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The Santa Claus Lie – A Gateway Drug to Collective (Self) Deception
The Santa Claus Lie – A Gateway Drug to Collective (Self) Deception
By
Cognitive Dissonance
I spend what some might imagine is an inordinate amount of time thinking about lies and self deception. But from my point of view it is a fundamental flaw that cripples us as individuals and as a society. Lying and lies permeate our culture from top to bottom in ways we often never perceive and rarely wish to see. Essentially it is the foundational building block that supports all that is wrong with us and why we continuously repeat our oftentimes disastrous personal and societal mistakes. Deception, self and societal, is the fatal flaw, something we have come to call ‘being human’.
Do as I Say, Not as I Do
Consider for a few moments how often we as parents come face to face with the sometimes embarrassing problem of explaining to our young children why we tell public and private lies, but that they should not lie to us. How our telling a lie can actually be good under certain circumstances, such as shielding our self and others from a painful (self) truth or a blow to (our) their ego. What is often unspoken is that we lie to others in order to be lied to by others.
The odd thing is that if you were to ask random people on the street if they believed themselves to be honest you would get answers along the lines of “Yes”, “It depends”, “For the most part” or “Most of the time”. I suspect my readers have answered the question in a similar vein; I know this author has. We really do believe we are (basically) honest because we have willingly (eagerly?) deconstructed the dividing line between ‘honest’ and ‘dishonest’ and reformed it into a soft squishy malleable moving target somewhere near the center.
In other words we ‘know’ that stealing $1,000 from our employer or family is dishonest, but taking some pens and paper from the office or an old mechanics socket set from gramps………well, that isn’t really ‘stealing’ per se, just sort of borrowing on a semi permanent basis. Unless of course we want to believe that they ‘deserve’ to be stolen from, thus righting some previous wrong. Then all bets are off.
Seven Billion and Counting
The examples of personal and social dishonesty are as numerous and varied as the people who practice (self) deception, which pretty much means all of us. And while just about anyone can conduct a reasonably honest philosophical discussion about self and social dishonesty, few of us would reveal our deepest darkest secrets to even our closest friends, family or spouse because those secrets often revolve around overt or covert dishonesty, even if only to ourselves.
And then there is the self deception that we aren’t consciously aware of, clouded by both denial and social programming. While my previous articles have discussed denial ad nauseam I wish to focus a bit on the social programming aspect promoted mostly by herd behavior and alluded to by the title of this article.
I have long felt that religion was (and in many respects still is) a gateway drug to rampant self deception and public enabling of the cultural lie. Please understand that I am talking about manmade and man administered ‘religion’ and not about whether or not there exists a supreme being. But as the world’s population slowly drifts away from blind religious obedience and begins to recognize the inherent hypocrisy of those who promote religious fervor and division (my God way or the highway) another mind control mechanism has risen to take its place……...narcissistic consumerism based upon the lie of endless resources and ever increasing debt.
I propose that some of, if not most of, our lying behavior is programmed into us culturally by social acceptance of ‘harmless’ self deceptions such as the Santa Claus lie. The key is that the lie must be perceived as harmless or as causing less harm (a wonderfully relative term that can be made to accommodate any lie) than the ‘truth’ might cause to the victim of the lie. From that point on our own internal psychological rationalization and justification process takes over and we reform the lie into a (relatively) harmless half truth/white lie in our own ‘eyes’. Or at least a lie softened enough for most of us to stomach.
Of course this entire process is infinity more complex than I have just outlined and yet amazingly it is that simple. And it all starts when we as very young children begin to receive our own personalized imprinting courtesy of our initial programmers, our parents and primary care givers who themselves have been, and continue to be, imprinted by society at large and their inner social circle of personal peer review. From there it trickles down into our inner consciousness for final fine tuning and assimilation.
Infinite Creativity
We are all individual conscious entities engulfed within a herd of like minded individuals, interconnected yet separate, seemingly born without an operating manual yet infinitely capable of self expression, creativity and inspiration beginning at a very young age. We are born into this reality as individuals, yet we spend our entire lives trying to be just like the rest of the herd, a product of centuries (millennium?) of conditioning to ignore the innate knowledge and wisdom that springs from within in order to blindly follow the herd and the alpha directly ahead.
