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Insanely normal or normally insane?
by Regis Auffray   
Rated "G" by the Author.
     
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An essay by Sha'Tara, local writer and friend.

Insanely normal or normally insane?

[thoughts from ~burning woman~ by Sha’Tara]
 
As a social psychologist said, it is not healthy to adjust to a sick society, yet much of psychology attempts to do exactly that, rather than diagnose the society and offend the masses. (Unknown)
 
Imagine that you live in a completely insane, irrational society. Imagine that such a society encompasses an entire planet. Now imagine that you find yourself comfortably ensconced in such a society; for all intents and purposes, a completely normal individual in light of consensus reality. With no outside and impartial observer to tell you one way or the other, would you say that you are a normal individual? Rephrasing that: can an individual totally adapted to living in an insane collective, be considered a normal person? Obviously, yes, anyone living in relative comfort and adapted to his or her society, as determined by a certain set of standards, is a normal person.
 
But could it be said that such a person is sane? Obviously not. A sane person in a global insane asylum would immediately stand out, speak and act abnormally, and in some parts of the collective such an individual would be done away with, probably killed
 
The very serious question before the intelligent, sentient and self-aware species that calls itself “man” on this planet is: are we an insane society, or collective, as a species? Is our sense of relative normalcy based on the fact that we are adapted (and comfortable) living in complete insanity?
 
What would an alien make of Earthians, of the way they interact with each other? Of course, that would depend where that alien is coming from.
 
So let’s assume that our alien is from a world that has overcome the greatest (and so very real) evils that plague earth. They have equality between the sexes. They have developed the means to counteract most contagious diseases and developed their minds to the point where any individual in their world can choose to terminate his own physical life should he be affected by a painful incurable condition, or by some dangerously contagious condition threatening the welfare of others. They do not do violence to each other but practice compassion and have developed a deep and powerful sense of universal empathy. Of course, by that criteria, they do not exploit or oppress one-another for any reason. They have eliminated the desire to commit crimes against other individuals. They have no need for government. No one seeks to become more powerful, or richer, than another – no one-upmanship. They do not indulge in competitive behaviour. They respect each other. Their children are free to come and go among adults without fear of being molested or exploited. Now you get the picture. It is not a perfect society (perfection denoting absolutism and entropy) but it is an altruistic society.
 
With this as criteria for measuring man’s level of social and moral achievement, what would be the verdict?
 
That’s easy to compute, too easy: Absolute, abject failure on all counts.
 
Earthians, despite millennia of teaching, despite being given every means to learn and practice the things our alien knows to be essential to maintaining a healthy society, have consistently rejected these teachings, choosing instead their opposite. They wallow in the misery of self-inflicted mental and physical wounds, some so deep they lead to suicide, war and even genocide. They engage life emotionally and irrationally, seldom choosing the more logical and common sense path which always stands out as an obvious better choice. When given the relative freedom to choose, they generally elect leaders who are known as, or observed to be, sociopaths. They maintain a misogynistic system to oppress and take advantage of the female. They consistently prey on their weaker members, exploiting and oppressing even their own children (and spoiling them or failing to discipline and teach them right from wrong is just another facet of oppression). They refuse to consider how their thinking, their acts and their expectations affect their limited (closed) environment and the future of their descendents. They refuse to take personal responsibility for their acts and show no remorse for their collective crimes against life, resorting to lies and subterfuge to justify their various collective perversions. As a general rule, they exult in those crimes, perpetuating them and vicariously enjoying them through their many forms of entertainment, particularly in violence-inducing organized sports and in news and movies.
 
Because this is true of the entire species, not just of some fanatical groups, there is a comfortable sense of normalcy about it all. The majority adapted to such a dysfunctional world is certainly never truly happy with its condition, aware in some perverse way that all is not well, but instead of looking at itself, instead of taking responsibility for the condition of its world, it loses itself in hedonistic pleasures and when that no longer works, casts about for scapegoats; for “others” to blame as the cause of their discomfort. Their psychopathic rulers are adepts at creating such scapegoats and modern technology and communications has made it incredibly easy to do so. They can create “terrorists” and “acts of terrorism” by manipulating events, or creating media events which are then interpreted by their controlled media and politically exploited. They can manufacture any number of psyops to manipulate consensus reality.
 
And there is much more. The vast pool of unthinking Earthians is nothing more than a resource used and abused by the sociopaths in government, religion and finance. They are consumers on one side of the line, the consumed on the other: the capitalist system, (whatever name given to it, including Communism) in a nutshell. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, while ensuring that the robbers take the lion’s share of the spoils in every transaction. Everybody knows by now who these thieves are, that is no longer a secret. There are no “secret societies” – only those who “kill and eat” and those who provide the fodder, in some form or other.
 
What is the Earthian’s number one failure? He totally lacks compassion.
 
