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Guest Post - Conditioning: That Which Keeps People Subservient to Abusive Leadership

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Guest Post - Conditioning

That Which Keeps People Subservient to Abusive Leadership

By

Peter Offermann

peter@oceanfalls.org

 

 

Try as we might to expand our view of the world, ultimately we can only see the universe through our own eyes. This is why I always enjoying reading other people’s point of view, particularly when that person has a completely different life experience than mine.

Peter, a premium member of Two Ice Floes, fits that bill perfectly. It was our hope when we developed Two Ice Floes to use the “Your Turn To Publish” feature to induce talented individuals to submit their musings for publication (you do not need to be a member to do so) in order to share their life experience and perspective.

While I have written on this subject before, Peter brings a fresh and more in depth focus to the issue. Thank you Peter. – Cognitive Dissonance

 

 

To subscribe to 'Dispatches', a periodic newsletter from Cognitive Dissonance and TwoIceFloes Creations, please click here. 

 

Few who are paying attention to world events through a lens more precise than the Main Stream Media (MSM) would deny that the vast majority of humans are being badly abused by their leadership in a variety of venues ranging from local, regional, national, and international politicians and bureaucrats, financial managers, corporate controllers, religious leaders, media moguls and warlords.

The vast majority of humans appear to be oblivious to this abuse and passively accept what is being done to them. Why is that? In one word - conditioning.

The vastly increased access to information that the internet enabled is responsible for a large number of people at least becoming aware of this abuse. However even among this more aware group, taking effective action to stop the abuse is sorely lacking. Why is that? In one word - conditioning.

There is a much smaller group that are proactively attempting to counter the abuse through group protest, but they are losing the struggle. Why is that? In one word - conditioning.

At 68 I am getting on in years. I have lived a full life and have had the time to reflect back on my path through life. As a result I have come to realize that most of the conditioning we are all subject to did not incapacitate me nearly as much as it did most people. I believe the realizations I have come to regarding my seeming immunity to conditioning are a necessary foundation required for people to free themselves from the tyranny that enslaves them.

With that hope in mind I would like to share some experiences from my youth that illustrate the problem (conditioning), and hint at the solution.

Our conditioning begins at the moment of our birth. Although they are not conscious of it, our parents, and family members, begin the process. Our parents have been conditioned before us and all their ‘conditioned’ traditions are passed on to us without considering the consequences. How often have you heard the excuse, “That’s just the way things are, get over it!” There is a great book by Wilhelm Reich called, “The Function of the Orgasm”, that explains the form of, and reasons for, this early in life conditioning. Yes, our sexuality plays a large role.

It is widely accepted that our late childhood, and early adulthood, years are our formative ones and also when we are in our prime both intellectually and physically. Historically people took full responsibility for managing their own lives much earlier in their lives, during what we consider late childhood. There were once 14 year old admirals that oversaw large naval forces. The commitment of marriage and raising a family began much earlier. Pioneers struck out to discover and populate new mysterious lands before they reached their teens.

The most rigid and destructive conditioning is imposed on us during our schooling. That schooling is starting earlier and lasting much longer than previously in history and while we are being ‘schooled’ we are not considered full adults with the responsibilities and freedoms such status implies.

Why is that? Could it be that control in our society is much more rigid than ever before? Those that control us realize that a rebellion of youth is the most dangerous kind. How better to minimize the impact of people in their prime than by keeping their status at ‘children’ with little access to power until well past their prime years? If people cave in to ‘slave hood’ during their prime years, how likely are they to rebel once they are past their prime; especially if they are burdened with excessive debt from their education?

I will only touch on the subject of our schooling lightly here and point out what I see as the most debilitating habits we are taught. The subject is an immense one covered well by people such as John Taylor Gatto, author of, “The Underground History of American Education”.

Disclaimer: I quit school in the early 60’s while in grade 9, at age 14. The reason being I felt I was being made dumber instead of smarter. My parent’s response was, “if you don’t go to school we will not support you.” I left home then and took on responsibility for my own life.

Even though I chose a different path than most I did not really understand intellectually why I did what I did then until recently, about a half a century later. What I did then, I did intuitively, rather than logically while accepting full responsibility for the outcome.

I first spent a few years hoboing around Canada taking whatever work I could find whenever I needed it. No job was too menial or too challenging to accept.

At 17 I took on a job that turned my life around and led to my conditioning mostly sliding off me.

This job was as a fire lookout man with the British Columbia (Canada) Forest Service. For a number of years I worked and lived on remote mountain tops, by myself, for 3 to 4 months each year. Spending that much time completely alone, and removed from civilization, especially during my formative years, had a profound effect on my perceptions about life as a human being and how I fit into society.

 

The Watch Tower

Rendered by me from a photo by Kyle Johnson http://kjphotos.com/portfolio/outside

 

I didn’t have a camera in those days so the image above, which closely represents my situation, is used to illustrate the setting.

Below is a photograph of me taken a few years later in the same general area I spent time on the lookouts. The other photos interspersed in this essay are taken by me as I explored the mountains near my home after my lookout years.

Self Portrait

In current society peer pressure during childhood, and early adulthood, is immense. To survive in this setting we must pay close attention to others around us for clues regarding what is and is not acceptable. Because of this pressure the bulk of our energy goes into human interactions and we are pretty much oblivious to everything but our immediate environment. “Use it or lose it”, is sage advice. Because of concentrating on human relations during their formative years, most people have little if any connection to the natural world.

Try to imagine what people would be like if, as youngsters, they spent time exploring and living in nature while being responsible for their own survival and actions instead of hanging out at the mall or partying with their pals.

Is it fair to say that those that hang with the crowd are unlikely to be aware of, or able to understand, large scale events not part of their immediate environment?

What about someone who is tasked with surviving in the greater world using only their own skills? Would they stand a better chance of grasping what is going on?

Is this phenomena related to the common use of a ‘rite of manhood’ by many cultures where young adults leave the security of their group to face the wilderness on their own?

Scenery Three

Do the majority of people in modern societies never go through this enabling rite of passage and instead go from the security of their parent’s care to the security of the big brother state? Does this explain why some people never seem to reach adulthood?