Seen from this perspective, something like The Santa Claus Lie has great utility in the conditioning process. Something that started out innocent enough, a tale of Saint Nichols, is slowly hijacked and commercialized by entities who wish to condition us in a way that creates ‘demand’ for products and services, many of which we do not need or even desire except for the fact that others in the herd are conditioned to believe they ‘need’ them, thus we do.
I find it endlessly fascinating that in ancient indigenous cultures the shaman or healer’s purpose was not just to administer the natural healing arts to his local tribe members, but to teach and guide the tribe to be emotionally and psychologically healthy and fit. Call it original sin, call it ‘being human’, call it herding behavior, but the shaman understood these self destructive tendencies and worked to help his people overcome this strange attraction in order to grow and blossom as powerful reality creators.
Intraspecific Kleptoparasites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptoparasitism
Yet the modern sociopathic man, essentially parasitic individuals who present themselves as our so called ‘leaders’ and thus the ultimate in Intraspecific Kleptoparasites, (Kleptoparasitism may be intraspecific (the parasite is the same species as the victim) or interspecific (the parasite is a different species) make every effort possible to exploit and enflame the very human flaws ancient shaman tried to heal. At the very least the shaman helped the tribe be aware of, and thus better able to defend themselves from, their own psychological and emotional flaws.
Seen from the perspective of the larger battle between reality creating humanity and those who wish to subvert and control humans for the parasite’s own benefit, one must question everything and anything that presents itself as (innocent) cultural expressions.
We tend to think that large population ‘control’ is nearly impossible because there are so many different human (re)actions to control. The key to understanding how this is done is to recognize that subverted humanity is perusing what it believes is its own self interest rather than that of the parasites. Thus total control is not needed, just a deceptive nudge here and there to move the willingly compliant herd along in the general direction desired by the Intraspecific Kleptoparasites.
Cognitive Dissonance
01-01-2014
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We live on the Blue Ridge Plateau in Southwestern Virginia.
Sounds like a good arrangement.
I have to admit, my first instinct wasn't to provide free food for the cat ;-)
Fruit Trees? Nut Trees? That is if your neighbor doesn't mind an orchard.
Unfortunately I cannot live as you.
Good article. I hate SATAN Claus, Christmas, and all of the associated lying.
Here is a link to a video that you may be able to appreciate. I do not agree with it in many points. But it is insightful as to the mechanism behind the lie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_6vDLq64gE
nice try Tall, but many fruit trees are notorious deer magnets..
Our small apple orchard is currently behind a fence that the bigger deer sail over. We're gonna need a bigger fence. I hear apples are deer favorites. Our neighbor down the road, whose apple trees are not fenced, found Teddy (our local black bear) actually up in an apple tree this past year lol.
deer need a clearance space to make the jump. I have heard about a double fence system that keeps them out. I think you can find it on the web.
Good for you COG, I go out into the woods with the four wheeler and trailer, after windstorms, and cut up the downed trees for firewood.
BTW, in late Febuary, you can plant onion sets, beets, peas and radish seeds, in case you didn't know.
P.S. Alex Jones did a great interview with Joel Skousen (of strategic location fame) and it is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi1iPT0iEMQ
If you and Mrs Cog have the time and inclination to watch this, I'd be very much interested in your opinions on it...
"I go out into the woods with the four wheeler and trailer,"
My four wheeler is a tractor :-) I'll either skid logs out in whole, or, in cases where they're too big, I cut them up and load them on what I call my "skidder"- old car hoods: easy on and easy off loading, they drag really well. If there's a LOT of wood then I'll take the truck (assuming that there's no risk of getting stuck- with a loader bucket on the tractor I've learned I can pretty much get myself out of any trouble; if I had a backhoe then there'd be ZERO fear)
So, when do we get to start talking about our chainsaws? :-)
I'd rather have two sisters working in a whorehouse than a brother running a Husquavarna.
I've been operating a Stihl ms361/362 for years, awsome chainsaw
It all depends...
Perfectly happy with my Husky 562xp with an 18" bar and chain on it. It's a perfect setup for what I need to do. Handles fast: with the 18" bar I can use it to quickly, and fairly accurately, gauge round lengths (I cut for 16" to 18")- wicked firewood saw. Have had it for about 15 months and not even a hint of an issue.
