they try to shut us down again. My favorite idea was to dress in a hazmat suit and gas mask and stand on a busy street corner waving at everyone while holding a sign that says STAY SAFE! Please, please keep laughing, we all desperately need it!
Can't get the like button to work, so an old-fashioned way of saying I enjoy your post.
Many cultures have a tradition of tricksters, an archetype. Sadly, we don't see many in contemporary Western culture unless they're animated. Shakespeare had tricksters in his comedies. Charlie Chaplin, so brilliant, portrayed a trickster. Andy Kaufman was one & The Cat in the Hat. Many more, of course. Seems Western culture tricksters are predominantly outsiders.
We're in desperate need of clowns/tricksters. Important role to show the absurdity. They blur the binary. I adore irreverence. Love your hazmat idea. Hope you do it.
I absolutely agree Gerri. So many comedians are being censored and canceled now that more and more folks are afraid to make jokes or even laugh. This is not a good thing. I so so wish George Carlin was still around. Today is my birthday and it is also Bastille Day. I find that quite funny. I am having a dance party at a local park concert event and am dressing up in ceremonial clown regalia. I am sure the arbitrators of all things native will have alot of negative things to say about that. I mean the world is falling apart but we must, we must have an alert and vocal tribal fashionista police. It is so important to our health and well being. I do have some ability and willingness to go into thoughtful discussion about how we got here , where we are headed and how we can change. But my true default mode is really much more naturally Monty Pythonish and Addams Family. Here are some of my latest sign ideas:
BEWARE!!! LIVING ULTIMATELY LEADS TO DEATH!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! WE CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SAFETY!!! WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE!!!! NEWS FLASH EVERYONE -
NO MATTER HOW MANY LIKES OR FOLLOWERS YOU HAVE - YOU WILL STILL DIE!!!!!!!!!!
This culture is so freaking terrified of death that it is killing itself ever faster so it can pretend to at least have some control over the time and manner of that death. So hey let's blow ourselves up with nuclear warheads before a random comet or solar flare or a super volcano takes us out.
Happy birthday (& Bastille Day)! Oh, a dance party. Wish I could dance with you to celebrate. Damn the tribal fashionista police. With you on George Carlin, a hero of mine. Good comics are our best social critics. Frequently think what George would be saying about our recent madness & Lenny Bruce, Lucky to have seen George in concert years ago. Fan of Monty Python & the Addams family, too. Named a cat Gomez after Gomez Addams.
Fabulous sign ideas. The last is my favorite. True how we're terrified of death. Great book The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, an anthropologist. Won a non-fiction Pulitzer.
Have fun!
Thanks Gerri! Will check out the book. Just discovered this new doc on comedy and cancel culture the trailer is great, can't wait to see the doc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvvdqTAhM_A
Looks great--thanks. I couldn't find when. The link given isn't active yet. Reminded me to rewatch Robin Williams concerts. I love him. I was raised Jewish, a cultural identity. My family wasn't in the least religious. Been asked why are Jews funny, why so many Jewish comics? To keep from crying, to assert ourselves in a world that hates us. That role seems to now be POC & I get where they're coming from.
Love it!
please do it!!
Here is an (mabye overly sincere) attempt at a reply. I think that dark art belongs very much to a person with an interest in wisdom. People somewhat grounded in material and spiritual reality know that death belongs to life, pain belongs to joy, that all things end, including worlds. If you look at it that way, it is only natural to enjoy dark art. The part of you that knows and accepts these things about death and about pain and their place in the world, that part wants to see them reflected in art as well.
For that matter, our (perhaps wiser) ancestors did not exclusively enjoy cheerful art, not at all. Ancient spiritualities, as well, were full of cruelty and melancholy. Honestly, I think a refusal to welcome the dark, is a refusal of material and spiritual reality, more than the opposite.
Thank you. It is a sincere question, and merits a sincere reply. That's a helpful viewpoint.
A good medicine is laughing at myself, life without humor is not worth it, to be “dead serious” is just that: Dead.
