I am in the final stages of moving office and it has been a time consuming process. And one of my regular research colleague, Professor Scott Baum from Griffith University, who occassionally provides blog posts here, sent me some research which he had written up in blog post form and with time short today, here is Scott’s latest guest spot. Today he is going to talk about a new analysis of financial insecurity that we are currently doing.William Mitchell — Modern Monetary Theory
The growing incidence of financial insecurity and inequality
Guest Post
61 comments:
Bill Mitchell uses the term “neoliberals” to refer to “experts” who promote the ever-widening gap between the rich and the rest by rationalizing it.
For example, these “experts” claim that the Covid lockdowns caused Australians to save up a lot of money.
This is nonsense, as we can see in the ever-multiplying videos on social media of people complaining about living paycheck to paycheck, and about living on credit cards. They complain about inflation, the costs of living, and the cost of housing.
Rents and housing prices are skyrocketing, as is the percentage of average people’s income that is consumed by rent, or by mortgage payments.
In 1994 the average price of a house in the USA was $130k. With a 20% ($26k) down payment, mortgage payments were $743 per month. That was $31% of the average salary of $29k.
By 2019 we were still doing okay. The average price of a house in the USA had risen to $260k. With a 20% ($52k) down payment, mortgage payments were $993 per month at 4%. This was only $21% of the average salary of $56k. People had more disposable income, and liberals used this freedom to indulge their hatred of conservatives and Trump and white people.
Then Covid mania destroyed the world as we knew it. By 2023 the average price of a house in the USA had risen to $418k. With a 20% ($84k) down payment, mortgage payments are $2,283 at 7.24%, but salaries have not risen since 2019. Therefore half of people’s income now goes to mortgages or to rent alone. This is unsustainable.
Klaus Schwab was right when he smugly boasted that, “You will own nothing and be enslaved.” Ha, ha, ha!
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Skyrocketing housing prices are caused by two things that reinforce each other: [1] Rising interest rates set by central banks, and [2] big Wall Street investors buying up residential properties as permanent rentals. (Corporate investors are also frantically building apartment complexes in a rental hold rush ) Wall Street investors pay cash, so they don’t worry about interest rates, which central banks have raised in order to prevent average people from buying homes, so that the peasants are forced to pay rent to investors for life. (“You will own nothing and be enslaved.” Ha, ha, ha!)
Financial pressures are getting worse all the time. Young people are in despair. Many of them become homeless drug addicts, or they live in campers, or in their moms’ basements. Many become “woke,” not knowing what sex they are, or even whether they are humans. Many focus their hostility on white people. Blacks demand massive “reparations.” They also go on mass looting sprees, knowing they cannot be touched, since it would be “racist” to stop them.
Again the term “neoliberals” refers to “experts” who promote this social and financial situation by rationalizing it.
In my opinion the West has been doomed by the ever-widening gap between the rich and the rest, combined with an exponentially compounding debt load for average people.
The middle class has become largely extinct. Society is breaking down as people cannot afford to live like they did before. It’s like we had a nuclear war that destroyed society, such that the ultra-rich have nothing to sit on top of. All of Western civilization was a giant bubble of lies, debt, and arrogance that is now collapsing.
It’s natural for people to attack me for admitting these facts. Reality is scary. People withdraw into cocoons of denial and gibberish, desperately hoping that what they see with their own eyes is not real. (“Everything is China’s fault!” “The real threat is Putin!”)
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So here we are in hell. What to do? In my opinion the best way to deal with hell is to serve others -- i.e. get outside ourselves. Pay attention to people all around you who are hurting, and try to help them in any way you can, however small. You are not required to make herculean efforts. You simply help others in order to help yourself deal with hell.
My own religious belief is that each of us is immortal, and we are here for only a short time. We can make more spiritual progress here than we can in almost any other realm, simply because this world is so savage. That’s what makes the nightmare so valuable, if we look at it correctly. Just my opinion.
Call them neo-Samaritans. The greater the misnomer, the greater the understanding.
Altruism is wonderful - accountability is more effective. Most of the ills of society can be traced to people not being held accountable for their actions.
“ Most of the ills of society can be traced to people not being held accountable for their actions.”
That’s a form of “doing the same thing and expecting a different result”
That's a form of doing the wrong thing and expecting a promotion.
“Altruism is wonderful - accountability is more effective.”
Unfortunately we’re not going to get accountability in today’s world. It’s not going to happen. Therefore I hold that the only way to deal with hell is to get outside ourselves and serve others in small ways. We do this as much for our own benefit as others’ benefit. Refusal to do this causes us to remain miserable.
“Most of the ills of society can be traced to people not being held accountable for their actions.”
I agree that the lack of accountability makes everything worse. For example, crime is exploding in Democrat-run areas because it is “racist” to hold the criminals accountable. Straight white males are being denied jobs and promotions because it is “racist” to hire and promote based on performance and achievement.
However beyond all that, in my opinion, most of the ills of society can be traced to lack of self-knowledge – i.e. to the failure to recognize who and what we truly are beneath our surface chatter and worldly roles.
In this earthly life we are blinded by an illusion of separateness. We are ruled by our fear of death and the unknown. This fear is natural, and even desirable. We agree to come here and live in a wretched little prison cell, blind, helpless, and afraid, so that we can better appreciate freedom when we return home. Eventually, however, the prison cell becomes unacceptable, and we spiritually explore alternatives.
Just my opinion.
“ In this earthly life we are blinded by an illusion of separateness.”
That’s Democrat identity politics 101… the Pedocrats actually PROMOTE that…
I didn't agree to come here and be born. Or should I say: I don't remember agreeing to come here.
In this earthly life we are blinded by an illusion of separateness.
Are we not individuals?
Are we not separate from nature in terms of where and how we live?
Are we not taught that human beings are different from other animals because we have souls/higher level of consciousness/were given dominion over the Earth/etc. ?
We are ruled by our fear of death and the unknown. This fear is natural, and even desirable.
If we were guaranteed to die peacefully in our sleep, our fear of death would be more manageable. Alas, that's not the deal handed to us by evolution.
Fear of death is not manageable so long as people believe in an afterlife, reincarnation, or some other loophole. Acceptance of your mortality allows you to move on with the life you have.
I look at the mentality of people who are living in a civilization, yet behave as if they still live in the wilderness, subject to the law of the jungle.
Exhibit A:
“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
Maybe next time God will just create Eve.
“That’s Democrat identity politics 101.”
No. Democrat identity politics is fanatically divisive. It promotes separateness.
Democrat identity politics says that all males all guilty of “toxic masculinity.”
Democrat identity politics says that all whites are evil racists, and all blacks are innocent victims, and therefore are superior. (But it’s okay to impoverish blacks in Africa, and steal their resources.)
Democrat identity politics says that anyone who is not gay, trans, or a pedophile should be exterminated for the sake of “tolerance.”
“The Pedocrats actually PROMOTE that.”
No. Plutocrats are dedicated to continually widening the gap between the rich and the rest. Again this is divisive.
All these earthly forms and political conditions are surface manifestations. Ultimately we are beyond these. We are not even human, since we are beyond form itself.
“I didn't agree to come here and be born. Or should I say: I don't remember agreeing to come here.”
Only a small part of you incarnates. It’s like entering a computer game as a digital player or an “avatar.” The Real You is outside the game; beyond it. Your "avatar" thinks that the game or the stage play is 100% real. This illusion is necessary for your "avatar" to feel the full emotional impact of each experience in the game. When you are done with the game, done with this lifetime, you take off your costume, go home, and review what you learned. Then if you wish, you may start a new game with a different “avatar.”
There are many forms of learning, but the only way to learn spiritually is via experience. For example, you could read a hundred books about what it’s like to be a woman, but you will not learn nearly as much as you will learn by experiencing a lifetime as a woman.
“Are we not individuals? Are we not separate from nature in terms of where and how we live?
Are we not taught that human beings are different from other animals because we have souls/higher level of consciousness/were given dominion over the Earth/etc.?
Yes and no. In this world we operate with a body and an ordinary dualistic mind. To our earthly mind, the Truth seems paradoxical and contradictory. In reality each of us is a drop of water from an infinite ocean, at once separate from the ocean, yet one with it. On one hand, an individual is not the ocean. On the other hand, each individual carries inside him the infinite ocean.
These truths seems absurd and contradictory to the ordinary mind, but they become obvious when we return home.
“If we were guaranteed to die peacefully in our sleep, our fear of death would be more manageable. Alas, that's not the deal handed to us by evolution.”
We would still fear death, since we fear the unknown. There is nothing wrong with this fear. We came here to experience it. Our fear of death spices up all our experiences. It “ups the stakes” of everything we do. In the grand scheme of things, our fear is temporary, and it is valuable.
Remember that old Twilight Zone episode “A Nice Place to Visit”? Broadcast 15 April 1960. An evil man is killed and he finds himself in heaven with a servant who waits on his every whim. The evil man has everything he wants with the snap of his fingers. There is no fear, no loss, no defeats, no sadness, no disease, and no want. Eventually the evil man becomes so bored that he asks the servant to be sent to “the other place.” The servant laughs diabolically and tells him, “This >IS< the other place!” The evil man has been in hell all along.
“Fear of death is not manageable so long as people believe in an afterlife, reincarnation, or some other loophole. Acceptance of your mortality allows you to move on with the life you have.”
