Were we handpicked to know the truth? Are we the chosen ones? I have resisted this idea for almost three years. It seems much too biblical, and although I consider myself a spiritual/religious person I am not so sure if I see the Bible as literal as most religious people do. And besides, does the Bible make any reference to “hand picking” people who will be critical thinkers and not get sucked into the evil narrative? I know the Rapture suggests that only those who have taken Jesus Christ as savior will experience the Second Coming of Christ, but would that count? I don’t know if all
Hello Todd: I believe post-traumatic resilience has a lot to do with it. BTW, we are doing an event against globalism here in Western, Maine on May 20. It would be great to have you stop by.
I appreciate your comment, I have been coming around to the same conclusion, just obviously really stubborn about giving up on her. Anyway, I am intrigued with the idea of new sympatico friends.
I spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about my "bestie" since 6th grade being such a sheep. She's vaxed, gets every booster, hates Trump, despises Fox, loves Obama, NPR and makes me gag with her virtue signaling on BS social issues. Any advice for me? I am bothered way too much asking why and will she ever wake up and doubt she gives my opinions a second thought
I’ve had a number of “epiphanies” in my life since I was a child, no idea where they came from; yet I am currently listening to testimonies from NDE experiences and so much of what they say is something I have already thought about so I’m thinking I might have been through several lives already, I long dearly for what they describe.
The biggest lesson in my life was in a math class in 6th grade; the teacher would write an equation on the blackboard and ask us if we’d think it was true or not and we had to be so confident in our response that we would be willing to have our head chopped (or hand burnt) over it. His daughter was top of the class (of course). One day I could clearly see that the equation was not true for a specific value of X (and true for all other ones) but went with the rest of the class (we all looked at his daughter who got it wrong) - got my head chopped that day and loathed myself for following the crowd against what I knew was true. The next time around, I was the only one in the class who saved my head. 40 years later I visited my teacher to thank him for that lesson.
From that moment I have not been interested in thinking like everyone else (some known personality whose name escapes me said that if everybody thinks the same way, then someone has stopped thinking and I think it’s perfectly said); although I did drink the climate change kool-aid for many years (now recovering, to my sheep husband’s despair).
I also resonate to the curiosity aspect - I was an avid reader (now Substack has taken over!! As well as videos and podcasts on all sorts of subjects- the main ones around the Covid insanity, the wokeness craziness, the revision of history (moon landing, JFK, Titanic, and possibly where we really come from- maybe some aliens gave us some knowledge or altered our DNA in the early days of our humanhood - although I won’t deny we’re still creatures from “God”.)
Mostly sheep around me (it can feel a bit lonely yet I am comfortable with it, not super interested in my former friendships who won’t see the slaughterhouse ahead of us) and super thankful for the discussions with the lovely shrews out there!!
I love this. I asked this very question at the end of one of my own articles (less eruditely than you have), beginning with a quote from Neil Oliver:
GB News commentator Neil Oliver (while interviewing Eva Vlaardingerbroek), aired this postulate: "I have a theory that no one’s been changed by the events of the last few years. I think that individuals’ true natures have simply been revealed … or even exposed. I think we’re seeing people for who they truly are and it’s been a fascinating revelatory time, I would say."
And I went on to say; "I’ve had this same thought, many times over. The danger, of course, is that I must then by default see myself as superior for not having believed the lie. But I can’t help it."
Then I asked my readers what they thought.
Now, reading this, the thought came to me that what we have in common, I think, is a sense of urgency to DO something. A feeling of great and burdensome responsibility, that keeps compelling us to determine what our next step of resistance ought to be, when we're so used to being stone-walled at every turn. So if indeed I'm in some way "chosen" then I'm divinely obliged to not fall off the rails into apathy, but to keep on going and doing whatever presents itself to me to do. It just won't let me off the hook!
Hey Todd, I enjoy the discussion. I’m not sure if i buy the Shrew as Divine Right argument, but it is flattering to us all. My father worked in media so i saw how the sausage was made as a child. Got to peer behind the curtain so to speak. One trick he used to do was to do “blow out” the overhead light while with the back of his elbow he flipped off the light switch. He let me catch him. Perhaps that is how i learned to question the narrative and sniff out the BS. Then again being chosen by the Lord is more favorable.
