...But Who's They?
Who's They?
"They" are coming for your rights.They are coming to take you away.
They are trying to control and domesticate you. But wait..
...But...Who is they ?
Who are these people that are trying to bring suffering and controllable order into the world? Is it a cabal of psychopaths? Is it a group of elite individuals that want to enslave us non sociopathic type of people? Where do "we" fit in this whole picture?
It's a great question! It's easy to make things vague and to set up an enemy. A binary. A paradigm of ill and shallow ideology. The oppressor and the oppressed. The bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The elite and the working class. You can reduce things into binaries all day, but really only get yourself caught in that thinking. And that thinking will perpetuate its own strife and possible demise. Your own worst enemy is most likely inside of you. You're a projector. A dirty one at that.
Each of these binary constructs are dependent on each other to perpetuate its own existence and spread across many minds. Like a virus. Each counterpart thrives on the existence of its own opposite. ( Can one have Good without Evil? )
It's doesn't take that much energy to reduce people to concepts and ideas to make sense of the infinitely complex world around us. After all, we need some type of simplification and reductionism to act in the world otherwise we would be in a constant state of fear, stress and anxiety. ( As if most of us aren't in those states already..) We can throw individuals into groups and strip them of their humanities. We can reduce them to ideological essence and semi-palatable constructs. But what good does that do in the end? We are merely thrusting our own distorted perceptions onto the faces and personalities of the others around us. You and I are mirrors. Any sudden step that goes against our world view tends to magnify depending on how ideological driven we are.
Who's really mad and who has really done the "wrong"?
Most of us will fish for anything that will confirm our biased world view. It's a great day for cherry picking. It's a great day to validate your narrative. We corner ourselves into comfortable echo chambers decorated with personal preferences and values that most of us most likely didn't choose. We are products of the past like the self we believe we are in our heads. A mask. An armor. A soupy concoction of insecurities tailored to move is in directions that we think we have control over. Free Will might be an illusion, but acting as if it exists tends to maneuver us into more palatable directions whether we think we can take credit for it or not.
Is it all about power? It very well could be.
How do we parse out the intentions of those that seek power? For the good and for the bad? Power and ambition can be a hell of a drug. Like an intoxicant, it can impair judgment. It can change the fabric of a person who went in with "good intentions". Sometimes its the institution in question. Every bureaucratic and hierarchical institution is subject to corruption. "Just following orders sir." When you are entrenched to preserve an institution or a particular narrative, then you are incentivized to protect it under selfish and dishonest pretenses. It seems as if all of us have done things against our character and values before. But if so many people within a community are doing the same fallacious and harmful things, then it doesn't feel as bad. Right? A group effort in dishonest conduct feels a lot more doable than a rebel who throws a wrench in the gears.
It's doesn't take that much energy to reduce people to concepts and ideas to make sense of the infinitely complex world around us. After all, we need some type of simplification and reductionism to act in the world otherwise we would be in a constant state of fear, stress and anxiety. ( As if most of us aren't in those states already..) We can throw individuals into groups and strip them of their humanities. We can reduce them to ideological essence and semi-palatable constructs. But what good does that do in the end? We are merely thrusting our own distorted perceptions onto the faces and personalities of the others around us. You and I are mirrors. Any sudden step that goes against our world view tends to magnify depending on how ideological driven we are.
Who's really mad and who has really done the "wrong"?
Most of us will fish for anything that will confirm our biased world view. It's a great day for cherry picking. It's a great day to validate your narrative. We corner ourselves into comfortable echo chambers decorated with personal preferences and values that most of us most likely didn't choose. We are products of the past like the self we believe we are in our heads. A mask. An armor. A soupy concoction of insecurities tailored to move is in directions that we think we have control over. Free Will might be an illusion, but acting as if it exists tends to maneuver us into more palatable directions whether we think we can take credit for it or not.
Is it all about power? It very well could be.
