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Wetiko – Cognitive Infiltration of the Third Kind
Wetiko – Cognitive Infiltration of the Third Kind
By
Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Infiltration Pyramid (Image h/t to WB7 @ http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/)
Just like millions of children before me, when I was young I would play imaginary games populated with scary monsters and evil space aliens. And of course I was always the courageous and handsome hero who saved the planet from certain doom and total annihilation again and again and again. I never tired of the game because the cast of characters and wacky scenarios I could play out was limited only by my imagination, thankfully a fertile garden at that time. In fact my mother still tells anyone who will listen that when I was an infant she could place me in my crib with a few scattered toys and I would be happily sated for hours on end. Such is the power of naval gazing and soul searching.
One of my favorite imaginary set ups was suddenly finding that while everyone around me appeared perfectly normal on the outside, on the inside they were ugly monsters or plague carrying mutants, most certainly something to avoid at all costs. Then I would spend the rest of the play period, sometimes for entire weekends, trying to avoid any physical contact with family, friends, neighbors and especially strangers in order to keep from being infected or consumed. Often I would entice a few select uninfected friends to join in the fun and we would craft powerful weapons to help us rid the world of the terrible pestilence.
This was excellent practice for a young mind to learn how to look and act ‘normal’, to fit in while living within an insane world, mostly because part of the game was to interact with the infected humans in order to dispatch them to hell or any available alien spacecraft orbiting above. If they saw you coming and suspected your intent, the monster within would suddenly spring forth and quickly devour or infect you. Since these inner beasts had eyes hidden in the back of their human heads, it was no use trying to sneak up on them because you would quickly be spotted.
So the best approach was always to act normal and walk right up to the human monster as if nothing was wrong, then quickly draw your weapon and gun them down. If we smirked or snickered or even wet our pants, we blew our cover and the jig was up. We always thought it was loads of fun, though I’m quite certain the adults in the neighborhood didn’t take too kindly to our antics. Then again, you would expect the insane and the infected to be that anyway. Ah, but to be young once again and not know what I know today. The good old days of blissful ignorance most definitely has its own compelling charm.
Today’s youth are much less likely to create imaginary worlds and then play in them, and much more likely to play within imaginary worlds already created for them a la video games and interactive 3D TV. There is a world of difference between these two applications of our imagination, though I will not be a hypocrite and declare that the imagination of my youth (or ‘yute’ as my cousin Vinny and I would say) was free from external influence. One cannot deny that my monster and space alien play things sprang from popular culture and that this has been true for thousands of years. So while the bogeymen might change from generation to generation, society’s cultural indoctrination and de-spiritualization does not.
But, and there is always a but in the way of our oversized ego, the one constant down through the ages has been that while the initial wisp of a play idea may have been supplied by our culture, the heavy lifting and finer details were generated entirely by our own powerful imagination, the only true reality creation device in the universe. That old saying about how if you aren’t creating your own reality, someone else will create one for you is frighteningly prescient. Will someone please stop this reality because I want to get off? Let’s just say I need to go pee and leave it at that, OK?
Today we are witnessing another giant (and possibly fatal) leap into the dark abyss of insanity begetting more insanity, only now our imagination is being held captive and molded by the use of artificially created computer realities on an ever increasing scale and velocity. Call it High Frequency Transcendentalism (HFT) only traveling ass backwards and rapidly accelerating. And we are talking about artificial realities, mind you, that 20 years from now will be indistinguishable from the ‘real’ thing. Though I bet I could successfully argue that anything created by our imagination is real in every sense of the word, which means our present day insanity is a product of……our………insanity. OK, now I really want to get off.
I’m not some old fart bemoaning the passing of yesteryear and the souring of today’s milk. Ok I am an old fart, but the real question here is do we even recognize the exponential increase of ever more insanity in our daily lives? And what would we actually do about it if we did? This is not intended to be a rhetorical question, but rather the springboard to a broader discussion, the details of which I will leave to Paul Levy in his new book “Wetiko, The Greatest Epidemic Sickness Known to Humanity”, (here) a book I urge you to purchase and read, either in paperback or electronic form. While I dance around the edges and act like I know what I’m doing (just like in my ‘yute’) Paul hammers out the ugly details and actually presents a recovery strategy. Well worth your time and Federal Reserve Notes (aka fracking fiat).