Substantial time on the lookout, without peer pressure, made me realize how confining trying to fit into the crowd is. Most people don’t even sense this pressure because it is all they know. It’s like the air we breathe. It’s just there until it isn’t, then we die; unless we are prepared for an airless environment.

Most people also don’t realize how much of their time and energy it takes to be ‘social’. Being removed from ‘socializing’ is enormously stressful if it is all you know.

Many aspiring lookout men needed to come down off the mountains prematurely because they could not stand being alone. Those that adjusted to the isolation came to treasure the freedom of being comfortable for extended periods with just their own company. The amount of time that then becomes available for other, possibly more worthwhile pursuits, is substantial.

In the forefront of these benefits is having the time to look inside youself without constantly being subjected to the opinion of others. Building friendships takes time and effort and becoming your own friend is no exception. Most of us never get the opportunity to do this.

Those that desire to control human behavior understand that people that are not comfortable with themself are much more susceptible to being controlled because they are lonely and need to seek comfort and friendship outside themselves. Virtually every sales campaign, ranging from that of the door to door salesmen to world leaders, is then enabled to easily sell you a bill of goods by convincing you that what they have to offer is going to become your best friend and make your life less lonely.

 

Scenery Four

Short excursions or holidays into nature, most often with others fitted into a busy schedule, do little to increase our awareness of the greater reality that humans exist within. Thanks to modern technology very few of these excursions actually take people far from the human controlled environment they are conditioned to.

It is one thing to climb to the top of a mountain, conquer it, and then immediately return to civilization. It is something totally different to stay in that wilderness environment for extended periods with the time to come to know those other species that are at home in those environs. It makes one realize that humans are not the 'be all, end all' of life on earth. Humility is born which serves us very well. In this environment one soon comes to realize those species include the earth itself. Seeing the constant breathing of weather and daily and seasonal shifts of energies makes one realize everything is made of the same stuff and ‘lives’ in its own unique way.

To assume the earth is a lifeless blob which we can abuse without conscious consequence is a very risky proposition.

 

Scenery Five

Most people’s lives are lived out within an environment created by and for humans. Most; and more all the time, live in an urban environment.

When they holiday people generally take some technological means of travel which quickly takes them to the other place of human habitation they wish to holiday in. Because people’s travel experience is so brief, and misses the detail of the ground they pass over, most of which currently has no human habitants, it is easy for them to agree when told by ‘experts’ that human overpopulation is a crisis.

Yes there are many urban places on the planet that suffer from overpopulation, and many more places on the planet that are being strip-mined to support those urban centers. But all in all there is an enormous amount of free space capable of supporting humans, if only they were able to tear themselves away from the social centers they now depend on and cluster in.

In the early 1990’s while transitioning from life in Canada to life in Mexico I drove between Canada and Mexico every second week for 3 years while gradually weaning my clients off the services I had previously offered. I was a workaholic and saw the time on the road as my own and enjoyed it by taking different highways almost every trip. Eventually I was able to drive between Mexico and Canada while only passing through a very few towns, all smaller than about 10,000 people. Most of the distance on these trips was spent on very remote highways with no other traffic to speak of.

I can say definitively that between, Canada, the USA and Mexico there is enough uninhabited fertile land to accommodate the whole world without the residents being able to see their nearest neighbor.

This vision assumes we overcome our condition of needing to be part of the herd clustering in vast hordes, and also manage to disempower the laws of those that enslave us that currently make this land unavailable to us.

 

Scenery Six

Humans are far more difficult to control if they live in small clusters, all over the place, while paying little or no attention to the MSM. The propagandists can then no longer create a single message that will motive the whole herd of humans to act identically by broadcasting their one piece of propaganda from a single location that reaches everyone.

Propaganda still works, but it must be tailored properly to fit each unique situation in order to get consistent results. If there is no central broadcasting service the message must also be taken to each unique location individually. This is an impossible situation for our rulers and is the reason we are all so heavily conditioned to….

Need to be in close quarters with other humans.

Need the approval of others.

Think alike.

Think we must be/are part of a team.

Become isolated emotionally from ourselves and each other, even while packed on top of each other, so only big brother can offer us comfort.

Desire specialized knowledge which results in only being able to survive as part of the ‘urban’ team.

To desire a ‘carrot’ of reward that only ‘winning’, at any cost(?), within the crowd can present.

Depend on centralized services, especially sources of energy.

Depend on the rule of ‘human’ law to protect us from each other.

 

Scenery Seven

The most destructive conditioning takes place in our schools, right at the time we are most susceptible to it, during our formative years. During that period we have little experience of our own to compare to what we are told, and raising questions about the validity of the taught ‘truth’ is ruthlessly punished in order to force us to depend on the wisdom of others instead of our own intuition.

We are ruthlessly regimented to follow orders so that we eventually become incapable of thinking for ourselves and become dependent on the ‘boss’ to do our thinking for us. The intellectual box we become stuck within is then defined by the boss.

Specialization in training, and limiting access to information, (compartmentalization) is critical to our conditioning. If we cannot think for ourselves, and only understand part of the puzzle, and are incapable of deducing or intuiting answers to unknowns, we are trapped within our dependence on others.

I have personally met a number of world shaker class intellectuals that are extremely brilliant in their own field, but figuratively can’t tie their own shoe laces. This situation is not accidental. If only the boss has the full picture, the boss becomes the only one who can act effectively. Everyone else then becomes totally dependent on the Boss. Specialization has its place, but having a well rounded toolkit of life skills is essential to individual freedom.

 

Scenery Eight

Being away from civilization where the boss is not handy to hold your hand is a disaster waiting to happen if you cannot think for yourself. Then, unless you quickly learn to identify problems before they destroy you, and also learn to fix problems you can’t avoid intuitively without an instruction manually from the boss, you will not survive long.

Lack of education plus much time spent away from conditioning influences and conditioned humans, has changed fundamentally how I solve problems.

When faced with a problem a conditioned human will go through the channels of historical solutions until they find one that works for them.

Instead I consider the elements of the problem in place, try to intuit the workings of the device/situation, and then pinpoint what is going wrong and consider what might fix it. No manual is needed; just the ability to think a situation through for myself.

