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The Sovereignty Series - Reassessing Our Lives - The Value of Being Centered
Reassessing Our Lives - The Value of Being Centered
The Sovereignty Series
By
Cognitive Dissonance
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Most of us will argue that on those occasions when we reach critical decision points in our life we believe they are successfully navigated. Just as important we believe the vast majority of our decisions are based upon current data, the present state of our personal affairs and how it all fits in with our perceived life goals.
Quite frankly, for many of us this is an illusion we embrace in order not to upset our sense of self and our positioning within the ‘real’ world we call ours. In reality we rarely deviate much from our present path, a path more often chosen for us by opportunity and circumstance then by directed thought and conscious decision.
When do we ever pull back and thoroughly assess where we are and what we want, not based upon debt or family pressures or even what our employment situation demands of us, but upon what we really truly desire of ourselves? Until recently, for this author at least, the honest answer was not very often.
In fact the last time I conducted this type of thorough self assessment was back in 1990 when I completely changed my career and life direction. While the decision was right for me at the time, it was now well past stale and moldy, the ‘sell by’ date long past expiration.
Since that critical juncture in my life I had not considered conducting another self assessment of this sort with any real seriousness. If anything I would engage in fantastical daydreaming about how neat this might be or how liberating living that way could be. To be frank I did not want to back myself into an emotional corner, to come to a conclusion contrary to where I was presently positioned in life and then not follow through.
No one wishes to face their own impotence, to fail their ‘self’ and then have nowhere to hide. It is best not to have tried rather than fail and be unmasked and miserable. Sometimes we are most embarrassed and ashamed when bare naked and fully exposed to our self.
This is the deeply conditioned slave mentality which I and so many others struggle with, a perspective that helps to explain quite well the present state of the zombie nation. We dull the ever present pain of our own failures with food, drink, drugs, TV, work, whatever it takes to forget if only for another moment more.

I did know that I was growing increasingly unhappy with my chosen profession and I wanted out. But like a deer in the headlights I was frozen in place and unable to make any significant decisions because of all the entanglements, real or otherwise, that I thought were tying me down.
Some I believed were financial, some physical, some emotional, but all were blown way out of proportion to the reality I was trying to avoid. One must build the walls of our own cage higher than we are willing to climb if we are to remain safely confined within our own mind.
In short I was unhappy enough to think about radical change, but just content enough (‘sated’ is probably a much better term to use here) with the status quo that I didn’t wish to upset my carefully stacked house of cards. Who really wants to gather up all their Jacks and fling them high into the air in order to see what comes up when they all fall down?
Mostly this was because I had never honestly asked myself “What it is that I desire most” or “How would I like to live”? Instead I would ask myself the normal questions society directs us towards; what is it that I want to ‘do’, or what do I want to ‘be’ when I grow up, get out of school, change careers or retire?
Think about one of the first questions you ask a stranger you are meeting for the first time in a casual social setting. Or what is asked of you during that same social function. “So….what do you do”? The honest answer is that we live in our own mental straitjacket with our body and life dragged along, securely attached via our own carefully constructed ball and chain.
For most of us the ‘life’ decision process, at least initially, works in reverse. We start off listing what it is we don’t want and move forward from there. And the number one item at the top of most lists of undesirables is the following……“I don’t wish to be poor”.
Since we are forever focused on the ‘Money Meme’ every decision radiates out from that central focal point. It may help to remember that the all controlling money meme permeates so deeply into our childhood that the tooth fairy brings money in exchange for recently removed used body parts.

OK………well, if I don’t wish to be poor I will ‘need’ (as opposed to ‘want’) a good education followed by a decent job to start my career, then marriage, kids, cars, house etc. Before we know it our exercise wheel is up to speed and we are off to the races on our never ending run to nowhere.
Back in 1990 I changed everything in my life after nearly two decades wasted. Because I headed off the deep end just after graduating from high school, rather than money being my central focus it was another equally damaging obsession that I revolved around.
Seventeen years later, my life in tatters by my own hand but still well along in the process of living, I struggled to move forward while balancing single parenthood demands with the need to earn a living.
The decisions I made at that point suited my life situation, not my happiness. I did what needed to be done to finish raising my son, who was then only five years of age, and to begin the process of cleaning up the mess I had created which trailed far behind me.