For myself Charles , what have I learned ? I described to you in the last post how difficult my choices were . Certainly I was very much convinced by the science , if I’m honest it’s because when your son has a machine in his chest that keeps him alive you tend to have to have “ a rock to cling to “ . However what has been revealed in the Pandemic is the somewhat clumsy and not so “ deviously clever “ manipulations of the characters you mentioned ie Swabb , Gates , Biden and co . This is the difficulty and useful “ non - cohesion “ that a nefarious cabal displays , at the end of the day each of them is scrambling for the bigger cut or “ big dog” , the behaviour of a uncooperative pack
. I asked you also in one of my responses how we discern truth ,? indeed I do find some of the science from an anti vaxx perspective to be crowd sourced and I’m also shudder at the nomination through the term sheep . As a clinician it is important for me to have good data but also that I remain open minded in how I work with articles papers etc . Flexible and open is a true path of science . Indeed however as these global characters peel away their disguises , one can’t help but see the “ gargoyles “ that emerge so one is directed to find truth . The data sets are getting larger and certainly more representative of global nuance in terms of geography , however like a child with a lost parent I see now we cannot trust the intentions of these global planners , this is not limited to the Pandemic , there’s the War ,the food crisis and I guess more to come . So part of truth is -“ who is telling you the story “ not necessarily what they are saying .
Fran, I really appreciate your comment as I struggle not to blame the believers and try to figure out how to short circuit the decievers. Perhaps the most telling moment in my understanding of this was years before covid when I was leading a ceremony at a climate strike rally and as I looked out over the crowd holding hundreds of protest signs, there was one that really stood out for me. It was held up by a young girl, maybe 10 or 12 yrs old, and written on it in big bold letters were the word; "Science Never Lies'. In that moment I deeply grokked how effectively the leaders of this spiritually bankrupt society have suceeded in replacing God with Science. And that in spite of decades of well documented evidence to the contrary; people still want to believe in the absolute infallability of Science. By Fauci saying he was Science, ( I do not believe that was accidental) he put himself squarely at the top of the God/Science pyramid of collective faith. Where he has of course remained untouchable. We have built an entire civilization on our faith in Science. If we collectively admit that Science is not only quite fallible but has obviously been deliberately corrupted and manipulated in many instances; then where does that leave us? We are faced with having to develop our own individual spiritual sovereignty and that is pretty darn terrifying for alot of people. So the question I hear you asking, that I think the whole world is asking right now is this; how do we discern the truth admist the confusion and lies of multiple agendas fosted on us by psychopathic power hungry leaders? There are many good and caring people who simply do not know what to believe any more. I think this is an inevitable part of the process which forces us to turn within and learn to trust ourselves. We have relied almost exclusively on intellectual knowledge and mentally processed information for far too long. We need to open back up and broaden our natural sensory receptors to other input. You trusted your faith in medicine and your own intuition based on experience. That wasn't wrong. But now you have new information and experience and intuitive knowing to add to that ;so your view of truth is simply gotten bigger. That's all.
Well said, I really appreciate the way you think. How do we discern the truth indeed..this whole Covid experience has forced me to dig deep in to what is my own truth and how do I discover that? And how do I trust myself?
PJ it took me awhile to reply cuz I have been thinking deeply about this trust of self thing. What does that really mean? Now that I am an elder I find myself thinking more about and framing things in the way that the elders of my youth did. They were so busy just trying survive incredibly difficult times that they didn't really question in the way we are doing now. This is really a luxury. My own and I think most of our ancestors were swept up in circumstances and had to respond as best they could, hope for the best and make peace with or fun of the horrible things they could not control. Life taught them they had to trust themselves, even if they made the 'wrong' decisions. Our world expects us to come up with the 'right' answers, we are told that if we just micromanage things correctly, life will be great and we and our families will be safe! I don't think there is or ever has been any kind of flashing neon sign pointing to the 'right way'. And there has never been any real guarantee of safety or that we will have a great life and all will be well if we just get things 'right'. I mean even if we could instantly and effectively change human actions on a global scale right this minute and turn all the 'bad' things around, A random cosmic or natural event could still takes us out quite quickly. Humans are incredibly fragile, both mentally and phsyically. It really doesn't take much to bring us down. This is a very hard truth for folks to accept I think. Just some thoughts I was having this morning.
"And there has never been any real guarantee of safety or that we will have a great life and all will be well if we just get things 'right'."
Yes! It's all part of our ego delusion of being all - powerful and 'above' the natural world. There is nothing more certain than life is full of uncertainties and we are not 'in control'!!
“ A bigger truth “ - I like this very much more that that I understand it .