Using only this skill I have managed to live my whole life well, if not always comfortably, while being considered an essential resource by many people with far more education than myself, even in areas they have expertise in.

No one is perfect and you will make mistakes when you think for yourself. Mistakes are often painful, but if you accept the possibility of making mistakes, and are willing to learn from them when you make them, you will eventually become a very robust and capable person. What doesn’t break you strengthens you.

If you are afraid of making mistakes you are stuck on the safe (?) road built by our bosses. You still might not be safe, but at least you can then blame your mistakes on someone else.

I have learned far more from my mistakes than from my successes. I am now very thankful for my mistakes, even though some were very painful to navigate.

 

Scenery Nine

This essay is getting long so I will end it with one last point about what I learned from my life on the lookouts.

While we are thrust into the middle of ongoing intense personal inter-relationships, especially during our formative years, our attention remains strongly focused on each interaction as it occurs and the rest of the world passes us by unnoticed. We see the trees, but are oblivious of the forest. This is most often a habit we carry throughout life and it is a very dangerous one in our propaganda filled world. We see each piece of new propaganda as a standalone piece of information. We have no perspective to see if how it fits into the forest makes sense. We are then at the mercy of those that would deceive us for their own purpose. All they need to do is grab our attention and they can then do with us as they like.

On a lookout tasked with quickly finding dangerous anomalies, within a vast vista of forests, becoming focused on each tree individually is not productive and makes it impossible to see the whole picture. A good lookout man eventually learns to quickly scan vast vistas without focusing on anything in particular. Taking this approach to finding required data points, such as suspicious smoke, allows our intuition to come to our aid. It always amazes me how glaringly anomalies stand out when using this method.

It works just as well in any other environment, including researching on the internet. When surrounded by questionable ‘news/propaganda’ the fires stick out much more obviously when we also are aware of the apparently unrelated surrounding information that is part of webscape. The ‘trees’ of propaganda do not distract us from seeing the whole situation. If there’s no smoke there probably isn’t a fire. Our intuition can see the difference even though we logically can’t. Following our intuition instead of remaining focused on the propaganda leads us to the information that will then allow us to make sense of the situation.

Although my prognosis of our situation appears very gloomy I am not pessimistic. I see light at the end of the tunnel.

For those who managed to slog through to this point thank you for your attention.

 

Peter

 

www.TwoIceFloes.com is unlike anything you will find on the web, a truly unique destination. There you will find distinctive Premium Members only articles as well as discussions on wellness and health, homesteading, spirituality & philosophy and most importantly ‘safe’ forums not found anywhere else. Come by for a peek and stay a while.

 

Scenery Ten

 

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Sat, 04/05/2014 - 12:00 | 4628023 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

To Miffed Micro:

"Their indoctrination was of using and treating others poorly because they were superior by birth. There was no kindness, concern or empathy. Vastly more than a spoiled child. Yes, they were predators to the nth degree and I shudder if any of them came into any meaningful power."

There's been more and more of this around. I've noticed it for years. I think that the applause children got for the smallest "achievement"--"graduation from kindergarten", etc., and the concepts of feel-good no matter how unworthy one is, are at fault, but then we've been a feel-good kind of nation since about 1945. With ever-growing wealth-via-credit the theme seemed to become "we must be doing everything right" (no matter how we  treated others personally or as a nation), and now here we are.

Sat, 04/05/2014 - 22:19 | 4629204 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

You reminded me when my daughters and I were watching old movies and series. They were amazed there weren't always happy endings as Hollywood garbage today. There was one Twilight Zone episode "Number 12 looks like me!" that really rattled them. The heroine who was resisting Transformation failed and was made to become a vacuous mind numbed robot.

Millennials are never are exposed to much failure so I tried to show more tragedies for balance against the sickly sweet. Sadness and stress for them seems to be "solved" via prescription vs mentally processing through it. I didn't want to parent through pills.

Miffed;-)

Sat, 04/05/2014 - 15:23 | 4628000 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

Strange to think of it now, but fire-lookout is exactly what I dreamed of doing when I was in school, and forgot about.

OT, sorry, but just found infocleaninghouse, want to share.

Facts: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In US War And Occupation Of Iraq "1,455,590"

 

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In U.S. War And Occupation Of Iraq 4,801

Number Of International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan :  3,428

Cost of War in Iraq & Afghanistan
$1,523,266,106,301

Click for Spanish, German, Dutch, Danish, French, translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.

 

"There is, let me assure you, nothing in nature more egocentric than embattled democracy. It soon becomes the victim of its own propaganda. It then tends to attach to its own cause an absolute value which distorts its own vision … Its enemy becomes the embodiment of all evil. Its own side is the centre of all virtue." - George Kennan

 

Wed, 04/02/2014 - 12:22 | 4617605 VWAndy
VWAndy's picture

I find simplaflacation works well for me. People tend to make things seem complicated when they realy are not. Scape off all the BS and rexamine the issue. It takes time and practice but you get the hang of it pretty fast. One helpful trick is to ask yourself what was the motivation for a statement. When you put things into the simplist terms they become clear.

 

Tue, 04/01/2014 - 14:32 | 4614460 malek
malek's picture

Hi Peter, great article.

(Small quibble: you lost me for a minute after  and is the reason we are all so heavily conditioned to…  until I grasped all the next 9 lines are part of a listing of conditionings.)

In a way I found the same through much more unpleasant ways, becoming a kind of outcast in social terms during school - and only now do I realize it was mainly because I didn't want to lie, not even for only the reason to make others feel good about themselves, what they were convinced was the very least they were entitled to receive from "friends."

Tue, 04/01/2014 - 15:28 | 4614675 petero
petero's picture

@malek

You and I are much alike. I will not compromise to being 'gracious' in social situations made up of meaningless small talk chatter and the buttering up of each other's egos that often goes along with this. I am a fish out of water in such settings not because I don't understand what is needed to fit in but because I am unwilling to comprise myself. I'd rather stand in a corner by myself and be seen as dork than fit in.

In social groups that are involved in contemplating subjects worth considering I can easily be very social and outgoing.

