17 Comments
Nov 11, 2022·edited Nov 11, 2022Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP

I don’t know how you pump these articles out so fast. It takes a lot of time and attention to self-edit. With minimal editing, I’m going to try my hand at your question; “Are people really that daft that they think it is best that some authoritative body … to tell us what is good…?”

Underlying this sentiment, that our government should have the authority to ram an agenda down our throats, is a group of “believers” who hold government in a God-space. And to be clear, they hold themselves in a God-space as well; this is how they are able to identify with this God.

These believers have subconsciously determined that this Government/God has wisdom beyond that of most of society. They say things like, “Somebody smarter than me has determined that we should all be wearing masks in public, so who am I to question them?” Underlying this feigned humility is the sentiment that they too hold wisdom, intelligence, and insight that is beyond the capacity of the vast majority of people.

“Believers” also conveniently allow themselves to believe that their government, which they have identified with, is benevolent and is only concerned with the greater good because this is how they see themselves. “I’m not scared of this disease state for myself; I’m just concerned about grandma.” They are so convinced that government, like themselves, is wise and benevolent that it is an easy hop to the belief that they should support government in pursuing the “greater good.” (As a bonus, this will keep them “safe”as well). With so much belief poured into the Idol/God that is government, it would make perfect sense to empower government to carry out the mutual goals of this God and its benevolent believers by silver or by lead.

How do we get ourselves a God? First, we must identify with it. Is this God all-knowing? Well, certainly we know everything there is to know about everything that we know. CHECK. Is this God caring and self-sacrificing? Well, if we believe that we care for the people that we love. (In order to do this, we must simply overlook the circumstances when we do not) CHECK.

This is how this whole shit-show of the past three years (and the entire human experience) is just spiritual warfare. We are all answering the question, “Who is your God?”

If you wander too far down this path, the believers who genuinely follow a crucified God should be the ones who would be the least likely to resolve their own fears at the expense of others, but I digress.

In answer to your question, “are we really that daft?” Yes, but it is not that simple. We must first delude ourselves that we are benevolently aligned with those who have God-like superiority; then, we can be that daft.

Expand full comment
Nov 11, 2022·edited Nov 11, 2022Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP

PS

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that the people most inclined to trust the system are by and large “specialists.” “Specialists” are people who live within a singular domain of expertise and do not wander out of their zone. These people live by the phrase, “leave it to the experts.” Apparently, they have also done a bang-up job of convincing themselves that they are the experts at something.

For those of us who are generalists, or jacks-of-all-trades, we have a better grasp of HOW MUCH WE DON’T KNOW. By virtue of the time and energy we have spent as students in multiple zones of expertise, we are acutely aware of how much we don’t know and when we learn to ask good questions, we learn how much the experts don’t know either. Some of us have tried our hand at plumbing, we have tried our hand at reading science journals, we have tried our hand at a plethora of trades and tasks, and we have learned that refining our questions is more important than refining our answers. These experiences have taught us not to be intimidated by The Experts.

As generalist we are forced to be more conscious of our own limitations. The time we spend exposing ourselves to new things outside of our areas of expertise teaches us more about the limits of the minds and hearts of men than about the topic being studied.

I may have inadvertently argued that men are sinful and simpleminded by nature. Go outside at night in an area of low sky-pollution like Kawaii. Spend 20 minutes looking up at the clouds and clouds and clouds of stars. Try to grasp the magnitude of that glory. If you can wrap your mind around a glimpse of infinity, then you are probably a God, and we should all do what you and your Idols say.

Expand full comment
Nov 10, 2022Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP

It looks like Tolkien was right:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.

Expand full comment

The last line sums up a lot for me,

we cannot dismiss our thinking minds, and our individual compulsion to find meaning in a world that may seem chaotic and un harmonious due to its refusal to be controlled.

It explains how tyranny is created by people thinking they are doing "good" trying to control, while the “greater good” we seek is often frustratingly elusive.

“The need for certainty is the greatest disease the mind faces.” ~Robert Greene

Expand full comment
Nov 9, 2022Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP

Sorry, for typos ... should say "variables" not 'vatosbles'; and "characteristic" not 'chatacteristic' ... talk about AI having a mind of its own!

Expand full comment
Nov 9, 2022Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP

What seems to be overlooked quite often in any discussion that falsely dichotomizes the choice between chaos and order, is precisely that which was put forward by Ilya Prigogine, in his chaos theory. According to this theory we do not actually make a choice between allowing chaos or imposing order. Rather, we choose the level at which we perceive the world.

This theory applies the principle underlying Mandelbrot equations, originally a mathematical mapping of economic trends. Such mapping found that economics seems to be fractal, that is, the same trends reflecting some kind of internal order are discoverable at an infinity of scales. For example, day-to-day trends exhibit the same curves as month to month trends, as do year to year trends, ad infinitum.

Chaos theory may apply this notion of fractal reality beyond the limits of economics, and find that what looks chaotic up close - that is, appears to be composed of random data - resolves into an ordered, and therefore predictable, array of information when viewed at a larger scale.

Societally, then, we need not panic when things look disorderly, because over time and over larger measures- i.e., larger data sets, whether they be of population, of specific demographics or other vatosbles of interest - order arises.

This chatacteristic of data sets qua sets definitely points to the need for a more sophisticated and widespread appreciation of history, as it is the prime source of data which, when considered soberly in depth, may best assist in the development of common sense strategies in preparation for predictably unfolding situations.

Expand full comment

One of the things that keeps me awake at night is whether these new generations actually WANT the control. That they in fact are born and bred to accepting it. They are swiftly losing sight of what freedom really is because to them freedom is conformity to unconformity if that makes sense.

Expand full comment
Nov 9, 2022Liked by Todd Hayen, PhD, RP

As I lament the disappointment of our US election results, though I can’t really say I’m surprised, this further asks of my dissenting mind to the tyranny imposed on all humans globally over these past two years, what is up with the overwhelming mass of humans? Are we gaining even more insight into our innate capabilities for contributing to our own chaos? Are there only a percentage, which appears to be shrinking daily, of us that love life in the beautiful chaotic, diverse, expressive universe you describe? That we created. As some of us have been railing at the continuing agenda from ages past to destroy our world and it’s perfect imperfections, leaving us as inanimate, AI-manipulated robo-zombies, has another, and ever-growing group of humans simply given in and given up their true human condition to the latest version of attempted world order by a select few with perceived power over the rest of us? How does the mind control work so well in some and create the immediate revulsion and resistance in others?

As you state, I believe we engineered our selves to create and revel in the options constantly presented to us because of this beautiful chaos, so how have so many in our species so quickly changed to radically abandon their individual humanness? Has it always been this way and only now is it being broadcast so constantly that the diversity of our species can no longer be ignored? Is there a comfort in choosing ignorant bliss? Or a self-defeated, depressive laziness? What have we done to ourselves? And why? Is it part the enjoying of the chaos-game for some to become the prey? And as I release that last key of the sentence, I must also include the hunters among our species that have created the tyranny on their own kind. It must be accepted that we are all constantly stirring the pot of chaos; with our individual required new and constantly changing forms of entertainment and gratification, even at our own expense.

Expand full comment