How do we parse out the intentions of those that seek power? For the good and for the bad? Power and ambition can be a hell of a drug. Like an intoxicant, it can impair judgment. It can change the fabric of a person who went in with "good intentions". Sometimes its the institution in question. Every bureaucratic and hierarchical institution is subject to corruption. "Just following orders sir." When you are entrenched to preserve an institution or a particular narrative, then you are incentivized to protect it under selfish and dishonest pretenses. It seems as if all of us have done things against our character and values before. But if so many people within a community are doing the same fallacious and harmful things, then it doesn't feel as bad. Right? A group effort in dishonest conduct feels a lot more doable than a rebel who throws a wrench in the gears.
Every hierarchical structure is vulnerable to power struggle and corruption. It is simply the nature of the beast. It is the understanding of how these hierarchies work that can let us reform and mitigate any future corruptions. The simple resistance or abolishment of a certain hierarchical structure will only create an opposing structure of the same fabric, but most likely even more corrupt than before. Using one's power to tear down a hierarchical structure is akin to taking the skeleton of an older animal and dressing it up in a new skin. And sometimes that skin can be uncomfortable and spiny.
Them vs. us is unjust.
We have more in common with the "they" than we think. Let that sink in. The concept of I which is very much about the individual has quite a bit in common with the construct of we or they. We project what we think a group of individuals "embody". It is more about us and they, but even in that case the collectivization of individuals tends to break about at the seams the more we dive into it. The collectivism tends to be ideologically driven. But at what cost? What can we learn about ourselves as individuals if we paint so easily with a broad and sometimes boorish and boring brush? What can collectivism distract us from seeing about ourselves?
Them vs. us is unjust.
We have more in common with the "they" than we think. Let that sink in. The concept of I which is very much about the individual has quite a bit in common with the construct of we or they. We project what we think a group of individuals "embody". It is more about us and they, but even in that case the collectivization of individuals tends to break about at the seams the more we dive into it. The collectivism tends to be ideologically driven. But at what cost? What can we learn about ourselves as individuals if we paint so easily with a broad and sometimes boorish and boring brush? What can collectivism distract us from seeing about ourselves?
What are we ignoring deep down inside of us and how are we covering up or compensating for it?
It feels like we must always be defensive of our values in order to make them legitimate. The push and the pull. The ying and the Yang. Values and virtues tend to always require some type of resistance and conflict.The polarization of opposites tends to strengthen the opposition even more. It makes us think that what we are doing validates the resistance we are putting towards the "other side". Whatever floats your boat tends to make you want a bigger and better boat now doesn't it?
What you resist, tends to persist. Then why do we identify so much with resistance? It can become a part of our personality and perception of the self. It can give us the feeling of purpose or meaning. What are we compensating for? What are we projecting on to the world around us? How distorted is our perception? Are we being told to think a certain way or did we really give an ideology a deep dive? Are we merely trying to force a utopian vision on how WE we want to see the world around us? Acceptance is key. Acceptance of the suffering around us. Acceptance on what we can be and are grateful for. Acceptance that many people might be lost in their own heads thinking. Trying to manifest what they think they want for the greater good. But do they or CAN "they" really know?
Well if things are logically consistent, then if you are against something than you must be for something else, right? It's easy to join a certain camp when a Boogeyman is created and made very clear. Then you can leverage yourself into a position of moral superiority. If you feel like what you are doing is right and the people around you that are of the same ideological fabric are validating your own feelings, then it will only trick your mind into going that same mental direction. Classic Manichean manipulation of multiple degrees. The "They" construct then becomes more amplified. Who wants to be evil and who wants to DEFEAT evil? It's in all our stories and lore. It's implanted in our collective psyche. Wouldn't you want to be on the right side of an issue even if you are shamed into compliance? The answer should be fairly clear when you see the fallacious nature of binary thinking.
