The paradox of humanity is that we continue to build & improve, despite degradation all around us, despite the potential for acts of great evil,
should we choose to engage life in the wrong way (and of course here we're considering the opposite potentialities, those of great acts of charity &
love, which are also present in each of our own personal matrices of potential). Your naturally beneficient heart is rewarded in often-subtle ways,
leading you carefully & protecting you in ways that you may never know unless you make a point of asking, in the hereafter. You
are an
instrument of virtue, and society depends on your willingness to continue in your good works. Thank you.
For those who struggle, read on.. [again...
]
'Fight' in our modern urban/digital environs, where there is a need for repression of our 'base instincts', can become suppressed inner rage
(postal worker syndrome). Similarly, as we are generally locked into this 'modern mode of survival' - which means we can't run away from our angry
boss, or pack up the family & leave quickly when things get difficult in our local area - the
'flight' response becomes a sort of
neurotically-reinforced anxiety. We want to escape the madness, but where would we go, and how would we survive? We must consider the disturbing
possibility that we are somehow locked into a very sophisticated form of slavery (well-elucidated by author JP Farrell, though I disagree on some
rather major points of his overall thesis as it evolved over the course of many years & many excellent books). We must consider that we are unaware
of a monolithic order behind the scenes, and that we are thus sailing on very dark ocean tides indeed. It is possible to exist in this 'dark ocean'
system in a reasonable state of 'comfort', by either a) Becoming a barely concealed sociopathic predator/ scavenger, one of the sharks that swim
below, selfishly accruing all that we can in efforts to be content, attacking/defrauding those who we deem to be easy meat; or b) It could be that we
rebel against that 'dark side' of the pattern of our fiat currency culture, forge ourselves 'a bigger boat', & become charitable, decent folk; perhaps
spiritual, but principally surviving (& indeed thriving) by living according to universal precepts which offer a banner of protection from much of the
madness. These are they who sincerely try to do good, to be a positive force for peace, for harmony, working in all spheres according to the call
upon our hearts - bringing change to our communities on a varying scale according to our potential, despite the dangers & the limitations imposed by
our isolation upon these ocean waves. These are the instruments of virtue for our age whom I discussed as existing in a 'grace state' in the
preceding paragraph..
Alternatively, in the maelstrom of possible fight/flight responses, accounting for a disordered, dissonant engagement with a confusing & disturbing
reality, we might decide that we cannot cope with this sophisticated system (of enslavement by debt, trinkets & distractions, plus societal pressure
to be the same - 'normal') – and thus we do one of three principle things as sub-category response patterns, aside from those already discussed: 1)
We exist in some measure of misery, ignoring or hiding from the bad stuff by turning to means of escapism such as drugs, sex, adventure or violence.
2) We skill up, pack up, and move to the country/wilderness/ or even to another nation which is more in line with our ethos. 3) We commit suicide.
Only 'Sub-Category (of Fight/Flight response) - Option 2' is a reasonably good one, but even that is fraught with emotional entanglements, practical
difficulties & possible legal consequences - possibly leading to a total emotional shutdown, locking everyone & everything out & taking to isolation
as a coping strategy.
The
'freeze' reaction would have been evolutionarily driven to develop due to, for example, the need for stealth arising when a jaguar strolls
within easy strike distance past our jungle hide, as would undoubtedly happen when our ancestors were entrenched on long hunting trips, at some time
in our paleoancient past. This prime reactionary instinct - when neurotically-reinforced by oppressive modern pressures from which we cannot possibly
escape – can biochemically morph into the drawn-out, awfully destructive emotional state which we know as depression. There are, I suspect, added
hidden factors rooted in the rearward components of our mind/soul matrix in the generation of true clinical depression, but the 'freeze' instinct is
certainly the root of the basic mental archetype/ideation of a temporary withdrawal from reality, and a lack of happiness arising from a biochemical
decimation reducing our serotonin & dopamine production.
There's much more to it than that, in terms of the three emotionally-driven base reactionary instincts which are routinely neurotically warped by
modernity - indeed much more than my course delves into, and this thread cannot hope to cover the bulk of of the complexities; however, for now,
that's a reasonably tidy explanation of how the
'emotional centre', a subcortical region of the brain persists in deeply influencing much of
our behaviour, even in our sophisticated modern times. You just have to look at the myriad soap operas, political rallies, MMA & horse racing events
& so on to see the depth of such powerful emotional connections between the 'stars' & the 'fans'... The sheer force of emotional will, or constant
emotionally-driven bickering in the soap operas, to see just how potent these emotional aspects of our character remain, and indeed how primal they
actually are. Then there is the centrality of powerful emotion in modern human life which is expressed in the tribal stances encouraged in politics.
We hear the terms 'partisan', or 'left/right', or 'party', like it's some jazzy intellectual idea to organise in these ways – but in reality it's
TRIBAL, and that is manipulated by those whose birth circumstance, education & financial situation enables them to see the panoramic viewpoint.
It's a known fact that advertising & media empires imprint the enforcement of their will upon the masses through the use of subliminality, or through
simple emotional manipulation – or both, as has often proven to be the case. The old Carpenter flick 'They Live' may have come to mind in light of
these considerations, and it is a valid connection. Our species is highly emotionally strung, and we are very easily manipulated when our blood
boils, or when we are passionately defensive, or if we feel the excitement & preliminary rush of emotional anticipation, or the paralysing fear of
threat to our security..
Mob mentality?