So how do we identify the infection within us when all seems perfectly normal on the surface? When I played the game, either I would bestow upon myself some magical powers that made the monsters visible only to me or I would just assume everyone was infected and blast away indiscriminately, the latter being the most fun. But my basic assumption was always the same, that I was infection free and thus perfectly positioned to be judge, jury and executioner. Such is not the case today, or should I say not in this particular reality. Because whether we care to admit it or not, we are all infected with Wetiko - The Insanity Disease.
I suspect we won’t need to worry about crafting weapons because the only effective antibiotic available to battle our insanity is the disinfecting power of conscious awareness of our own insanity. In a brilliant expression of cosmic karma, not to mention providing the last laugh for our alien Gods, we don’t even know how truly insane we are. I suppose a bright-side-of-life kind of guy might say that this alone saves us the staggering cost of intensive global psychotherapy, though no one has yet explained to me how the insane can cure the insane. But then again, what difference does it make anyway when we really don’t know what sanity looks like. Remember that all we know how to do is act the part, and all we have for role models is other insane asylum inmates.
In fact the only thing that separates you and me from those who are locked up in a mental institution is that we are the majority and thus we get to determine the rules of the game. Of course, this understanding then begs the bigger question. Are the evil space aliens all just members of an even greater majority and thus our collective mental institution is simply planet Earth? If this is the case, then Earth’s so-called leadership are simply Warden’s assigned to keep the inmate population so distracted and disorientated that we never become self aware long enough to organize a resistance and jump the fence. Oh, and they make sure we keep our cages clean and we are fed.
As humorous as this might sound, since we are all insane, I dare you to prove me wrong when your ‘logical’ explanation springs from the very same insanity that produces mine. The only reason yours might sound more reasonable is because it fits within the current insane narrative and thus is supported by the insane majority. By the way, your response at this point is to highlight my insanity by saying “But it is you who are insane, not me”, thus confirming for both of us the righteousness of our insane arguments. Who says insanity can’t be fun?
The only reason those we lock up in the mental institutions believe they are insane (and many do not) is because we tell them they are. Imagine that, the insane telling the insane they are insane and that the insane will cure their insanity. Makes you just want to kick back and watch your flat screen color TV for some more normalcy bias programming. Which brings us back to the future where the burning question in 15 months will be “Have you voted for your choice for Warden today”? I did and I have my red, white and blue sticker as proof, which means I am certifiably sane.
However, after careful thought and quiet deliberation, I’m beginning to see the wisdom of the majority who all pretty much agree that since we can never really tell the difference, there is little we can do about the problem and we might as well just break out the kegs and proceed directly to the party. This argument is not without merit since absent a disinterested third party (maybe a passing space alien volunteer?) who can quietly sort out the sick from the sicker from the sickest without anyone knowing, a sort of mental triage on the down low, that the best response is just to let our mental illness all hang out. But wait a minute, isn’t that precisely what we’re doing right now? Now I’m really confused. Damn you Cass Sunstein, get out of my head.
But wouldn’t you know it, just when the party hits full steam and the beer and projectile vomiting are both flowing freely, someone goes and blows the whole night by saying something completely and utterly politically incorrect, such as “Maybe our illness compels us to just give up and rut in the mud precisely so that the disease can not only survive, but even prosper. Maybe if we focused our conscious energy towards recognizing our disease and all its symptoms that it would almost immediately begin to recede and abate.”
Bummer dude, who invited him to the party and when is he leaving? Marge, I think next time I’ll handle the guest list, OK?
