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Dispatches from Occupied Territory – Fear is the Mind Killer
Dispatches from Occupied Territory – Fear is the Mind Killer
By
Cognitive Dissonance
This is the third in a series of fictional explorations into an individual’s awakening to the suddenly unfamiliar world around and within her while still engulfed by the day to day insanity. These short stories in letter form are intended for the more sensitive and inquisitive reader who wishes to look more deeply within and explore in depth their beliefs and perceptions as well as how to cope with a world gone frighteningly mad. It is the author’s hope to accomplish this by way of an intimate and revealing first person correspondence between two long time friends as they discuss her ongoing awakening. The first two chapters may be found here.
Dear Marie,
It was good to hear you are beginning to settle in after several months of personal turmoil and distress. The shock and awe that results from first light, that initial rush of awareness and revelation as our awakening begins to take hold, is unlike anything we have ever experienced and can at times be very frightening and quite frankly revolting. When I began my awakening I was never quite sure whom I was angrier with, the lies and liars I discovered all around me or the most egregious liar of them all, the formerly complacent and complicit liar I found lurking within.
After the first wave of fear and nausea passes we tend to go numb as a sort of psychological defense mechanism to protect our psyche from an overload that could lead to severe psychosis. Underneath this unnatural calm there remain conflicting urges to flee the insanity, to pull the covers over our head and hide from the beast, and the growing wellspring of rage at the machine and the urge to strike back. This is a very dangerous time for us and it is important for us to seek guidance and balance or we can quite literally go off the deep end. Think of it as suddenly being shaken awake from an extremely frightening dream, only to realize the ‘reality’ you have awaken too is in many respects several orders of magnitude worse than the dream you just left.
This brings me to the thrust of your last few letters and the subject which presently disturbs you so deeply. I promised you I would get back to you on this, so without further delay here I am. You speak about the horrific realization that everything around us appears to be a bald faced lie with a macabre facade painted on the surface for the benefit of our denial. In particular you mention those private, public and governmental institutions you formerly trusted, even if only up to a certain point. Often what we describe as ‘trust’ is in reality a debilitating dependency hidden by deep denial. None the less it still feels terrible when it has been violated, particularly when we enabled the violation.
There is no way to adequately describe the shock one feels when a person first learns they are sleeping with the enemy and could easily become its next victim. In many respects by awakening you disturb the beast that lay beside you, thereby risking the potential to draw unwanted attention to yourself. We learn very early in life to keep our head down and to go about our business. So when we begin our awakening, in many respects we are doing just the opposite. To discover those we have blindly trusted have repeatedly violated us in a most personal and intimate way is so far beyond disturbing that at times it escapes accurate description.
Suddenly we see very clearly how for decades there were dozens of warning signs we deliberately ignored or flat out denied. This ugly realization alone is the primary reason so many abandon their journey before they have even begun and rush headlong back into the warm embrace of blackout living and willful denial. Our personal revelation can bring on wave after wave of self revulsion and depression. However, nothing will be gained by loitering here for long. To pull out of this downward spiral we must make a deliberate conscious decision to abandon this self defeating paralysis and move towards healing and growth.
The emotions you describe in your letter all revolve around the emotions of violation and the fear this realization generates. Or should I say the fear you are programmed to experience. Before I speak of specifics we need to pull back and find the proper perspective if we are to reach a higher understanding. It is one thing to be lied to once and done, another entirely to be lied to continuously and in many cases (in retrospect) obviously. While in the first instance you might rightly be declared a victim, in the second you cannot, at least not in the purest sense of the word because it is much more complicated than black and white, right and wrong, victim and perpetrator.
In no way is what I am about to discuss to be construed as justifying or condoning their lies, cheating and theft. These people violated, and continue to violate, a public trust and their fiduciary duty, a much higher standard of conduct than simply holding up their hands and promising they will protect and serve. They should not, and will not, get a pass from me on this matter.
But (and you knew there was a ‘but’ coming Marie) we are discussing you and your reactions to these revelations and violations. Since you cannot personally make them do anything to reverse or rectify the wrongs they have perpetrated against you, this is all about you reaching a greater understanding of yourself and why you feel the way you do in order to begin the healing. I do not wish to discuss the specifics of who did what, when and where, or of the violations to you and me because as difficult as it may seem to understand, the specifics are immaterial at this point in the awakening process.
Because we have been conditioned to do so, when we first discover the massive lies and conspiracies which are part and parcel of the world of the elite, the corporate and banking world and of course all levels of government, our first tendency is to dive into the minutia and details of the actual wrongdoing, along with the various cover stories and smoke screens. We want to believe if only the information about their heinous crimes were more widely known and disseminated the public would react in righteous indignation and throw the bums out, then burn them at the stake.
This is a mistaken belief that is tragically and endlessly repeated over and over by every newcomer and sadly perpetuated by many veterans as well. It is just another hamster wheel created to distract and exhaust us, a part of the social control system to keep us endlessly chasing phantoms rather than health and healing. Logic dictates if these people are able to pull off the level of crime, corruption and traitorous actions they clearly are capable of, they are obviously receiving protection from each other as well as from higher, more powerful people and entities. In other words, the system at this level protects its own so it can protect itself.