I also struggle with and refuse to participate in rapid fire conversations / competitions to come up with the best one liners.


Mon, 03/31/2014 - 16:04 | 4611679 petero
petero's picture

More thoughts about Conditioning….

My essay about conditioning only painted part of the picture. To help understand the situation more fully it is important to see the whole picture.

What I described previously is the conditioning that influences what we term the masses or those without power. This conditioning is put in place and controlled by the ruling class. It is easy to assume that because of their power and control those of the ruling class are not themselves being conditioned. This is a fallacy.

A study of history clearly demonstrates that throughout history humanity has been in a constant struggle within itself which takes place between a few strong rulers who gain power and subsequently use that power disproportionately for their own benefit, and everyone else. The larger the discrepancy between the quality of life of the rulers and everyone else, the more destructive the relationship becomes.

During my life, because of the skills I have to offer, I have had a few brief glimpses into the personal lives of some of the small circle of rulers that control the condition of humanity. They mostly have names we have never heard of because their employees do their work for them and are the ones the public see and blame for the harm that is occurring.

What I saw behind the curtain was surprising but obvious once it was seen. The conditioning we the masses go through is nothing compared to the conditioning of these elites. The same applies to the trusted employees that work directly for this inner circle.

Looking back through history it becomes obvious there is continuity in the family lines of the ruling class as generation after generation of the same families take over the reins of power in turn.

As with the majority of us the elite’s conditioning begins at the moment of their birth and is initially provided by their parents and family as translated through their hired help. This conditioning is far more rigid and destructive to individuality than that outside the ruling class. The elite’s privileged position is totally dependent on each generation in turn continuing to exercise the power that keeps them all on the top.

The pressure we the masses get from our parents to better ourselves by becoming doctors and lawyers is nothing compared to the pressure put on the children of the elite to ruthlessly manage the masses. With few exceptions those in the elite live cloistered lives and rarely relate extensively with individuals that have not been conditioned identically to them other than in master / servant situations.

The schooling for the elites, and their trusted inner circle of employees, is far more rigid in enforcing subservience to their common cause than the masses education. This is because the loss of a servant is far less critical to the cause than the loss of someone in a position of responsibility. I believe that the rituals used by elite secret societies such as skull & bones at Yale University are designed for initiates to demonstrate to their superiors their willingness to be subservient to the cause even when faced with degrading demands. This subservient position is demeaning for individuals with large egos and probably translates directly to their in turn taking out their anger and frustration on those less powerful than themselves. A circle of abuse then radiates outwards as each level of abused takes out their pain on those less powerful below themselves.

The conceptual box previous generations of elites have trapped their children in is much smaller than the box we the masses inhabit. The people I met appeared to me totally lost. On the surface many appear bubbly and satisfied and feeling on top of the world but this facade is only skin deep. It is obvious that deep down they are deathly afraid of confronting reality. Substance abuse and suicide is a large component of this lifestyle.

To my understanding the relationship between that of the elite and the masses is identical to that of the predator / prey relationship commonly found in/between other species than humans.

The elite are conditioned by their history to be predators and the masses are conditioned by their history to be prey. Those masses that seek the rewards seeming to be available to the elite must become predators in order to join those rarefied circles.

The Bible suggests through the allegory of the Garden of Eden that the predator / prey relationship is not the only possible relationship between individuals. It further suggests we humans fell from grace once we adopted this predatory way of life.

As has been shown by history many times power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It is obvious to me that for there to be peace within humanity power, and the need for it, must be removed.

Peter

Sat, 04/05/2014 - 15:36 | 4628445 dizzyfingers
dizzyfingers's picture

"...for there to be peace within humanity, power, and the need for it, must be removed."

I sincerely agree, but (sarc on) shall we all hold our breath for that? (sarc off)

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 20:33 | 4612464 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

I have similar take on this Peter. When my eldest was 19 she wanted to to to China to take business classes in Shanghai. She,being our very adventurous child, would not listen to admonitions from her concerned parents but we knew she was following her heart so we acquiesced. She went to a good school and the majority of the foreign students comprised of very wealthy east coast families ( not the .01% but definitely the 1%). She was the only one coming from a middle class family. She called us a couple of months into her year shocked by what was going on. Twenty four hour a day drinking including during classes. Local whores were brought into the dorm to service men during parties. She complained to the school administrators and they curiously turned a blind eye to the antics ( I had an idea what was going on but she at such a young age was a bit naive). Finally, tired of having her door smeared with semen every night for complaining, she talked the dorm monitor to move her to the Chinese floor. Everyone was polite to her,very studious and a little surprised she didn't want to be with her American " peer group".

I am not sure if this was the children leadership class of whom you speak but they certainly came from extraordinary old family wealth. Their indoctrination was of using and treating others poorly because they were superior by birth. There was no kindness, concern or empathy. Vastly more than a spoiled child. Yes, they were predators to the nth degree and I shudder if any of them came into any meaningful power.

Miffed;-)

Tue, 04/01/2014 - 15:07 | 4614600 petero
petero's picture

@Miffed Microbio...

Thanks for responding. From what I saw that behavior is expected to include the inner circle of trusted employees. By everyone acting like this within the 'inner circle' everyone is compromised and can easily be destoyed if they step out of line. Such behavior also destroys their morality so 'anything' becomes possible.Those at the top are often, but not always, very gracious and in control of themselves, They possibly don't participate in such mayhem themselves, I wasn't trusted to the point of knowing those intimacies, but they are fully aware of and enable such behavior by those below them.

Although gracious, personable, and often generous to those around them those at the top have an interior made of ice. There is no compassion there that I could see. Their demeanor towards you can change on a heartbeat if they decide you are no longer worth pleasing.

I was made the offer to join the inner 'charmed circle' as a trusted employee but declined.  I will give them this... they do not use force to get you to join, they leave the choice up to you.

I didn't realize at the time but some years later it became clear that they had been subtly grooming me for a number of years. Once I declined many doors that had been open to me were suddenly slammed in my face destroying the business I had been developing for about 12 years. They will not allow competition.