Another way of framing your question is why some people blow the whistle and some people don't. There have been over 40 years of investigation into exactly this question in the organization studies literature. And after 40 years of post-positivist correlational studies with every demographic you can think of, and every institutional quality you can think of, the result has been an absolute nil in understanding anything about it. My doctoral dissertation was specifically on this subject and because of the dearth of illumination in the field, I took a completely different tack. Number one, I stopped looking for conscious motivations and assumed that what was operational was not necessarily apparent to the agent themselves. drawing on a union understanding, that individuals are the product not only of individual conditioning but also of societal and species conditioning, I investigated whistleblower reports and dreams with an eye to uncovering operative forces by means of which individuals have the wherewithal to object, to withstand criticism, to think clearly despite tremendous emotional investment, and to follow through. the conclusion to which I was led goes even beyond the spirit idea. it appeared that the forces operative in whistleblowing individuals are transpersonal, meaning that the individual is incidental to this phenomenon, not Central to it. it appeared that once a society gets so far out over the abyss by repressing the shadow side of a given quality - for example the shadow side of the hero in our culture is the good, brave guy, whereas our heroes are from what was formerly the shadow side, i.e. rapacious, merciless, relentless schemers, celebrities and bankers. this approach acknowledges the effect of unconscious currents in societies, as previously discussed by Young with respect to World Wars I and II. As we are embroiled in World War III, I think the perspective pertains once more. I believe the dissertation is online, entitled "As yang as it gets: Whistleblowers as archetypal heroes in contemporary society" by S Ivory 2016.
Good question , Todd. Maybe its time for you to develop a shrew/sheep test ? I think it has something to do with fear, many sheep seem to know what is going on, but they ignore it to be on the safe side, and with self fullfilling prophecy they sooner or later believe the lies. Naomi Kleins book about the Shock Therapy had some answers fot that question too, as far as i remember.
Mar 22, 2023·edited Mar 22, 2023Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP
There are some excellent comments to your very interesting essay. I am old now and I appreciate being able to look back at all the stages I went through. I have very often wondered why behaviors of other people are so obvious to me and not to others. I don't think it is intelligence. I think it is intuition and growing wisdom that comes from conscious awareness. I also think people go through different times in their lives when they are just too overwhelmed by surviving that they don't have time for curiosity and searching for deeper truths. Also, they are satisfied with their own beliefs and since the MSM and churches are full of people that tell them what to believe, they find confirmation in being part of the group. I think that humanity is still at a very immature stage - proven by our wars, prejudices, selfishness, and destruction of our planet. We have no idea that we are souls taking lives in a body having a temporary experience to learn the greater lessons shown by the avatars like Jesus, and the Buddha that came to show us what the Divine being is like. Not "chosen" - AWARE. People like you are to help teach those who are trying to understand but don't know where to look. You have a mature soul.
I can’t say ‘why’ for sure, but for me the shrew/sheep spectrum divides based on one factor: courage. Can you stare at darkness and not turn away. Most people would rather gnaw their own leg off than face the reality of deep darkness. Shrews seem to be able to, and more to the point, they are built to tunnel right through it! I don’t know if you could have picked a more apt metaphorical creature.
Maybe shrews have a deep curiosity concerning the world around them. I know I question absolutely everything and love thinking and learning. I have a feeling many shrews are similar.
I also am at awe at with the natural world around us. There is so much complexity in the living world. I do believe in a creator (which I call God). I don't think people should 'play god' (which the transhumanists are focused on doing). I do believe in good and evil. And I do strive to be good. I am enjoying reading the Bible.
I did my research when it came to masks, covid, etc. But even before my research, deep down in my being I KNEW that all the covid mandates were wrong and evil on so many levels- which I found interesting because day to day i never feel like I know anything because I am such a questioner. I constantly question myself and my beliefs. But when it comes to good vs evil, moral vs immortal, I feel like the answer is clear. Such clarity must be from God.