Belief in an afterlife or reincarnation can indeed become a crutch; or an excuse to withdraw from life while we rationalize that, “Things will be better next time.” However the belief need not be this way. We can see our time here as limited, and see all our experiences as valuable, whether good, bad, or neutral. With the proper perspective, we see that life is not something to be thrown away. As the old saying goes, “Angels pine for human birth.”
Ultimately (and this is only my opinion) there is no such thing as a truly wasted life. Even if we become drug addicts, ruin our family, ruin our bodies, and die alone in a gutter, this experience too is valuable in the grand scheme of things. It’s all part of the journey.
Konrad, if believing in that extra spiritual layer brings you solace, then good for you.
I hope the Real Me wasn't the avatar playing Joseph Stalin or any other murderous psychopath. There are some things I don't care to learn from experience.
In experiencing this life, I won't be returning to the game, or continuing the journey.
Assuming I have a choice not to.
“Konrad, if believing in that extra spiritual layer brings you solace, then good for you.”
You bring up an important point. My beliefs are as much about defiance as anything else. Defiance of the Void. Defiance of the Meaningless Nothing.
To explain…
Suppose that I perform an anonymous act of kindness with the expectation that it will bring me some kind of heavenly reward, or whatever. This is not an act of kindness; it is merely a transaction, an exchange. I do this to get that in return.
Now suppose instead that I perform an anonymous act of kindness without anyone ever knowing I did it, not even God. And suppose that there is no Afterlife, and nothing after death. Total negation. Oblivion. Zero. And yet I do my act of kindness anyway. I defy the Void. That is a genuine act of kindness, since it is not merely an exchange or a transaction.
If there is no Afterlife, no God, etc, then we might ask what’s the point? If we become food for worms, then acts of kindness are meaningless, yes? No, they are the most meaningful of all, since we do them knowing that we may be mere food for worms. We say to the infinite blackness, “I exist, and I choose to do this whether or not anything ever comes of it.”
Did you ever see the 1957 sci fi movie “The Incredible Shrinking Man”? The protagonist shrinks smaller and smaller, fighting off cats, spiders, etc. – until in the movie’s last shot he looks at the night sky and lets us know what he is thinking. As he becomes infinitely small, he feels himself merging with the infinitely large universe. His very last line is, “I still exist!” That’s defiance.
“In experiencing this life, I won't be returning to the game, or continuing the journey. Assuming I have a choice not to.”
According to my beliefs, you always have a choice. No one is forced to come here. We come here because we wish to. We ask to. We come here because – like the universe itself -- we have an irrepressible desire to grow, learn, develop, and evolve. We do this via experiences. We come here when we are ready. There is no hurry, since we are immortal.
Many of us say, “This place stinks, and I won’t be coming back here!” That’s the ordinary mind talking. That’s not the deeper you. While we are here, time can seem to drag on. But when we die and we return home, our entire lifetime here will seem like it passed in the blink of an eye. Even while we are still here, in our old age we remember past events and we think, “It was only yesterday. Where did the time go?”
You came here precisely because this place stinks. You can make more progress here than you can in most other realms, because it is so brutal. It’s like going to work out in a gymnasium. If there is no gravity, and the weights weigh zero, you will not get any benefit.
Maturing and evolving means understanding that we always have a choice. If we are “victims,” it is because we choose to be. No man is truly a slave until he voluntarily chooses to believe his master’s lies.
Free will is real.
Suppose that I perform an anonymous act of kindness with the expectation that it will bring me some kind of heavenly reward, or whatever. This is not an act of kindness; it is merely a transaction, an exchange. I do this to get that in return.
Yes. For example, to live as the god of the holy book says you should live, in order to get to heaven.
Now suppose instead that I perform an anonymous act of kindness without anyone ever knowing I did it, not even God. And suppose that there is no Afterlife, and nothing after death. Total negation. Oblivion. Zero. And yet I do my act of kindness anyway. I defy the Void. That is a genuine act of kindness, since it is not merely an exchange or a transaction.
Yes, your motivation is more virtuous than that which is transactional.
If there is no Afterlife, no God, etc, then we might ask what’s the point? If we become food for worms, then acts of kindness are meaningless, yes? No, they are the most meaningful of all, since we do them knowing that we may be mere food for worms. We say to the infinite blackness, “I exist, and I choose to do this whether or not anything ever comes of it.”
If acts of kindness are not rewarding, don't do them. If they are rewarding or you feel it is your duty according to your conscience, you carry them out. It's not an act of defiance to express who you are.
Now there are situations where expressing kindness is an act of defiance. A Ukrainian soldier showing kindness to a captured Russian soldier may well be beaten or executed. Those who witness kindness, react to it, and not always positively. The Void is not a witness that matters.
~
I haven't seen the Incredible Shrinking Man.
When you're alive, and aware of it, you exist.
Boulders and pebbles exist, but I doubt they're aware of it.
According to my beliefs, you always have a choice. No one is forced to come here. We come here because we wish to. We ask to. We come here because – like the universe itself -- we have an irrepressible desire to grow, learn, develop, and evolve. We do this via experiences. We come here when we are ready. There is no hurry, since we are immortal.
Do we get to choose our avatar?
I mean, it would be a really short lesson to be born as a baby who dies in infancy. Or as someone who is profoundly autistic.
Why would anyone choose to return, once they experience suffering?
“Do we get to choose our avatar? I mean, it would be a really short lesson to be born as a baby who dies in infancy. Or as someone who is profoundly autistic.
We choose our avatar, our parents, where and when we will be born, and most of the major details of our life. We set up the crucial and pivotal details. Together with special guides, we design a life plan according to what we want to learn and experience in a particular incarnation. We must agree to the plan, or it’s a no-go. If necessary, we and our guides change the plan, and change it again until we arrive at something we think we can handle, and which that will produce the results we want. Results that can only be had via lived experience.
Sometimes we take on too much, and we check out early. 48,000 Americans kill themselves each year. No problem. There is plenty of time to try again. We are immortal. After we kill ourselves, we may feel regret, but we are not condemned by anyone. We assess the life we just ended, we analyze where things got out of shape, and we start making plans to try again. No one forces us to do this. Everything is up to us. Everything is a choice.
We can choose to be born with certain handicaps for reasons that make sense to our higher Selves, but are beyond the grasp of our ordinary, limited, dualistic minds. We temporarily adopt this limited mind and physical body in order to operate in the physical realm. Our present body, mind, and personality are like masks and costumes that we wear while here. The real you, the conscious “I am” in you, is beyond all these. It is infinite. The real you is a god. You choose to lay aside your power and come here as a mortal being, not much more important than an insect, for the short time that you are here. The number of incarnations is all up to you. Everything is a choice.
Q. Why would someone choose to be born only to die as an infant, or even as a fetus?
A. We incarnate for ourselves and for each other. Our reasons make perfect sense to our Higher Selves. For example, we can agree to die as a child so that our parent may experience the worst grief that anyone can feel, which is the loss of a child. We and our parents plan such major events in the pre-life condition for the experience and the benefit of everyone involved.
“Why would anyone choose to return, once they experience suffering?
You came here to suffer. You wanted this. You chose it. You asked for it. You planned it and arranged for it. Back home there is no war, no disease, and no suffering. That’s fine, but you are more than that. You want more than that. You want to go beyond paradise. You want to strive, struggle, learn, and grow. You want to go deeper and evolve further. Therefore you make a life plan and you choose to incarnate for a very brief time. Eighty years is nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Seven billion people live on this earth. Beyond this physical earth are countless other realms full of countless other beings that never come to earth, since life here is far too awful. Too cruel, brutal and savage. Earth is a giant slaughterhouse, hideous, horrific, and depressing. This is precisely why you chose to come here. You knew all this before you were born. Chances are you’ve been here before, many times. Because of the savagery and the difficulty here, you can make more spiritual progress in a year than you can make in a century in other less brutal realms.
And when you die and you return home, you will be given an award ceremony, because it is no small feat to experience a life here. It’s rough, and people will be impressed that you actually did it.
Wow, you just came from earth? From the SLAUGHTERHOUSE???? WOW. That took guts.
What you appear to be describing is reminiscent of the Q in the science fiction universe of Star Trek. One major difference is you're asserting that we are the Q.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(Star_Trek)
Together with special guides, we design a life plan according to what we want to learn and experience in a particular incarnation. We must agree to the plan, or it’s a no-go. If necessary, we and our guides change the plan, and change it again until we arrive at something we think we can handle, and which that will produce the results we want. Results that can only be had via lived experience.
How would these guides be able to ensure a deterministic outcome?
We interact with the environment, are influenced by it, may die accidentally, or may be murdered. How can these life events be planned?
Sometimes we take on too much, and we check out early. 48,000 Americans kill themselves each year. No problem.
Did we take on too much, or did things not go according to plan?
A. We incarnate for ourselves and for each other. Our reasons make perfect sense to our Higher Selves. For example, we can agree to die as a child so that our parent may experience the worst grief that anyone can feel, which is the loss of a child. We and our parents plan such major events in the pre-life condition for the experience and the benefit of everyone involved.
Is this an example of what you're describing?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Letby
Earth is a giant slaughterhouse, hideous, horrific, and depressing. This is precisely why you chose to come here. You knew all this before you were born. Chances are you’ve been here before, many times. Because of the savagery and the difficulty here, you can make more spiritual progress in a year than you can make in a century in other less brutal realms.
If the real me is immortal, why would I care if my spiritual cultivation took 1 year, or 100 years or longer?
“How would these guides be able to ensure a deterministic outcome? We interact with the environment, are influenced by it, may die accidentally, or may be murdered. How can these life events be planned?”