I do not hate these people, I feel very sorry for them. They are not all black, many have good qualities alongside the bad. No one including myself is all good or all bad. If I could help them become more comfortable with their own situation I would do so. I think the destruction that emanates outwards from them mostly reflects their inner turmoil.

Wed, 04/02/2014 - 00:18 | 4616167 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Dear Peter,

Your story truly resonated with me. In the early 70s my father started a malpractice insurance company when he saw a need for good physicians to have access to reasonable premiums. He had already had a small insurance company that insured unions. Though he was penny ante at the time, he was garnering the respect of the big boys of the industry. Early on he had access to capital but underwriting his venture took lots of cash. Suddenly he business took off and captured the attention of serious players. They offered to buy him out. He refused. Big mistake. His funding dried up. Even far away from LA could he get nothing. Yes, these men were well connected. When he was facing bankruptcy he sold out. Today that company is a multi billion dollar insurance company. One of the largest in the world. My dad a deeply kind and spiritual soul died 5 years later of COPD and a very broken man. He was no match for them. First he was a pet and then he was meat. We were living an upper middle class life style and after my dad died we were impoverished. My mentally ill mother just lay in bed and screamed at my brother and me to find a way to support us. We knew we hit a low when there was only a 1/2 bottle of ketchup in the house to eat. At 16 and 22 we had to grow up fast.

Looking back to this horrible time in my life I was filled with so much anger. Today I realize I am a better person for what happened to me. The failure was my dads and not mine. He didn't build that company so I could live a Paris Hilton lifestyle. He just was being his entrepreneurial self and was ignorant of whom he was interacting. In reality, he loved the simple not showy life. Certainly not what these men were leading. I am leading a much happier life than any of them could hope. There are some things money can't buy.

Congrats on you first ZH post. This crowd can be tough. I'm not sure if I'd have the intestinal fortitude to face this group and expose my jugular for scrutiny. Besides, I'm just a simple bench tech microbiologist and can't match the intellectual banterings of most here. You obviously are made of sterner stuff or CD didn't divulge what you faced. ;-)

Miffed;-)

Wed, 04/02/2014 - 02:52 | 4616332 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

Dear Microbiologist, I have to chime in here. You wrote: "The failure was my dads and not mine."
Excuse me, but what you call his "failure" may very well has been his greatest success in life. Think a little bit about that, I guess you'll eventually get my drift ...

Wed, 04/02/2014 - 12:57 | 4617731 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

Dear bear wagon,

This was my dad's Opus One. The apex of all his dreams. In that he created it as a lone man with a dream, scoffed at by many, makes it a crowning achievement. However, I watched it ripped from him and the resulting depression and deep sadness. Would he have done this knowing the result? I do not know. That it happened when I was 12-17 made my observations slanted to a young girl's perceptions. Admittedly, probably not too enlightened to the truth. I hope I'm not being obtuse to your point. May be I need to look at this differently.

Miffed;-)

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 09:31 | 4610268 Savvy
Savvy's picture

Well said esum. I think my best asset is the certainty I can rely on myself. In that, I'm fortunate.

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 09:19 | 4610216 esum
esum's picture

GPa got a 3rd grade ed and then became a carpenter's apprentice and lived on his own.. self educated, self reliant, strong character, not religious but moral and totally honest... Solitude apparently worked for the autor but is not the key ingredient. SELF RELIANCE is the key along with a strong moral base and character. do unto others...

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 12:57 | 4611006 petero
petero's picture

@esum Agreed solitude is not the answer, it is only a reliable method towards achieving the other qualities.

Solitude in the wilderness requires you to take control of your own fate. Doing so requires building "SELF RELIANCE" and a trust in your own capabilities, thereby enhancing the other qualities you mention.

You do not need to stay in solitude. The lessons learned from such solitary excursions in the wilderness stay with you for the rest of your life regardless of where you are. Your chosen environment does however impact your connection with yourself and some environements are far more difficult to cope with.

I chose to live a mostly solitary life away from civilization not because I feel a need to escape. I will explain my motivation further as we go along.

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 08:44 | 4610090 Savvy
Savvy's picture

I grew up in the back of no where homesteading a raw 1/4 section of land (I'm Gen X) no power, no running water or tv. Getting along and each of us doing our share was literally a matter of survival. What this did was give me a strong self-reliance which led to resentment of having to rely on someone else which led to a distrust of those with power over me both literally and figuratively. I have the amenities today but when that which so many think they can't live without (electricity, water, sewar systems, grocery stores) is taken away I will be fine. I'm not a prepper or a hoarder I'm just a survivor.

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 08:20 | 4610016 backwaterdogs
backwaterdogs's picture

Thanks for publishing this...this really resonates with me and captures perfectly, actually, the environment in my corporate environment that I've been condition to (or attempted to be condition to....I try hard to resist).

The notions about the regimentation and becoming depedent on the boss to do our thinking...So true.  I work in the technology space and there seems to be no shortage of engineers/IT analyst carrying H1-B visas.  There is no better example of brilliant people not being able to think for themselves than a group of 'brilliant' engineers raised and reared in India.  Very smart, but incapable of doing anything contrary to what the 'boss' thinks or says.  It is maddening....not just that people with this mentality can't consider any other point of view, but anyone trying to do so is quickly ostracized....."ruthless regimentation" 

 

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 08:05 | 4609986 Sambo
Sambo's picture

Conditioning has its roots in memory. As long as the past dominates the present,

there will be more war, more misery and suffering for man.

Freedom is lot closer than we think it is.

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 13:04 | 4611034 petero
petero's picture

@Sambo you see the big puicture.

We need to keep checking our rear regularly so it doesn't again kick us in the butt but we need to mostly focus on the path in front of us to the future with an open mind.

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 01:58 | 4609701 chindit13
chindit13's picture

While I admit that I tend to sing my “kumbayas” atop a John Cage score, a few comments come to mind upon reading this article.  The first is that I couldn’t get out of my mind a picture of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day saying to Andie McDowell, whom he was hoping to bed, that “I think we should all move to the mountains, and live at elevation”.  The second thought was that the article is quintessentially Western in its mood and philosophy.  In fact, it is absolutely Western.  Of course there’s nothing wrong with that.