When the time came for my son to leave home and move on, essentially thirteen years later with me still single and uninvolved, I settled in to begin the serious work of examining the world around me, something I never fully pursued earlier since life was demanding my attention after I finally got my act together.
Back in 1990 after I awoke from my stupor, I saw contradictions and cognitive dissonances as far as the eye could see, but I deliberately chose not to look too deep in order to maintain some semblance of stability in my son’s life, not to mention my own. It was years, actually more than a decade, before I felt stable enough to really begin to deeply examine what I perceived as wrong with the world.
Once we begin the process of questioning everything, eventually we begin to seriously question ourselves, a course of action that often derives its value from the procedure itself rather than any actual results obtained. If we find the courage to travel far enough down the rabbit hole we find ourselves face to face with……….well, with our ‘self’. It is then that we reach a decision point unlike any we have encountered up to this point in our lives.
Do we travel a path, the path, any path that ultimately frees us from ourselves (or at least gets us a little bit closer), one which opens up an entirely new panorama of choices, the road less traveled if you will? Or do we look into the abyss, experience only disorientation and fear, then rapidly retreat to the perceived safety of our existing familiar surroundings.

If we have remained in a continuous state of low level pain for a long enough period of time, the prospect of making radical changes in order to relieve that pain is not as inviting as it might seem at first blush. The elevated level of pain we mentally and emotionally project that will result from the change is nearly always believed to be much worse than it actually turns out to be.
A perfect example of this is the person with a nagging toothache who is frightened of the dentist. On an accumulated basis that person might experience ten times more pain over a month’s time before finally capitulating to the inevitable trip to the dentist, rather than if he had just ripped the tooth out at home with some pliers. Procrastination is just as much a process of bargaining with ourselves as it is fear and consequence avoidance.
This isn’t to say that one must change everything in order to begin the process of being true to oneself. Becoming personally sovereign in the middle of an insane asylum is a journey at best and not a destination. One can never be truly clean when we wash in filthy water, but we can begin to filter the water and improve the conditions under which we bathe.
The thing is that the end result for many who go down this road is not a product of any one decision, but of a series of half steps and reluctant conclusions that lead to a fundamental recognition. Eventually we come to understand that if we are to be true to ourselves we can no longer live in the manner we currently are. It is then that we discover if we have the courage to take a chance and move deeper down into the rabbit hole, or do we scurry away back to the perceived safety of the herd’s insanity.
I say this not to be judgmental of anything the reader is or is not doing. I live in a very fragile glass house with no intention of throwing stones or examining the quality of your life’s construction. Nor do I claim to have arrived at my destination and thus am qualified to give advice and direction. What I am doing works for me, and most likely will not work for you precisely because we are all unique individuals with distinctively different needs and life situations.
While I have clearly stated that personal sovereignty is a ‘State of Mind’, meaning we adopt a particular mindset that fully encompasses total personal responsibility for our ‘self’, it also requires that we be more centered than most of us presently are. If we are unhappy with our lives, or if we are in denial about our unhappiness which simply pushes us further and further away from our center, trying to adopt the personal sovereignty mindset is nearly impossible.
Take that first step; reassess where you are and why you aren’t somewhere else. Look deeply, ask those difficult questions of your ‘self’, push your outer boundaries and scale those cognitive walls. You have little to lose and everything to gain…..including your centering. Deliberately and consciously push that start button and begin the process within your ‘self’.
03-16-2014
Cognitive Dissonance
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Sometimes I 'OVER DO IT'.
Sometimes I 'OVER THINK IT'.
Yeah, I can be guilty as well...
If my at times extremely lengthy articles are any indication I am extremely guilty. But Mrs. Cog has me on a training regime and strongly suggests I keep my future article length to less than (50 40 20 10 5) pages.
I regularly assure Mrs. Cog that progress, not perfection, is the goal here. :)
so a.w. says something to the effect
"we find the ego (self) as the marriage
of an illusion to a futility."
.
do you see the humour in that? hilarity
ensues, now, back to our regular programing.
All philosophy that deals with the journey towards self awareness and purpose boils down to one quote attributed to Yogi Berra,
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it".