Our guides don’t do it; we do. Our higher selves (i.e. our true selves) design our life plan with the help of guides. The design takes into account myriad contingencies and random events in a kind of flow chart with “if—then” junctures.
While we are here on earth, our higher selves continue to steer our earthly lives according to the plan we designed. Our plan does not include every detail; only the important events of our earthly lives. The plan is not deterministic. There is always free will, and our earthly “avatar” (so to speak) can choose to go against our higher selves’ plan, as when we commit an unplanned suicide. But for the most part, most of us follow our plan
Regarding random events, if these go totally against our life plan, then they can be altered by our higher selves (or by God, or by a guardian spirit). For example, one time I was riding a motorcycle when a woman suddenly pulled out in front of me from a blind alley. I was moving at high speed, and there was no time to stop as I headed straight for the spot between her driver’s side door and her left front wheel. I closed my eyes, certain I would be killed, but when I opened my eyes I was somehow on the other side of the car, as though I had passed through it. I do not know how that happened.
Another time I was riding a motorcycle at 110 mph through a tunnel at night when suddenly I had a strong impression of “SLOW DOWN!” So I did. When I came out of the tunnel I saw that the road made a sharp turn, with a rock wall right in front of me. The base of a cliff. Had I not slowed down, I would have been hamburger. Evidently a fatal crash right there and then was not part of my plan.
I have had several episodes like that in my life. Many.
I knew a guy who had been a medic in Vietnam during the war. He told me that one day he suddenly saw a bullet come straight at his face and stop in mid-air as though hitting a barrier. Then the bullet fell straight to the ground. He had no idea how this happened. I later interpreted it to mean that his life plan did not include death at that time and place.
I knew woman who was driving in the left-most lane of a five-lane freeway when suddenly another women in the right-most lane veered across all the other lanes, spun around, and came to a stop near a center guardrail. The first woman managed to stop before she crashed into the woman who had veered over. The two women looked each other for a second or two, when the first woman realized that all the other traffic in all the other lanes had suddenly stopped. BOOM. All cars were motionless. All their drivers sat looking straight ahead as though they were in a weird suspension. Then the woman who had veered over was able to turn her car around and continue driving onward, while all the other traffic continued forward was well. I don’t know what caused that woman to veer across the freeway, but evidently her life plan did not include death at that particular time and place.
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The point is that if random events totally vary from our life plan, then there are interventions to help keep us on track, and keep us in alignment with our plan. This is quite common. And to repeat, the plan does not include every detail of our lives; only the important events that deeply influence us.
Our earthly self, our “avatar,” is a small part of our higher self. It is a feeble pip-squeak compared to our higher self. Ultimately our higher self is God. These truths are beyond the grasp of our earthly “avatar.” What? Each of us is God in human form? Blasphemy! Preposterous! We learn these things through many years of reflection, meditation, strange events, plus things like out-of-body experiences, and so on. Our “avatar” gradually learns what our higher self knew all along.
“You claim that we incarnate for ourselves and for each other. Is Lucy Letby an example of what you’re describing?”
Free will is real, and our “avatar” can go berserk, but with events of such magnitude, I suspect that it was planned. I don’t have proof of that, and I don’t know any details about her or her victims, or her victims’ families.
This world is full of horror, but we are only here for a short time.
“If the real me is immortal, why would I care if my spiritual cultivation took 1 year, or 100 years or longer?”
We can move as slowly or rapidly as we choose. Our pace is up to us. Nothing is forced. But when we return home, we have an irrepressible desire to learn, develop and evolve. This is the nature of the universe. We don’t have to incarnate here, but earthly life is efficient because it’s so difficult. You are a godlike being who chooses to take a piece of yourself and stuff it into a jail cell the size of a thimble. When your "avatar's" time is over, it brings back to you what it learned. Or rather, what part of you learned as an avatar.
Everything is up to you. To a large extent, spiritual maturation consists of realizing that we are free to choose at all times. We are only “victims” (in the woke liberal sense) if we choose to imagine that we are.
While we are here on earth, our higher selves continue to steer our earthly lives according to the plan we designed. Our plan does not include every detail; only the important events of our earthly lives. The plan is not deterministic. There is always free will, and our earthly “avatar” (so to speak) can choose to go against our higher selves’ plan, as when we commit an unplanned suicide. But for the most part, most of us follow our plan
So our higher selves are steering us on a one-to-one basis?
According to genetics, I wouldn't have been born without my parents and the combination of their genes. If my parents also have higher selves, does their 'avatar relationship' have anything to do with their existence on a higher plane?
I have had several episodes like that in my life. Many.
So if you were to test that theory by deliberately placing yourself in danger, would you die?
Ultimately our higher self is God. These truths are beyond the grasp of our earthly “avatar.” What? Each of us is God in human form? Blasphemy! Preposterous!
Well yes, that goes against what is taught in the Bible, that we are guilty pieces of shit who have to earn God's forgiveness by living/thinking a certain way. Then again, you did refer to our avatar as a feeble pip-squeak.
Our “avatar” gradually learns what our higher self knew all along.
What is Lucy Letby's avatar learning that her higher self knew all along?
Trying to insert herself into the space of grieving parents so as to observe their pain. After all these years that the human species has existed, our higher selves appear to be incredibly slow learners, or simply amoral.
This world is full of horror, but we are only here for a short time.
This world is full of horror thanks to our higher selves and their horrific plans?
We can move as slowly or rapidly as we choose. Our pace is up to us. Nothing is forced. But when we return home, we have an irrepressible desire to learn, develop and evolve.
I can understand that desire - I did go through childhood. But I do not desire the horrific stuff. There are people who do - sadists, gore hounds, and other degenerates. You might want to Google the Dnepropetrovsk maniacs. Their higher selves must be some exceptional pieces of work.
According to your beliefs, my higher self's plan was that I experience a life of solitude. No desire for relationships, starting a family, or being among people in real life. I suppose my agnostic/atheist beliefs are included.
Everything is up to you. To a large extent, spiritual maturation consists of realizing that we are free to choose at all times. We are only “victims” (in the woke liberal sense) if we choose to imagine that we are.
I would choose not to associate with some of these Gods you describe.
Out of curiosity, I might want to return to Earth as a girl/woman named Windy. This is a hit song written by The Association. Have you heard of it?
Star Trek TNG -- Nagilum (Part 1 of 2)
https://youtu.be/Dd1HHNRaZfM
Fictional entity with godlike powers who has an irrepressible desire to learn.
“So our higher selves are steering us on a one-to-one basis? According to genetics, I wouldn't have been born without my parents and the combination of their genes. If my parents also have higher selves, does their 'avatar relationship' have anything to do with their existence on a higher plane?”
Our higher selves steer us at crucial junctures. For example, they steer us to our spouses.
Regarding your parents, they exist on all planes at once, just as you do, but your conscious focus right now is on this earthly plane. This physical reality is rough, but it’s just as valuable as any other realm. The physical is not a “lesser” place. It is not merely a purgatory, or a stage on life’s way. This physical realm serves an extremely important function in your overall evolution. Here you can have certain experiences that you cannot have anywhere else, simply because life here is so tough. Here you cannot just snap your fingers and make something happen, like you can in other realms. Here things are dense. Here you must focus in order to make anything happen. You must exert great effort. You must do what initially seems impossible. Looked at a certain way, this physical world is the most magnificent realm of all, because it’s so hard.
Imagine a paradise where everyone loves each other, and all is peace and harmony and so on. In this paradise, acts of love and generosity are no big deal, since everyone does them. Now imagine yourself instead down here on this earth, this nightmare, this harsh place. In this cruel physical realm, acts of love and generosity are awesome. Here they really mean something. Indeed they mean so much that we are eager to come here and try. We make mistakes. We act like idiots, stumbling around blindly, but that’s how we learn. We always learn much more from our screw-ups and our failures than from our triumphs and successes. We came here to make mistakes.
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“That goes against what is taught in the Bible, that we are guilty pieces of shit who have to earn God's forgiveness by living/thinking a certain way. Then again, you did refer to our avatar as a feeble pip-squeak.”
Our avatar is a feeble pip-squeak in comparison to our higher selves; our real selves. But again, that’s what makes our avatar so impressive. The denseness and difficulty here is what makes every act so meaningful. Anyone can be a god on Olympus, or a holy man on top of a mountain. But to enter into this nightmare and do an act of compassion…that is something. It’s so magnificent that when we die and we go home, we yearn to come back here to this slaughterhouse and try again. We meet people on the other side that are indescribably brilliant and beautiful, and when we ask how they achieved this, they tell is it was the result of their incarnations on this earth, many of which were painful.
The awesome and mind-bending thing is not that a man may become a god, but that a god may become an ordinary man with no powers and nothing except his will and his courage.
Regarding the Bible, I ignore it. Who knows what happened long ago (if anything)?
Damnation is for people who enjoy such fairy tales. Forgiveness? God sees us as children as we strive, struggle, and suffer. An ordinary human who sees this in his own child feels so much love for his child that it literally hurts. How much more is God’s love for God’s children? Forgiveness is automatic. We may do evil, and it will have to be atoned for, or balanced out in a karmic sense, bit it’s all part of the show. Angels, guides, advanced beings – they all screwed up in their pasts, but they learned. They transcended. They know what you’re going through, since they went through it too. They’ve been there and done that. They got the tee-shirt and the scar tissue.