Wow… great article!
Hello Todd: I believe post-traumatic resilience has a lot to do with it. BTW, we are doing an event against globalism here in Western, Maine on May 20. It would be great to have you stop by.
I appreciate your comment, I have been coming around to the same conclusion, just obviously really stubborn about giving up on her. Anyway, I am intrigued with the idea of new sympatico friends.
I spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about my "bestie" since 6th grade being such a sheep. She's vaxed, gets every booster, hates Trump, despises Fox, loves Obama, NPR and makes me gag with her virtue signaling on BS social issues. Any advice for me? I am bothered way too much asking why and will she ever wake up and doubt she gives my opinions a second thought
I’ve had a number of “epiphanies” in my life since I was a child, no idea where they came from; yet I am currently listening to testimonies from NDE experiences and so much of what they say is something I have already thought about so I’m thinking I might have been through several lives already, I long dearly for what they describe.
The biggest lesson in my life was in a math class in 6th grade; the teacher would write an equation on the blackboard and ask us if we’d think it was true or not and we had to be so confident in our response that we would be willing to have our head chopped (or hand burnt) over it. His daughter was top of the class (of course). One day I could clearly see that the equation was not true for a specific value of X (and true for all other ones) but went with the rest of the class (we all looked at his daughter who got it wrong) - got my head chopped that day and loathed myself for following the crowd against what I knew was true. The next time around, I was the only one in the class who saved my head. 40 years later I visited my teacher to thank him for that lesson.
From that moment I have not been interested in thinking like everyone else (some known personality whose name escapes me said that if everybody thinks the same way, then someone has stopped thinking and I think it’s perfectly said); although I did drink the climate change kool-aid for many years (now recovering, to my sheep husband’s despair).
I also resonate to the curiosity aspect - I was an avid reader (now Substack has taken over!! As well as videos and podcasts on all sorts of subjects- the main ones around the Covid insanity, the wokeness craziness, the revision of history (moon landing, JFK, Titanic, and possibly where we really come from- maybe some aliens gave us some knowledge or altered our DNA in the early days of our humanhood - although I won’t deny we’re still creatures from “God”.)
Mostly sheep around me (it can feel a bit lonely yet I am comfortable with it, not super interested in my former friendships who won’t see the slaughterhouse ahead of us) and super thankful for the discussions with the lovely shrews out there!!
I love this. I asked this very question at the end of one of my own articles (less eruditely than you have), beginning with a quote from Neil Oliver:
GB News commentator Neil Oliver (while interviewing Eva Vlaardingerbroek), aired this postulate: "I have a theory that no one’s been changed by the events of the last few years. I think that individuals’ true natures have simply been revealed … or even exposed. I think we’re seeing people for who they truly are and it’s been a fascinating revelatory time, I would say."
And I went on to say; "I’ve had this same thought, many times over. The danger, of course, is that I must then by default see myself as superior for not having believed the lie. But I can’t help it."
Then I asked my readers what they thought.
Now, reading this, the thought came to me that what we have in common, I think, is a sense of urgency to DO something. A feeling of great and burdensome responsibility, that keeps compelling us to determine what our next step of resistance ought to be, when we're so used to being stone-walled at every turn. So if indeed I'm in some way "chosen" then I'm divinely obliged to not fall off the rails into apathy, but to keep on going and doing whatever presents itself to me to do. It just won't let me off the hook!
Hey Todd, I enjoy the discussion. I’m not sure if i buy the Shrew as Divine Right argument, but it is flattering to us all. My father worked in media so i saw how the sausage was made as a child. Got to peer behind the curtain so to speak. One trick he used to do was to do “blow out” the overhead light while with the back of his elbow he flipped off the light switch. He let me catch him. Perhaps that is how i learned to question the narrative and sniff out the BS. Then again being chosen by the Lord is more favorable.
and again, "Drawing on a Jungian understanding", not "union" ... sorry again (said sheepishly ... haha!)
My speech to text read Jung as Young ... sorry!
