The Global Fascist Coup: Time To Face Reality

We need to stop making the irrational and unfounded, anti-empirical assumption that the corporate and financial elite are stupid – they are demonstrably sociopathic, but they are not stupid, as a class – and it would be stupid of them to not cooperate and coordinate, orchestrate, plan and carry out broad agendas based on their shared, common class interests, despite the obvious fact that they do compete with each other, as well. Of course they have broadly shared class interests, and of course it woulf be stupid of them to refuse to cooperate and coordinate broad agendas based on those shared interests. Therefore it is stupid of us to assume they do not act, in powerful ways, with coordinated, planned agendas, now globally, to further their shared interests. How is this not patently obvious and a matter of simple common sense?

There are only a few hundred power elites dominating most of the world, directing the biggest 1,000 corporations, the IMF, World Bank, WEF, WHO, G7, BIS, ECB, Fed, Big Ag, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Oil, the military-industrial-surveillance complex, the NGO-industrial complex, the major media, Blackrock and the big banks, and all major systems and institutions globally, as Peter Phillips showed in his recent book, Giants: The Global Power Elite. A terror and phobia of conducting such sociological, classed-based, systems or institutional analysis, is what has blinded the mainstream, academia, and particularly the left, for a long time now. Enough of that. Yes, the plutocrats have a plan, and no, it is not good for the people and the Earth. In fact, it is genocidal, ecocidal, war-mongering, imperialist, neo-colonialist, and fascist. To avoid all discussion or even thought of that obvious and by now undeniable fact, is simply foolish, and a matter either of a confirmed Stockholm syndrome, or sheer denial. It’s not merely an elephant in the middle of the room, which the public, the academics and above all the left refuse to acknowledge. It’s a mutated giant vampire squid in the middle of the room, so to speak, staring us in the face, though always camoflauged – and it is feeding off humanity and the Earth, and devouring both, along with our freedom, our human rights, our democracy, our future, our world, and with transhumanism, our very humanity itself. It’s time to deal with reality. Stop skirting the central issue of our time. A corporate-fascist coup is underway, and if we don’t admit it, then defeat it, our future will be dystopian and bleak, neo-feudal and horrific, followed by civilizational collapse, and quite possibly, the slow, agonizing death of the human species.

Time to face reality, head on. We can defeat this latest of empires, but only if we choose to deal with reality, by looking it straight in the face.

– J. Todd Ring,
Author of Enlightened Democracy, The People vs The Elite, The Collapse of the West, and Slavery Or Rebirth

Villa Samadhi,

Uruguay,

December 24, 2023

(Btw, Christmases will be merrier when we rip the vampire squid off our face.)

Dealing With Lemmings, and The Delusional

“Never underestimate the power of denial.” – American Beauty”

Cowards can never be moral.” – Gandhi

“The world is a dangerous place, not because evil people do terrible things, but because millions of people let them.” – Einstein

“Just because you bury your head in the sand, doesn’t mean the problem goes away.” – Italian saying

I am beginning to think that apathy, complacency, and their roots in cynicism and illusions of powerlessness, are far more dangerous than all of the diabolical machinations of a self-serving elite – because the latter would have no power, if it were not for the passivity, submissiveness, and effective complicity of the masses. Actually, I have thought that way for a long time, but this past two years has driven the point home, in vivid technicolour.

It is wise, compassionate, and also strategically intelligent to speak to people in general in calm, composed, courteous and respectful ways, even when we must speak the plain truth, as best we understand it. The following thoughts are directed toward the 30% of people who already have found the courage to face reality, and to deal with reality. I would not advise the same tone or wording be used with people who are still in denial. Bear that in mind as you consider the following.

The great majority have been deeply indoctrinated to mistrust their own judgment and innate common sense. For that reason, they do not exercise their natural intelligence, other than for menial things, such as tax forms, finding the remote control for the TV, or choosing a new brand of toothpaste. They are led by their emotions, with their critical thinking shut off. They believe what they want to believe. They make no use of reason, and do not listen to evidence. Above all, they obey authority and stick with the herd. They are pack animals. Small children is a better description. Have pity on them. Try to have compassion for everyone – including the childish, the witless, the gullible and the inane.

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Lemmings and cowards may want to stop reading now. The following discussion is for adults only.Here are some comments that I posted in twitlandia, which I also try to avoid like the plague. I think they can be a helpful intro to people who have been oblivious, and who drank the kool-aid, but now have an inkling that things seem, just a little bit awry. You don’t try to have an adult conversation with them, or a sane conversation – they’re not ready for that. Just give them these names. They’ll figure it out for themselves – if they have the balls or the spine to look into it at all.

Pardon me – I should be more precise in my choice of words. “Huevos” is the better term: from the Mexican slang, meaning “eggs” – referring to the generative power which grants courage – because both men and women have the generative power of life within them, and both, of course, have the capacity to exhibit courage. Sadly, however, most people have none. Most people only find their courage in moments of great crisis. But if that is not now, then I don’t know when they will find it. They had better find it soon, is all I can say.