Remember that you are only here for a short time, although things can seem to drag on while you are suffering. Everything that happens to you – EVERYTHING -- is ultimately for your benefit. One day you will be thankful for every pain, loss, heartbreak and failure you had while on earth. These negative things are why you came here.
You were in paradise when you announced to everyone that you were ready to move on to the next phase, because you knew it would be more beautiful than ever. Therefore you made a life plan. You prepared to come back. The guides asked you numerous times, “Are you sure about this? You remember how it was last time.” You bravely responded, “We’re wasting time. Let’s do this.”
“I might want to return to Earth as a girl/woman named Windy. This is a hit song written by The Association. Have you heard of it?”
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and once at a ceramics shop I met one of the band members named Larry Ramos. (The band was from Los Angeles.) I didn’t know who he was. My mother later told me he was with The Association. She learned this from the ceramics store owner. That was many years ago. I had one of their albums, titled Insight Out. It included “Windy," which got a lot of airplay on Los Angeles radio.
Our higher selves steer us at crucial junctures. For example, they steer us to our spouses.
That my parents, who endured a loveless marriage, were steered together by their own higher selves, is some of the best gallows humour I've heard in a long time.
To hear my mother tell it, my father wanted a boy. When he got his wish, he never touched her again. So I was an only child. All part of the plan, eh?
Regarding your parents, they exist on all planes at once, just as you do, but your conscious focus right now is on this earthly plane. This physical reality is rough, but it’s just as valuable as any other realm. The physical is not a “lesser” place. It is not merely a purgatory, or a stage on life’s way.
According to my beliefs, the physical plane is the only plane of existence. I don't consider it lesser since there is nothing to compare it to. Only in our imagination or fantasies can we come up with something greater or more ideal.
This physical realm serves an extremely important function in your overall evolution. Here you can have certain experiences that you cannot have anywhere else, simply because life here is so tough. Here you cannot just snap your fingers and make something happen, like you can in other realms. Here things are dense. Here you must focus in order to make anything happen. You must exert great effort. You must do what initially seems impossible. Looked at a certain way, this physical world is the most magnificent realm of all, because it’s so hard.
There are trust-fund babies, frugalists, and hedonists who would partially disagree. Life is hard because you have chosen to make it harder on yourself. Or you were born under unfavourable circumstances.
Imagine a paradise where everyone loves each other, and all is peace and harmony and so on. In this paradise, acts of love and generosity are no big deal, since everyone does them. Now imagine yourself instead down here on this earth, this nightmare, this harsh place. In this cruel physical realm, acts of love and generosity are awesome. Here they really mean something. Indeed they mean so much that we are eager to come here and try. We make mistakes. We act like idiots, stumbling around blindly, but that’s how we learn. We always learn much more from our screw-ups and our failures than from our triumphs and successes. We came here to make mistakes.
I can imagine such a paradise, but how would I know what living in it would be like, unless I experienced it?
Would it not make sense to allow me to spend as much time as I want in paradise, experience it fully, and then decide what to do next?
If I get bored, jaded, etc. I can ask to be returned to Earth, or another planet.
Our avatar is a feeble pip-squeak in comparison to our higher selves; our real selves. But again, that’s what makes our avatar so impressive. The denseness and difficulty here is what makes every act so meaningful. Anyone can be a god on Olympus, or a holy man on top of a mountain. But to enter into this nightmare and do an act of compassion…that is something. It’s so magnificent that when we die and we go home, we yearn to come back here to this slaughterhouse and try again. We meet people on the other side that are indescribably brilliant and beautiful, and when we ask how they achieved this, they tell is it was the result of their incarnations on this earth, many of which were painful.
You are making assertions about realms which you have not experienced, and hand-waving any doubts by claiming it is beyond our Earthbound understanding.
Human beings, as a social species, are capable of compassion. On this slaughterhouse. Is that impressive? Compared to a crocodile exhibiting compassion, I'd say not.
We're also capable of cruelty. Is that impressive? Or would it only be impressive if we ascended into paradise and began committing acts of cruelty over there?
The awesome and mind-bending thing is not that a man may become a god, but that a god may become an ordinary man with no powers and nothing except his will and his courage.
This theme has been explored in science fiction. Transhumanists reject it as worthwhile.
Apart from acquiring eternal youth, I'm not a transhumanist. I find their proposals useless.
Regarding the Bible, I ignore it. Who knows what happened long ago (if anything)?
I mention it solely to illustrate how demented it is. The God of the Bible is about the furthest thing from love imaginable. That kind of "love", I stay away from.
Damnation is for people who enjoy such fairy tales.
Agreed.
Forgiveness? God sees us as children as we strive, struggle, and suffer. An ordinary human who sees this in his own child feels so much love for his child that it literally hurts. How much more is God’s love for God’s children? Forgiveness is automatic.
If a parent discovers that their child has been torturing small animals, they oftentimes do sweep it under the rug. Because of forgiveness or love, I do not know. I'm not a parent. Are you a parent?
According to psychologists, the torture of small animals by children is a warning sign of psychopathy.
Remember that you are only here for a short time, although things can seem to drag on while you are suffering. Everything that happens to you – EVERYTHING -- is ultimately for your benefit. One day you will be thankful for every pain, loss, heartbreak and failure you had while on earth. These negative things are why you came here.
This passage is compatible with Judeo-Christian beliefs. Your beliefs still leave Earth as a stepping stone or stage in development. I don't necessarily disagree that our experiences are character building, except that one day I will cease to exist. My thankfulness will have to come before that happens.
You were in paradise when you announced to everyone that you were ready to move on to the next phase, because you knew it would be more beautiful than ever. Therefore you made a life plan. You prepared to come back. The guides asked you numerous times, “Are you sure about this? You remember how it was last time.” You bravely responded, “We’re wasting time. Let’s do this.”
I don't remember this. If I were to write a science fiction novel, that's not what I'd write about. The ethical implications are disturbing.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and once at a ceramics shop I met one of the band members named Larry Ramos. (The band was from Los Angeles.) I didn’t know who he was. My mother later told me he was with The Association. She learned this from the ceramics store owner. That was many years ago. I had one of their albums, titled Insight Out. It included “Windy," which got a lot of airplay on Los Angeles radio.
Wonderful. That is less than 7 degrees of separation.
If you know the lyrics to Windy, would you agree it would be a good plan to return to Earth as Windy?
I’m not sure what you mean. Ruthann Friedman wrote the song about a male lover she fantasized about. The Association changed it to be about a woman. The lead singer on that song, Larry Ramous, was the guy I met without knowing who he was. By “met” I mean we had a brief conversation about ceramic plates. This was at the Franciscan Ceramics plant at 2901 Los Feliz Blvd, which was right on the border with Glendale.
The plant was huge (70 buildings) and it shipped its products by rail to the Los Angeles Harbor, and from there to the world. The company had a little store out front where they sold “seconds” (i.e. products with slight flaws) to the public. My mother was a frequent customer, and she often took along me and my siblings. That’s where I met Larry Ramos. To me he was just another customer, looking at household ceramics.
The plant opened in 1934 and was sold in 1979. The new owner moved it to England. Later the L.A. plant was demolished. Today the spot is occupied by a huge shopping center with Costco, Best Buy, etc.
Apologies for the trip down memory lane, but for me the place had memories. In 1923 Walt Disney came out from Chicago and opened his first studio close to where the pant was. That was 4651 Kingswell Ave. in Hollywood CA, only a few blocks from where I was born. Walt Disney often ate at a bar and restaurant called the Tam O’Shanter across the street from the Franciscan plant. Built in 1922, it’s still there today.
My last comments read like a "TMI" moment (Too Much Information).
I’m not sure what you mean.
6 or 7 degrees of separation refers to the small-world phenomenon.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/small-world-phenomenon
Ruthann Friedman wrote the song about a male lover she fantasized about. The Association changed it to be about a woman.
I'm aware of that bit of trivia as well. In some accounts, she admits later that she was describing a part of herself.
Given American social conditioning, do you believe that an adult male could exist as a Windy?
They're incredibly rare, so women have to resort to fantasizing about them.
Apologies for the trip down memory lane, but for me the place had memories.
Don't apologize. Places and people and events in your life are more significant than topics that are strictly intellectual. The places you frequented, the people you met, the changes over time, relate to your experience. They may even influence you in ways you don't realize.
With this in mind, how do your beliefs influence your life?
(If I shared your beliefs, I don't think I'd spend much time on politics or current events.)
(P.S. TMI: the background in my avatar is a place, now owned by one of my cousins. It has changed radically. Only the shape of the mountains remain.)
“6 or 7 degrees of separation refers to the small-world phenomenon.”
Yes, that part I knew.
“Given American social conditioning, do you believe that an adult male could exist as a Windy?”
I would need you to flesh that out a bit. Based on your interpretation of the song, define a Windy.
“I don't think I'd spend much time on politics or current events.”
I do it mainly for amusement in the off-hours. Some people play cards, or play video games, or whatever. I say mainly because (like everyone else) I try to make sense of what’s happening around me and why. But politics and world events are mainly a hobby; a pastime. What I really get a kick out of is foreign travel, which I did a lot of until about ten years ago.
Speaking of that, here is another TMI bomb (Too Much Information). In 2009 I was in Baja California South, visiting a friend in a coastal town. Unknown to me the place was famous for whale watching, because gray whales often had their calves there, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I did not know this. By chance I came across a young couple, a boy and girl, and I started up a conversation with them, as I always do with strangers. However they spoke only French, and I did not. So I shrugged my shoulders in a gesture of “Oh well. Goodbye.” As I was leaving I asked them in parting if they spoke Spanish. (I speak fluent Spanish). They answered yes. It was like having a Star Trek “universal translator.” We chatted away, and I learned that they had come to see the whales.