That is not to say you should abandon your research into the who, what, when, where and why of these events, as well as the overall corrupt business dealings they are engaged in and which are shrouded under the cloak of misdirection and layers of deceit. No real harm can come from a greater understanding of how the sociopaths and their enablers ply their craft and why we always fall for the same stupid misdirection dog tricks. Knowing ourselves and those around us is never a waste of time if our intentions and motives are squarely aligned with our actions.
And it is here, while searching for our real motives, that we find many of our own lies clouding our intentions and distorting our thinking. After overcoming the initial fear that comes from discovering our protector is in fact our tormentor and potentially our killer, a fear we must examine more closely, we then move on to the next stage, that of sounding the alarm. But first let us explore the fear, because as we awaken we will discover our fear, in all its forms and permutations, is behind nearly everything we do, and react to, on a daily basis.
Of utmost importance here Marie is for you to recognize, and then accept, that the dangers you speak of and write about have always been there. It is you who have changed, not your surroundings and most certainly not the machine. The government has always been your enemy and not your friend; those multinational corporations have always pursued power and profit first at yours and my expense; the education system is designed to condition and indoctrinate, not liberate your mind, and your family is just as asleep as you were and maybe even more so. This was always the case with the danger partially hidden behind an obscuring lace veil. The only difference now is you have looked into the abyss and are shocked by what you have found.
What is the central difference in our mind between walking down the center aisle of our local supermarket and walking down a dark downtown street at 2 AM? I would argue that seen from the point of view of personal danger there isn’t much difference from moment to moment, though over longer periods of time there most certainly is. Yet in practice these two worlds are far removed from each other, with the supermarket perceived to be much safer than the darkened late night street.
It stands to reason you will act more openly and freely in the supermarket then on the street, particularly if you always shop at the market and rarely if ever walk the late night street. So the level of danger you feel is more perceptional than actual with the familiarity of the market, along with many other people present who are just like you, greatly reducing one’s perception of danger. It is not the actual danger that is alarming to us as it is our perceived proximity to danger that gets our blood racing. We use rationalization and subtle denial, in all its petty forms and functions, to distort our perception of many the dangers which in practice are always present and all around us.
Thus while shopping in the supermarket you aren’t overly concerned with who is behind you or walking past, who is standing next to you while you select a steak or reach for the frozen peas. Nor who is waiting in the checkout line directly behind you and within two feet of your purse. While this might all seem obvious, the point is you are not concerned to any great extent with your personal safety while in the supermarket, yet you would be on the late night street, even if statistically from moment to moment you might be equally as safe. People are robbed or assaulted in the supermarket and have their wallets and purses stolen while in the mall, retail store or parking lot.
On a day to day basis we go about our business giving very little thought to our personal safety or even to those around us. While we know crime does exist and we may even know a friend or family member who has been ‘victimized’, it all takes place at a distance from us physically, mentally and emotionally. We take for granted, barring extraordinary circumstances, that we are not presently in danger. In many ways this is a naïve approach to life and it certainly sets us up for a real shock to the system when the inevitable violation occurs.
But since we are not trained or conditioned to view the world much beyond the next few hours, maybe days at the most, we simply assume what happened last minute will happen this minute and again during the next. And make no mistake about it Marie, how we are trained to see and perceive reality makes all the difference when creating and interacting with reality.
The odds are very high nothing will happen to us from moment to moment, which simply acts as real time confirmation of our conditioned bias. But it also breeds complacency within us and the emotional perception of safety we so desperately desire when we do not wish to assume responsibility for our own personal safety or sovereignty.
This is why we often bemoan the lack of police or some other authority figure when the inevitable happens. While intellectually we know the police react to crime, not prevent crime, since we have sub contracted out the responsibility for our personal and emotional safety, clearly it must be the sub contractor’s fault when we are harmed. It does not matter if the sub contractor was incapable of doing the job in the first place or even wanted to do so. Since we have abdicated our own personal responsibility we must now find emotional cover when things go wrong. And they always go wrong, thus proving the lie we can avoid accountability in the first place.
Sitting there while reading this, you might be tempted to intellectualize this discussion and claim you don’t engage in this behavior. And it is so easy to explain it all away because everyone else is doing the same thing at the same time. But Marie we have talked in the past about how in practice many of our decisions are emotional or impulse based and only afterwards do we rationalize them, thus validating our own ‘intelligent’ choices. This in and of itself is the core function of denial, separating the emotional animal from the rational being as if they are two different entities, when in reality they are just two dissimilar faces of the same beast.
Before moving on let me emphasize once again that all of us to some extent or another expect external authorities to protect and serve us. We have been conditioned to believe this is why we pay our taxes instead of those taxes being tribute to the state the payments really are. That is supposedly why we gather as large loosely connected tribes within clearly defined physical and cultural borders, for our collective and individual benefit and self defense.