My tweet, for what it’s worth:

Where would I begin to inform the liberals & the Left, (along with most of the right, btw) who collectively have lost their marbles over the past 22 months, and seem clueless and oblivious with regards to what should be obvious to all, and what should have been seen coming for decades? And I warned of for decades!

How do you inform people that there is an elephant in the middle of the room, which they somehow, amazingly, fail to see? I would tell them, listen to Rocco Galati, Whitney Webb, Michel Chossudovsky, Anthony J. Hall, Piers Robinson, Gerald Celente, & (the excellent) Geopolitics & Empire podcast.

(I’d also urge, for big picture, in-depth analysis, strategy and vision, that people read my own books and essays, which are on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and WordPress – particularly, Enlightened Democracy, The People vs The Elite, All Hell Breaks Loose (coming soon), and the essays: Flash-Drive Revolution, Importing From China, Any Enemy Will Do, Sinking All Ships, Trump Says Up – You Say Down, Reclaiming Democracy, and The Failure of Propaganda.)

The above “tweet” I wrote in response to the following thread:

J. Todd Ring
@prajnaseek
Wrote (“tweeted”): · Oct 5

Excellent discussion, as far as it goes. But no mention, or even awareness, it seems, of the current, ongoing, neoliberal, global corporate fascist coup. This from the leading intellectuals of the left. Astounding.

(In response to the video discussion linked below)

Chomsky is interviewed by Richard Wolff, in this video linked below – two people that I respect greatly, who, sadly, seem utterly clueless with regards to the current, on-going, neoliberal, global corporate-fascist coup – quite amazingly – just as most of the right, and virtually all of the centre and the left broadly, have completely lost their marbles, and in the process, have lost all remaining credibility as reliable sources of information, guidance or leadership. And Chomsky and Wolff are among the top leading figures of the left! Clearly, our leaders have failed us utterly, right across the board – including on the Left. So-called “alternative media”, as well, in general, has utterly failed, and definitively failed, since 2020.

https://youtu.be/OS8qzcGDP5U

3:33 PM · Oct 6, 2021·Twitter

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And yes, if I am willing to correct the venerable, grand old dissident himself, and the leading intellectual on the planet, professor Noam Chomsky, when he is wrong, as he has been on occasion before, then of course I have zero concern for what the blinkered herd may think of my comments here, or anywhere else.

JTR,
October 6, 2021

“I fear no truth, and fear no falsehood.” – Thomas Jefferson

Post-Script:

If you want a list of more reliable sources, sources that can see the elephant in the middle of the room, see my short article, Who To Trust?

Chomsky and Wolff’s books remain essential, required reading, and particularly Chomsky’s; but don’t count on either of them for reliable information, guidance or leadership, post-covid, or anytime after 2020. They have, sadly, failed us. And it breaks my heart to have to say it, believe me.

My greatest of heroes have been Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Paine, Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Zapata, and Noam Chomsky. To see one of them fall, and in no minor way, but by making a profound and grave error of judgment, is simply heart-breaking. But, we move on, because we must. I still respect the great man, but I now take him to be utterly unreliable, as of February 2020. I will honour him anyway, but I will not rely on him for information, from anything he says after the covid-1984 war began. He, like most of the “leadership” of the left, has become completely and utterly unreliable, to say it mildly, and as politely as possible.

On Puritan-Capitalism: Money As The Measure Of All Things

The mechanistic materialist world view, which the West, beginning with Europe, adopted a mere 400 years ago, and then exported through economic, financial, military and cultural colonialism and neocolonialism to the rest of the world, has been nothing short of a cultural, sociological, political, economic, ecological, spiritual, public health and psychological disaster; and it has led to to a global tyranny of neofeudal corporate-state oligarchy and technocratic scientific fascism.

Part of its logic, is to view all things, all of nature, human beings and all living beings, as mere objects: to be exploited, used up, and discarded at will. The natural result of its logic is to view all things, ecosystems, living beings and people as mere resources for wealth extraction.

We human beings are viewed, at least by the business elite, as cattle, to be milked for money, or yoked for sevitude, for money and power, or disposed of – or slaughtered.

Extrinsic value is the only value recognized: people, nature, living beings, and all things, only have value for their usefulness. It is a world view that is nihilistic and utilitarian by nature, and must, if its logic is consistent, degrade and destroy all other values, such as the systemic value of ecosystems and living beings, and the intrinsic value of ecosystems, nature and living beings. (I am borrowing here from one of my brilliant mentors, Professor Robert E. Carter – not the novelist, but the polymath scholar.) Money therefore becomes the measure of all things, including the measure work, the measure of social status, the measure of respectability, and the measure of human worth – or the worth of anything, or any living being.

When we examine closely the mechanistic materialist world view and its consequences, we can see and understand how and why it has been a truly catastrophic error, and one which must be quickly overcome, before it destroys us all, by destroying all life on Earth – and before it enslaves all of humanity, on its way to total ecocide, and collective self-annihilation.

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Anecdotes and personal stories are things I generally avoid, but the following is enlightening, I believe.