The writer has found an answer…for him.  Once the answer is found, there comes something that falls somewhere between sharing it and proselytizing.  Sharing is fine, proselytizing just makes the writer the carbon copy of what it is he is trying to escape.  It’s a fine line, but when people write things (in comments if not the article) of trying to get through to people or “how to get these ideas across”, the line may well have been crossed.  It’s a matter of opinion, but “conditioning” is conditioning, no matter the source and no matter the reason one believes is behind it.  In the end, it’s “listen to me because I know what’s best for you”.

One size does not fit all, and “not getting through” might well mean that what fits the writer doesn’t fit everybody.  We all get a limited amount of time to spend according to our own druthers.  Many or most of us tend to believe we have followed our own drummer, but many or most of us still seek some sort of applause for what it is we have done with our time, which is why we see articles of this type all the time, despite the fact that Henry David Thoreau kind of locked it all down already.  Be like me and find true contentment!  Be honest; there’s some of that here.

Reducing to the ridiculous, we cannot all follow this same path, since who would have made and kept up the instruments, facilities and framework that are necessary for us to “share” our revelations with others near and far?  If there are no power lines, Wi Fi, or satellites to access via a laptop or tablet from the rustic cabin at elevation, how will anyone ever know we have discovered the secret of life?  It’s a bit of a Catch 22.  Thankfully, somebody out there is willing to do the heavy lifting.

If the shoe fits, wear it.  Franz Kafka said that the meaning of life is that it ends.  That is probably all that is required to be said.  After that it’s choice.  Be a doughty individual---a very Western concept---beholden to no one or no thing, reflecting on the beauty of existence.  Be a social individual, seeking camaraderie with those sharing the same time and space, and take joy in human relationship.  Work one’s butt off to create the not-yet-created, both because of the challenge it represents as well as to leave a scream behind on this Earth.  Take one from Column A and one from Column B.  Or from Column C.  Lots of choices, and none more right than another.  Just don’t become what one tries to escape, which is one who wants to impose one’s own One Truth on others.  Accept that one has “an” answer, but not necessarily “the” answer.  Don’t make one’s chosen lifestyle a religion, and if one is “not getting through”, have the humility to admit the reason might be that one’s favored answer isn’t universal.  Stop at the end of Franz Kafka’s sentence, and let everyone decide his or her own path.

The unexamined life is not worth living, but the over-examined life is just self-absorption. Sometime one just has to live and let live.

 

 

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 13:25 | 4611118 petero
petero's picture

@chindit13 very well said and I agree with you.

I am a very private person and in a perfect world no one would even know I exist. It is an enormous struggle for me to put myself front and center. The reason I do so is because I pay attention to what is happening in the world and am very concerned about it. As I see it if some major changes aren't made soon there will be no world for anyone, let alone a perfect one.

Mostly motivated by self preservation, because I understand that no cabin is remote enough to escape what is coming our way, I have chose to share what I have learned in my life in a public way even though it makes me very uncomfortable,  hoping that well meaning people working together to solve this problem can make a difference.

The solution to our common problem is not one you will find an answer to in any book. The message I am trying to get across is not what I have accomplished myself but the method I have used to do it. It involves using problem solving skills instead of instruction manuals. This method can be applied to any situation.

My presentation apppears egoistic because I need to use examples from my own life in order to illustrate how the method works. Believe me when I say that if I could figure out any other way to share this information I would gladly fade into the background. I'm still working on it.

The main thrust of what I am trying to get across is that people being able to think for themselves is crucial to solving our problem. Setting myself up as a guru to be followed defeats that purpose.

Thank you for pointing out that I still need to keep working on my communication skills :)

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 21:58 | 4609222 blindman
blindman's picture

speaking of the forest and the trees,
is it just me or did you ever notice;
.
in the forest there sometimes appears
a space and state of being,
an environment or (local) milieux
termed a "spirit room"?
probably no google search to describe this.
.
a space where the trees in apparent
perfect harm-onic to uni-son
have grown revealing a canopied silence
a carpet of last year's cover
filled with nothing
but spirit
space and silence become a soft
cool breeze from below.
spirit of the forest under
space between the trees speaking
unmistakably, loud and clear.
.
but i wonder concerning a photograph
of this and how the eye, should there be a
broken and fallen tree or branch, is invariably
drawn, as to fire, to that one.
.
is this how all can be gained/lost
in a moment of artistic interest
and beauty?
anyway poems *tm

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 21:30 | 4609149 teslaberry
teslaberry's picture

funny. i didn't think the essay was that long. 

i spent 6 months hiking the appalachian trail. at times i tagged up with teams, but its very true that most people feel at all times compelled to be in groups. especially women. 

 

however, in the general broader context of society, i think youre most inciteful line in your essay was this : 

Specialization in training, and limiting access to information, (compartmentalization) is critical to our conditioning

 

specialization is one fo the key features defining human civlization. some people have even theorized that over specialization in hunting and gathering for MEN is one amonth many possible features that allowed early homo-sapiens to compete out and make extinct other primate competing species such as neandertal, which , as far as the genetic archeology record goes, really weren't all that much different from human beings. 

 

is is perhasp this trait of specialization that defines one human termite mount ( society ) from another. 

the power of violence of course being the primary human behavior that is compartmentalized and specialized. the power to kill , and its specilization ---through roleplayers (crowns & castes) ----are what define humanity in many ways. 

 

i'm not so sure i'm saying your writing didn't explore this reality enough. but i think the taoist inevitability of the human termite nest proposition is one where fighting against 'specilization' too much ----becomes a sisyphean task. 

 

it is incumbent upon us always to look at the broader picture. but to deny that we must generally earn our bread through specialized tasks, is to do deny the general logistical setup of almost all modern developed countries, and their efforts to 'modernize' the less developed  countries. i may not look down upon the african continents many cultures, nor do i worship them, nor do worship 'globalism' as such. but modernization is coming, whether you like it or not, whether the human race does in fact overconsume its resources or not. you cannot stop what's coming. you can only really retreat from it and try and live as best you can a meager existence apart from it.

the path less travelled? 

 

 

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 22:22 | 4609292 TheAnswerIs42
TheAnswerIs42's picture

Yours is a great reply to a great post. The concept of specialization is not only appropriate but seems necessary for survival.