But this also leaves us particularly vulnerable to the collective as well as to individuals within the collective who do not abide by the rules and who, while doing so, are protected by the collective to further other people’s individual or collective goals. This is the corrosive effect of systemic and wide ranging corruption, to turn nearly all ‘law abiding’ members of the collective into a pool of captive victims waiting to be exploited. For those individuals who depend upon the collective for sustenance, protection and emotional support, thereby becoming dependents of the collective, they are seen as little more than fish in a crowded pond to the predators.
I contend this love/hate relationship is responsible for much of the underlying fear we experience from day to day. While we rarely acknowledge our vulnerability to the collective, on a subconscious level it is blatantly obvious, thus we always live in a state of low level fear and apprehension. But our fear is hidden from view because it has been culturally assimilated by us within us. It is given different, more pleasant sounding names in order to be widely accepted as part of modern life, thus natural, normal and no big deal.
For example, while we are conditioned to believe the local police are there “To Protect and To Serve” in reality they are the local armed enforcement division of the protection scam called government. They are the armed revenue generating agents of the local tax ‘authority’ and the private security force for the financial elite. They protect the property of those who control their salaries while violently subduing peaceful protestors of the elite in response to their agent provocateurs inciting a riot.
When we see flashing lights in our rearview mirror we can safely say our heart does not leap for joy with the prospect of another encounter with those who protect and serve, but rather a rush of fear flashes over us as we quickly assess what the damages will be during this latest bald faced extortion exercise. After the officer has pulled us over and run our plates for wants, warrants and outstanding protection payments, he doesn’t walk to our car with a hand casually draped over his service weapon because he wants to give us a warm welcoming hug.
When the IRS comes calling with a notice of extortion demanding payment, saying we owe more of our ‘voluntary tax’ than we have declared, suddenly we realize the IRS has the legal right to assume we are guilty while the burden of proof of our innocence falls upon us. Worse, if we protest too much we are hauled into a special ‘tax’ court where the rules of evidence and self incrimination are stacked against us. It is then we realize the smart move is just to pay the cost of defense (the penalties) plus the original levy rather than fight the rigged system. Chalk up another personal violation.
But even these examples are obvious when given serious thought and a clear eyed assessment of what is really going on. What is chillingly frightening to you is the realization nearly everything you believed in, the basis by which you lived your life and pursued your interests, vocation and entertainment, is the polar opposite of what you thought was true and correct. Worse, not only is your government not your protector but it might just be your mortal enemy.
Essentially you are discovering you live in a dream world Marie and most of what you believed real is not only false and fake, but deliberately conceived to deceive our perception of reality in order to control and exploit. This strikes to the very heart of what we are conditioned to believe “We the People” are as well as our small part in this promoted reality. Rather than the shining beacon of global truth, justice and the American Way, you are beginning to recognize those who run this country are true psychopaths and ‘our’ country is closer to a banana republic than a representative republic. Worse, it appears we are the biggest rotten banana in the global bunch.
Relatively early in life, say around mid to late teens, we have already created an internal world view which, while flexible enough to be changed slightly to accommodate the movable feast of world events, is still firmly anchored in cement by fundamental ‘beliefs’ indoctrinated into us from birth by well meaning fellow ‘believers’ and/or captive wage slaves dependent upon the machine to create their reality and feed their family.
The propagandized illusion of national wholesomeness and moral certainty, while increasingly under assault by the growing mass awareness that something stinks in the wood pile, basically remains intact precisely because our semi flexible worldview accommodates selective reasoning, denial and narcissistic fantasies. But when viewing the full Monty of the police state and its control apparatus, combined with the clarity of a growing awakening, nearly all of us suffer some sort of breakdown on both a psychic and spiritual level, leaving us isolated and broken and desperate for fellow support and affirmation.
For nearly all of us this is simply too much to bear and we rapidly retreat to the sweet bliss of feigned ignorance. Don’t ask, don’t tell works quite well for most individuals who have previously peaked into the abyss and are desperate to forget not only what they saw, but the social implications it has for them. Obviously an emotional and psychological transition must take place here if we are not only to recover our feet, but to move forward towards recovery and rejuvenation.
And it is here dear Marie that I return to the subject of sounding the alarm. By this I mean any attempt by us to warn and/or rally those around us in order to facilitate systemic change and reform as well as to develop allies for personal protection and empowerment. Our instinct when leaving one tribe is to either join or create another one if for no other reason than to replace the collective affirmation we no longer receive from the tribe we abandoned.
As in all things in life our intent is often more important that our actions. If we are sounding the alarm out of personal fear, then fear is precisely what we will project, consciously and subconsciously, when talking to others. Since the people we talk to also harbor an internal discomfort and disconnect which they do not acknowledge, thus they are on edge if only on a subconscious level, they will sense our projected fear and react with revulsion and rejection. Nobody wants to get too close to the crazy person, especially when that person is proclaiming ‘truths’ contrary to their consensus belief.