Oh, I know that some will contend that point. But you see, compassion is not that which one feels emotionally for those who are special, being family, friends, lovers or part of one’s group, or perceived grouping. Compassion does not so differentiate. It is universal, it is inclusive, or it is not compassion. From my many exchanges with various Earthians I know that this is quite the bone of contention. By and large Earthians believe that they can have exclusive “caring” relationships with certain special people, or groups. The moment that happens, the Earthian becomes a pawn in the Matrix’ web of intrigue and murder. All any sociopathic leader has to do now is toggle the switch labelled “Them versus Us” and create a fictional threat to those who are special in the Earthian’s mind. Done deal. Murder, war, even genocide, becomes inevitable, and the profits go to those who manage the greatest amount of mayhem and death.
 
Hence why compassion is above the emotional ties and does not recognize them. Compassion is never emotional. Anyone can fall into emotional experiences. I do, certainly. But in the throes of such emotion, I know better than to move about legitimizing my feelings. When an emotional tidal wave strikes I hide within my mind and I weather the storm until calm returns. The less I externalize my emotional outbursts, the less subsequent damage there is to repair.
 
Of course, there must be a way to gradually lessen emotional outbursts, and there is. It comes from the practice of personal discipline through detachment.
 
That should be a basic truth for all, such a simple concept – easy to see, easy to understand. But of course it isn’t. The word “detachment” carries much negative connotation in the vocabulary. So, it cannot be comprehended from a dictionary perspective. Perhaps I could say, it is not a stand-alone word, but better seen in another primary context. The greater context that can make detachment a positive goal would be joy and sorrow. Joy and sorrow can never be grasped from a place of attachment. These are life concepts, cosmic in scope. The way to grasp these things is to use analogy. Think of joy and sorrow as two inseparable twins who can ever sense each other’s presence within life but can never touch each other as long as evil remains. Sorrow walks in the darkness of lower worlds, in hells created by fallen sentient life. Joy exists in the realms of those who have overcome evil and who know themselves as “redeemed” beings, as the self-empowered and compassionate who cast their love into the darkness and, like the waves of the sea beating upon granite cliffs, slowly and inexorably erode the forces of evil. It is the cosmic attraction of joy to sorrow and vice versa that keeps them relentlessly working to pull life out of darkness, out of pain, out of the maze of false paths, of traps, created and maintained by those who serve the Matrix or if you will, the System.
 
Once again taking the liberty to quote from the Christian New Testament, one of the relatively few passages I find to be essentially truthful:
 
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)
 
If you take the trouble to look up this passage, and read the lines before and after, you will see that I have extracted it out of context. I did this deliberately, because the context completely destroys the message, a Matrix obfuscation, obviously.
 
No, it is not with any “armour of God” that an individual will beat down the forces of evil, since evil is found just as active and healthy within the ranks of God’s people – and there’s a truism! Only through self-empowerment (which naturally leads to detachment) will any sincere seeker come to understand the relationship between joy, sorrow and compassion. Such an understanding doesn’t lead one to become a slave of another divinity, replete with the flexible conscience of any believer who can commit rape and murder in the name of his god, (justifiable, acceptable, normal insanity) but rather leads to the path of the avatar.

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Reviewed by Mary Ann Biddinger
Reviewed on June 2, 2013
~Regis~
A balance of the normal..interesting observation!!

Lady Mary Ann

Reviewed on May 28, 2013
Excellent Regis, gives all much to think about and what this world is made up of in some degree...

Love and Light
Lily

Reviewed by Ronald Hull
Reviewed on May 28, 2013
The “Matrix” or “System” has codified, over centuries of writing taken from individual observations and ideas, man's struggle to survive on a planet that was very dangerous and required almost daily killing when he was a hunter and gatherer. Once the sheeple have assumed the written, codified rules, they learn how to play them to their advantage. It all boils down to a “territorial imperative.” Those with the territory rule. In order to gain territory one must encroach on someone else's territory. Thus leading to a fight, a righteous flight because the scripture tells me to “multiply and seek out the promised land.” Fights turn into wars and wars never end.

You have laid out the parameters of a “sane” world society. Will we reach it? Those of us who believe that we can all get along have to plant the seeds. Leave our despicable, self-centered lives behind for the greater good. Easier said than done. But done it must be.

Ron

Reviewed on May 27, 2013
This world is made up of a bunch of nuts!

Love ya!

Jane

Reviewed on May 27, 2013
A timely thoughtful write, but still another field of poppies is blooming in Flanders Fields, for the same sociapath and their sycophants are still praying for revenge of one sort or another, and the minds of are still boiling of hence and whence, and waiting for another glorious event. A poppy should be worn by all, for our stupidity, ignorance, and as you said insanity, enjoyed all of it as always, much to rich to answer all your thoughts though, bless ya.

Reviewed by Paul Berube
Reviewed on May 27, 2013
All too true. Well done.

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