When I was a younger man, in my late teens, I decided in a flash, after reading Plato’s parable of the cave, in my first year of university, that I wanted to become a philosopher, a political theorist, and a writer. When I soon afterward announced to my parents that I was switching from studying science, to studying philosophy, my father, at least, thought I must be mad, or at least, drastically foolish. What money can you make as a philosopher? That was the only question that mattered, to his mind. That was the only measure of my studies, to his mind: does it make money? Of course, his view was, and is, the nearly universal view in modern society. But I was utterly resolved. Nothing would budge me.

As Margaret Atwood said, “This society doesn’t respect writing. It respects success. I could have been a used car salesman, and if I was successful, I’d be respected.”

Or as Emerson said, in his essay on The Poet, by which he meant the writer in the broad sense: “Every profession has its sacrifices. For the poet (or the writer), it is that for a long time, he will be considered a churl (a bum) and a fool, and will be understood only by his peers.”

Or as Thoreau said (and I am paraphrasing from memory), “Men are concerned, not with what is respectable, but what is respected.” “Such men deserve as much respect as wooden men, or clumps of earth.”

Nietzche was insane, and from what I can tell, his philosophy was insane; but he was right in one observation, when he remarked, “The ego – our last article of faith.” This is what mechanistic materialism, and the Puritan-capitalist psychology that arises from it, does to men’s and womens’ minds: they profess all sorts of values, but when you look more closely, their true values are money, status, and their reputation. Their true and over-riding concerns, thus, are comfort and ego. “What would other people think?” This is the thought that secretly haunts them, and it is both their prison, and the source of their moral bankruptcy and spiritual degeneration.

Thoreau also observed, “Most men would feel ashamed if their work consisted of throwing dirt over a fence, and throwing it back again; but most men are employed in no higher purpose that this.” We are obsessively busy, but what are we busy with?

(Kindred spirits, I have many. I have no need of false friends, nor of the trappings of worldly success. As Thoreau said (I am once again paraphrasing here), “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” I could not agree more. To thine own self be true.)

Furthermore, when automation and robotics are poised to eliminate 90% of jobs, and make most people, in the words of Yuval Harari, “useless”, we clearly and urgently must re-think the nature of work.

Some years later, as a young writer, intellectual, activist and philosopher, my father said to my sister, “Todd’s on permanent vacation.” As far as he was concerned, any activity that did not make money, was not work – therefore, since your activities do not make money, you do not work; which, of course, in the prevailing culture and psychology of Puritan-capitalism, means you are a useless fool, and a worthless bum.

I thought to myself, and maybe I said it to him – probably so, since I was anxiety-ridden and depressed but also paradoxically fearless: I could work 40 hours a week, or 60, or 100, helping the sick, the poor and the dying with Mother Theresa, and you would consider me a bum who didn’t work, because I did it for free, and received no money for it. (His values seemed deranged to me, so I immediately disregarded his opinion, as itself being worthless.)

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That story shows the sheer insanity of what I call the Puritan-capitalist psychology, sociology, or world view. It is truly insane. To take it further, we could say that, if I, or anyone else, worked in the arms industry, dealing in weapons and tools for mass murder and killing, or in the pesticide or chemical industry, poisoning the people and the planet, I would be a respected member of society, and viewed as a hard worker, and praised, so long as I was paid well for my evil actions, and made a good income from it.

Puritan-capitalist ethics and psychology revolve around two central premises: busyness is always good; and more importantly, money is the measure of all things. If I work 100 hours a week saving the planet, or raising children, or healing the Earth, that is nice, but I am a fool and a bum, in the eyes of the grimly delusional great majority, who are literally brainwashed into the Puritan-capitalist psychology – and blinded and enslaved by it. But they will defend their chains to the death, and decry anyone who tries to liberate them, or who even points out the chains, as a dangerous heretic and a madman.

What madness is this? This, as Erich Fromm and Henry David Thoreau, and many others have realized, is sheer insanity.

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Artists, writers, musicians, thinkers, philosophers, activists, parents and care-givers, are generally all viewed as worthless and useless bums, and their work is invisible and discounted – unless they find a way to acquire money, wealth, status, fame or power, which are the great redeemers, and the only things the great majority of people seem to truly value in modern, nihilistic, materialist, Puritan-capitalist society: in which case, they are super-stars, and greatly loved, respected, and admired celebrities.

When, in practice, rhetoric aside, we value money, material goods, comfort, entertainment, status, wealth, power and fame above all else, then there is no room for justice, ethics, morality, virtue, nobility, wisdom, compassion, human decency, or even basic sanity. This has become the profoundly abnormal norm of our modern corporate-industrial society. Clearly, something needs to change.

When human beings are being systematically degraded, exploited, oppressed, indoctrinated, deluded, blinded, imprisoned and enslaved, and all life on Earth is being destroyed, and both as a result of our materialist mechanistic world view, and by our Puritan-capitalist psychology, it is clearly time to reassess and to change our world view and our pyschology. That, by now, should be undeniable. If it is not, then we are truly and deeply, profoundly delusional.