But what if? I mean seriously, what if? What if all this raving lunacy isn’t just human nature, at least not as it has been experienced for several thousand years? Suppose instead that humans are infected with a spiritual deficiency or corruption that has slowly rotted the humanity out of our spiritual being, leaving only the lying, thieving, cheating, sociopathic predator behind that was formerly balanced out and even suppressed by an inner guiding light? Could it be that all the ugly destructive traits we attribute to the human condition are caused by a treatable malady? And the only reason we don’t resist is because we are controlled by the disease in the same manner as some types of parasites compel the animal host to eat or drink substances that, while harmful to the host, feed the parasite?
<All at the party are dead silent as crickets chirp in the background and the grass continues to grow.>
Kidding, just kidding folks. So who’s ready for another round? Marge, where did you put the shot glasses and Jagermeister? Man, I’m gonna get bombed tonight or die trying. And maybe even both.
07-18-2011
Cognitive Dissonance
___________________________
Those readers who have been following me for some time, both in the general comment section and as I post essays, know that I rarely if ever recommend any specific reading material for a variety of reasons. I just don’t. But I am making an exception for an important work by Paul Levy; someone for whom I guest posted an article (here) back in January of this year that became part of his new book “Wetiko, The Greatest Epidemic Sickness Known to Humanity.”
I’ve know Paul for a little more than two years now, speaking often with him in private session. And I’ve come to greatly respect his process, knowledge and inner connections. When I talk about looking within and knowing yourself, I am in effect speaking about Paul Levy, who walks the talk and has done so for decades. However I am not alone in my praise for his new work, for no less than Catherine Austin Fitts wrote the Foreword and Sting contributed a ringing endorsement for the back cover, along with Dr. Arny Mindell, founder of ‘process-oriented psychology’.
At 152 pages long and in paperback format (as well as a .pdf downloadable version) this is not an epic read. But neither does this mean you’ll breeze through it in two hours on the beach. While the book might not be thick, it is chock full of penetrating insight though surprisingly readable considering the material. What I love about this book is that you can open up to any random page and just jump right in. Within a few paragraphs you are fully engrossed, but if you wish you can flip 30 pages ahead and start in all over again. And best of all for Zero Hedge fans, Paul talks about vampire squids. So what’s not to love about this gem of a book?
Please visit Paul’s web site, the only place at the moment where you will find this early release, and purchase the paperback or downloadable file. The price is extremely reasonable and the paperback includes free shipping in the USA. But best of all, the contents are absolutely priceless and highly recommended.
CD
- advertisements -
CD,
Thanks so much for the post. Synchronicity needs at least two points to exist.... you provided the second for me. I came across "Wetiko" elsewhere today and was alerted when I saw it again in such a brief period. The concept is very helpful to me after I explored it. (though it hasn't helped me in my habit of ending sentences in prepositions...) Many here at ZH are starting to "awaken from the dream", but may be fixated by the act of awakening. When one pulls the curtain aside, they can move forward or simply stand amazed and/or livid by the act of pulling the curtain away and what they see before them. Many are resentful that the world view they ascribed to before is false, and are ready to battle the forces that had previously deluded them. Some that pull the curtain aside, may now be willing to accept the dissonance they've been feeling for years and understand it's nature. I assume this post, (as I don't hardly ever post, but lurk in the cyber shadows) will generate a flurry of junks from the reductionalists and neo-Hegelians amomg us. (shit, it does my heart good to be able to use the language I paid a shit load of money for by buying a liberal arts degree).
I'm sure you're aware that your post may be as Carl Jung said, "casting pearls before pigs". But, hey,... Thanks for casting! This pig found it very useful.
sorry for more picks & quibbles, but does anyone else think that having a blurb by "Sting" on the cover of this particular book is equivalent to having lloyd blankenfein give 'inside job' two thumbs up? wonder if the author has ever considered whether this custom of having an energy-sucking zombie vampire celebrity endorse your work in order to help sell more product is part and parcel of the wetiko disease?
I assume you are not a "Sting" fan from your comment. What leads you to think "Sting" is a vampire? Seriously.