It feels like we must always be defensive of our values in order to make them legitimate. The push and the pull. The ying and the Yang. Values and virtues tend to always require some type of resistance and conflict.The polarization of opposites tends to strengthen the opposition even more. It makes us think that what we are doing validates the resistance we are putting towards the "other side". Whatever floats your boat tends to make you want a bigger and better boat now doesn't it?
What you resist, tends to persist. Then why do we identify so much with resistance? It can become a part of our personality and perception of the self. It can give us the feeling of purpose or meaning. What are we compensating for? What are we projecting on to the world around us? How distorted is our perception? Are we being told to think a certain way or did we really give an ideology a deep dive? Are we merely trying to force a utopian vision on how WE we want to see the world around us? Acceptance is key. Acceptance of the suffering around us. Acceptance on what we can be and are grateful for. Acceptance that many people might be lost in their own heads thinking. Trying to manifest what they think they want for the greater good. But do they or CAN "they" really know?
Well if things are logically consistent, then if you are against something than you must be for something else, right? It's easy to join a certain camp when a Boogeyman is created and made very clear. Then you can leverage yourself into a position of moral superiority. If you feel like what you are doing is right and the people around you that are of the same ideological fabric are validating your own feelings, then it will only trick your mind into going that same mental direction. Classic Manichean manipulation of multiple degrees. The "They" construct then becomes more amplified. Who wants to be evil and who wants to DEFEAT evil? It's in all our stories and lore. It's implanted in our collective psyche. Wouldn't you want to be on the right side of an issue even if you are shamed into compliance? The answer should be fairly clear when you see the fallacious nature of binary thinking.
There is of course bad actors in the world. We must observe them and protect ourselves and others accordingly. It doesn't require so much resistance as it requires understanding and the ability to see why people become bad actors themselves. Know thine enemy and you will see why there is so much suffering to begin with. If you immediately write off as a person or people as the enemy then you will miss why you are acting or thinking the way you do. You can then become everything you hate. The "They" will slowly meld into the "You" when you are ignorant and unconscious. It's not so much about picking sides anymore, but a schism within yourself and how you see the world around you. Perception is heavily hinged on distorted sensory input. When we are so quick to judgement and condemnation we lose our presence and most of the time our sense of humanity.
People: Mirrors, mirrors everywhere.
So how must one break free from the chains of the paradigmatic dualism of the us vs. them universe? We must be inquisitive and keep asking questions. A simple solution would be another type of reduction and escape from what potentially could be a journey of deep inquisition. To constantly seek quick solutions can blind us and only hold us temporarily to the next problem we manifest. It's a vicious cycle indeed. Each cause and effect creates another cause and effect cycle. Essentially, it endless. Each action creating an equal, more severe or opposite reaction. Very much like physics, there are certain truths we cannot escape no matter how much we want to bend the "what is" of reality itself. The worse thing someone can do is to fall into an "ism" or ideology and never doubt why they adhere or believe in the structure of what they think they believe. Remember, we are merely dirty mirrors in a world of uncertainty and abstract truths. The realm of the symbolic and idyllic can tend to lead us from what is actually happening around us. When we want to craft a better world around us, we might just be wanting power to change what we think a better world might be.
There is the You and the me. There is the person and the people. We can perceive these constructs in a myriad of ways. Each will hold different significance in each person's mind. A variation on a theme. The music of the mind. Thoughts are like notes on staff paper. There are so many ways to arrange them and play them. So many ways to play one single note. What we think of our "self" will ultimately affect the way we the "others". All a grandiose dance of interception and chemical firings in so many different shaped skulls. How do we identify with these thoughts of "you" and me? Where does these concepts end and where do they converge? Each end is just a new beginning in discovering how we have been conditioned from years of propaganda, schooling and life experience.
Take a look in the mirror and take a breath. damn.
It's simply amazing to be alive even if we think that we are right now isn't the "ideal". Will we ever reach that perfect space? That sense of blissful equilibrium and unbridled joy. Presence is indeed a transcendent tool to take us from the realm of the ideological and cyclical thought. The realm of the illusions of the mind.
DG
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