We are genetically programmed to always seek homeostasis: biologically, psychologically and socially. That is why change is so hard for most of us. Our innate preference is for stasis, stability.
And keep your eyes open for a spoon and a knife!
Yogi? Is that you? :-)
I understand what you're saying, having several times myself come to the end of the road I was on, or at least having seen the dead end ahead. It does seem to me that everyone has a more or less equal capacity and indeed need for pain. It's just that some of us fulfill that requirement through doing what it takes to survive, while others of us have survival pretty much guaranteed, so we worry about whether or not we're good people, etc. It's the same amount of pain, and it genuinely hurts, so my instinct to scoff is uncharitable at best and probably just plain mean.
It's also true that people will put up with chronic pain for seemingly ever rather than risk a short period of intense pain, followed by healing and a release from that pain. Up to a point, people are risk-averse, and a familiar pain is safer to keep than a healing process that is unknown.
In my life, several times I've come to realize that what I'm doing isn't going to work out, whether it's a relationship, a career, my place in life. I've typically spent a few years getting used to this recognition, and just sort of "feeling" it all over. "Wallowing in it" is an unkind, but not inaccurate, description. At a certain point, embarrassingly far along, I've always had an intense moment where I decide "That's enough." The tension of the ennui of the status quo, knowing it will fail, finally outweighs the fear of doing what I know I need to do. Usually I don't know exactly what I need to do, but I know it starts by some metaphorical action; call it chewing off my leg to get out of a trap, or kicking over the chesstable and storming out. I just know that my current situation is untenable and it doesn't really matter what I do, just that I do something different. Once in motion, I can change direction as need be. While still in stasis, I can't do anything. As I get older, I'm trying to become quicker on the draw. I've realized that the first time I notice I'm wondering if I should quit and bail out of my current situation, I really should have done it months or years prior.
It's not easy. I have to get to the point where my discomfort ("Cognitive Dissonance," I believe it's called) is so excruciating I'm willing to lose friends, partners, possessions, my place in my self-created society. It's a desperate place. But everytime I've stirred myself and said, "That's Enough!", I've wound up in a better place immediately, if only for having relieved that pain, lanced that emotional abscess. Getting out of that numbing influence of long-held, low-level pain clears the mind delightfully, and allows an almost unlimited field of possible action and direction.
I'm a huge advocate of quitting. My numerous younger siblings call me when they're feeling trapped in the dead end and the discomfort is becoming overwhelming. I used to think they called me because I'm so wise but now I realize they call me because I've crashed and walked away so many times; not quite the same thing. I always tell them to Quit. Quit everything. And then put one foot in front of the other for a while, and then see where they are and respond. As Napoleon once said, "On s'engage, puis on voit." Engage the enemy, then see what happens.
The key is, it doesn't matter what happens. What matters is that you are taking the active role in your life. "Live" can be an active verb. It can also be a passive state, which isn't good for people.
@swmnguy
That was superb, and thanks for taking the time to give your personal insights. You ought to do it more often! We're in the same cohort of those who joined over 4yrs ago, yet I don't think I've had the pleasure of sharing a thread with you. Looking forward to your comments in the future.
Very nice comment. Thank you.
I have found that when I ignore that inner voice telling me to change direction that my vision narrows and my perception diminishes. I find myself walking around with blinders on, unable to see any choice other than the one directly in front of me.
As soon as I remove my blinders the world, and all those choices that were always there, suddenly spring into view. Once again I learn that I create my own problems by not recognizing the solutions that are right in front of me. I am the cause of nearly all my suffering.
Indeed. The inrush of light on removing the blinders is very painful at first. But you blink and wipe your eyes for a while and things spring into a sharper focus than ever before.
I get the feeling you've read more than a little Epictetus.
I have never seen the name until now.
From Wiki: Epictetus was a Greek sage and Stoic philosopher. He was born a
slave at Hierapolis, Phrygia, and lived in Rome until his banishment,
when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece for the rest of his
life.
I seem to remember the situation from my childhood history classes. As difficult as it may seem to many I do not read much, if any, philosophy. I prefer to listen to the teacher within.
However that doesn't mean I produce a single original thought. Millions have been here before me and have dug to a much greater depth than I. My only original contribution is the unique word construction of these articles.
