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Transcendence
Transcendence
By
Cognitive Dissonance
It’s a simple enough word and one that should be familiar. A quick check of an online dictionary reveals an obvious definition, especially when we consider the root word ‘transcend’. “Exceeding or surpassing in degree or excellence” and “to triumph over the negative or restrictive aspects of; to overcome”. Simple……right?
From the very beginning, well before I selected Cognitive Dissonance to represent my online personality and certainly before Tyler plucked me from the Zero Hedge peanut gallery (aka the comment section) and offered me the opportunity to become a ZH contributor, my one and only desire when I wrote was to add perspective, to offer up what I thought was a bigger picture point of view. That purpose remains just as pronounced today as it ever was. But I feel stronger headwinds than normal buffeting me and the collective anger and loathing is rising, dangerously in my view.
But please don’t be mistaken. Not for one moment do I consider myself the Oracle from Delphi, nor some wise and giving man here to shower you with wisdom and healing. Not in the least. What I’m actually doing is simple and in many ways self serving. I’m faking it until I make it with the hope that if I give away something that I don’t really feel is fully within me, that I may further develop my empathy, compassion and perspective muscles, that I may grow stronger by offering to others what I feel lacking in myself.
This concept, my method, isn’t as counter intuitive as it might seem at first blush. Of course I am quite capable of empathy and perspective. The problem isn’t necessarily a lack of ability, but rather at times a lack of desire. You see……I was, and can still be, a very angry man. A very, very angry man. And it was slowly killing me. It wasn’t an epiphany that compelled me to begin to look within, but rather raw unbridled desperation to find something, anything, that would relieve my inner anguish and pain.
The thing was that at first I didn’t realize how much pain I was in. All I saw was my all consuming anger and indignation, righteous indignation in fact, the worst kind because it ‘allowed’ me to wallow in my own self pity while nursing my hurt ego. How dare those bastards ……… fill in the blank, there are plenty of outrages to choose from. ‘They’ were subverting the American Dream and hurting me and my own in the process. It was horrible and glorious at the same time. No critical thinking needed, just point and shoot both barrels at once. But over time it was eating me alive from the inside, and I didn’t know what to do about it. Or even if I should.
The best analogy I can find of the damage done to myself by my slow burn anger is that it was similar to eating every meal at McDonalds. While our belly is full, it’s never really satisfying and we wind up feeling more and more out of sorts with each subsequent meal, somewhat sick to the stomach and bloated. Over time we grow fat and distorted on all those empty calories while simultaneously wasting away from the lack of quality nutrition. Keep it up long enough and we will degrade both physically and mentally, resulting in a shorter life span and a marked decrease in quality of life on the way to our early grave.
I could go on describing the fallout from my lingering dysfunction (yup, still there, though less so each day) but that’s not the purpose of this article. The point is to explain the measures I continue to embrace to overcome my issues and to warn my loyal readers that I am recognizing the same dysfunction in you. Zero Hedge has always been about letting go, of speaking truth to power and venting frustrations, of finding comfort when huddled with like minded others who share a common goal, to oust the corruption and return to a more fair and equitable social order.
The thing is that the longer the social order remains……well, disorderly……the more intense our inner personal dysfunction can become. But rather than believe that society is coming unglued because of the creeping (rushing is more like it) political and financial corruption, consider that the process is actually reversed, that as we personally come apart at the seams, so does our society which in turn pushes society’s dredges (aka sociopaths) to the top of the heap in the form of thieving bankers, abusive multinational corporations and too-numerous-to-count hanger-on’s, enablers and sycophants.
Regardless of whether you agree with my analysis of the source of the cancerous lesions or not, the purpose of this train of thought is not to be ‘right’, but to (re)gain our mental and emotional health and to make this our number one priority now and forever. Regardless of whether we feel we must ‘do’ something now (anything for God’s sake) or that it’s hopeless and futile (or more likely something in between) if our inner self, our essence, is not centered and at peace, at best we will be ineffective and at worst just a miserable person.