Actually the "Sting" persona is not the person. Most people see only the avatar that is presented for the cameras, just like you and I have a facade that we put on daily. While there is some bleed through, I seriously doubt that the 'you' that you present to strangers is the 'real' you. The real you is reserved for your intimates. Yet we judge the entire person by the "Sting" avatar he has dreamed up and presents to the world. That isn't fair.
don't be ridiculous, he signed it Sting, he didn't sign it with his real name. The man doesn't care for the Sting Avatar, and the man signed it as such, end of story.
Yup.
Don't want to look much deeper than that.
Agreed.
on the contrary, in my youth, i contributed more than my fair share of energy (symbolized by the $ that i had in my possession) to help maintain the "Sting" persona, in the form of albums, concerts & t-shirts what have you. it's not the persona i dislike, it's the person behind it. let's just leave at that. will give him credit though, he is a decent mandolin player and at one time was an interesting songwriter.
you are correct though that my personal distaste toward this particular individual and the facade that he has carefully constructed around him has diminished the point i was attempting to make.
point being: why should we value some (any) celebrity's opinion enough to sacrifice our energy (in form of money) in return for a product/service that we believe will be of equal or increased value to us? because he/she is popular? because he/she is successful in manipulating the current system to achieve personal 'success' (as defined by the current system)? because we think that some of that 'je ne sais quoi' will rub off on us? why are we hold these people in such high esteem to give them authority over matters unrelated to their discipline like adolescent high-school kids?
isn't this perception a symptom of the wetiko top of the pyramid that you & bill so clearly described above? to place certain individuals on pedestals above ourselves and then spend our time & energy either struggling to climb to their level or trying to knock them down to our level? isn't the wetiko itself a symptom of this false heirarchy of values that envelops & suffocates us all? isn't this what causes these creatures of celebrity to be created, us giving them approval and license to behave corresponding to the worst aspects of their personality, because we voluntarily give them the admiration that those aspects crave to be able to survive?
this is not to diminish Paul's work...read him in the past and particularly admired 'the madness of king george'...just of the opinion that this culture of celebrity is a primary example of the wetiko virus, maybe the #1 example of it.
Tip, you make very good points.
Levy fully agrees that he is part of the Wetiko disease. He never claims he is immune, not infected or recently cured. And if he is going to publish a book in a Wetiko diseased world it must follow the Wetiko world's rules. He is trying to get a message out that few even wish to consider. This is the world today. A black cover with white lettering would not sell. Pure and simple.
And his local audience, that area of the country in which he lives and practices, is more favorable to Sting and that is where he expects his book to sell. It was his choice to use the endorsement and I simply echoed it since it was on the front cover. Not the way I would go, but it doesn't diminish the book. Would the endorsement stop you from purchasing the book to read what he has to say?
i know the area and agree that Lord Sumner's golem is considered a demigod in those parts. and since you put that way, the whole tactic could be very Paper Street Soap-ish. like i said, my contempt may be clouding my judgement on the matter. (but isn't that how it always is?)
yes, any celebrity endorsement would stop me dead in my tracks, but i'm crazy like that and definitely not representative of Levy's general audience. nonetheless, since he's self-publishing and offering an option that does not harm any trees, willing to give it a stab.
in return, going to download some old Police songs, as i've been humming that bass line to "when the world is running down" all day today. still wicked after all these years. ba-de-ba-boom, ba-de-ba-boom, ba-de-ba-boom. (and if dear Gordo wants his 99 cents, bitch can come collect. i'm quite sure i still have the old vinyl lying around somewhere so that it's still legit under the Fair Use Doctrine or whatever snivel the RIAA calls it at the moment.)
Oh, and one last parting comment before I gun my anti matter, anti energy, anti time and anti universe ship and disappear outa here before the contagion hits me, y’all did it to yourselves. Discussing ideas and coming to agreements, you guys only furthered your insanity.
I only hope I’m not too late to save my sanity. And don't go blaming it on us aliens. (all in fun and sanity)
We have observed you. Therefore you are affected.
Though I understood the reference......I think. :)
My idea stems from this general concept, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/02/980227055013.htm .
But I appreciate the humor in your change.