I remember that experience because it was like encountering a language brick wall, and suddenly having the wall removed. (I myself did not see any whales.)
That's an example of fun we have during international travel. Of course, I had a lot of problems and crises too. It was during times of stress, crises, and trauma that I made my deepest friends overseas. Indeed the difficult experiences are the ones I remember most fondly.
It will be the same when we die and return home and we look back at our time here on earth. When we consider certain events, our attitude will be, "I wouldn't like to go through that particular nightmare again, but I'm thankful I did."
Regarding my personal religious beliefs, I don't ask anyone to agree with them. Just file them away. Some day they might be useful in one way or another.
Yes, that part I knew.
Okay, how many degrees of separation are there between you and Ruthann Friedman?
I would need you to flesh that out a bit. Based on your interpretation of the song, define a Windy.
The lyrics paint a mental image of a young woman in an urban (or suburban) area, applying the adage 'smile and the world smiles with you'. Someone whose heart is overflowing with goodwill, so she can't resist sharing how she feels.
Speaking of that, here is another TMI bomb (Too Much Information).
There you go. You don't speak French, but Spanish. I speak French, but not Spanish. (even though they're Romance languages). You met someone in Baja you could communicate with, and I met someone in Austria and did something similar.
I remember that experience because it was like encountering a language brick wall, and suddenly having the wall removed. (I myself did not see any whales.)
That's an example of fun we have during international travel.
I had an experience more along your lines in Nova Scotia. We were doing a Real-Time Kinematic survey and I noticed that the homeowner spoke with a French Canadian accent. So we had a conversation in French. To discover that we both spoke French was like demolishing a cultural barrier we otherwise wouldn't notice was there. It's like meeting someone from your hometown, thousands of miles away, in a foreign land.
From what I've heard about Americans, your enjoyment of foreign travel makes you an oddball. In my experience, Canadians are just as insular. My mother lived her entire life no more than 300 feet from the room where she was born. And she wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
I have traveled around Canada a bit more, but I'm not that different. I have little interest in foreign travel with regard to meeting people or experiencing different cultures. What interests me about distant lands is the natural world.
Of course, I had a lot of problems and crises too. It was during times of stress, crises, and trauma that I made my deepest friends overseas. Indeed the difficult experiences are the ones I remember most fondly.
Can you flesh this out a bit more?
Remember, I'm wondering how your beliefs influence your life ~ or conversely, how your life led you towards your beliefs.
Regarding my personal religious beliefs, I don't ask anyone to agree with them. Just file them away. Some day they might be useful in one way or another.
My memory filing cabinet is far from perfect, but it'll have to do.
Will you consider doing the same about a plan to return to Earth as Windy?
“From what I've heard about Americans, your enjoyment of foreign travel makes you an oddball.”
I saw many Americans in my travels abroad, but I never talked to them. They weren’t friendly. I don’t know why. Some American tourists were slobs, while I myself was always well-dressed. Tourists from Europe behaved better, especially German tourists, while tourists from Japan were the best-behaved of all.
“In my experience, Canadians are just as insular. My mother lived her entire life no more than 300 feet from the room where she was born. And she wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I have traveled around Canada a bit more, but I'm not that different. I have little interest in foreign travel with regard to meeting people or experiencing different cultures. What interests me about distant lands is the natural world.”
In my case I like foreign travel because I like to investigate how foreigners think and how they see the world. To observe reality through a different mind-set is like escaping from a mental cage. My late father was the same way. After World War II he became a merchant seaman and saw the world. His favorite city (in those days) was Buenos Aires Argentina.
My late mother was Canadian all her life, as was everyone on her side of the family. (British Canadian.)
ME: Of course, I had a lot of problems and crises too. It was during times of stress, crises, and trauma that I made my deepest friends overseas. Indeed the difficult experiences are the ones I remember most fondly.
”Can you flesh this out a bit more? I'm wondering how your beliefs influence your life ~ or conversely, how your life led you towards your beliefs.
Those experiences were unpleasant. I was referring to a lost passport (in Singapore), a stolen passport (in Mexico), a strange illness that came very close to killing me (in India), a case of mistaken identity that landed me in jail for two days (in Belarus), a bomb threat on a Japan Air Lines flight that got me a free trip to Sri Lanka, an injury on a train platform in England that put me in the hospital for a day and a half – stuff like that. One time I was driving in the middle of a desert in Mexico when the car broke down. Part of the front suspension collapsed. There were no other cars on the road, and no towns nearby, and in those days I spoke no Spanish. I was alone.
I hated these experiences as they were actually happening, but I now look back on them with fondness. I made very good friends during these ordeals, but I didn’t realize how good until I had returned home. Now I miss them greatly.
This is an example of how my experiences have shaped by personal beliefs. I propose that when we die and return home, we will look back on our most recent life in earth and see our present ordeals in the same way. Difficult experiences on earth are horrible as we go through them, but they will seem rich and meaningful as we later reflect on them. Such experiences build character and love, but they would not have this effect if we knew for certain that there is an Afterlife. Earthly experiences would not be intense and meaningful.
Moreover, if we knew for certain that there is an Afterlife, most of us would check out the minute things got really tough here. We would throw away our opportunity. Beam me up, Scotty. This place stinks.
(Continued below)
I saw many Americans in my travels abroad, but I never talked to them. They weren’t friendly. I don’t know why.
When I worked at an inn, some of the most well-received regulars were Americans. People who were comfortable in their skin. This is in stark contrast to Americans who never travel, and believe Canadians live in igloos.
I hated these experiences as they were actually happening, but I now look back on them with fondness. I made very good friends during these ordeals, but I didn’t realize how good until I had returned home. Now I miss them greatly.
Stress hormones alter your perception while it is happening, but later on you can reflect and draw another conclusion. This is normal and common. Not everyone goes to their graves as an embittered spirit.
I propose that when we die and return home, we will look back on our most recent life in earth and see our present ordeals in the same way. Difficult experiences on earth are horrible as we go through them, but they will seem rich and meaningful as we later reflect on them.
Yet you've already done this, and you haven't died.
Such experiences build character and love, but they would not have this effect if we knew for certain that there is an Afterlife. Earthly experiences would not be intense and meaningful.
I disagree.
Moreover, if we knew for certain that there is an Afterlife, most of us would check out the minute things got really tough here. We would throw away our opportunity. Beam me up, Scotty. This place stinks.
Believers in the Heaven's Gate cult got together and did this, but I'll argue that's an exception to the rule. Most religious or pagan beliefs insist you must accomplish something in this life to be allowed to ascend to a higher plane.
While we are here, we do acts of kindness because we know that others face difficulties too. If it turns out that there is no Afterlife, then there is no worry, since we won’t exist. But I repeat again that the most meaningful acts of kindness are those we perform despite not knowing for certain that there is an Afterlife. They are meaningful precisely because we do not know.
I believe people perform acts of kindness out of strength. They find themselves in a situation where they have the wherewithal to help others. At other stages in their life, they are the ones who are in need of help.
I don't believe knowing we will die alters this equation.
You say you believe in an afterlife. Does your belief render your acts of kindness less meaningful?
But I propose that if there is an Afterlife, we will look back on our most recent incarnation with such fondness that we will have a very powerful urge to come back and do it again -- especially if we did a lot of bad things.
This is different to returning to Earth because there is no meaning in paradise. If our higher selves are dissatisfied, they should address those issues within that realm.
What I take from your beliefs, is that returning to Earth as Windy - as someone who will devote her life to making the Earth a brighter place - is a worthwhile plan. There are 8 billion people on Earth, and relatively few of them live up to the impression given by that song.
When I come back to earth I will continue to crawl through the muck along with all the other humans, always striving, always learning, always growing, and always acting like an idiot, but learning from that too.
Frankly, I think that plan has been done to death.
Regret is valuable. It builds character. We strive to be moral because we already have a bellyful of regrets. We are full up. Incurring still more regrets (in this present lifetime) is unthinkable.
If you have no regrets, then you haven't lived. That doesn't appear to be an issue on Earth.
Me: Such experiences build character and love, but they would not have this effect if we knew for certain that there is an Afterlife. Earthly experiences would not be intense and meaningful.
You: I disagree.
I propose that if an Afterlife was a routine fact known by everyone, then the stakes would not be as high for us here on earth. We would be like characters in “superhero” movies that are repeatedly “killed” but are never actually killed. Those movies bore me. And if we knew for a fact that there is an Afterlife, then why not kill ourselves the moment things get really rough?
I’m saying that death and the Unknown add spice to life, and increase its meaning. Death “ups the stakes.” This is a common theme in literature, plays, etc. You may disagree with that theme if you like.
In some cases people become absolutely certain from experience that there is an Afterlife (e.g. “near-death” experiences, or out-of-body experiences) but in those cases life still has meaning because earthly experiences still have value. Those situations are exceptions.
You: You say you believe in an afterlife. Does your belief render your acts of kindness less meaningful?
Me: At this point I admit that I merely believe in it. I do not yet know it, for I have not personally experienced it. One of my points throughout this conversation is that I think we should strive to do good whether or not there is an Afterlife.
If you believe there is no Afterlife, then I have no problem with that. You cannot know there is no Afterlife, since you cannot experience nothingness. You cannot be nothingness, for then you would have no awareness of nothingness.