I'm surprised. In that case, you probably don't need to read Epictetus. What survives of his writings is largely dependent on the translation. Marcus Aurelius, one of the more interesting Emperors of Rome, was deeply influenced by Epictetus. Philosophy in general tends toward being overly abstract and concerned with angels and pins and not terribly interesting. Epictetus, depening on the translation, is more simple and concrete. Sort of like Jesus Christ, without all the baggage of 2000 years of politics and the supernatural stuff that was probably added later.
In other words, the common sense that is so uncommon, only accessible once you've managed to quiet your mind. If you can get to that place, doesn't matter to me how you get there. What works for you is what you should do.
@swmnguy: I think that both you and Cognitive Dissonance might enjoy reading George Leonard's book "Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment".
http://www.amazon.com/Mastery-Keys-Success-Long-Term-Fulfillment/dp/0452...
Practice a way of life called Garage Logic: organized, functional and best of all open to your neighbor.
A garage/studio ...
A workbench for creativity.
Every man should have such a place.
Where I keep my Guitars, my Art, my Tools and my Solitude.
My solitude follows me around :-) We get along just fine :-)
LOL
You haven't seen my garage. ;-)
You haven't seen my neighbor! :-) (but then again, neither have I!; lately that is- there's a bit of distance from me to any of my neighbors)
Nice article. Deep. Wish I could talk more with you.
Here is the "Contact Cognitive Dissonance" form which is available on TwoIceFloes.com
"Most of us will argue that on those occasions when we reach critical decision points in our life we believe they are successfully navigated. Just as important we believe the vast majority of our decisions are based upon current data, the present state of our personal affairs and how it all fits in with our perceived life goals.
Quite frankly, for many of us this is an illusion we embrace in order not to upset our sense of self and our positioning within the ‘real’ world we call ours. In reality we rarely deviate much from our present path, a path more often chosen for us by opportunity and circumstance then by directed thought and conscious decision."
LIFE is success. If we manage to survive it's success. It really is, then, a matter of duration. Given, however, that we cannot control of definitively KNOW the future, the notion of "life goals," if not "the goal is life," is kind of silly, mostly a paradigm set up by the "planners" to place cogs in their place.
That said, evaluation of your situation and environment IS important AND one should endeavor to apply oneself to the utmost to ALL that one does. Nature is hardly careless or self-deceiving.
nature is often very selfless. the whole self thing
is a product of a style of perhaps careless human
consciousness as you implied.
it seems the higher degree of complexity and dependency
an organisms displays the more selfness we attribute
to it and that is very funny. imho
Nature is ALWAYS selfless. It doesn't care about you, it doesn't care about me. Nature simply IS.
Anyone notice the Symbol on the Malyasian airplane?
They will get their NWO one way or the other.
Even if they have to manipulate the semiotics to di it !!!!!
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/my_myarl.html
http://www.mazda.com/csr/download/pdf/2006/e2006_p01.pdf
ITS THEIR DREAM !!!! WE ARE JUST LIVING IN IT !!!!
Alan Watts on Human Consciousness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uan1Y-b6Vo0
It's not just what he says, but how he says it. His vocal delivery is quite unique.
he has a wonderful english public speaking voice.
once you have heard it the birds still sing
but with a renewed meaning, perhaps?
.
reminds me of this particular line from
a once, now old favorite, popular tune.
another remarkable voice.
"mirror in the sky, what is love?" s.n.
the four words "mirror in the sky",
those four just about make the point,
the point we all get good and stuck with
eventually is my guess?
. gratuitous music video link ....
Stevie Nicks - Landslide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov1SOhwfbys
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G10fjK9bUJk
there was a youtube video for this song
i have linked before but i can't find it.
a lazy train ride through a mountain range
with people skying.... another example of
finding the complex in the simple, the sacred in
the secular or the flash in the pan?
anyway, thanks for another wonderful post
mr. dissonance becoming mr. flow!