I know there are many good scientists out there who are like explorers .
Indeed at the cutting edge of science now Hoffman describes a new mathematics that he’s says points to a world beyond our current definitions of Space time indeed be extrapolates into the future to imagine there are layers beyond layers of a life which we think we understand yet is only a crude interface .
If we can hold the bigger truth , not denigrate the wisdom of elders and exchange it for Google search answers I think we have a chance . Science as questioning can be held and also the questioning born of dreams , intuition and feeling can be held to be an equal way of learning .
I admit to being a little lost at the moment , thank you for your reply
Fran, Not trying to put my own understanding on you here, but I like to think of bigger truth as the universe that somehow manages to embrace and balance all realities or truths simutaneously. I believe we are much much bigger than we percieve ourselves to be and that we have the ability to encompass many seeming polar opposites. We do it all the time. We are comfortable with both day and nite, winter and summer etc. For me lies are simply the other face of truth in that they point out truth more clearly and vice versa. Sort of a multi-faced Janus god type thing if you will. Looking at it this way helps me not become completely polarized or paralyzed even when I get very angry and outspoken about the pernicious lies and manipulations all around us.
RMW
Thank you , I do think it’s an interesting perspective . I always thought that some of the greatest evil can be perpetrated through certainity . Moving away from pure certainity might alllow us to see how things shift and better understand through feeling the intention of the cosmic winds . What I see is that , In a desert universe of shifting sands under gentle winds , everything is coming and going .
A virtue held too deeply can easily become a vice . Honesty held to its utmost can be seen to be unkind . I love your line about day and night .
When I spent some serious time last summer meditating on just why I was so opposed to getting any CV19 vaccine, I surprised myself when I went to record my answer for my podcast and began pondering "the ends justify the means" and that iconic phrase supposedly from a Vietnam War era military commander, "we had to destroy the village in order to save it." Thus, I was very pleased to learn this quote from Ursula K. Le Guin---indeed, we never do reach those ends, do we? These ends are always the Promised Land, just around the bend... I believe one of our psychological invitations from the leap into the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible is to recognize that the means create the ends, that HOW we live and behave determines what kind of society we live in.
This is as eloquent, balanced, thorough, and (dare I say 'forgiving') a peek down the rabbit hole as I have read, and especially over the last couple of years, I've read a lot. Bravo Charles. More than a cut above my pay grade.
I began reading philosophy of science, and then philosophy 'proper' back in the mid 70's as an undergrad to find my own personal ground of sanity to stand on. Like the wild side of a mandelbrot set gone mad, I'm seeing in your essay, Charles, a fractal of myself, and something I once read by Gandhi ... education (as opposed to job training) as the constant process of discovering what it means to be human.
But as much as I admire Ursula K. Le Guin (big influence on the Studio Ghibli brand over here in Japan), there is something troubling about that opening quote ... ''The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end?''
Metaphysically, I can fully agree with the quote. T.S. Kuhn's 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions' lays out a very good argument that contrary to Bertrand Russell's flippant dismissal of traditional religion as 'turtles, all the way down' ... it is probably true for even the mathematical rigor of physics. Mathematical models, though sometimes predictive, are also either provisional or parochial metaphors. If we live long enough as a species, I can imagine a future generation looking back on us and our 'planck unit' or 'spooky action at a distances' as quaint metaphors, similar to the way we might judge the 1803 Dalton model of the atom.
But no end to human nature? Maybe because my undergrad was in biology, I try my best to avoid a reductionist view of human nature. And maybe being the permanent outsider, the 'professional foreigner' in Japan Inc. for 40 years has colored my opinion of what it means to be human. I'm certain it has. But with one foot in the Far East, one in the West, one in the natural sciences, one in the liberal arts ... I can't help but to see something (or maybe 'sense' is a better word?) fundamental to human nature, something that does have an end. It might be as simple as Schopenhauer's 'will to power', or more profanely 'the law of the jungle'.
By temperament, I want to believe in the Platonic ideals of 'the good', 'the true', and 'the beautiful' as something we are all capable of finding on the altruistic end our moral bell curve. But persistence of dark-triad behavior traits at every level of social organization, from the nuclear family to a new world order, whispers to me that collectively, we may be incapable of learning from the past. Those dark-triads, Susan Sontag's 'cruel 10%' — the pathological narcissists, machiavellian opportunists, and morphologically defined psychopaths among us — will, as you point out, arise to replace the Gates, Schwabs, and Zuckerbergs of this world.