It's no coincidence, that sub-atomic activity, and brainwaves, operate in the same frequency range.
ever hear of the dreamachine?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamachine
fun stuff.
It is too late.
Our only saving grace is that since you are infected you will soon infect the greater majority, your brethren alien races. Thus you will then become the next insane asylum.
Good luck with that. :)
Hello CogD,
I glanced over and spotted all of this thinking going on and got interested so I silently observed.
Just say I am a .. an alien.
Just a question to you personally. Seems to me you were being your earlier young hero role player. Perhaps not. But you and all sure did get infectious with each other. Yes, nobody was right and nobody was wrong.
Now the question. Did you plug any of them with your zapper/plugger before you became infected or was this just a game all along with you being immune,
“By the way, your response at this point is to highlight my insanity by saying “But it is you who are insane, not me”, thus confirming for both of us the righteousness of our insane arguments. Who says insanity can’t be fun?”
I'm curious if y'all are now insane zombies and I better hi-tail it outa here or start zappin to save my own sanity.
As I said in my piece, as a child I always assumed I was not infected. I never said anything about immune. In fact I was worried about becoming infected. "But my basic assumption was always the same, that I was infection free and thus perfectly positioned to be judge, jury and executioner. Such is not the case today, or should I say not in this particular reality. Because whether we care to admit it or not, we are all infected with Wetiko - The Insanity Disease."
No zombies. But yes, to some degree or another we are all infected. And so are you now since you came in contact with us. Enjoy the gift. We seem to love our madness. :)
"As humorous as this might sound, since we are all insane, I dare you to prove me wrong when your ‘logical’ explanation springs from the very same insanity that produces mine."
The way out of our FU situation is through the wisdom of each human heart. The pursuit of "logic" may have nothing to do with it, and often distracts and obfuscates. Parts of the journey may have logical moments, but breadcrumb trails of logic disappear into the dangerous woods.
The human heart does not kick ass, but it's solutions are kick ass.
Brilliant work CD...
I remember watching the latest 'Alice in Wonderland' movie by Tim Burton and feeling depressed, because it killed imagination, actually butchered it for the kids who are watching it nowadays. AIW was one of the most imaginative books i read as a kid, but Tim killed it...( still very angry with him)
When i was a kid ...there were many unknowns . These were not known to my parents...and i had to use a lot of imagination to fill things in. Not that I was right, but my imagination was in full flow.
A lot of the kids these days are growing up with knowns ( with their parents now knowing a lot of things). This is killing imagination. I've met parents that would not let their kids watch Harry Potter..as this would spoil them ( magic , witchcraft etc). I told them, that they are killing imagination by sending their kids to school or making them slaves to corporations.
I also realised that I myself..became a victim of knowing and am currently in the process of breaking my own beliefs...and have realised that i must stop speaking, as language forces me to know. Talking a lot , forces me to know. Writing this , forces me to know.
I want to treat this world as a mystery...I dont want to know things...I want to treat everything as magic (eg. earth rotates round the sun...because of magic, not because of gravity.) Probably one of the reason why i dislike scientists or PhD's...they all seem to tell me that they know something...
...not sure if i have explained myself correctly.
As a child I quickly learned that adults would lie to children for practical purposes so to avoid sensitive subjects etc., so till I was 12 I 'played the game' of pretending to believe everything the adults said, I naively believed that once I turned 13(or some adult age) the adults would start being honest and logical with me, imagine my shock when that never hapened
Thanks CD, for this beautiful read.
The "Wetiko" explanation of soul corruption as a parasitic entity is very fitting, and humane. First it alarmed my anti-mythological feelings... But let's face it, by pure boring logic you don't reach people, rather the opposite. If the thing happens to exist in one way or another, why not give it a name?