It was a coin toss whether the Husky 562xp or the Sthil 362: the reviews on the Husky were extremely high on it, and from many folks who know saws and use them a lot. Sthil's dealership was way fucking smug and hardly gave me the time of day: I'd purchased a pro-grade trimmer and another, smaller saw (for the wife) from them. The Husky dealer was, and continues to be, very responsive (no issues with the saw, just picking up odds and ends).
Bottom line: go with any manufacturer's professional grade saw and a good dealer and you can't go wrong. (big box store stuff isn't really worth it, if you're wanting a saw to last that is)
I agree that your local sales and service are a critical part of the decision to purchase. If all you have is a Jonsered dealer then so be it.
Stihl dealers can afford to be smug, the equipment iis the best. I have thousands of hours of operation to back me up.
Some dealers are farm centers or snow mobile dealers, sorry, this lain't good
I personally deal with pro saw shops, they know their stuff ( and stihl is the best)
My advice
mix 50:1
premium fuel only
92 octane minimum
learn how to sharpenthe chain properly
don't use 2nd rate lubricants
dogbreath
Don't be so quick to put your sisters to work. I own Huskies and Stihls and there is little difference between them. Running day in and day out they both last about a year, though Stihls generally are a little heavier.
Powersaws have changed a lot since Pioneers, Homelites and McCullochs.
Kayman
You haven't met my sister.
The quality of Husky is poor especially for the smaller saws. Husky stagnated in the 90's and didn't do anything to fix their flaws which made me buy my first 361. in 2003 Such a fantastic saw. Now running 362's I agree that saws have come a long way since the Homlite etc. I run mine for about 1200 hours max and sell tham to some one that gets a 59cc's for the price of a small saw. Husky is not all bad but I am of the opinion that husky generally is inferior to stihl. I see lots of problems that others have that I don't. some of itis the operator but not all. Some of it is cheap production
Do you run saws professionally
dogbreath
I get onto Zh sporadically, as I have this other life...
I've run plenty of powersaws, but for the guys in my logyard the Husky is lighter and starts in one pull. Bought another 390 a couple of months ago.
Stihl is a good saw too. A bit more cantankerous though. And generally a Stihl has more torque in the cut.
We also run 5 foot, 6 foot and 7 foot circular saws- which are a tad bit more productive.
If as I do you heat with wood AND turn saw logs into timber frames, boards, furniture, bowls and toys, then a chain saw is fundamental. I use a Stihl 026 for small stuff, 361 for most else, and Dolmar 7900 for the really big stuff. Four-wheel drive tractor a necessity on the steep ground.
Happy New Year all, and I too miss Bank Guy. Does no one else see that pattern? Check that--I see a number of you do.
I skimmed thru most of it last night and thank you for the link then too. :-) Some very good information although I am reluctant to assume their conclusions were correct or incorrect. I actually listened to a shorter version of a Joel Skousen video before Cog and I picked our location to move to. (It was good for my confirmation endorphins.) As with much of the stuff out there these days, I often find a trove of good ideas whether or not I agree with the reasons why the advice or lesson is being made available.
So you don't believe a massive nuclear war is in our near term (6 years) future ???
That's been said since it's invention.
LOL - a stress question... I am leary of anyone who tells me they are certain an event will take place. Crystal balls are pretty damned unreliable these days.
Skousen's theory does not address that a nuclear war would destroy the very resources (especially us debt slaves) that the globalists are fighting over. That said I suppose since I am not "in the club" as George Carlin put it, that I have no idea how it will all play out, nor what the unintended consequences will be. I DO have a rad sticker on my fridge, a supply of KI and a nifty geiger counter which I am forbidden to bring to the grocery store any more. :-)
I agree with what I think you're saying.
The globalists, TPTB, the NWO.....whoever your boogeyman is, NEEDS us around to buy their stuff.
I've read that "their" goal is to reduce the worlds population by 20%. Which 20%?
The polluters, the non-producers? Certainly NOT the consumers.
My apologies, after some searching, it was a comment by HH that I had wrongly attributed to CD.