"Frankly, I think that plan has been done to death."
According to my personal beliefs, you don't have to come back here if you don't want to. You are free to choose.
Many people choose to imagine that they are lifeliong "victims," and that they are "forced" to do most things in their lives.
In reality we have free will. Therefore we are responsible for our choices. For some people this is liberating. For others it is scary.
Either way, it's all part of the show.
You: I propose that if an Afterlife was a routine fact known by everyone, then the stakes would not be as high for us here on earth. We would be like characters in “superhero” movies that are repeatedly “killed” but are never actually killed. Those movies bore me. And if we knew for a fact that there is an Afterlife, then why not kill ourselves the moment things get really rough?
Me: You are proposing that there is an afterlife, and that we are avatars in a simulacrum, that are repeatedly killed but are never permanently killed. Except that our memories were wiped to prevent us from realizing this.
You: I’m saying that death and the Unknown add spice to life, and increase its meaning. Death “ups the stakes.” This is a common theme in literature, plays, etc. You may disagree with that theme if you like.
Me: Death is a certainty. My perspective on the unknown is that life would be boring if the future were known. But knowing the future provides us with the knowledge to alter it. So we would. And we'd continue doing so until we obtained a future some/most of us would prefer.
You: In some cases people become absolutely certain from experience that there is an Afterlife (e.g. “near-death” experiences, or out-of-body experiences) but in those cases life still has meaning because earthly experiences still have value. Those situations are exceptions.
Me: Living as a memory deprived avatar in a video game devalues my life and my agency. I'm just a mouse in a laboratory experiment. That I have a higher self that agreed to such an experiment is morally repugnant.
You: At this point I admit that I merely believe in it. I do not yet know it, for I have not personally experienced it. One of my points throughout this conversation is that I think we should strive to do good whether or not there is an Afterlife.
Me: Do you believe that suffering is the only way to build character/wisdom/virtue ?
You: If you believe there is no Afterlife, then I have no problem with that. You cannot know there is no Afterlife, since you cannot experience nothingness. You cannot be nothingness, for then you would have no awareness of nothingness.
Me: I have an idea of nothingness/non-existence. All I have to do is try to remember what happened prior to my earliest memories. I was unaware then, largely unaware prior to my 5th birthday, and I expect to be unaware upon death. (Joe Biden is demonstrating he is increasingly unaware prior to death. A rare public spectacle.)
Not believing in something means discarding those beliefs and living your life without them. Which is what I have done, with regard to organized religion.
According to my personal beliefs, you don't have to come back here if you don't want to. You are free to choose.
From my understanding of what you have described, I would choose not to return.
Many people choose to imagine that they are lifeliong "victims," and that they are "forced" to do most things in their lives.
Social conditioning is not necessarily a choice. If we choose to live in purgatories of our own making, that is a situation where suffering blinds us to alternatives.
In reality we have free will. Therefore we are responsible for our choices. For some people this is liberating. For others it is scary.
We have free will, but much of it is an illusion. The Covid pandemic demonstrated that.
Either way, it's all part of the show.
^^ Sorry, I failed to trim the last part of your comment. The show doesn't have to go on, if we don't want it to.
"Social conditioning is not necessarily a choice. If we choose to live in purgatories of our own making, that is a situation where suffering blinds us to alternatives."
Often we choose to make the same choice so often that it becomes a habit, whereon we choose to imagine that we have no choice. But in reality we always have a choice, at least about our mental atitude. If mental inertia keeps us locked in a rut, then we are continually choosing to not make any effort to change. Sometimes a difficult experience can wake us up, such that we choose to get out of our rut.
I'm just saying that we humans have far more freedom to choose than most of us want to admit, and therefore we have more responsibility for our choices than we want to admit.
"We have free will, but much of it is an illusion. The Covid pandemic demonstrated that."
I do not understand.
I'm just saying that we humans have far more freedom to choose than most of us want to admit, and therefore we have more responsibility for our choices than we want to admit.
If we understand our choices, and the alternatives, then we have freedom.
Social conditioning, assumptions, and narratives persuade us that we're supposed to live a certain way. We are sold a bill of goods. So if you enjoy having a family, a house and a white picket fence, life will be grand. You'll feel you're on the right track. No need to question it.
And if you don't, what then? Do you blame yourself? Do you learn to reject the narratives, assumptions and values which you were conditioned to believe? What are the alternatives?
Some of this conditioning is fundamental. e.g. This is what a man is supposed to be. These are the roles he is supposed to play.
Another form of social conditioning:
Covid vaccines are safe and effective. They protect you against a dangerous virus. They prevent viral transmission, thereby protecting vulnerable people.
What % of the population accepted these assertions? What % continue to accept them?
If you don't do your homework, and blindly trust what you're told, does your choice belong to you?
When health authorities decided to impose vaccine mandates, any semblance of choice was thrown out the window. Goodbye free will. Because... emergency!
Incidentally I also had a couple of weird (paranormal) experiences during my travels abroad.
Please elaborate. Your choice.
Yes, we must operate within numerous limits while on this earth, but even within our little cage, we have choices that entail trade-offs. If we don’t want to choose between trade-offs, we will feel trapped. This too is our choice.
And yes we are bombarded with conditioning, which we can obey or not as we choose. Whatever choice we make, there will be pluses and minuses. Life is a series of trade-offs.
Regarding Covid, I chose to not believe in the pandemic hoax, and not to submit to the death jab. I lost a job because of that, but I dodged the toxins. True, I didn’t have a gun to my head. I was extorted and coerced (i.e. threatened with my job). I chose my health instead of employment. If I had chosen to submit, I would probably have received a placebo, but I decided not to chance it.
By placebo I mean the US government bought 400 million doses of the Pfizer jab at $39.00 each ($15.6 billion), and 200 million dozes of the Moderna jab at $30.00 each ($6 billion). Pfizer and Moderna were not required to prove anything, so they got full payment even though they produced mostly inert solutions. Perhaps just water. This was less effort and cost, and therefore more profit. Who was to know? All doubts and questions were forbidden.
I estimate that 90% of Americans who submitted to the jabs got inert liquids, while the remaining 10% were injured or killed. Therefore Pfizer and Moderna collected $21.6 billion for a vaccine that didn’t work, and which poisoned many.
Vaccine mandates are not science. They are ideology. They are about power, control, and pharma profits, some of which are paid back to politicians as bribes called “campaign donations.”
The immune system is a wonderful thing, developed via evolution. Vaccines are designed to disrupt our immune system by poisoning us. When the poisons make us sick, or they injure us, this is called “proof” than the poisons are working. When vaccines kill us, it is a “coincidence.”
Vaccines are toxic snake oil. No vaccine in history has ever controlled any communicable disease. All control has been achieved by advances in sanitation (e.g. sewers), nutrition (e.g. clean water and healthy food) hygiene (e.g. washing one’s hands) and living conditions (e.g. not living with 20 people in a tiny house).
(Continued below)
(Continued from above)
ANOTHER OF MY BELIEFS…
Our lives are largely the result of all the choices we have made. We choose according to our habits and beliefs, which govern what we think, do, and say. Our minds and personalities are largely composed of what we choose to believe, sustained by habit.
For me this is not mere psychology; it is ontology. What is the fundamental “stuff” of the universe? What is everything essentially made of? Energy? Mind? Self? God? Consciousness? Earthly languages can only grasp part of the Truth.
Now, let me use a metaphor and propose (for this conversation) that the universe is made of mind, or thought. Even solid matter is crystallized thought, metaphorically speaking. In this view, any belief is like a tree with physical branches, a trunk, and roots. In order to change a belief, we must replace the entire tree, including the roots. This requires focus, dedication, and time. Most people don’t want to go that far. Most people don’t eliminate the roots. People think they have overcome a lie, yet they still cling to the roots of the lie.
For example, people may choose not to believe that mRNA vaccines are “safe and effective,” and yet people cling to the roots of the lie, which is that vaccines are miraculously good (except for the mRNA shot). In this way people choose to remain vulnerable to the root of the lie, which is always ready to spring up again into a new forest of lies. Thus, I may see the current mRNA vaccine as toxic, but I may choose to believe that the next one will be “good.” In this way I choose to remain a prisoner of the lie.
Or, people may reject mRNA vaccines, but praise ivermectin, or praise Pfizer’s new Covid pill called nirmatrelvir, sold under the brand name Paxlovid. Once again people think they have overcome a lie, yet they cling to the roots of the lie, which is that Covid is a “global threat.”
We are not free of a lie until we choose to replace the entire lie.
Lies and propaganda work by planting a root, so that even if people don’t believe the surface forms of the lie, they cling to the root, especially when people see everyone else clinging to the root. This causes the same lies to keep sprouting anew.
We see this mechanism everywhere we look. Human culture is a collection of beliefs based on hoaxes, myths, legends, propaganda, buzzwords, and outright lies, all sustained by taboos and group-think.
It is up to us to believe or not believe the lies and group-think. No one can choose for us.
Therefore (and again this is just what I choose to believe) if there is an Afterlife, we go to where our conscious and subconscious beliefs take us. That’s where we fit in. It’s the place that we “resonate” with. Wherever we end up is not permanent, since our beliefs are not permanent. But to change our beliefs, we usually have to return to earth and experience the hardships of life again and again until we learn everything that earthly life can teach us. Coming back here is always a choice. Hell and damnation are only for people who choose to believe in them.