I am no cynic, nor am I a jaundiced, jaded misanthrope. Cynicism, fatalism and misanthropy are pathologies of the mind, and delusions to be overcome. The long term for humanity is promising, to put it mildly; but the near term and present are looking undeniably dark. What we make of our present, and our future, however, is up to us.

Noam Chomsky is right: “The great majority of people have basically decent impulses.” It is true, as science has confirmed (see Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, and Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization): human beings have a natural empathy and compassion, and we have survived, and thrived, because we have a deeply seated instinct for solidarity, community, cooperation and mutual assistance. But our good nature is being systematically degraded, twisted and deranged, by a society which is truly, deeply dehumanizing, and frankly, crazy. And that is before the soma kicks in.

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Our modern society, as I have said, is thoroughly insane. Re-evaluating our concepts of money, work, status, respectability, success, development and growth, and the values and psychology which underly them, is now critical. Without that, we are doomed to a madhouse – and one that is on wheels, travelling as fast as possible toward dystopia, and the cliff that lies just beyond it.

JTR,

August 20, 2021

Stressed? Read This. Amygdala Highjacking – A Few Brief Thoughts

When under great stress, or when in great fear, our biological fight or flight response is triggered strongly, the amygdala is highjacked, which then highjacks our frontal cortex and our brain, and destroys both our peace, and also our capacity for rational thought. The cortisol and adrenaline stress hormones released also cause serious health risks, impair digestion and nutrient absorption, and undermine quality sleep. Knowing how to respond to – or better, prevent – the highjacking of our minds through fear, is therefore critical for everyone over two years old to know.

Good sleep is essential for good health, maximum performance, well-being, stress management, clarity of mind, emotional balance, or peace. Ideally, go to sleep before nine, and get up at five am. Eat a good breakfast and a big lunch, and a light, early dinner. And eat nothing after 5:30.

Even more important: Avoid stress in the evening before bed, in particular – that means, especially, no “news” or “social media” after (or during!) dinner. Read a book, go for a walk, meditate, pray, play with cats or dogs or kids, cycle, ski, kayak, canoe…play tennis, basketball, or a board game, sit by a river, stream, pond, lake or ocean, or sit in the woods or a park, and just relax, ponder and contemplate… talk with family or friends – directly, not through a screen! …knit, sew, swim, build, fix or make something, cook, bake, garden, do yoga…. Do almost anything else! Unplugging from the electronic mediascape is one of the most critically essential things we can and must do – especially in the morning and evening. Unplug!

You should also know that caffiene and other stimulants, coffee, alcohol, sugar, refined flour, processed food, pesticides and other neurotoxins and hormone disruptors, EMFs, “social media”, cell phone addiction, TV and “the news” – or a lack of sunshine, exercise and fresh air, clean water and nutritious food – will all increase anxiety and stress over time.

Eat a healthy, plant-based organic diet, with loads of fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans and other legumes, essential oils and fibre, and that will be a giant step toward greater well-being and peace.

Add daily exercise as essential step number two – along with sunshine, green space time, and fresh air, which are equally critical – and that will be another giant step towards greater well-being and peace.

Third would be to add in other elements that are extremely powerful in supporting well-being and peace, including one or more of the following:

Meditation

Yoga, t’ai chi or chi gong

Prayer and other spiritual practices

Martial arts

Herbal and naturopathic medicine: particularly helpful are maca, St. John’s wort, holy basil, ashwaghanda, macha, raw cacao (sweetened with monk fruit, stevia, real maple syrup or honey, only – not aspartame or refined sugar, both of which are rat poison), turmeric or curcumin, omega-3s, co-Q10 or ubiquinol, milk thistle, borage, hawthorne, motherwort, nettle, gotu kola, dandelion, and a good quality multi-vitamin capsule or liquid (most of these can be taken as drinks or herbal teas, and maca, macha and cacao go well in smoothies)

Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Integrative or holistic medicine

Journalling, introspection, contemplation, reflection, silence and solitude, or quiet time

Support groups or psychotherapy

Talking to a close friend, family member, elder or mentor

Building community, building solidarity, building alliances of mutual aid

Time spent with animals – especially outdoors, in a quiet, tranquil, green space

Art, music, dance, or any wholesome form of self-expression or creativity

Gentle, periodic fasting and detoxification

Fourth would be to examine and reflect on your life, and your surroundings, your community and your society. What are your values? What are your priorities? What are your goals? What are your short term and long term plans? Is this how you want to be living? Is this what you want to be doing? Is this where you want to be? Reflect. This is so critically important, it cannot be stressed enough.

But, of all the many things you can do to increase well-being, peace, and also clarity of mind and empowerment, the single most urgent step, is to unplug from the media drug.

Unplug.

It’s a big, beautiful world out there. Live in it.

Don’t flee into media escapism. That will only degrade your life, and make you lonely, anxious, unhealthy, deluded, fat and sad.

Own your sovereignty of body and mind. Get outside – and live!