No problem. I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast (did I even eat?) so thank you for being gracious about not being sure it was me you were thinking of when you made your original statement.
good example of truth telling to avoid parasitism between you two. nice going! and that's Not sarc
I enjoy reading your articles, they make me think. I think the concept of cognitive dissonance explains alot about the human condition. I laughed pondering the notion that telling a child the truth is a surefire way to be seen as an awful person in the eyes of society.
I enjoy these philosophical treatises, too. I used to hear these ad nauseum in college when the enlightened philosophy majors would smoke grass on the lawns around campus and speak of wonders unbeholden. Rants from the "us generation." I certainly prefer it to the moans and groans of the "me generation."
I enjoy the logic and depth of Cogs thinking, but NOT with some of his conclusions.
When he started out about lying, stealing and self-deception, I immediately thought these were because of our DEPARTURE from "religion"....Biblical teaching.
To claim to believe in a "higher power", a "supreme being", but NOT in the God of the Bible is an attempt to get all the comfort of a God, without any inconvenient requirements or consequences. The best of both worlds, really. But that is the ultimate form of self deception.
Religions, and "bad" Christians have done much to damage their alleged cause. But I like the analogy of golfing.
There are golfers who cheat on their scorecard, throw their clubs, kick the ball closer to the center of the fairway, take a "Mulligan" every other hole......they are "bad" golfers, but that doesn't mean GOLF is bad.
I think that ALL laws (especially in the western world) are just refinements/distillations of the 10 Commandments.
To deny that our history is Christian, is self deception. To deny that moving away from what was our "core principles" has been damaging is naive. To believe that continuing in this direction is "progress", is destructive.
The fundamental flaw of religion (an effort to codify "knowing god") is; it is based on conceptual knowing as opposed to experiential knowing. There are some who can adhere to principles, for the most part, with concept as there only "truth". But the rub is, the under lying fear of (basically) death, is the driver of our behavior. You can tell yourself there is a reward after death all you want, but that will not give you the knowing that alleviates you from your fear. Becoming "enlightened", in a spiritual sense, is having direct experiential access to that which is beyond mind's limited perception. You achieve that, you understand what happens at death. You lose the fear and everything changes.
BTW, all of history's major religious or spiritual disciplines had meditation at the top of the "to do list". As spiritualism was expropriated by the more devious (became religion) to control the majority of us, the contemplative practice was less emphasized. At the same time an exclusivity was developed to emphasize "we know what's best for you". And here we are!
I invite the down arrow to refute what he disagrees with. I suspect dogma at play.
COG, once again you bring intelligent, introspective dialogue to a forum, that for some time now, is mostly filled by ranting. I agree completely with the common meme of your articles, it's not about us and them! One cannot seperate economics from the whole of consciousness. We are all here, on this planet together, creating OUR reality. Fundamental change starts and ends with oneself. Buying into the blame game is the means by which today's world is perpetuated. The illusion of seperation among us and everything else is the concept most worthy of blame, if we must.
Countless times I've had discussions with friends and family along these lines. Mostly I get shaking of heads and agreement to disagree. That is totally understandable. Until one has done the work of intense introspection, illusion is all one knows. It's good to see there are some here who respond, with what appears to me, some conscious experience.
At least that's what I get out of it.
The best part about my articles is not my articles, but the interaction below them in the comment section. I always leave the table with more than I brought after posting here on Zero Hedge.
Thank you for your contribution.
Spirituality can and does exist outside of religion. And there is a world of difference in believing in a supreme being and believing in a man made and man controlled religion. I seek no comfort in "believing' in a power greater than me. I am trying to right size my ego, long a source of personal self destruction, and put me in the back of the bus since every time I drive it heads for the nearest cliff.
The Catholic church started to lose me right about the time they decided that on one Friday I could not eat meat without going to hell and the next Friday I was all good dog. I continued to drift away when the nuns beat me because I was asking difficult questions in Sunday school.
They lost me completely when my battered and beaten mother, abused for over a decade by an alcoholic husband, pleaded with the church to help her and was told she was being beaten because she was a bad wife and mother. When she finally summoned the courage to divorce him in the face of a hostile church she was stripped of the right of communion while the abuser was still awarded a front row seat as a respected church leader.
And as far as I can tell the Bible is a political manifesto and not the word of God. Too many changes to the word of God over the centuries to satisfy political and power concerns to pass the sniff test.