When I listen to him I don't feel lectured to. In fact it is the exact opposite. It feels like he is including me in on the secrets to life.
he tells the truth as he sees it,
what more could anyone ask for?
he is another good egg as far
as i can tell. we are lucky to have
the likes of him around even if only
in the facsimile editions. it may not
be essential as most of the important stuff
is always self evident, natures gift
this fail safe redundancy, but it is very
convenient to have so much so readily available
and presented in such a congenial manner.
if you think about it though, he has some
particularly insightful observations that
might not be entirely obvious, extraordinary
even; not to mention the guy could talk for
hours without a pause and remain, at least,
interesting if not brilliant. the thing is
the message is very simple and can be expressed
in a few words yet he could speak for hours
about it, write books about it and they would
sell. it must be a testament to the miseducation
of a generation or three. hundred...
.
the term "consciousness" seems to be abhorrent to
those who exploit to great personal gain the lack,
confusion or eradication thereof.
alan watts never did that. he gave the people
the truth as he saw it. good for him and us and
r.i.p.
I got a question. Who is "he"? Stevie is a girl, no?
You talkin' 'bout Alan Watt, or Fleetwood Mac? Alan, though I applaud his effort, is a bit too far out on the 'new age' plank for me.
He's probably ahead of his time, and his reality will one day be partially realized. However, I'm right here, right now, and that shit don't fly.
he = a.w..
it flies for me.
So, we create reality by our own 'realness'? That which we see is created by our own eyes?
There is no 's' in Alan Watt- and you know some shit?
Erase what you 'know', right now. I implore you. You're not stupid, just mis-informed.
dude, you are thinking of a different guy named
alan watt.(cutting through the matrix). not the
same dude, but in a "sense", they are the same dude.
as we are all...., never mind-forget that. i could listen
to some alan watt also and enjoy that.
listen "ace", if i can call you that, you have not even checked
the links or listened to the man speak his insights. if you had
you would know there is a guy named alan watts with an "s".
i implore you to listen and think.
.
My 3 year old must argue and debate everything!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFYsJYPye94&feature=youtu.be
.
yes, "we create "reality" by our own "realness"(.)" acetinker, you have nailed it!
and the "creation" is in the choosing from the near infinite possibilities.
My apologies. I didn't catch the third reply. So no, I hadn't followed the link.
The man says we're all teats on the same sow. I'd go a lot further than that, actually. My theory is that not only are we interconnected with each other, but everything we know or ever will know is all part of a single organism.
I don't think we "create" reality- it is what it is. We do however, create our perceptions. Maybe I'm puttin' too fine a point on it, but I personally think it's important.
Again, my bad. Different dude, altogether.
Now for some entertainment, local boys- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgpA1UCUQ-w&feature=kp
but, on the subject of sovereignty, there is this
link describing an architecture for the global
financial laughing nightmare where the idea of
personal or national sovereignty is entirely obliterated.
if that idea is more than anyone wishes to consider
skip the link entirely, otherwise, proceed down to the
narrative text and prepare to be disgusted and ill regarding
the ways and means of your fellow man.
.
kmaclub
Just another WordPress.com site
http://kmaclub.wordpress.com/payseur-peyseur-trust/
.
Brother, you seem conflicted. Y'all know that Landslide/Fleetwood Mac were Bill 'n Hill's favorite song/band, right?
Is it really a landslide, or just a slippery slope?
For you;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSZzsWRx_IE
Alan Watts - Life is a hoax (Man is a hoax, Big Bang = you)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66iq40acSGM
.
a.w. asks "do we come into the world or come out of the world?"
then states "we are all tits on the same sow, or raised from
the same son/sun." he is concluding that we come out of the world
not into it, not an insignificant distinction plus he used the
word 'tits', extra points there!
love that tune.
more meters ...
Meter Men- Fire On The Bayou (BB King's- Halloween 2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhJ_X-jbQS8
.
better link.
The Original Meters 5/5/12 New Orleans, LA @ The Howlin' Wolf - 5 songs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psPFhu4kKgw
i'll check that link. bill & hill used the tune
"don't stop thinking about tomorrow." (hope
and change theme). there are probably a number of
psychological manipulations and implications to
that theme, for them at that time, lets see, that was right after
shock and awe, daddy bush, first gulf war conflict.
o course i'm conflicted.
a. watts is not new age,
his philosophy is as old-older than the bible, probably
pre piscean but nevermind that. either you enjoy his
talking or not and it really makes no difference
nor means anything in particular either way.
chocolate, strawberry, vanilla? so what