Keep It at bay!
http://www.hark.com/clips/xdwwqfzpfx-i-am-not-our-father
Grasshopper, when you are able to offer the answer ''no'', to the question ''Is the Truth a choice?'', you shall know the meaning of life in agreement is ''Love''. The Revelation upon us is The Defining and Sustaining Cause. The alien claim of dominion is unbecoming. Seperation and death is being defined by the revelation of order and mercy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jr-2eyRtV4
The image of the Father is the Son risen in agreement with the Bride. Our image is perfect, not out of order, it's the Tree of Life and a family affair. Without a doubt, we are cast down by contempt (crazy alien claim of dominion) and must be risen in agreement or remain as we were unbecoming. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgGzGMCNtG8
The will of the Father is not a choice, every knee shall bow. There is no question, love is; perfect, risen, always and forever without change. http://bible.cc/1_john/2-24.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=457N1m4oUZw
CD, I think you know by now that you are my absolute favourite here at ZH, even above WB7 and Tyler. Thank you again for the photo, which I have made into my avatar.
This particular piece of yours here has me unsettled. At risk of rubbing you the wrong way, I feel compelled to speak up. Yes CD, americans have become bastard coated bastard donuts with bastard filling. This is not the country either you or I grew up in and what is considered a norm has changed so dramatically to the point where I often wonder if I have become abnormal simply by virtue of growing older. I see that in your piece. However, here are some very important things I want to point out that do not seem to jive with this particular piece:
1) Most of the rest of the world is not like this. Most of the rest of the world still is civil (regardless of how rich or poor the country); has social norms which they adhere to and which make sense to me and often remind me of the America I grew up in. We in amerika have lost much of our civility, though it is not all gone.
2) Most of the rest of the world still adheres to a rulebook - be it The Bible, Torah, Q'uran, Code of Hammurabi, a Constitution, etc. We in the states are suffering a breakdown in the rule of law. This is coupled with classical tyrranical oppression, so it is magnified and it feels worse. It's one thing when the king is above the law, but everybody else is oppressed under the same laws....however it is much worse when there is no one king but rather a large corporatocracy/kleptocracy that are above the law and the law isn't being applied: now that is indeed worse than an oppressive monarch.
3) For now, we in amerika still have the right to keep and bear arms. This is the last line of defence against a tyrannical government and/or lawlessness. Although some days I feel the cause is hopeless, I am reminded that I personally know average, everyday US citizens who will indeed die before giving up their guns...and they represent all walks of life. We in amerika are bruised and blackened but we still hold the gun. This fight is far from over.
I encourage ALL peoples of the world to read their own religious textbook front to back - from page 1 and on to the last page - and know their rule of law. For us amerikans, that includes The Constitution. Knowing what we are, what are the rules, what we stand for, and what we believe, will thus determine what are our norms...i.e. what is considered "sane" versus "insane." I am confident that in doing this it will be obvious that what we are suffering today is pure evil, and is not what is considered normal or sane.
Here's a clip for perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3YFmpSFJ40
Man CD, you've really got me unsettled on this one.
I want to thank you for again stimulating some new nueronal pathways.
Wasn't it Pirsig who wrote (in Lila) that mental disorders are nothing but a social disfunction?
I remember the example of the African male in S. Francisco who complained that someone had cast a spell on him - and was promptly sent to the mental ward....whereas in Africa his complaint would have been perfectly appropriate (and would have been cured).
We're all doomed - I mean all the individuals who care to take a critical view on the "System" - to some major form of insanity, as society progresses to some kind of New Normal World Order defined by consumption, credit, belief in fiat currencies, support of incompetent leaders, acceptance of glass ceilings, fascist-kapitalism, Supra-National Conglomerate-States, bio and geo-engineering....
However by december 2012 it could all come to a happy and definitive end. Let's have a toast to that ;-)
Why do you call a television a "flat screen color tv"? Why don't you just say "tv"?
Poetic license.
I need to renew mine and I want to use what's left in the old one before it runs out. My mother taught me not to waste my P's and Q's.
And T's and V's.
Isn't this the same thing that the Reformed Protestants have been saying for a few hundred years? Something about us sinning because we are sinners? Kind of like ducks flying because they are ducks as opposed to sitting down and designing a 777 to take them South for the winter.
Trapped by our insinanity we do insin things.
Sin and insanity are not the same thing. Not even in the same ballpark from my perspective.