But what if there is no system or sustainable heuristics that will allow us to prevent these destructive behaviors from periodically rising to sociopathic levels? What if self-destruction is built into the advantages of scale? Maybe there is something to that quote ... 'Quantity has a quality all its own.' But what if that quality expands so far away from the empathetic roots of our morality, that it is self-destructively 'bad'?
Exploring the moral implications of exceeding Dunbar's number, or by-passing our mirror neurons through the Trolley Car problem are good openings into questions without end. I don't have good answers to those questions. There might not even be good answers or solutions. But from experience and observation, I suspect there is an 'end', or rather a 'constraint' on what it means to be human ... some kind of existential limit grounded in our biology.
Perhaps the collective failure to learn from the past is what drives us to imaginative worlds without end. But the time and resources to dream, and share those dreams, or even take the time to understand them ... are limited to those who have the luxury of freedom from living at the edge as a wage-slave.
Will end my own navel gazing for the moment with another familiar quote regarding ends. ''Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?' — Robert Browning.
No answers here Charles, but gratitude for your craftsmanship of thought, and your moral thrust. I will be passing your essay on to a few friends who I'm sure will likewise be inspired and motivated by your essay.
Cheers from Japan, and again, thank you.
Steven, I think there are limits to the physical universe, to how far into separation (evil) one can go and humanity is reaching it. I call it Divine Mercy. Every time humanity reaches this point, we have a choice to evolve or self-destruct. It remains to be seen what choice we are making this time around.
Divine Mercy 🙌🏼
Hi Kandy, I had to think of that for a moment ... but it soon made sense, and I can go with that. My assumptions and reasons to understand you goes something like this:
If hell is the absence of love, then heaven is love.
And if love is connecting with everything, hell (or at least its portal) is that which we are not connected with.
Maybe that portal is Divine Mercy, and we are at the precipice?
As a collective species, we can only guess. But intuitively, based on our personal trials and tribulations, it makes sense to me.
Cheers from Japan Kandy! I had never thought of it that way. Looking forward to reading more of you blazing a new path through the word salad around us.
steve
I really like your comment. To me, it speaks an idealistic goal that there is some utopian future where human beings live in harmony. I'm not saying it's not possible, but a belief in it is just that, a belief, and sometimes a naive one. Maybe the cycle of abusive power in human collectives is useful, even good, for spiritual growth. To not firmly land in one or the other, in a future Utopia, or hellscape, leaves people more open to aligning with the spontaneous arising of reality. (If one experiences reality as such). That reality, or beingness that is arising in each of us as well will open us to what is needed for ourselves and others. Sometimes it will illuminate our limitations that need to be digested. Sometimes it will call forth our mature essential qualities to be exercised. Our beliefs can get in the way of seeing things as they are, and knowing the limitations of our individual perceptions of society. (Even the belief that a spontaneous reality that by its nature is essentially good exists without the direct experience of it is also a limitation). Can we exist without firmly landing somewhere... our ego likes somewhere to hang it's hat, somewhere firm to stand. Take good care. ❤️
Thank you again, I always appreciate your words!
I think that stopping people (or statistics) from lying is unlikely, at least not anytime soon. And I’m not convinced that’s even a good thing. If people stop lying, we’d never have the opportunity to learn inner discernment. Plus, relying on others to change their behavior puts us in the position of victim as we project our power outwards onto them, rather than empowering outselves.
How about using our own inner guidance to discern truth, to know when a person or document is lying? Isn’t that part of the whole Cosmic Covid Experiment, to encourage people to withdraw a little from the outer world in order to find the Truth within?
We certainly have some examples… How do mothers know when their kids are lying? Even though we don’t have the best vocabulary to explain this, it clearly happens, as moms and kids are well aware. Some call it “women’s intuition” as if that is a mystical phenomenon…but it actually is just about being in touch with one’s subtle inner guidance in order to discern the vibration of Truth. Mostly, at least for me, this inner guidance doesn’t come in words, but in feelings - a sensing in the gut, or in the heart. Practices like yoga or meditation can help people be more consciously receptive of their own deeper knowledge.