Because of this projected fear, along with the prevailing denial of those being ‘warned’, many newly awakened make almost no headway when sounding the alarm which in turn increases their sense of isolation and desperation and thereby their fear. It is a vicious positive feedback loop which usually ends in emotional exhaustion and possibly even a mental breakdown. At the very least many become depressed and despondent which, when combined with their inevitable social withdrawal, further encourages others to label them as malcontents or even mentally ill.
Marie……this is why we must suppress the instinct to fight or flight and immediately begin the work within. Only after we have come to grips with this terrible emotional trauma and are settled not only with our prior participation, but also the inevitable personal changes we must enact if we are to embody what must be done in order to facilitate our partial or full withdrawal from the insanity, can we move forward with our life. How much and to what extent only you can determine, but certainly no settled decision can be made until and unless you have begun the personal soul searching work of self discovery.
Many of the newly awakened, as well as countless veterans, spend nearly all their time bargaining with their awakening instead of focusing on their healing. For far too many the awakening itself is the nightmare rather than what they are awakening to. While some will claim otherwise, often those who are awakening just want the system to be ‘fixed’ so they can go back to sleep. I know many who feel it is an injustice they must be the ones who are awakening, thus the carrier of the burden of contrary information and knowledge, rather than recognizing the wonderful gift they have been bestowed.
Once you arrive at a fork in the road you must make a decision. Make a choice, be settled with it and move on. If need be Marie you can always revisit that decision, though oftentimes if you attempt to do so you will find yourself so fundamentally changed from the journey itself, either you won’t need to revisit or once back there the same choices will no longer be there. It is only when we continue to bargain with our ‘self’, either before, during or after our (in) decision, that the damage is done and reinforced. It is this constant state of tension, this unwillingness to seek centering and to be settled in our new role in life, that exaggerates and inflames our fear and isolation.
Obviously this is easier said than done and ultimately no matter how much encouragement and support you receive along the way, your journey is a solo affair. As difficult as it may seem for you now, please recognize you have entered the beginning of the end of your mindless dependency upon the collective machine and external authority. From this point forward how well you handle yourself and your recovery depends entirely upon how willing you are to step away from the herd and explore the space within. I promise you this much; once you recognize the only thing you have to fear is fear itself the emotional release you experience will be life altering.
Go ahead and take that first step. If you are committed and have faith that the process will be life changing and healing, it will be all that and so much more.
Beside you always,
Jonathan
_______________
Cognitive Dissonance
09-01-2014
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Contemplate this hell, OldPhart.
I had / have been in business or self employed since about 1992. That alone makes you "different ". In the 90's, I responded to one of those " make bags of money" postcards many of us remember. It was to trade futures and commodities . I bought the course, studied it thorough. It was well worth the education. I then opened a trading account, with about
$4000 as I recall. Opening a futures account is not for the feignt of heart. You sign, multiple times, stating you are aware you can loose everything and then some. ( hindsight, that's a clue!) I traded only options, your losses are fixed. The wins tend to outweigh the fails, if you are steady. I had some BIG wins, and got cocky. Bought some actuall future contracts, and got thrashed. I lost only the original investment, but felt lucky to get out that easy.
That was a very educational and enlightening experience. You are swimming with sharks in that arena. Don't play unless you can afford to get fucked.
Onto 2007-08. At this time, I am somewhat aware of the bigger world, by experience, but did not fully understand what was going on. In an effort to understand, and therefore survive or profit, I started looking. I found Chris Martensen. Gerald Celente. Mike Maloney. FOFOA. And read and read. A picture developed. Not crystal clear, but pretty freaking good.
At this point, your a weirdo. And outcast. Your friends and family ask, you direct them to source material, they don't bother. Fuck em. Fuckem all. But now it is you who are pucked. Your eyes are open. Everything is different now. You understand " ignorance is bliss". You see it in action, every day. How can these people be so ....stupid? Ignorant? Is it me? What do I do?
My wife of 31 years thinks I'm a brainwashed weirdo. "Why can't you just be normal ?" Is a constant refrain.
What the fuck is normal. I'm an asshole because I have a 6-12 month supply of food? Generators and fuel? Start the day, every day, looking for clues if "today will be the day"?
And my favorite, or least favorite as it were, " why can't I be more like my brother in law? " The one with zero fucking skills, drives a desk for Verizon, but has a pension plan and money in the bank. 2 two week vacations a year. He has his shit together. Why can't we be like everybody else? Why are you so different? Why do you work so much?
Ignorance is bliss.
Rant off.
Well, it is good to know I am not alone! Right there with you NP. Been in business for 10 years and the past 5 have been hell!
Woke up in 2008 when the bailouts took place and I was emailing and calling CONgress critters and that piece of shit Mcshitstain about not bailing out their buddies! Read everything I could get my hands on the vast majority from the Mises Institute, Ron Paul etc. after that!
I don't even bother trying to wake people up anymore, right or wrong, it just has never panned out and have decided to move on in my own way. Fight the battle almost daily about "getting a job" like the majority of the people I know. Oh well, pushin 50 and just going to try and raise my two teenage daughters the best way I can. One is awake, still working on the other! And prepare as best I can for what this jacked up world is bringing our way! Peace Out! END THE FED!