Interesting metaphysical concepts.
Just want to say I appreciated your original post that introduced the wetiko concept to me, and I appreciate this new post tonight too.
5 stars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe4EK4HSPkI
edit: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rihanna+disturbia too
It all comes down to whether you believe that you have the power to create a reality.
If you believe you are totally powerless, you play victim.
If you believe you are almost powerless, but you think you gain power thru aligning with others, then you play follower.
If you believe you have some power, you change what you can, and align with other groups as your biases see fit.
If you believe you have more power, you exploit what you can to affect change, and play leader.
If you believe you create reality, you change your reality piece by piece.
What you change, how, and why is whole 'nuther discussion.
Belief and imagination are in some ways interchangeable and in some ways part of a process. It seems to me that the process is imagination to belief to action/reality.
Yep.
CD, you're nuts. I think a nice double white blotter once every decade for a different perspective. And now "The Aristocrats", (Martin Mull version). Seriously though, I do enjoy reading your stuff, cheers.
how about this one: Project Veritas, and it's Bob Marley Pharma deal.
https://www.theprojectveritas.com/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id...
All very deep and above me. Though; I now can consider a second scenario. I always believed aliens avoided us because they reason: a planet of 6.7 billion that produces enough food for 9 billion yet, over a billion go hungry, day after day, is obviously populated by nincompoops or sociopaths. That and the fact we still make war on our own makes us dangerously unpredictable. Purely out of self preservation they avoid us.
Why not look at the reality of evil in all its forms and the banality of evil?
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skies from pain
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steal rail? A smile from a veil?Do you think you can tell?
Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghost?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Did you exchange
A walk on part in the war,
For a lead role in a cage?...
- Wish You Were Here: Pink Floyd
We indeed allowed the lines between heaven and hell to become blurred. In so doing, we traded our hero's for ghost. Our imperative for building a more just and humane world demands we do not exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage.
See: THE FOUNDING FATHERS: MYTH ASIDE, THIS IS A VISION GONE WRONG! - Part Two
THE FOUNDING FATHERS: MYTH ASIDE, THIS IS A VISION GONE WRONG! - Part One
The Banality of Evil: "There Are Monsters, And They Walk Among Us." - Jesse's Café Américain
Visit: Inflection Point
You people are not insane. You are mental masturbators, and that is not a crime if perhaps a waste of time.
History has one example of perfection and faith is free and easy. Well, free anyway...
Where's the applesauce?
For the porkchops?
Uhhh... in other, non-alien invasion related news, the Vietnamese yield curve pulled out a save, except maybe the 10s15s... that's still inverted a bit.
But man, last week I thought the whole curve was going to invert. The whole thing was pretty pancaked with peaks at the 1 year and the 10 year.
Weird curve action, mang.
CD, I admire your work & think you're on to something, but what if this is due to (1) Our cosmic journey now entering the Oort Cloud, or (2) Something to do with the literally 1,000's of reports each year of unexplained objects, beings, clouds, missing time, etc. etc. (3) Colliding dimensions/universes/time-space continums.
What say yea?
Who says/said they are unrelated or that it is an either/or situation?
It is all related since it all springs from consciousness.
Why do we think we have the capacity to clearly define shape, causality or reality when looking at the world through the bottom of distorting coke bottles?
took the bait.
Yes you did.
CD, your prose is always amusing in some way or other, whether you intend it or not. You're the Ed Wood of Zero Hedge.
CogDis,
I haven't seen Levy's work in years... I don't know why I readily dismissed him last time around. It was clearly a mistake. Brilliant stuff/insight!
Why do you think the ONLY mechanism for shifting course away from the iceburg is "to reach people through their cognition facilities?" How did you arrive at this conclusion?
You continue to draw from the deep well so that many may drink. Thanks.
I was speaking about those who only 'believe' what enters though their cognition facilities and then only that which has been properly validated by their cognition facilities. For those people, trying to appeal to anything other than this process is in my experience often hopeless.