And remember:

“Only dead fish follow the stream.”

   – Swedish folk saying

JTR,

August 18, 2021

https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/amygdala-hijack#takeaway

On Fads and Pop Culture Gurus

Low carb diets, pet rocks, reverse incline shoes, bell bottom pants….There have been and will be many fads, and many false gurus; not to mention narratives that have turned out to be lies, distortions, or sheer propaganda, designed to manipulate the people into supporting something truly nefarious, or even diabolical. Take the universally chanted media chorus that told us, in solemn, grave terms, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and therefore, war was unavoidable. It was later revealed that Saddam had no WMDs, and that Washington elites and the Pentagon knowingly lied, in order to gain support for a war for oil – a war that killed a million people. And the blood is on the hands of the gullible masses, and not just the hands of the elite.

Discernment is essential. Question all norms, fads, sources, “news”, and supossed authorities. There are sometimes serious dangers from being credulous, unquestioning, conformist, unduly obedient or naive. Sometimes the dangers are minor, sometimes great; and sometimes, truly grave.

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Interesting discussion here (linked below), on the power of ritual, the positive functions of mythology, and the value of mentors. One negative point: the cold immersion fad is rooted in ignorance. If you preheat your body with saunas, sweat lodges or vigorous exercise, a short cold dunk is very health-promoting, and increases chi, energy and vitality. If you do not preheat your body first, then cold immersion will deplete your chi, energy and vitality.

Beware of pop fads. Be cautious about pop culture celebrity gurus. Follow the lamas, Zen masters, Taoist masters, native elders, yogis and sages. And, I would add, listen thoughtfully to the permaculture teachers, the Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic and integrative/functional medicine doctors, and the rare scholars, journalists, thinkers, philosophers and researchers with a proven track record of honesty, integrity, courage, and an ability to see through propaganda, fads, false messiahs and illusions. They, and a few others, actually know what they are talking about.

There are two extremes we can fall to – and most people fall to both, depending on the subject and the moment. One mistake is gullibility, naivete, credulity, or unthinking conformity, group-think and unquestioning obedience to authority. That is a common mistake, and it can lead to anything from minor foolishness, to mass psychosis, paranoia, genocide and fascism.

The other mistake is to confuse skepticism with closed-mindedness. Closed-mindedness is simply dogmatism, and dogmatism is for idiots. True skepticism is the refusal to believe something to be a fact until it can be shown to have at least some evidence for it. Closed-mindedness is much more common than a healthy skepticism, however; and that is when we refuse to believe something, even though the evidence supporting it is strong and clear.

Falling to either extreme turns otherwise intelligent people into idiots. We must find the middle way. Keep an open mind. But do question everything – and everyone.

This case of the cold immersion fad, and its roots ignorance, is just one of many examples of why it is very important to question what you read or hear. In this case, not questioning will only deplete your core energy. In other cases, the consequences are far more stark. Also beware of “experts”. Expert in whose opinion? Question everything. Think for yourself.

As I said, sometimes the consequences of naïveté, credulity, and not asking enough questions, are minor. Sometimes they are severe. And sometimes they are horrific. Remember, Hitler was elected. Not only that, but the big chemical and pharmaceutical companies were all aboard, and they provided the deadly gas for the gas chambers; IBM supplied the data management for the gas chambers; and the Western business elite widely supported and backed the fascists in both Italy and Germany. The Western political elite were all agush over the fascists throughout the 1920s and well into the ’30s. Hitler was even named Time magazine’s man of the year – not once, but twice. To think that it couldn’t happen again, or that it couldn’t happen here, is both foolish, and dangerous in the extreme.

JTR,

August 13, 2021

https://allthatsinteresting.com/hitler-election

Free Your Mind: Escaping The Mental Prison Of Cognitive Bias

As Emerson said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” People who cannot admit that they were wrong, turn their minds to stone, turn their brains off, and turn themselves into functional idiots. The intelligent response to a conflict or discrepancy between new evidence and our pre-existing beliefs, is to modify or change our beliefs, in light of the new evidence. This is basic empiricism, the foundation of science. It is also the foundation of basic sanity. But this is NOT how most people live – including most scientists, academics and intellectuals. Most people instead screen out any evidence that conflicts with their existing beliefs, in order to preserve their beliefs at all costs. That is called cognitive bias. And that, is mass insanity. That is how witch hunts, crusades, inquisitions, holy wars, and fascism happen.

Most people filter information in such a way that when there is a conflict between new evidence and their existing beliefs, they will screen out the new evidence, habtually, unconsciously and autmomatically, in order to preserve their pre-existing beliefs. Of course, that is irrational, self-defeating, self-blinding, and insane. This common, and truly pandemic human weakness, is known in psychology as cognitive bias. It is also a good working definition of what I call, functional stupidity.

Functional stupidity is a condition wherein otherwise naturally intelligent, basically intelligent, or innately intelligent people (the vast majority), refuse to use their innate, natural intelligence (by choosing comfort over truth) and thereby turn themselves into functional idiots. They also make themselves into easily manipulated pawns for sociopathic elites who are interested only in power.