"What the fuck is normal. I'm an asshole because I have a 6-12 month supply of food? Generators and fuel? Start the day, every day, looking for clues if "today will be the day"?
And my favorite, or least favorite as it were, " why can't I be more like my brother in law? " The one with zero fucking skills, drives a desk for Verizon, but has a pension plan and money in the bank. 2 two week vacations a year. He has his shit together. Why can't we be like everybody else? Why are you so different? Why do you work so much?
Ignorance is bliss."
Rant off.
Wow, thank you for that! Whenever I see people who are playing "inside the system" and I hate on myself and deride myself mercilessly for not "playing too" I have to tell you , I don't know how it will turn out. On the one hand, I end up talking to myself a lot and going through the rationalization that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't play the game because then I would have to be a total fake person. It would drive me insane and beyond. I tried it. I truly did. I worked for the EPA back in the 80s. Talk about cush. Those people just punched a clock and had fun. They made friends and took vacations and had families and considered their jobs just like a friendly neighborhood prison...... you check in and out and you do your time and you carry on when you aren't there as if you have no problem whatsoever that you are making absolutely no difference in people's lives or that you contribute nothing to society as a whole......... ALL THAT CRAP.
The first time I saw fight club I didn't understand it. That was back before I was awake, truly awake. The second time I saw it I was awake and that movie took on mythic proportions for me. It drove me to obsession. It haunted me.
Then I turn on myself and it's beat up the other side time "JUST look at your miserable self? No pension, no retirement, no vacation, so WHAT you have your own business and have contributed something real to society? Is that going to matter when you are sick and can't afford a nursing home?"
I don't know how it will all turn out. But for now, when I contemplate leaving behind my principles and just joining the FSA..... I still believe I couldn't make myself do it no matter how hard I tried. Because it would leave me without a soul.......... it would leave me mentally ill like Tyler Durden and so you carry on.
Well Said No Pension- I hear you on lots of levels. Being a business owner of 13 years, i can say for sure the mindset is sooo different from the rest of the 9-5ers that just DO NOT know what it takes to survive, financially, mentally, literally.. I was too busy in 2008-2010 keeping my business afloat to pay attention to the bullshit going on around me. Although i have known for a long time something wasn't right, i didn't wake the hell up until about a year ago, probably in large part to finding Zero Hedge. Props to the Tylers for a place to feel "normal" (Ha! What is normal?) even if it is difficult to stay objectively outside of our own echo chamber..
And its always a pleasure to read Cogs work- keeps the insanity a little more manageable, especially when it seems like everyone i know (besides my old man) are, and wish to remain, blissfully ignorant of the harsh realities lurking outside the peripheral vision.
"For example, while we are conditioned to believe the local police are there “To Protect and To Serve” in reality they are the local armed enforcement division of the protection scam called government. They are the armed revenue generating agents of the local tax ‘authority’ and the private security force for the financial elite. They protect the property of those who control their salaries while violently subduing peaceful protestors of the elite in response to their agent provocateurs inciting a riot."
I know many Americans find some more european continental views on this matter... let's say disturbing, or even feudal. Nevertheless, here my two cents:
- local armed forces protect... property. which is, properly speaking, all about claims on property. Just reflect one moment: if you want property... you need some kind of order. I know this argument sounds feeble to those who think that they can defend their property on their own, but reality is that some of us end up with more property, or with property that isn't at the moment in their possession, or even somewhere else. Even the geek in his basement might produce a software on which he wants to claim property rights. Even the hobby band might produce a song which becomes successful and wants to claim property rights on it. On a more archaic level of property claims, even the daddy of a daughter that wants to study in a different city claims "property" on her in the sense that he wants her to be protected from harm or abduction
- if follows that demand for protection is real and existing. Independently from the threats on them. Claiming that "if all would abide to natural laws protection would not be necessary" is naif, and disregards human nature and reality. And so a protection of property scheme always arises where humans dwell. And the more complex the life of those humans are, the more complex it becomes. Venetian merchants sending ships to the other side of the globe isn't science fiction, lots of things you use or consume are coming from the other side of the planet... and they needed protection at every single step of their journey until they reached you
- so yes, some kind of government is always there... unless you close your borders. Which again generates a demand for protection for that very border, be it your own home or your province or your country
so trade generates gov. travel generates gov. that was true even in the times of the ancient Phonecians and Greeks, where entrepreneurship was about going around in ships, and being asked, at every new shore: "are you a pirate or a peaceful merchant?". and where there is a sea, there is a new ship at the horizon
so the question, unless you do find the mythical homestead which resembles The Shire of the Hobbits, is about quality of gov, or order, or protection system
*** realizing that it is a protection racket is the right first step. realizing that it is generated by genuine demand, is the second. realizing that there is no real world without some form of it is the third. which leads to the fourth realization: that the quality of it is important ***
great piece, cog. yes, break your conditioning. but do keep an eye open to reality, or, better, realities
@Ghordius True words yes, but in actuality gov does not provide said protection to all "property owners" only the upper echelon are truly cared for. Most property owners (I prefer the term privileged renter), of which I am one, protect their own property. The local police force directly admit that they do not have the time or resources to protect my property or my family from those that believe they have the rights to the resources that reside within my legally defined parcels. So, in reality, the local police or gov are more of a hindrance than protector because they provide a poacher or trespasser legal protection from me. The irony is that here in rural North America the police and court system often times provide a greater amount of protection for those that do not recognize "legal" property rights than they do for the "property owner".