Too often I see many who are part of the herd, unspecialized and on the road to the eventual failure of that herd.

They are a product of group think, which seems to be encouraged and lack any critical thinking skills.

I believe the main premise of Peter's article was that isolation encourages critical thought through the development of introspection without distraction.

Living in a remote environment sure encourages that mode. However I can do that and still enjoy a standard of living which greatly surpasses any third world country.

And yet, having lived in some third world countries, the people there still have a sense of joy which I find lacking in any metropolitan area...

 

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 14:28 | 4611391 petero
petero's picture

TheAnswerIs42 wrote: "And yet, having lived in some third world countries, the people there still have a sense of joy which I find lacking in any metropolitan area.."

That is a lesson I have also learned.

We cannot mimize the benefits that industrialization have brought to humanity, they are too obvious to discount. However it is worthwhile considering what we have lost in the process which has also had a massive impact on the quality of our lives.

My opinion is that like everything else technology can be used for good or for bad. How it is implimented and used determines the outcome. I think our current implementation of technology is horrid. This is no accident. Our technology is controlled by a small elite group and is used for their own benefit. The spinoffs the rest of us see served a purpose in the past which is no longer relevant. That is why our society is currently being turned upside down.

To get to this stage of technology our leaders needed a massive work force. Basically We all were the construction crew.

Now the technology is in place it takes a far smaller crew of workers to keep it functional and producing new goods.

We, the construction crew ars now redundant and no longer need to be coddled. The more the crew can be reduced, the more comfortable the lives of the elite will become. It takes a lot of energy to organize a construction crew.

The 'boss' feels no compassion for their redundant workers and will now use any method to be rid of them. We are currently seeing the beginning of that process. It will get much worse.

The 'boss' takes credit for creating technology and holds it over us as a club by threatening collapse if the boss stops bosing.

The above is absolutely false. There are many other, far superior ways, that industrialization could have been implemented.

The best speculation I have come across regarding what such alternatives might look like is in a book published in 1980 by Kirkpatrick Sale called, "Human Scale". http://www.newsociety.com/Books/H/Human-Scale

He asked and then suggested answers to questions such as.

What is the largest size of human community that remains viable and provides a fullfilling lifestyle?

What is the smallest size of community which is still capable of supporting the heavy industires other technology depends on?

The answers are surprising.

i hope there is technology in our future but not at the current scale.

 

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 21:10 | 4609088 blindman
blindman's picture

sometimes, when it gets quiet,
it can be therapeutic to turn on
some soft music for the clients,
nurse won't mind?
.
Bobbie Gentry - Ode To Billie Joe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZt5Q-u4crc
.
Little Feat ...
tripe face boogie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5bWqhYSiBs
.
(theres a fat man in the bathtub
with the blues)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zh5oMJo3co
.
(man, bathtub, the blues)
.
Little Feat - Willin' sung by Lowell George Live 1977. HQ Video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNqv85coyTw

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 20:04 | 4608892 Carl Popper
Carl Popper's picture

People don't realize how strongly they are conditioned.  How else could they support and approve of hereditary rule for millennia?

 

The concept of something different was so alien to the average subject of hereditary rulers that the Bolsheviks knew they had to kill every last child of the Romanov dynasty in Russia. 

 

If they had not done that, a large part of the population would have supported the forces of reaction.  The concept of a five year old child king continuing the life they always knew would have become an organizing force for many people and hurt the chances of the revolution succeeding. 

 

I am strongly anti communist but I understand why they did that. 

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 04:16 | 4609821 Manic by Proxy
Manic by Proxy's picture

Yes, the Bolsheviks murdered children. We agree on that. 

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 19:29 | 4608798 Nehweh Gahnin
Nehweh Gahnin's picture

Love the essay, although I don't share Peter's conclusion regarding the ability of the Earth to sustain a bunch more people.  There are far too many other factors in play with population sustainability, and to be selfish, I frankly don't WANT millions (or billions) more people stomping around the Western U.S., Canada and Mexico.  I'd be far happier with far fewer people.  But hey, I'm an introvert, so I'm that way.

The rest is pretty much spot on.  

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 19:16 | 4608759 NOMO
NOMO's picture

quoniam ….. Ego validus, Ego voluntas, Ego operor, Ego sum
Because …… I CAN, I WILL , I DO, I AM

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 19:18 | 4608757 Reaper
Reaper's picture

That is what sexual reproduction and Nature are about. Some of us are different by design. The herd goes one way, while we go the road untraveled. Government's imagined purpose is to control the amassed herd. To be in the herd or the school of fish is for everyone to turn right or left depending on what the animal next to you does. To be alone is to have to decide right or left on your own. That freedom or choice means taking responsibility for your choice. In the herd or school, you are saved the effort of thinking and choice. Perhaps, the need for a herd to think and take responsibility for choices is in their DNA. Have humans flourished because both the herd and the maverick exist? Do some mavericks influence and, if needed, lead the herd? Am I on this road untraveled by my DNA? Am I the lone wolf or in the pack by my choice or my DNA?

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 19:01 | 4608720 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

"Those that desire to control human behavior understand that people that are not comfortable with themself are much more susceptible to being controlled because they are lonely and need to seek comfort and friendship outside themselves."

Bingo!  Thanks Cog, and thank you Peter Offerman.

"The Innovation of Loneliness":  http://m.mobiledia.com/news/189649.html

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 20:41 | 4609007 Shad_ow
Shad_ow's picture

When you realize that it isn't what people think that matters, it is what you know, you stop chasing approval and rely on your own choices to find happiness.

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 18:46 | 4608694 petero
petero's picture

Hello everyone, I am the author of this piece and my ZH membership just came through.

 

I've read through all your comments and look forward to responding to them. This will take some time as you are way ahead of me. I'll start at the beginning and work my way up.

 

Peter

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 12:54 | 4610993 Liberty2012
Liberty2012's picture

Thank you Peter

That is a lovely article - many truths, great perspective.

Perspective is one thing I find increasingly lacking in general and you've described how and why.