So how do we break out of the straight jacket, the mental blinders, shackles, prison and chains? Here are some key tools to pick the locks that keep you imprisoned.

Read deeply, and also widely.

Listen – attentively, receptively, with an open mind, and reflectively – to people with different views than you.

Reflect deeply on everything of significance. Put down the digital crack – unplug, and take at least an hour a day to reflect; or else prepare to be functionally brain dead, deluded and deceived for the rest of your life. Especially if you believe yourself to be well-educated, an expert, or highly informed!

Evaluate new information and new perspectives based on a careful examination of the logic and evidence! Do not dismiss new evidence or different perspectives simply because they don’t fit with your existing beliefs! Consider them carefully, based on a thoughtful consideration of reasoning and evidence!

Above all, question everything – especially your social norm, your social group, your culture and society, and all forms of social authority or presumed “expert” opinion.

Even more importantly, and most essentially, question whether what you believe, and what you think you know with certainty, is actually true at all.

Question all assumptions: that is the core antidote to social conditioning, to mass indoctrination, to propaganda, to cognitive bias – and to functional stupidity, which is what cognitive bias is, and which is THE NORM.

You can only be an idiot by refusing to question your assumptions. Question all assumptions, and free your mind.

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Truth requires unlearning more than learning. Knowledge, understanding, wisdom and truth, require above all, a peeling away of illusions. Question everything.

Rule one is, pay attention.

Rule two is, question everything.

Rule three is, practice compassion, always.

Rule four is, practice courage, always – including the courage to pursue the truth, wherever it may lead!

Truth and love are the greatest powers. And to be clear, I do not mean mere sentimentality. I mean, truth and compassion, are the greatest powers. But if we value our personal comfort over either truth or compassion, then we are simply being selfish and cowardly.

As Gandhi said, “Cowards can never be moral.” Now is the time for courage. Without courage, we will have no true compassion, and we will also fear and shun the truth – in order to preserve our own sense of comfort. And without both compassion, and a fearless seeking and speaking of the truth, we are lost, and it is a dark age of tyranny and mass delusions ahead.

Courage, compassion, truth: these are the central tools we need to build a better world; or even, to be simply and truly sane.

JTR,

August 11, 2021

Reflections on the good life – Simplify, simplify

What brings true happiness? A healthy lifestyle; a positive attitude, outlook and philosophy; a simple life close to nature; meaningful work; time spent in solitude and stillness, reconnecting with yourself; and surrounding yourself with people, and an environment, a place, that fit with you: these things bring happiness and peace – not money, status or possessions. It really can be that simple. Don’t overcomplicate things. Unplug, take time to reflect; read Thoreau’s, Walden – and simplify, simplify.

JTR,

July 14, 2021

Philosophy & Metaphysics 101

(Excellent talk on philosophy, metaphysics and human happiness is linked below.)

When we let go of attachment, aversion and ego, our energy naturally rises, increases and expands, and our happiness, health, energy, joy, peace, power, love, compassion and clarity increases. This is the central lesson of all the great spiritual teachings.

Replace craving, clinging, grasping, resentment, anger, fear, self-recrimination and blame with gratitude and appreciation, compassion and the pursuit of truth, and we blossom and become more alive, more awake, more connected, more empowered, and more aware. It is simple, but it requires effort, patience, perseverence and commitment to transmute negative habits into positive ones. It is most definitely worth it.

*

Henry David Thoreau, Eric Fromm, and many others, have said that modern industrial society is frankly insane, and they were right. Perpetual rushing, consumerism and materialism are the core causes of the mass insanity. Simplify, slow down, and reconnect: that is the antidote to the madness of the modern world.

We in the modern Western world are taught to believe that we are the pinnacle of history, that everything automatically gets better with time, so we should smugly and complacently wait for “progress” to magically sweep away all our problems. And we are implicitly and pervasively taught to believe that other societies, earlier times and older civilizations, such as the Enlightenment, the Renaissance, the medieval world, the ancients, indigenous societies and the East, have little or nothing to teach us. This is a foolish notion, born of juvenile hubris. And as the ancient Greeks understood, hubris always precedes a fall. Open your mind, and let us seek knowledge, wisdom and understanding wherever they can be found. This shift in attitude alone will help us greatly.

Modern society is steeped in a four-fold alienation. We are alienated from one another. We are alienated from nature. We are alienated from our own labour and creative powers. And we are alienated from our deeper selves. That is the root problem of the modern world. Again, the answer is to reconnect; and that is impossible unless we simplify and slow down.

Modern society is addicted to speed, instant gratification, instant and effortless results, chronic escapism, perpetual distraction, consumerism, materialism, and the cultish fixation on having and getting ever more and more, ever faster and faster; and it is a society with a pandemic and growing afliction of mass regression to a state of infantile narcissism, which itself is the result of obsessive consumerism and escapism. But living like this is making us physically, mentally and spiritually ill, as well as causing social disintegration, violence, war, imperialism, and ecological devastation. We must cut the roots of this neurosis: simplify, slow down, and reconnect. It is easier and more joyous than you think.