A direct quote from my local Sheriff "YOU need to protect your own family and property like I know you can, an alarm system will do you no good because we just don't have the resources to get here quick enough. Get a couple of solid guard dogs and train them, they will be the best alarm system you can buy". I know my sheriff personally, he is a good man, he even went as far as telling me if I needed to kill a bad guy, don't hesitate, and that he would help me write up the report. Where I am (30 miles outside a good sized Midwest US city) were are on our own.
So, Ghordius you make the case for a gov that protects property rights. This case seems to come from someone that is accustomed to living in an urban environment because even though your comment is from a Euro perspective I have a hard time imagining that rural areas in France, Italy, Spain or any other defined bordered region do not have the same personal protection conundrum we have here. Even though you may think it's a continental bias or acceptance I encougarge you to consider it may be more of a urban expectation and a rural fantasy.
You are correct, "protection is a racket". But "realizing that is is generated by genuine demand" in my opinion is off the mark with regards to the protection of property. Your third point contains a subjective "real world" phrase that made me ask, if this mask, this cloak, is the real world then I am happy with my choice of working towards self sufficiency within my local community. FUCK your real world, I am making my own. Your forth and final point is the most spot on "the quality of it is important". No truer words than those!
The front line is everywhere
a very thoughful answer, too bad I did not see it earlier
I'm making the case that in the very moment you get rid of the current order (be it a gov or a tribal warlord order or the mafia or whatever)... something else replaces that order quite quickly. further, your case and point of view highlights that your demand for it is not being catered for, which is a question of quality, imo. In this case, a shitty quality for you, I guess
I'm accustomed to both urban and rural settings. In the case of both urban and rural settings in the eurozone, I have seen very varied cases. No way I can convey how different Europe can become if you sometimes just travel 30 miles in any direction. Or how little europeans change their residency, or how old most environments are, with people being able to name families that have been around there since practically ever. There are two places where, the day I arrived for the very first time, people recognized my (literally ancient) family connections on sight, stamped on my face - in one case immediately involving me in a very old blood feud, btw, and in both cases with people immediately enlisting me in their order because of my family's standing there
so no, we - generally speaking - don't have your same personal protection conundrum. I'm not claiming that it's heaven, just that it's very, very different, and in the case of rural europe in many ways less personal and more group-oriented
violence in rural europe - particularly in the South - is more clannish and way less generated by property rights... and in total way less
If we "meet" again here I'll write for you the story of when I was a teenager visiting family in Spain and walked one cute girl home, and by the time we arrived three villages were already completely abuzz with discussions of how their allegiances would shift if we engaged or she got pregnant or whatever. there are rural areas in Europe where you think you are not seen, not noticed... and then find out that the whole community is constantly watching you. I had one dog that had this habit of asking for a ride from "strangers", in Italy. Everybody knew that dog, and in some days he got dozens of free rides. His only problem was getting a ride back from the city, and even there he found out where which villagers would hang out. Nope, property rights and personal defense are not on the top of the mind of rural europeans, in my experience. literally a different world
"Claiming that "if all would abide to natural laws protection would not be necessary" is naif, and disregards human nature and reality. And so a protection of property scheme always arises where humans dwell. And the more complex the life of those humans are, the more complex it becomes."
No truer words were ever spoken...but does the common man need the complexity I guess would be the next question.
Some have recognized the maze and withdrawn from it to lead a more simple life, perhaps just realizing the over-the-top complexity of modern life is not for them and not even thinking of the value of their property liquidated. I understand this impulse and sympathize with it.
Others cannot for a variety of reasons and tread on, damning the complexity of a system they need. I understand this position and sympathize with it as well.
I fall inside a different camp of thought.
There are genuinely evil people (and genuinely good people, just by the general makeup of humans) who desire to make the simple, ever more complex for their own reasons...with both good & bad intent. Its why I have a natural aversion to those who propose just about anything. Traffic cameras leap to mind instantly but there is a list a mile long of "proposals" put forward (and adopted) that carry the negative consequences of complexity.
Great piece, cog, thank you. I really think you are opening minds everytime you write.
Reconciling the finitude of the world and actors inside it, and the language they use, versus the theoretical, perfect absolutes of language and the world of forms is a brutal exercise. The attrition comes twofold as the cognitive dissonance of our primary experiences versus that of society/government forces us to develop better methodologies for knowing, which leads to increasingly clearer thinking and understanding, which then tragically becomes "social" dissonance as your views increasingly distance you from those of the society in which you exist. i am often reminded of schopenhauer's quote "talent hits a target no one else can; genius hits a target no one else can see." in such a way, awakening to the reality of our situation puts us in the situation of seeing a target that most cannot see. unfortunately seeing things that "don't exist" makes you a crazy person in nearly all social contexts. thanks for capturing and sharing that moment when one "stares into the abyss" and the "abyss stares back". i have to believe many must be trapped in persistent panic/agony mode like i was for some time myself. a piece like this is vital CPR for those struggling to breathe the air in which they exist.
also, i was a massive fan of your piece on epistemology/theory of knowledge and i tried to share it as widely as i could manage. thanks again!