I think I read between your lines that our innate guidance system is the most effective way “to immunize we the people against future fascistic exploitation” or any kind of personal or societal exploitation, and is the antidote to “a population dispossessed of its spiritual sovereignty"...
It occurs to me that this journey to understanding the more subtle Truths within might be the next step in evolution.
I continue to marvel at how clear and soulful your perception and insights continue to be in the face of the atrocities unfolding. My tendency to become numb and shut down is challenged whenever I read your posts. You are regularly able to reawaken my humanity, compassion and intellect so that I can survive to fight another day. You are such a pure enlightened wise man who, more than any other person, somehow gives me hope, against all my cynicism and despair. Now, to act on what you are sharing.
Thank you for your sane and balanced writing.
When they first started talking about the new MRNA COVID shots (they are not vaccines, as we later found out), and then got emergency authority from FDA to start jabbing everyone, I did all the research I could to find out what was in them, whether they were actually effective, and whether they were safe. It quickly became clear that: 1) safety was not known, as the clinical trials most vaccines have to go through were completely bypassed; 2) no real data on effectiveness, either (in terms of preventing infection with COVID, and preventing vaccinated individuals from transmitting COVID. The only thing they said they "knew" was that the shot could reduce severity of symptoms in some individuals, particularly those with comorbidities; and 3) the whole notion that, through use of messenger RNA we could teach our bodies to produce a protein that would trigger an immune response, was completely unproven and experimental. With this information, NOT getting the shot quickly became a no-brainer for me. I do not authorize any medical procedure on my body until I fully understand both the (potential) benefits and the risks. Since there was no solid information on potential benefits (particularly for someone like me, who is in good health, with no comorbidities), and there CLEARLY WERE BIG RISKS in taking the shot, I knew I did not want it. Fortunately, I had retired from my job (federal govt) a few years before COVID came along. Had I still been working, I would have been FORCED to get the shot, against my will, or resign (after 20-some years of service). That is an absolute outrage. I still cannot believe all of the (supposedly intelligent) people I know that all lined up like sheep to get their shots, without hesitation. By the way, I did come down with COVID, later in 2020. Had a relatively mild sickness for 5-6 days, then recovered. Based on the reputable studies I have read (dozens of them), I now have natural immunity that is very likely to be long-lasting. The CDC keeps warning me that I need the shot, because natural immunity is not as good as the shot. That was when I knew they were absolutely LYING. I am not aware of any viral disease in history where a vaccine was superior to natural immunity from a prior infection. CDC cited one flawed study (from Kentucky, as I recall), with just a few participants, to support their claim, which was laughable. Clearly, CDC and the other public health authorities are being controlled by outside forces here..........most likely Big Pharma. Money and the drive for profits drives everything in America, and the OBSCENE profits that Big Pharma has made from these shots is enough to make me sick. And they have complete protection from liability, should anyone get sick and/or die from the shots (and many clearly have). What a great deal for them! My eyes have been opened as a result of this whole outrageous experience with COVID and the shots. Any trust I had in the health authorities (and most govt. officials) is gone, and cannot be restored easily. I'm just glad I was skeptical enough at the beginning to do my own research, and hold off on having anything done to my body until I understood what was going on here.
I felt similarly and declined to get the vaccine, though in my seventies
In 2023 I started traveling again, and each time (3) I caught covid, unfortunately. Each bout was less severe than the first. I have had no lingering effects that I am aware of, besides perhaps being somewhat less ill each time, and losing most of my senses of smell and taste afterwards for awhile.
Deep bow Charles
Deep gratitude for your voice.
I've been wondering if it's possible to re-frame the narrative, in a way that accurately depicts the main transgressions (which is putting it mildly) by the authorities, without letting cognitive dissonance and knee-jerk denialism take root. I'm thinking of this specifically in terms of the general populace who will often (privately) acknowledge something is not right, but have a firm desire to not look deeper into the problem. I can understand that mentality, but it's unacceptable at this point in the saga, and I feel like a solution (other than exiting and building parallel societies) needs to still be pursued. I would view this attempted re-frame as a gentle push, rather than coddling a willful ignorance. But I'm also not sure this re-framing is even possible, given the scope of the deceit you eloquently laid out.
Thank you for staying grounded in the center, Charles. And for pointing out the "avatar" status of figureheads like Klaus and Gates. Removing them from position of authority will not simply remove the root of the problem, rather only obfuscate it even more.