*

Another root problem of modern society is over-organization, which Aldous Huxley pointed out in Brave New World Revisited – one of the top ten must-read books I’d urge everyone to read. With the shift to neoliberalism and corporate glbalization, which began fifty years ago, there was a conscious push on the part of the business and political elite to roll back and contain, and effectively eviscerate democracy, while merging business and the state, and deregulating big business. We now have deregulation for big business, and hyper-regulation for the 99%. Big Brother government, bureaucrats and corporate giants now claim to be protecting us from every conceivable harm, and strangling us with authoritarianism and bureaucracy for our own good. But it is breeding fascism, mass infantile regression, and a society of neurotics who cannot think for themselves.

I just noticed a warning label on the walking stick I received as a gift for hiking. It’s a stick. With a warning label. When you treat people as children, they will act like children. Worse, you can barely wipe your ass without filling out seventeen forms, getting three government inspections and seven permits. If we care about freedom, or basic sanity, we must reject authoritarianism and excessive bureacracy. All our philosophy, spirituality or metaphysics will be meaningless if we allow ourselves to be mentally shackled and chained. Free your mind. That is step one.

*

Modern civilization (sic) is based in passive-aggressive patterns and social norms: it is based on heirarchical power structures, and a social model based on domination and submission. We can hardly call this civilized, in any meaningful sense of the term.

Remember that in anthropological terms, civilization simply means a society that has cities. Civilizations can be more or less covilized, and usually they are very uncivilized, if by civilized we mean a society that is ethical and humane, and not simply a society that has cities, roads and bridges. Roman civilization, for example, was deeply uncivilized, and positively barbaric. It was based on conquest, empire, looting and pillaging, elite rule, highly oppressive and exploitative class division, slavery, and distraction and appeasement of the masses through bread and circuses.

Modern “civilization” has not fundamentally changed its basic social patterns since the Roman Empire, or the time of Ghengis Kahn. It is still based in conquest, empire, looting and pillaging, elite rule, highly oppressive and exploitative class divisions, and more subtle forms of slavery, including wage slavery, along with distraction and appeasement of the people through bread and circuses.

I agree fully with Gandhi’s observation, when he was asked what he thought of Western civilization. He said, “I think it would be a good idea.”

Maybe it’s time.

*

As I write this short essay, I sit on my porch, overlooking a beautful garden; and a thunder storm came through, in all its wetness, power and glory. I moved six feet to my left, to get further from the rain, and I was surprised to find a had a whole new perspective on the world. I am not making a trivial analogy here. It occurs to me now that all of our problems are a matter of lack of perspective – and moreover, that, by shifting our perspective just a few degrees, the solutions to our problems become obvious, and can be readily seen. There is a term in science for this. It is called parallax. When our perspective is off, even slightly, our view of things is mistaken. To correct our misunderstanding requires only a slight shift in perspective. This should be cause for great celebration, because it is radically empowering, and it is true. All our modern problems can be resolved, if we simply have, or learn to generate, a little mental agility, and refocus our perspective

Shift your persoective, and the world is transformed. The necessary actions then become perfectly clear. This is the door to liberation.

*

Who are we? What is reality? Where did we come from? How should we live?

All phenomena are impermanent, interdependent and non-dual. That is the nature of being and reality. That means that all people and living beings are our kin. It also means we reap what we sow. We humans have lived over 95% of our history with a consciousness or world view that recognizes that all things are sacred and are one. That meant we also lived more than 95% of our history in freedom and equality. The archeological evidence proved this conclusively nearly fifty years ago. Our culture and education system have not yet caught up with that revolution in anthroplogy. We fell into the delusion of separateness and duality some 5,000 years ago – very recently, in the longer view of history – and heirarchy, class division, empire, conquest, passive-agressivd norms, domination and submission, racism, sexism, xenophobia, authoritarianism, elite rule, mass alienation, and environmental imbalance and destruction, arose as a result. We can now take the best of what we have learned through modern science, and unite it with a remembrance of the interdependence, non-duality, kinship and unity of all beings and things, and with a reawakened spirit of freedom and equality; or we dan continue on our present course, which is into a darkly Orwellian age, followed by extinction and the collapse of our civilization.

The choice is entirely up to us.

JTR,

July 1, 2021

Further reading:

The Hero With A Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell

World As Lover, World As Self, by Joanna Macy

Choosing Reality, by Alan Wallace

Brave New World Revisted, and The Perennial Philosophy, by Aldous Huxley

The Ecology of Freedom, by Murray Bookchin

The Chalice and The Blade, by Rianne Eisler

Mutual Aid, by Peter Kropotkin

Roads To Freedom, by Bertrand Russell

Year 501, Necessary Illusions, and Class Warfare, by Noam Chomsky

Escape From Freedom, and The Pathology of Normalcy, by Eric Fromm

Stolen Continents, and A Short History of Progress, by Ronald Wright

Views From The South, by Sarah Anderson

Elders’ Wisdom, by David Suzuki

When Technology Fails, by Matthew Stein

Walden, and On Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau

And my three first books: Enlightened Democracy, The People vs The Elite, and (coming soon) All Hell Breaks Loose: Global Geopolitics 1945-2045

Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty

People everywhere are the same – people are people. We have far more in common than we have differences between us. And all the differences, or at least the great majority, are on the surface only. That being said, we do have some significant differences in psychology, views, values and habits, even though the underlying condition and psychology of being human is more universal than we tend to imagine.