Essentially what I am trying to do is change how I think and thus perceive. Everyone who reads my stuff is just along for the ride. While it may appear I may know what I'm talking about in reality I do not. I'm just willing to 'expose' my ignorance publicly. Many of the comments found below my articles show much wisdom and insight and it is here where the learning can be found.
When one loses the deep intimate relationship with nature, then temples, mosques and churches become important.
The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.
If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.
What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.
A man who is not afraid is not aggressive, a man who has no sense of fear of any kind is really a free, a peaceful man.
– J. Krishnamurti
J.K. did have a way of cutting thru it!
"It is just another hamster wheel created to distract and exhaust us"
Spot on phrase CD! A most excellent article too . Would be great to teach this in High School..,
Thank you.
It can be quite demoralizing to jump off one wheel only to find ourselves on another. Rarely do I find articles that discuss our own emotional troubles as we deal with being contrarian and essentially dissidents. I assure you most of us do not wish to follow this path, thus we become reluctant warriors at best and psychologically damaged at worst.
This is why the 'tease' line under the title is "While many will claim otherwise, often those who are awakening just want the system to be ‘fixed’ so they can go back to sleep."
...Thank You so much for this...puts my crazy-ness in writing. Now just wish many of the people around me could read it and understand...goodness amazing stuff.
One of the most common things I hear from people who are awakening to the insanity is their loneliness. For the most part we are social creatures and by definition to awaken while others remain asleep means we are leaving the shelter of that group/herd.
This is why in the article above I mention that so many of 'us' are trying to either join another group (presumably of awakening individuals) or we are trying to create a group. It is very frightening to be alone and contrarian.
Dear CG,
I remember from your previous posts that you are attracted to the Thunderbolts/Electric Universe group of scholars. Are you aware of Velikoksky's 'Cultural Amnesia' theory, a way to explain the pathos that humans experience and which we play out in our denial of forgotten chapters in human history? It ties into your theme and gives a great context for how we have surrendered our intelligence and why we can be taken advantage of. We are in a flight to safety and we have made many Faustian bargains in order to quell our repressed fears.
There's much we can learn about our past collective traumas, our collusion to avoid rembering that the cosmos is a scary place, and our vulnerabiltity we experience because we have fallen for the false narratives provided by the eiites in government, religion, and all social hierarchies. History is not what we are taught.
This is my main area of inquiry, a subject that few people encounter because it is so covered up. If you're interested in more, visit my Planet Amnesia web site:
http://www.planetamnesia.com/cultural-amnesia-studies/
I will visit your website. Thank you.
And thank you for visiting my website and contacting me via "Contact the Webmaster".
So what's after the loneliness stage?
That was a year or 2 ago.
Personal growth?
It lasts a life time plus more.
Yes, yes it is...but groups can be hard to find, especially for the untrusting. Does one commit to a group, only to find they have exchanged one set of "friends" for another, equally bat-shit crazy bunch?
So many times I have been through the false start, have listened to one thing or another and thought, yes, that makes sense. Then comes the inevitable wtf?!, some kind of racist, sexist, whatever, statement, and I think yep, here we go again...the same idiocy, just a different flavor.
When speaking of 'virtual' groups what exactly are they providing? In my view it is often self affirmation.
Why is it we 'need' affirmation so much that we seek it out and often subvert our own growth process in order to receive even faulty or disingenuous affirmation? This is our Achilles heel.
Where's the next Awakened Anonymous meeting? I'll show up early, open the place up, and get the coffee started. Been doing the same thing for the last 23 years for a different group. I could add one more since I have time on my hands.
I really missed you Rocky!
I wish there was a way to talk to you offline. Don't feel bad. You had to let her go. If you can't get over "filling the 4 walls" with shit phase then you surely can never be enlightened to properly love someone else.
Awakened Anonymous! I'm still chuckling....
Where is the part that explains how "escape" from control is not an enabling factor?
If you were to counsel all the Marie's to run for the hills and investigate their inner self...
who would be left, I wonder, to care about control.
It doesn't work.
But it does feel self-involved.
Huh? Care about Control? I don't understand. Please explain what it is you are trying to say. Then maybe I can answer.
Fear of what? a belief, an idea. Its a bundle of thoughts. Fear to me is a link to some kind of threat, or something taken or about to die, and its promodridal.
There is a deeper persistent fear that is continual for most. It is like staging at a drag race. The accelerator is pressed and at the same time the brake is on. When a situation presents itself as fearful, the brake is released.
There are physiological and psychological costs for being in constant fear. I think it a root cause for many chronic disorders.
...promodridal...
That's the little pill that ladies take for the cramps, no?
primordial.....the grammar police are comming now!