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If you liked the first “pandemic” hoax with its vaccine mandates, you’ll love the next one. The U.S. government paid $18 billion to develop the mRNA death jab. Then the government gave the formula to Pfizer and Moderna, and paid those two companies $21.6 billion to produce mRNA injections.
Among those billions, Pfizer gave a lot of that money to politicians at all levels to mandate the death jabs. Some of the loot was also forwarded to the corporate media outlets so they would push the lies.
Now Pfizer, Moderna, and Biden’s handlers will do it all over again. Biden says he will request more billions from Congress to develop a new Covid-19 vaccine, saying that everyone will once again be “encouraged” to get injected.
In addition to new mandates, there will probably be new lockdowns. The corporate media outlets are already beginning to cheerlead this idiocy.
This is beyond hideous. It's hilarious.
Yes, we must operate within numerous limits while on this earth, but even within our little cage, we have choices that entail trade-offs. If we don’t want to choose between trade-offs, we will feel trapped. This too is our choice.
Give an example of a trade-off.
And yes we are bombarded with conditioning, which we can obey or not as we choose. Whatever choice we make, there will be pluses and minuses. Life is a series of trade-offs.
Life choices are about going where we believe we want to go. At 17, my mind was filled with the social conditioning of career and family. I knew I wasn't interested in the family thing, yet it took a psychological diagnosis at 49 to explain why there was no line of work I was interested in.
This is about lack of knowledge and experience.
Regarding Covid, I chose to not believe in the pandemic hoax, and not to submit to the death jab.
Did it not occur to you to look at the data, or take a scientific approach?
Then you wouldn't have to "believe".
Our lives are largely the result of all the choices we have made. We choose according to our habits and beliefs, which govern what we think, do, and say. Our minds and personalities are largely composed of what we choose to believe, sustained by habit.
This ignores our experiences from childhood, when we are most vulnerable and when our brains are developing. It ignores our need for social status, choices imposed on us externally, cognitive biases, and limits to our agency as individuals.
For me this is not mere psychology; it is ontology. What is the fundamental “stuff” of the universe? What is everything essentially made of? Energy? Mind? Self? God? Consciousness? Earthly languages can only grasp part of the Truth.
Physics is attempting to answer those questions. It is called the Standard Model. The social sciences attempt to address questions related to mind and behavior. Philosophy is mainly concerned with noetic constructs, which is an emergent property of sapient organisms.
Without written language, none of these endeavours would be possible, or significant.
We are not free of a lie until we choose to replace the entire lie.
People don't give much thought to vaccines since they are received in childhood, and in most cases, there are no adverse effects.
Those brave enough to question the narrative are attacked professionally.
e.g. Vaccines are linked to autism.
e.g. There is no scientific evidence of viruses.
Lies and propaganda work by planting a root, so that even if people don’t believe the surface forms of the lie, they cling to the root, especially when people see everyone else clinging to the root. This causes the same lies to keep sprouting anew.
Propaganda can be comprised of a kernel of truth surrounded by lies.
We see this mechanism everywhere we look. Human culture is a collection of beliefs based on hoaxes, myths, legends, propaganda, buzzwords, and outright lies, all sustained by taboos and group-think.
It is up to us to believe or not believe the lies and group-think. No one can choose for us.
We are story-tellers and story-believers. Roughly 10% of the population are capable of breaking the believing part (and going on record) as evidenced by the pandemic.
Therefore (and again this is just what I choose to believe) if there is an Afterlife, we go to where our conscious and subconscious beliefs take us. That’s where we fit in. It’s the place that we “resonate” with. Wherever we end up is not permanent, since our beliefs are not permanent. But to change our beliefs, we usually have to return to earth and experience the hardships of life again and again until we learn everything that earthly life can teach us. Coming back here is always a choice. Hell and damnation are only for people who choose to believe in them.
You realize you are telling a story, don't you?
Where I fit in, is solitude. In places that are quiet and peaceful. Crowds and noise are not for me. And this preference will persist for the rest of my life on Earth.
Refusal to do our homework is a choice.
People refuse to challenge their preconceived notions. They refuse to deal with cognitive dissonance. They avoid answering questions that touch upon the crux of the matter. An exhaustive list would describe people's choices as a consequence of their motivation.
Not doing homework is also a time-saver.
As I said, our lives are the result of all the choices we have made within earthly limits. Even when we choose to do nothing, we make a choice.
Causality. Chaos Theory. Strange attractors. Life can be estimated mathematically.
It always comes back to us. In a sense we are condemned to be free. If we don’t make a decision, then a decision will be made for us. Even that was our decision.
I don’t mean to play word games. I’m saying that most of us choose to give up a lot of our power. We choose to be slaves. We choose to let others choose for us.
We choose thru ignorance. We suffer as a result of ignorance. That is an unavoidable part of life.
People may say that free will is an illusion, but I say that the denial of free will is based on an illusion.
The legal system applies a philosophy called compatibilism. We have free will but there are mitigating circumstances that reduce our level of responsibility. The concept of pure free will and pure determinism are rejected.
Regarding Pandemic II: Electric Boogaloo
I've argued on Substack within the Medical Freedom Movement, that we remain a minority and have lost the information war. So no surprise - the official narrative is being pushed.
Censorship is an issue that limits people's choices.
[1] “Give an example of a trade-off.”
For instance, if you don’t like living in an urban dystopia, you can move out of the city. This will entail gains and sacrifices – i.e. trade-offs.
[2] “Did it not occur to you to look at the data, or take a scientific approach? Then you wouldn't have to "believe.”
“Believe” was a problematic choice of words. I meant to say I did not share vaccine cultists’ faith-based beliefs, since the data did not support their beliefs.
[3] “This ignores our experiences from childhood, when we are most vulnerable and when our brains are developing. It ignores our need for social status, choices imposed on us externally, cognitive biases, and limits to our agency as individuals.”
I agree that we form 80% of our emotional disposition between the ages of 0 and 8, but I do not agree that any choice can be imposed on us externally. If you hold a gun to my head, and you say, “Your money or your life,” it is still my choice how to respond. We are continually making choices, and continually pretending that we have no choices. We have free will, but we pretend that we don’t, so we can pose as “victims.”
[4] “Physics is attempting to answer those questions. It is called the Standard Model.”
I hold that physics, as we understand it with our earthly dualistic minds, is incapable of producing any final answer. The best we can do is to approximate reality with mathematics, but even then we continue to grapple with paradoxes and contradictions. Transcendent Truth cannot be adequately described by any earthly language. It can only be experienced. If a man has not experienced something, then it is not true for him. He does not know. At best he only believes.
Anyway my point in that part of the conversation was to illustrate how lies and propaganda work.
[5] “People don't give much thought to vaccines since they are received in childhood, and in most cases, there are no adverse effects.”
True, but we can also expose the lies of vaccine “science” by studying the immune system, and by studying the politics of medical “science.” The greatest proof that vaccine “science” is nonsense is the social taboo against exposing the nonsense.
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[6] “You realize you are telling a story, don't you?”
That’s why I used the word “belief.” Perhaps reality is nothing but stories (narratives). The most important difference between stories may lie in which stories promote love and compassion, and which promote fear, greed, hate, and selfishness.
[7] “Where I fit in, is solitude. In places that are quiet and peaceful. Crowds and noise are not for me. And this preference will persist for the rest of my life on Earth.”
That’s fine. I am the same way. I propose that if there is an Afterlife, then we go to whatever place matches our preferences and beliefs, which are subject to change over time.
[8] “Propaganda can be comprised of a kernel of truth surrounded by lies.”
That’s the Winston Churchill view. (“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”)
However propaganda more often starts with a false premise (e.g. “Covid is a global threat”) that is hidden by layers of chatter. The surface chatter traps people into arguing, for example, about whether vaccines or ivermectin are a better treatment for the “global threat.” If you question the false premise at the heart of this chatter, you are attacked by all sides.
Wait a minute…how do we know that Covid exists in the first place? How do we know that viruses exist? Huh? Your question is forbidden! It’s blasphemous!
[9] “We choose thru ignorance. We suffer as a result of ignorance. That is an unavoidable part of life.”
Yes, and I believe (that’s that word again) that the reason we are here is to learn from the experience of struggling with ignorance.
[10] “The concept of pure free will and pure determinism are rejected.”
I didn’t mean to imply that either extreme was true. Our choices and our external factors influence each other.
Regarding extremes, life is ultimately like a Möbius strip: if we go far enough toward one extreme, we find ourselves approaching the opposite extreme.
[11] “Censorship is an issue that limits people's choices.”
Does it? Censorship or no, I can still choose whether or not to submit to the death jab. In any case the reason why average people become vaccine mandate fanatics is not because of censorship, but because people want to be part of the mob. People want to have power over others, and to blame their problems on others. They want to vent their general hate and anxiety on others. They want convenient “threats” and villains. They see people who favor medical freedom and bodily sovereignty aa “evil.”
If you want to simply be left alone in peace, you are a “threat.”
Thus, vaccine “science” is ideology. It is not a quest for truth. It is a war for power and profit.
For instance, if you don’t like living in an urban dystopia, you can move out of the city. This will entail gains and sacrifices – i.e. trade-offs.
You either prefer one over the other, or you can do both:
Daniel Zetah on Changing your Life to Reflect your Values (8 min)
https://youtu.be/RThVpwGiGg4
I agree that we form 80% of our emotional disposition between the ages of 0 and 8, but I do not agree that any choice can be imposed on us externally. If you hold a gun to my head, and you say, “Your money or your life,” it is still my choice how to respond. We are continually making choices, and continually pretending that we have no choices. We have free will, but we pretend that we don’t, so we can pose as “victims.”