In terms of dealing with uncertainty, for example, some people have a dread aversion to it, and at the other extreme on the scale, some people thrive on a constant stream of new experiences, new perspectives, new ways of looking at the world, and new ideas. I lean toward the latter, but I too can be nervous about new experiences, even if it is something I strongly want to do. Most people are somewhere in the middle of that scale, between extreme security-consciousness, which means extreme fear, and wanting everything at all times being under control, or at least the illusion of control, and at the other extreme of the spectrum, people who actively seek out new life experiences, new adventures, new ideas, new ways of looking at the world, or new ways of living and being.

Anarchists, artists, creatives, bohemians, free thinkers, all great scientists, thinkers, philosophers and scholars, and all rebels and free spirits, are at or near one end of the scale, between fear-based clinging to an imaginary order and illusory certainty and control, and at the other end of the scale, those who value innovation, creativity, spontaneity, naturalness, positive change, or freedom. Fascists, fundamentalists, ideologues and control freaks, along with mousey conformists and obsessive rule-followers, are at the other extreme.

Fundamentalists, fascists, technocrats, bureaucrats, engineers, ideologues, partisan zealots, oligarchs, perfectionists and control freaks cling desperately to an illusion of control, and an illusion of certainty, at all times. They tend to drive themselves and others crazy, but this is their habit. Most people are not so extreme, but most people hesitate before uncertainty, new ideas, new perspectives, new or different ways of living or doing things, or new life experiences.

The fascists, the fundamentalists and the ideologues are hard to reach. Their minds are locked in stone. It is not to that insane clown posse that I speak, but to the other 80% of the people who are a little more sane.

Uncertainty causes anxiety in most people, although you can look at uncertainty as being a mystery and an adventure, and turn your anxiety into excitement, and joy. But in any case, in reality, it is not uncertainty that causes anxiety: it is attachment that causes anxiety. Cut your attachments, and be free of anxiety. Simplify, simplify, as Thoreau said. And do read Walden, or read it again. Get comfortable with uncertainty. Everything is impermanent, fleeting, transitory. Life is always uncertain and unpredictable: it is only illusion that makes us think that anything in life is certain. Only death is certain. Everything else is uncertain. When we get comfortable with the fact that life is unpredictable, then anxiety is replaced by tranquility, peace and joy. Then only, does life open up to reveal its magnificence and splendour. Then only, do we begin to truly live.

JTR,

April 26, 2021

On Cynicism

John Lennon was a millionaire, though he talked about having no possessions; Thomas Jefferson had slaves; and Martin Luther King Jr. was a philanderer, true enough, but I think it is a bad idea to mock and attack people who are doing, or have done, generally very positive, important things to improve human life. We are already a culture drowning in cynicism, which perpetuates the pandemic illusions of powerlessness, which results in apathy, which guarantees that we cannot solve any of the problems we are facing in society – when the reality is, we have everything we need, including the power, to make very positive changes, and immediately, if only we could free ourselves from this dreadful and paralyzing plague of cynicism. Mock and censure the powerful when they are abusing their power, or are simply grossly incompetent. Do not mock or attack good people who are trying to do good things in the world, would be my strong view of the matter. It is important that we talk openly and frankly about the world we live in, but we would be wise to sow inspiration as well. The people need hope, inspiration and empowerment, not the further sowing of illusions of powerlessness and despair, which leads only to the most bleak of outcomes becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Yes, I am an optimist. I have a deep faith and confidence in humanity, and in nature and the Cosmos (though I refuse to quibble about names and terminology). That does not mean I fail to see the fact that most people, including most intellectuals, have effectively shut their brains off. And that is all the more proof that we need to inspire them.

People switch into denial, dissociation, numbness and apathetic stupor, out of a hidden and generally unconscious or suppressed sense of hopelessness, powerlessness and despair. Thoreau was right: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Therefore, inspire them we must. That is, in fact, what is most critical.

“The ideal is to create a completely fragmented atomized society where everybody is totally alone, doing nothing but trying to pursue created wants, and the wants are created.” — Noam Chomsky

If we care about others, the Earth, other living beings, our families, our communities, our nations or ourselves, then we must overcome cynicism, and build a better world for all, one step at a time, however quickly we can, or however slowly we must. But to overcome cynicism, and the apathy and despair it creates, we must begin to overcome the profound alienation of modern society. The people must reconnect with themselves, with nature, and with one another. Unite the people, and everything becomes possible. Unite the people, and the people will find their courage, their inspiration, and their power. This is the key.

JTR,
April 18, 2021