As well there is no going back, no unlearning or forgetting what we know, no return to blissful ignorance. In fact any attempt to go back to before, to forget all we know, will only feed our dysfunction and anger that much more. We cannot be plugged back into the Matrix, at least not without a frontal lobotomy. So let us acknowledge our inner madman and begin the process of self help and healing, then move forward individually and collectively.
02-17-2014
Cognitive Dissonance
Introducing a new portal into the mind of Cognitive Dissonance www.TwoIceFloes.com
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To bad that the serial negative rating person has infested the comments again. We gotta find that person and talk some reason into him/her! Wait, that must be the sign that I need an Alanon meeting....
Kudos CD...excellent article.
Best wishes with the new website and thanks for all of your contributions here too.
Very nice site CD, loved the winter pictures !!!
Thank you. The site design is all Mrs. Cog (my little webmaster) from soup to nuts. The pictures, at least most of them, are mine with a little Mrs. Cog thrown in to keep me honest.
Without sounding like an advertisement all the home grown images on the website were taken with my iPhone5 or Mrs. Cogs iPhone 4. They aren't the best but since I have the phone with me constantly, when I'm doing something it's just so easy to pull it out and snap away.
I find it highly illuminating that your previous post at ZH, When the Law Falls Silent, was blocked by my ISP (the really big one buying the other really big one). Oddly, when this sort of thing happens, the header and link are active but the meat of the article is absent. Recovery of the article is simple - for those who just gave up before finding it: Start Page (or other freedom-loving engine) search then proxy. It amazes me that TPTB would even try to block your work. It's just not that hard to get around... so far, at least.
This must drive the controllers nuts.
Thanks for all you do and I look forward to seeing your new site.
That is very interesting, that my work on ZH would be blocked. Anyone else have that experience?
Most of the people here would qualify for Nock's Remnant.
The difference from his basis of the Remnant is that of not being true descendants of Adam and Eve, but those evolving into true human beings.
“Man appears to be the missing link between anthropoid apes and humans.”
Konrad Lorenz
Excellent!!! Another home-run CD.
I feel you, CD. You are not alone. The worm always turns. Unfortunately, the worm always gets to the point that it has to turn...
Thanks for the reminder to "keep calm and carry on," Cog. ; )
As I live and learn in this banana world, I feel anger and frustration at the things I cannot control, and I constantly have to remind myself to erase this from my mind. The realm of future events is scary because it is infinite in size and complexity, i.e. the sample space contains too many events for the brain to serialize and process linearly or even geometrically. Permutation in this space is taxing and the efforts/stresses are compounded many times when doing so with an angry or frustrated state of mind. Good choices are not made - incorrect permutations are enacted and pave way for a sequence of unintended consequences.
You can't always fix everything, but you can make it a hell of a lot easier for yourself and those around you when you let go of your anger and frustration (as the primary drivers of your mentality).
In six syllables are contained the principles of transcendence, at least as far as humans can go.
Om MaNi PadMe Hum
"Om" it is blessed to help you achieve perfection in the practice of generosity,
"Ma" helps perfect the practice of pure ethics, and
"Ni" helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and patience.
"Päd", the fourth syllable, helps to achieve perfection of perseverance,
"Me" helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration, and the final sixth syllable
"Hum" helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom.
When I look outward at the world
And feel great tribulation and sorrow
And feel as if it is coming apart at the seams
Then I find that the following Mantra is appropriate.
One starts out slowly, contemplating the sound of each syllable
Then as the mediatation progressess one increases the tempo until one realizes the full meaning.
It profoundly helps, as you repeat the Mantra, to look into the mirror so that one can realize the true inner self.
These following syllables will lead one to true enlightenment if the process is followed to the letter.
Oh, Wah, Tah, Gerh, Kai, Yam. (The pronounciaction of Gerh is with a soft G as in Gerbil.)
You will achieve true enlightment to all of the World's problems after completing the process.
"Namyohorengekyo" - Tuck Pendelton in InnerSpace (play by Dennis Quaid)