We've been coming for the history of the world.... Nothing will stop us for we are as a plague. Not to get technical (oh, alright, technical) there is a difference between simple spelling and grammar.
Fret not, even our illustrious author is not immune: "Don’t ask, don’t tell works quite well for most individuals who have previously peaked into the abyss..." Homophones can pique the imagination.
Five stars: an awesome article!
Thank you. Chapter Four "Awakening Alone While in a Relationship" coming in a week or so.....or less. :)
Far too often both spouses are not on the same time line of awakening......if at all.
It has been a standard cliche, if not a standing joke, in the cannabis community for many decades that wives or girl friends were most often the weakest link in the series of precautions that growers and dealers were taking while making money from marijuana. Even when women understand perfectly well the real situation, they often still have basically different sets of values which they consider priorities regarding the judgments made about risk/benefit analyses!
Those basic ways that human nature works applies even more so when one broadens out from pot's paradoxes to consider THE BIGGER PICTURE BIZARRO MIRROR WORLD, when people "are beginning to recognize those who run this country are true psychopaths and ‘our’ country is closer to a banana republic than a representative republic."
From a biological point of view, it is obvious that men and women have different basic strategies regarding what they think are good things to do, or not to do, and there have been tens of thousands of different sorts of cultural adjustments made by human beings regarding those issues in the past. Naturally, the more intensely controversial anything becomes, the more that the basic differences in attitude attributable to the different sexes are amplified.
I look forward to reading that article about "Awakening Alone While in a Relationship" ... There is no doubt in my mind that those sorts of problem can become the single most significant personal consequences of "waking up" ... which can be extremely difficult, due to the ways the men and women always had some different values, which are still significant, despite them maybe agreeing on the same set of facts.
RM and CD I just logged in to say Thank you.
For todays content and previous musings, keep up the good work!
In the upcoming piece I keep it simple by basically presenting a black and white situation. In additional pieces down the road I will continue to explore this specific subject since it impacts all of us in one way of another.
For example, while Mrs. Cog and I are of the same mind on big picture items we are not as close when it comes to details. Some of this comes from different socioeconomic backgrounds and some from different perceptions of proximity to danger. It makes for interesting discussions, some of which are quite circular. :-)
You got that right... Mine other half just hit the road. Had enough of my crap I suppose, but I see it differently, of course. I've been struggling to get together an old age program, but the bulk of the assets kept trickling away due to her keeping China in business. Quite the conflict.
Same here RR, sorry to hear that. But in the long run, you will be better off, especially financially. I have seen the spenders absolutley ruin people's lives. It's a sickness...
I am so sad for both of you. My husband was chiding me the other day I appear to be living life in reverse. I am content to have less as the years go by. I hate buying things or shopping ( things own you). I haven't been to a movie in years, prefer books and the enjoyment of my own company. I love to learn and am incessantly curious. Everyone around us seems old, stodgy and looking for endless entertainments and status symbols. Why do people tend do be less creative and vibrant as they age?
I do not know what drives people to buy things. Perhaps a temporary high of owning something you want. But that quickly fades and a new thing must take its place. Soon one should realize it is an emptiness inside that is not satiated by "stuff". The real journey begins when you explore this and whole new avenues are awakened.
Happiness is never found externally to oneself. However one must be willing to shut off all the noise to experience it.
Miffed;-)
Do you have a single sister? ;)
We will be waiting for you Miffed !!!
I asked but Mr says he still enjoys the pleasure of my company. Funny how that man is still so crazy in love with me after all this time. Can't tell you how many times I have painted myself in a corner and he's saved my sorry ass. He does cringe when I say " hey, I've got this cool idea".
I think he keeps me around for entertainment, good food and sex. Maybe that all a guy really needs. ;-)
Miffed;-)
The older one gets (men anyhow) the more those two things change place. I day-dream about what to make for dinner more than... well, you know, the other.
Some Rodney Dangerfield classics:
My wife only has sex with me for a purpose. Last night she used me to time an egg.
Last night my wife met me at the front door. She was wearing a sexy negligee. The only trouble was, she was coming home.
It's tough to stay married. My wife kisses the dog on the lips, yet she won't drink from my glass.
During sex my wife always wants to talk to me. Just the other night she called me from a hotel.
With my wife I don't get no respect. I made a toast on her birthday to 'the best woman a man ever had.' The waiter joined me.
Thanks for the thoughts. It ain't my first rodeo (3rd marriage), so maybe it's about time I consider that I might have something to do with all this! You know, when everyone else is an asshole on the freeway, maybe it's not them....
Marriage ain't no cakewalk, thats for sure. In any event, to cheer yourself up, go out and get yourself some strange !!!
Strange good !!!
Hulk SMASH !!!
Sorry to hear about your domestic issues. It is an extremely difficult issue and I only just scratch the surface in the next piece of the series.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
Frank Herbert, Dune
the little-death? ... I thought that was an orgasm.
( I guess I should have made it more obvious ... I was naturally referring to "La petite mort" ... sorry for confusing the down voter)