Another way of framing your question is why some people blow the whistle and some people don't. There have been over 40 years of investigation into exactly this question in the organization studies literature. And after 40 years of post-positivist correlational studies with every demographic you can think of, and every institutional quality you can think of, the result has been an absolute nil in understanding anything about it. My doctoral dissertation was specifically on this subject and because of the dearth of illumination in the field, I took a completely different tack. Number one, I stopped looking for conscious motivations and assumed that what was operational was not necessarily apparent to the agent themselves. drawing on a union understanding, that individuals are the product not only of individual conditioning but also of societal and species conditioning, I investigated whistleblower reports and dreams with an eye to uncovering operative forces by means of which individuals have the wherewithal to object, to withstand criticism, to think clearly despite tremendous emotional investment, and to follow through. the conclusion to which I was led goes even beyond the spirit idea. it appeared that the forces operative in whistleblowing individuals are transpersonal, meaning that the individual is incidental to this phenomenon, not Central to it. it appeared that once a society gets so far out over the abyss by repressing the shadow side of a given quality - for example the shadow side of the hero in our culture is the good, brave guy, whereas our heroes are from what was formerly the shadow side, i.e. rapacious, merciless, relentless schemers, celebrities and bankers. this approach acknowledges the effect of unconscious currents in societies, as previously discussed by Young with respect to World Wars I and II. As we are embroiled in World War III, I think the perspective pertains once more. I believe the dissertation is online, entitled "As yang as it gets: Whistleblowers as archetypal heroes in contemporary society" by S Ivory 2016.
Good question , Todd. Maybe its time for you to develop a shrew/sheep test ? I think it has something to do with fear, many sheep seem to know what is going on, but they ignore it to be on the safe side, and with self fullfilling prophecy they sooner or later believe the lies. Naomi Kleins book about the Shock Therapy had some answers fot that question too, as far as i remember.
There are some excellent comments to your very interesting essay. I am old now and I appreciate being able to look back at all the stages I went through. I have very often wondered why behaviors of other people are so obvious to me and not to others. I don't think it is intelligence. I think it is intuition and growing wisdom that comes from conscious awareness. I also think people go through different times in their lives when they are just too overwhelmed by surviving that they don't have time for curiosity and searching for deeper truths. Also, they are satisfied with their own beliefs and since the MSM and churches are full of people that tell them what to believe, they find confirmation in being part of the group. I think that humanity is still at a very immature stage - proven by our wars, prejudices, selfishness, and destruction of our planet. We have no idea that we are souls taking lives in a body having a temporary experience to learn the greater lessons shown by the avatars like Jesus, and the Buddha that came to show us what the Divine being is like. Not "chosen" - AWARE. People like you are to help teach those who are trying to understand but don't know where to look. You have a mature soul.
Good article Todd. Linked it @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ already about 10 days ago when Off Guardian ran it!!!
I can’t say ‘why’ for sure, but for me the shrew/sheep spectrum divides based on one factor: courage. Can you stare at darkness and not turn away. Most people would rather gnaw their own leg off than face the reality of deep darkness. Shrews seem to be able to, and more to the point, they are built to tunnel right through it! I don’t know if you could have picked a more apt metaphorical creature.
Shrews don't like Kool Aid and shrews, most likely, Have God as their #1.
Excellent essay.
Maybe shrews have a deep curiosity concerning the world around them. I know I question absolutely everything and love thinking and learning. I have a feeling many shrews are similar.
I also am at awe at with the natural world around us. There is so much complexity in the living world. I do believe in a creator (which I call God). I don't think people should 'play god' (which the transhumanists are focused on doing). I do believe in good and evil. And I do strive to be good. I am enjoying reading the Bible.
I did my research when it came to masks, covid, etc. But even before my research, deep down in my being I KNEW that all the covid mandates were wrong and evil on so many levels- which I found interesting because day to day i never feel like I know anything because I am such a questioner. I constantly question myself and my beliefs. But when it comes to good vs evil, moral vs immortal, I feel like the answer is clear. Such clarity must be from God.