They don't recognize anything that they don't know or trust they could know. This is like using instruments to measure something the instruments are not designed to measure. But still the person says that because the instruments did not measure something, it doesn't exist.
The entire process of explaining spirituality or 'creating reality with conciousness' is so unsuited to their entire process of validating by the cognition facilities that it is nearly impossible and not always worth trying. But if one doesn't try one can't say they failed.
Tough spot. Are you saying that you contend that belief systems are created/validated entirely by cognitive facilities?
As far as "The entire process of explaining spirituality or 'creating reality with conciousness' is so unsuited to their entire process of validating by the cognition facilities that it is nearly impossible."
Ken Wilber has written about this phenomena in Integral Psychology, something you would definitely get much out of. To paraphrase, 'a person who is exposed to a peak experience (cognitive dissonance being one of many) can only interpret it from the state of consciousness that they are currently situated within.' To which he adds, "temporary states become permanent traits."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber
Banzai7 has directed me to Ken Wilber on two or more occasions. Thanks for the reminder.
The thing about the 'wetiko' hypothesis (that there is something akin to the Stargate-style "goa'uld" parasitic symbiote that is part of a disease-pathology that causes sociopathic behaviour) is that yet again it tries to make the causative mechanism external to 'us': it leaves the possibility that the 'uninfected' are somehow at risk of becoming infected.
Of far greater likelihood is that there are structural differences in the physiology of people like Dick Cheney and Antonin Scalia (and Nicolas Sarkozy and Tony Blair, Lloyd Blankfein and Hank Paulson... you KNOW the 'type') which either predispose them to, or are the direct cause of, a preference map that places a large positive weight on their relative wealth and/or power. That predisposes them to seek mechanisms that help them break normally-existing budget constraints.
It's clear that for most of these people, the bulk of their 'utility' does NOT come from almost-unbridled consumption possibilities: almost to a man they have the requisite wealth to enable them to live as if they are 'rich' in the Rothschildian sense (i.e., they would be able to live more comfortably than the bottom 90%, just using the interest on the interest - especially since they also receive an awful lot of their consumption 'stuff' ex gratia).
But something else drives them - and that somethign else is an almost obsessive desire to distance themselves from the human pack: to widen, to the greatest extent possible, the power/wealth gap between themselves and any measure of central tendency related to the population at large.
To attempt to put this into 'utility function' terms: pretty much all of us have a utility function that derives happiness/felicity/utility from consumption of goods, the accumulation of wealth (primarily to fund future consumption, but also in its own right) and so forth, plus some consideration of interpersonal utility - we might prefer to be somewhat above average, but we begin to lose utility if we see widespread deprivation.
So there is a limited range through which we obtain utility from an increase in the ratio of our personal 'power' (or command over resources more broadly) to the average; we experience diminishing marginal utility of 'excess power' (as any good utility functional should: power is a good, and goods have positive though diminishing utility).
The existence of diminishing marginal utility, plus the presence of a constraint, suffices to yield a solution beyond which there is no net benefit to expending resources in acquisition of additional 'excess power'. We would all like to be a little way above the average (survey says).
Now... break the constraint: permit power to be acquired using additional funds acquired through the coercive power of the State.
I am more and more of the view that the parasitism and depravity that we see in the political class (since time immemorial - from Nero and Caligula, to the Borgia Popes, Stalin, Idi Amin and Dick Cheney) is the simple result of one parameter - the rate at which marginal utility from 'excess power' declines.
If marginal utility of excess power does not decline meaningfully by the time the agent has 100 or 200 times the average wealth or power of the community, then the agent will continue to seek additional increments to 'excess power' well after they achieve near-satiety in consumption possibilities.
And the ONLY place where such an agent can satisfy their (falling, but nevertheless de facto insatiable) desire for additional excess power: the political means. (What about Fuld, Blankfein, Paulson? You say. Banking and Finance benefits from politically-mandated barriers to entry, and large high-margin disbursements - it is an extension of the political means).
Couple that with the fact that they're all cunts, and I think we have a weiner. No symbiotes or viruses required.