Common. Sexual and physical abuse of children is not a choice on the part of the child. Psychology is mostly about addressing the damage done during childhood, by parents who themselves were likely abused.
Transcendent Truth cannot be adequately described by any earthly language. It can only be experienced. If a man has not experienced something, then it is not true for him. He does not know. At best he only believes.
The scientific method is not based on personal experience. It has no comment on the unknown. Within its limitations, science is fit for purpose.
That’s why I used the word “belief.” Perhaps reality is nothing but stories (narratives). The most important difference between stories may lie in which stories promote love and compassion, and which promote fear, greed, hate, and selfishness.
By telling stories we fail to examine the world objectively, as per the scientific method.
The only stories you may need are those that are outside the realm of science. If you require meaning in life, come up with a story that satisfies that need. View the world in a way that will allow you to flourish. Or come up with ways to escape your Earthly existence. Your imagination can be just as effective as your belief system.
Does it? Censorship or no, I can still choose whether or not to submit to the death jab.
You can follow your intuition, but depriving you of alternative information leads many to trust their health authorities. Authoritarian systems of governance require censorship as a starting point. They will use any pretext to argue in favour of censorship.
In any case the reason why average people become vaccine mandate fanatics is not because of censorship, but because people want to be part of the mob. People want to have power over others, and to blame their problems on others. They want to vent their general hate and anxiety on others. They want convenient “threats” and villains.
These are psychological and sociological motivations. They have little to do with making a rational choice.
They see people who favor medical freedom and bodily sovereignty as “evil.”
That is a difference in values. I will argue that societal segregation is the way to handle incompatible value systems.
Sexual and physical abuse of children is not a choice on the part of the child.
Regardless of what happens to a child, the individual has a choice what to make of it, and how to react to it. That is, the child has at least some degree of free will. Evidently you disagree. That’s okay.
Psychology is mostly about addressing the damage done during childhood, by parents who themselves were likely abused.
For you psychology is mostly the study of child abuse. For me psychology is the general study of mind and behavior in humans and non-humans. Child abuse issues are only one part of that.
The scientific method is not based on personal experience.
I my opinion all knowledge is based on experience. Some experiences are personal, and some we share with others. If all of us have the same experiences and observations after we repeatedly test and experiment, we call it scientific. If all of us experience how a theory lets us make reliable predictions, we call the theory scientific.
On the other hand, if I experience something that you have never experienced, then I know something you don’t. My knowledge is not scientific, but it is knowledge. If you don’t believe me, you can go see for yourself and get your own experience and knowledge.
One problem I have with organized religions is that their adherents expect you to believe certain things without ever having experienced them yourself. That doesn’t work for me.
The scientific method has no comment on the unknown. Within its limitations, science is fit for purpose.
As I said, knowledge can be scientific, or it can be personal. Science does not comment on personal experiences, unless others can share the experiences.
Regarding unknowns in the natural world, science explores via the testing of hypotheses. Science is not vexed by not knowing. For example, is there life on other planets? The most scientific response is, “At this point we don’t know.”
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By telling stories we fail to examine the world objectively, as per the scientific method.
Science and storytelling are not the same, but the line between them is not fixed, since our interpretations are not fixed, especially if the topic is political in any way. We can objectively test and experiment, but we begin storytelling when we interpret the results politically. Our interpretation can be logical (“Measurements reveal that the sun is 93 million miles away”), or political (e.g. “Mathematics is racist”). Political interpretations are usually absurd.
In our daily lives we operate according to stories or narratives, whether we admit it or not. This is necessary for communication. If we share a culture with others, then we share narratives with others. We may claim that this is not so, and that our culture is based on “objective truth,” but this is a pretense. The line between science and narrative is not as clear as we like to think.
A narrative is a pattern of interpretation, with certain tropes, assumptions, and socially accepted premises. Even mathematics is subject to a narrative -- i.e. subject to patterns of sharing. For example, most of the world now shares the same radix in its positional numeral system. For the decimal system (the most common system in use today) the radix is ten, because it uses the ten digits from 0 through 9. However some cultures use Base 6, or some other Base. Most computer languages use Base 2. Some use Base 16.
When I previously said that, “Perhaps reality is nothing but stories (narratives)” I meant that ultimately, science does not exist apart from our interpretation of it. Interpretation is subject to narratives, i.e. patters of exposition and communication.
There is nothing wrong with this. The important question is our motives and attitude as we share narratives. Do we seek to be chartable toward others, or do we seek to enslave and destroy others? I prefer the former.
You can follow your intuition, but depriving you of alternative information leads many to trust their health authorities.
Again, personal choice is involved. A vaccine fanatic chooses to believe certain claims without investigating the claims for himself. We don’t have to be fanatics. We can choose to find the truth about vaccines on the Internet. Censorship is extreme, but not total.
This brings us back to our fundamental disagreement. I say that humans have free will. You evidently disagree. That’s okay.
Regardless of what happens to a child, the individual has a choice what to make of it, and how to react to it. That is, the child has at least some degree of free will. Evidently you disagree. That’s okay.
I don't disagree. A 12 year old who commits suicide in reaction to abuse possesses free will. What I object to is your fixation on the concept of "choice". Is it some sort of fetish for you?
For you psychology is mostly the study of child abuse. For me psychology is the general study of mind and behavior in humans and non-humans. Child abuse issues are only one part of that.
Psychology is a pseudo-science that attempts to discover what works in the field of mental health. Its literature does posit childhood as the source of most issues in adults. I'm not claiming their literature is evidence-based. The behavioral sciences are being used for practices that are unethical.
I my opinion all knowledge is based on experience. Some experiences are personal, and some we share with others. If all of us have the same experiences and observations after we repeatedly test and experiment, we call it scientific. If all of us experience how a theory lets us make reliable predictions, we call the theory scientific.
You misconstrue how science works. There is a standard upon which measurements are made. Starting with weights and measures, number systems, and ending with the calibration of measuring instruments. The process is designed to eliminate differences in interpretation. Otherwise the results wouldn't be objective.
On the other hand, if I experience something that you have never experienced, then I know something you don’t. My knowledge is not scientific, but it is knowledge. If you don’t believe me, you can go see for yourself and get your own experience and knowledge.
This is precisely why the social sciences are not considered "hard". There's no way to account for all variables. Psychology helps some people, but not others. Science cannot make use of subjective experience per se, but it can try to explain anecdotal evidence.
Science and storytelling are not the same, but the line between them is not fixed, since our interpretations are not fixed, especially if the topic is political in any way.
Interpretations are subjective. But there is a difference between estimating the temperature on a thermometer and putting a political spin on an issue. Scientific theories explain facts. Facts are not up for interpretation. Facts are based on criteria that are true by definition.
In our daily lives we operate according to stories or narratives, whether we admit it or not. This is necessary for communication. If we share a culture with others, then we share narratives with others. We may claim that this is not so, and that our culture is based on “objective truth,” but this is a pretense. The line between science and narrative is not as clear as we like to think.
We operate on assumptions. We communicate through language. I'd be the last person to claim that culture is based on objective truth. Culture is a shared social experience. The line between objective and subjective (open to interpretation) is clear. The line between rationalism and empiricism is clear.
A narrative is a pattern of interpretation, with certain tropes, assumptions, and socially accepted premises. Even mathematics is subject to a narrative -- i.e. subject to patterns of sharing. For example, most of the world now shares the same radix in its positional numeral system. For the decimal system (the most common system in use today) the radix is ten, because it uses the ten digits from 0 through 9. However some cultures use Base 6, or some other Base. Most computer languages use Base 2. Some use Base 16.
Number systems are not open to interpretation. Agreeing to use one system, or understanding the reasons one system is preferred over another, is not what I would call a narrative. Some things in life are adopted through convention. This doesn't detract from the scientific method.
When I previously said that, “Perhaps reality is nothing but stories (narratives)” I meant that ultimately, science does not exist apart from our interpretation of it. Interpretation is subject to narratives, i.e. patters of exposition and communication.
There's no such thing as reality. There is perception, which is our version of reality. What science doesn't explain, we are free to interpret, interpolate, or intuit.
There is nothing wrong with this. The important question is our motives and attitude as we share narratives. Do we seek to be chartable toward others, or do we seek to enslave and destroy others? I prefer the former.
Science is of no help when it comes to ethics. However, there is philosophy.
Again, personal choice is involved. A vaccine fanatic chooses to believe certain claims without investigating the claims for himself. We don’t have to be fanatics. We can choose to find the truth about vaccines on the Internet. Censorship is extreme, but not total.
We don't have to be fanatics, yet a certain % of the population do just that. Mathias Desmet's theory of Mass Formation Psychosis does not involve rational choice. By definition, people are being irrational, and making irrational choices.
Some are anticipating total narrative control, or total censorship. They are worried because of technological developments.
This brings us back to our fundamental disagreement. I say that humans have free will. You evidently disagree. That’s okay.
Human individuals have some free will. There are circumstances where they have none, due to motivations that have little to do with rational thought. The legal system recognizes this.
The human species has no free will. We are driven by behavior, inherited from a blind but long-running evolutionary process. We are just like other animals.
Are you familiar with anti-natalist philosophy?
"And you may finish off here with a final insult if you wish."
Have fun. I will not be here to read it.
So it is a fetish.
So you can pass judgement over people who don't make the correct "choices" in life.
Thank-you for canceling me, wokester.
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