I look forward to seeing more of your light at the end of the tunnel. I too see the bright end. The path to get there, or rather that we are on that path, is less clear.

Again, thank you very much.

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 03:25 | 4609779 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

Alright, Peter. Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foCzlvXKWTA      ;-)

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 19:56 | 4608866 Fredo Corleone
Fredo Corleone's picture

A fine introspective essay. Indeed, as one gazes upon contemporary society, one is given to ask, whither The Individual ?

Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can offer with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation, but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 19:43 | 4608800 blindman
blindman's picture

welcome peter,
as you know you have entered what might be known as
a digitized and virtual form of a fictional literary
musing called "fight club". they say there are some rules,
i never bothered with any of that however, i would like to
grant you a solemn warning in the form of a conclusion and
observation i believe to be accurate.
you arrived here by way of "bad directions". i think you should know
that coming/going in. this place is like a trauma center with no clear
treatment being performed and none of the exits are marked. victims
come and go, sometimes for ever, and with no explanations. also,
the security agencies around the world monitor every key stroke for
potential future use against you(no court of law required), so there and ...
.
welcome peter.
ps. wonderful essay, thanks.
9th & Hennepin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbs5myuiqvM
.
MUDDY WATERS-Still A Fool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss3mmkngYZI
.
Dizzy Gillespie & Joe Carroll - Ool Ya Koo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNpHNH597bc

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 14:52 | 4611475 petero
petero's picture

@blindman

Thanks everyone for the welcome and blindman's warning.

I have followed the antics here for a number of years. One of the commentors mentioned a previous incarnation of such a group that was called the 'Daily Reckoning". It is tamed now but I got my feet wet in that setting. Since then I've been involved in creating and managing some such groups.

As far as the authorities are concerned they've been on my case my whole life.

I'd rather they get it over with and terminate my existence than temper my opinion out of fear of the consequences.

I do not believe in hiding behind Anonymity. I say what I have to say publicy and dam the consequences.

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 18:33 | 4608665 blindman
blindman's picture

@"Conditioning: That Which Keeps People Subservient to Abusive Leadership"
.
Warren Zevon - My Shit's Fucked Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHDdqubE7zQ
.
Warren Zevon and Jackson Browne - Mohammed's Radio - Live 1976 (HD)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpkoJ_pVk0M
.
Jackson Browne - Poor Poor Pitiful Me - Tribute to Warren Zevon
.... (Enjoy Every Sandwich) ....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp_ZUtfHInU

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 18:25 | 4612134 blindman
blindman's picture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1zNy-5ESos&feature=youtu.be
'Governments are intentionally misleading us' on Malaysia plane - BBC News

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 21:29 | 4609145 blindman
blindman's picture

here a tangentially associated musical link
that may make sense but surely does the heart
some kind of sound good.
.
Tom Waits - Gun Street Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4XZWZ91kfc

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 19:06 | 4608742 blindman
blindman's picture

oh man.
http://www.bollyn.com/#article_14613
.
i don't believe anything i see and only half
of what i hear. ...
signed,
disabled and disadvantaged.
Brave New World Full movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn5yUgci5Zg#t=2017

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 18:30 | 4608654 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

 

 

Future Jim,  you might want to contact NSa, they already capture all that info.

 

 

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 18:27 | 4608645 SweetDoug
SweetDoug's picture

'

'

'

At 43, I'd had enough.

Ruined by a bullshit career(s), continually having jobs and careers chopped out from underneath me, friends that had betrayed me at profound levels, going nowhere just as well as everyone else, I just tuned in, turned off and dropped away.

I shook my Dad's hand, kissed my mom good-bye, and drove south, leaving Canada far behind. I didn't know where I was going, where I would sleep, what I would eat. I took my camping gear, my bicycle and my beaten up laptop to write on and just left. That's where I was in my life.

My Dad thought I'd be gone for 2-3 weeks. My mom figured 4-6. My buddy said in an email "For Christ's sake Doug! People go off to find themselves for 3 or 4 weeks… You've been gone 5 months!"

I went another 3 on top of that.

The swamps of Florida. The bayous of Lousiana. The deserts of the SE. I fell in love with the deserts.

I get what Offerman says. When you've lived like that, and then step back into society, it all looks so skewed.

You can live with what most could not fathom, and be satisfied. Go a month with out a hot shower. Or one you had to 'make'. You come back an appreciate hot and cold running water. A real stove. A roof.

Live without TV for 6 months. When you return, watching ads, is like viewing people from an insane asylum. And you notice how the media culture has become people's personality.

You do not fit-in anymore. And you never will. It's like you detoxed from society.

And when you return, you can feel the pressure to conform again, to drink the kool-aid, to be drunk again.

You can't play the game anymore. It becomes very difficult not to descend into cynacism and become jaded.

You try to find meaning in life, in this society, but find it all meaningless.

You got to work, to make money, to buy baubles and put roof over your head, to be able to go to work again and repeat the process.

Where is the meaning?

I want to go back to the desert, sitting in my chair, with a tea, watching the sun set over the hills. I don't know what meaning that holds, but it's more than getting up and going to work in this society.

Especially when you know where it is heading.

•J•
V-V

Mon, 03/31/2014 - 00:52 | 4609619 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

Learn outdoor survival skills. Learn how to trap(mammals & fish). Anyone who practices can survive year round in the mountains- north in the heat of summer, south in the winter. Plenty of forests in the US that would be good candidates.

I'd avoid the desert, tho!

Where is the meaning?

This life has been given to you learn that most important answer. You'll have plenty of time to read and meditate. I'd suggest making use of one of these:

http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/

 

Sun, 03/30/2014 - 19:36 | 4608817 Nehweh Gahnin
Nehweh Gahnin's picture

+ magnitudes.

It is bizarre when you get to that point where the TV no longer makes any sense at all.  I have caught myself staring at the TV when at my brother's house, because I just can't make sense of it.  Then something will pop up, such as JP Morgan's Happy Thanksgiving wishes to America during the Cowboy's game that cause a violent dissociative reaction that yanks me away and sends me out of the room.

I did the desert rat thing myself for awhile.  It was a learned delight, but hearing nothing but the wind carries a spirituality that few will ever know to appreciate.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!