Spirituality can and does exist outside of religion
right on CD
"..Piety had long since lost its flavor. It seems like a pretty spectacle, a face paint hiding more than it revealed. Piety,it seemed, never reached deep enough into things. It's what most people think of when they hear the word "religion," a matter of believing more in a set of doctrines than in the Mystery those doctrines point to. Piety can be a front for a faith that has failed to mature. A mature faith devours Mystery, teeth chewing, tongue swallowing, and sips silence like old wine."
-pg 27 Silent Fire James A. Connor ( a former Catholic priest in Canada who was called to another task).
You say there is a higher power and go on about your hardships within the catholic church, which by the way, became infested with homos hence all the same sex pedophilia, and then say the Bible is a political manifesto. Me thinks you're a confused ex catholic progressive choir boy blaming God.
Blaming God? Too funny.
Which "God" are you talking about. There are three Abrahamic Gods to choose from, plus dozens of others that go by various names.
I don't believe in a "God" so how can I blame something I don't believe in. I do however have a real problem with man made religion of any variety, not just the one you claim I have had "hardship with".
So blame your parents and their church for letting homos care for their children, not all Christianity as you did. If you can reason, then you understand right and wrong. If you believe in moral equivalence, then you belong to the church of liberalism, which whether you admit it or not, has it's own code of PC conduct.
You just love labels, don't you. It allows you to categorize without listening. Makes everything so understandable when you label, then dismiss as already cosidered. Life feels safer that way for some.
hurting little boys is only one of the bad things the Catholic Church and many other religious institutions have done in the name of God. Ignoring history and psychology is a greater "confusion"
Many good Institutions were highjacked over the last 50+ years, religious or otherwise. If these "catholicss" believe in God, then their soul will burn in the name of God. If they don't, then they're common criminals and pedophiles and should burn at the hand of their victims.
another gateway deception:
keeping an animal, calling it a 'pet', and giving it a name
dressing it in a little sweater
taking it to a doctor
burying it, with headstone and somber words
and then using it as my avatar :/
But a completely benign, good thing, SG.. :)
My ex had a baby chick die on her and she didn't know what to do with it (not sure of the entire circumstance). She placed it in a small box and put it in her freezer. She calls it "chicksickle."
that was well played.
I have a pet rock - when it dies it can be its own headstone!
Thank god for paper towels and beer-proof keyboard covers.
That's funny raght thar.
Now thats funny, I don't care who you are !!!
Man, that's logical.
I have no idea what Cog Dis is talking about. All I know is my life feels empty without the latest apple product, luxury car, big house and a democrat in every office.
Dear obama -- please keep droning anything that conflicts with what the MSN tells me is true.
I get my cognitive dissonance delivered directly to my inbox each day, courtesy of the CFA SmartBrief, which seems to specialize in it. E.g.:
"Harvard Economist Sees Volcker Rule as Debt-Cutting Measure: Harvard University economist Carmen Reinhart says the Volcker rule is a backdoor way for the U.S. to cut its debt. Because government debt is exempt from the Volcker rule, purchases by lenders that had gone to corporate debt and other trading that Volcker outlawed will now be funneled to government bonds, Reinhart says, thus reducing the cost of servicing the nation's debt."
So the Volcker Rule decreases government debt by increasing government debt. Got it.
Now I'm primed to receive the next bit of inverted nonsense.
Honey..., does this dress make me look fat?
It's not the dress.
So, you're trying to justify the practice with an example of a "good" lie?
The answer to that question is:" No, honey, your ASS makes that dress look fat".
But, maybe that's just me!
The part of the Santa Claus myth I question is, why do we participate in the enrichment of the same corporate America we object to, with our overboard seasonal consumerism?
Christmas was the celebration of the birth of Christ.
Then, everyone wanted to partiicipate in the name of "equality".
Now, they've removed any allusion of Christ in Christmas. The only thing left, is the artificial "reason for the season", and crass commercialism.
Let's put Christ back in Christmas, or forget the whole debt inducing idea.
Get your own holiday to capitalize on !
How long until the 4th of July is castigated as celebrating the founding of the nation of slavery, feminine suppression, and global imperialism?