I don’t know what to do with the problem of feeling that I have to treat people’s beliefs about Covid “precautions” as sacred religions, lest I lose those relationships. When someone who purports to trust scientific conclusions says things in direct contradiction to clear and good data, and I can’t bring that up because we’ve all “agreed to disagree,” what has happened to the pursuit of what truth there might be that is accessible to our consciousness in this shared reality? How long can we live in such different movies?
yeah I hear you, especially in terms of living in "different movies" ... but I strongly feel that the smallest blip in perspective can change that. And I would argue that covid precautions aren't so much sacred religions as they are the result of very intense conditioning. Most seem to have forgotten simple concepts like natural immunity, but it's what has kept humans going for thousands and thousands of years before we started all this bio-manipulation.
I'm gonna try an analogy (apologies if it's convoluted) ... there's been a shipwreck. All of us in the general populace are now in the water, and there was a mass release of life preservers and floaty things for people to latch onto. Many simply tread water while getting a sense of their surroundings (those banking on natural immunity) but the majority seem to forget about this intuitive ability and, in an understandable panic, hastily seek out these inflated contraptions for a sense of safety. While there is plenty of these life preservers to go around, we see clear signs of deflation occurring, and rather than relying on these failing life preservers, we could cooperate in seeking out stable ground (i.e. allowing the pathogen to run it’s course and evolutionarily decrease in virulence). This analogy is within the assumption that SARS-CoV-2 would revert back to being a seasonal pathogen in circulation, which seems clear now based on all available evidence.
The current societal crisis is that individuals in the water feel compelled to give explicit orders to others on how to best survive during this slow-acting shipwreck of a civilization, when it’s rather clear that it’s an issue of personal autonomy. If each person attempting to tread water somehow brought others who chose the life preservers down (i.e. the shots prevented transmission) then there could some validity to these explicit orders of behavior. But that’s simply not the case, and two+ years into this thing, people just gotta remember that treading water is indeed (usually) a valid option. (Unless we poison ourselves/strap weights to our legs).
Yes, I specifically said cult. Intense conditioning is very much part of any cult indoctrination. Again, walk your own truth.
Exactly. I have the same questions.
You don’t have to subscribe to their cult. Walk your truth.
If anyone wants an eye and mind-opening read check out Wetiko: Healing the Mind-Virus That Plagues Our World and Dispelling Wetiko: Dispelling The Curse of Evil both by Paul Levy. Finished the first book in three days and am blazing through the second book now. I think what Charles is really getting at in these essays is that each one of us needs to do our shadow work. When we take responsibility for our ability to perpetrate evil (and I am speaking of anything that comes from a place of separation: of an ego island that is not connected to others and life), then we can better discern the evil out in the world. But until we are fully aware of our shadow, we will be projecting it onto others which makes us very susceptible to fear, propaganda, lies, and mind control. Instead of othering people, it really is time for each of us to understand the role we are playing in the perpetuation of this evil in the first place. How did humanity attract this evil? How did our world get to this point of multiple crises? If we don't get to the root of the problem, we will just re-create more of the same (what we have been doing for thousands of years), but we don't have thousands of years to raise our consciousness now. We have mere decades...maybe...if we don't nuke ourselves first.
I appreciate your anti-mainstream position, Charles. It’s why I keep reading: Because I agree that the NBC, CNN, etc crowd continue to get a lot wrong with their unquestioned trust in certain authorities (and, at times, authoritarianism).
This essay clarified why I also take issue with so much of your writing on Covid: You fail to explore the ways that anti-mainstream positions (e.g., many of the Substack writers you cite) have *also* frequently been ignorant and deceitful.
Put another way, you seem to believe that if someone has spiritual sovereignty then they will interpret incredibly complex datasets about vaccines and masks and viruses the same way you do. In reality, spiritual sovereignty just means that we never let a “team” dictate our beliefs. Two people might have spiritual sovereignty and come to opposite conclusions about the data — perhaps because they’re looking at different datasets or perhaps because they don’t have training in unpacking complex and evolving datasets, which is a skill unto itself.
What I’m suggesting, to get more specific, is that it might be possible to have spiritual sovereignty *and* believe that the data shows that the vaccines and N95 masks have been a net good even if they have also been oversold. Just because someone believes this doesn’t mean they don’t have spiritual sovereignty.