Because our personal memory cannot extend beyond our lifetime, neither before our birth nor after our death, we tend to view the world with narrow blinders on. In addition, since we alone occupy our mind (unless of course we are of two minds) we tend to perceive the world interpreted through our conditioning, training and experience. We believe ourselves to be credible and intelligent, even though nearly all our working capital, our knowledge, is corrupt and seriously tainted.

This is the functional equivalent of seeing the world through a pin hole camera lens while wearing dark sunglasses. Essentially this leaves us myopic at best, and functionally blind at worst. We stumble and bumble through life believing we have near perfect vision when in fact we have been sleepwalking since birth. Seen from this point of view is it any wonder “We the People” can be so easily herded and controlled?

But it gets worse, much worse. While we see ourselves as a large community, a nation of individuals gathered together under a common cause, on a day to day basis the reality we experience is far different. The problem we face as a nation of individuals is that while we ‘perceive’ ourselves as part of a greater group, we myopically pursue our own goals and aspirations and leave the bus driving to someone else, mostly those who claim authority to drive in our stead.

As anyone who has participated in “Orienteering” will tell you, one must constantly be aware (mindful is the term I like to use) of where you are in relation to where you wish to go. And might I add, where you have been. Spatial awareness is of utmost importance when navigating the four axis (longitude, latitude, altitude and time) of unfamiliar terrain, something modern men and women have mostly ceded to GPS enabled Garmin, smart phone mapping apps and a benevolent government who would never steer us wrong on the really important stuff.

When attempting to efficiently navigate to a destination there are several items, tools let’s call them, of utmost importance we must possess. One, we must know where we presently are in relation to where we want to go. This requires not only a map or some other type of document displaying a ‘concept’ of ‘reality’, almost always created by others, but also the proper mindset, one that requires (demands) curiosity, critical thinking and creativity in order to adapt to an ever changing set of circumstances and terrain.

In addition, on this map of reality there must either be an ‘X’ to mark the spot where we presently reside (you are >here<) or some method must be offered that is used to determine where we are in space (and equally importantly time) and how that relates to the map in hand. Most often we are ‘told’ where we are by way of signposts, route numbers, word of mouth information, intuitive guesstimating or a benevolent government (and its lackeys, sycophants and mainstream media) who would never steer us wrong on the really important stuff.

Two, we must know where we wish to go and the route or routes we will travel beginning from where we are now. As obvious as this may sound to someone who thinks they know where they are and where they are going, after some careful consideration and reflection it becomes increasingly apparent that our spatial knowledge is mostly derived from group think and common ‘beliefs’ than by a careful examination of available information and a critical and suspicious eye towards disseminated propaganda.

All too often we willingly absorb and act upon untested ‘truths’ simply because they come from ‘trusted’ sources we have been ‘told’ are impeccable. Examples of this are our primary school system, the mainstream media, experts such as lawyers, doctors, scientists and institutions such as corporations, governments and centers of higher education. And lately for those who claim increased awareness, the vast universe of alternative ‘news and information’ sources of equally dubious credibility and quality.

We accept with little suspicion and rarely question that the map as it is laid out before us is complete and accurate, that the reality depicted is as it actually exists just beyond the horizon. See, it’s clearly marked here on the map. This way be dragons and monsters, but that way over there is the land of milk and honey. Those bad brown, yellow, red or black people just beyond the mountains are our enemies and these folks over here are our white friends and companions. You know….the good guys with central banks and natural resources to exploit.

This brings us to number three in our orienteering exercise, that of understanding where we have been before ‘now’. Of critical importance to us is learning, and then applying to the present situation, where and why we were previously back there and what we have learned from that journey. Without (fully) understanding where we have been and the lessons learned, any subsequent journey we undertake is always a first time for us, virgin territory in all aspects for us novices.

The time of greatest risk of failure is when we have never gone before, even if we really have and just don’t remember….or are deliberately misinformed. Not knowing ‘our’ history (actually more often the history of those who came before) dooms us to endlessly repeat past mistakes, wrong turns, dead ends and abject failures.

If the map has been subtly modified or altered (or even worse, continuously changed) yet we are repeatedly assured it is true and accurate, a ‘fact’ confirmed by group think, consensus opinion and official authority proclamation, we are left to aimlessly wander the landscape, begging equally befuddled random passersby for clear directions or possibly even a better map.

Under these conditions who among us can declare with any degree of certainty that they ‘know’ that the reality spread out before them as depicted on the map is true and accurate, an honest representation of what lies over the hill, thus alleviating the need to actually travel there to confirm the authenticity of the map in hand. How could anyone trust a document of such dubious pedigree and lineage to do anything other than to help start a camp fire on the side of the road and warm our hands while we gather our bearings?

And yet even those among us who claim to be awake, to see more clearly through the cognitive fog than the average Joe, still use the same pin hole camera lens and cheap sunglasses to view the world. They attribute their new found clarity to the discovery of several flaws in their map or possibly a new and improved map produced by others who also claim excellent vision and insight. Oftentimes the new map is declared better simply because it is different, the more radical the change the better in some eyes.

Since we no longer trust the presently popular Oracle of Delphi, the one worshiped by the surging herd as the purveyor of the one true map, instead of attempting to widen our field of vision and remove our Ray Ban’s in order to properly see and perceive, we cast about for another self proclaimed authority to declare with utmost confidence that dry land is most assuredly that-a-way.

By swapping one leader for another rather than seeking truth independently, who is to say another wild card hasn’t been slipped into the deck to wreck havoc and poison the well. Trading dependencies accomplishes nothing for the dependent and everything for the entity(s) depended upon.

Being personally sovereign requires the complete removal of any and all visual impairments and the application of critical thinking to new information presented to the sovereign as truth. Since ‘our’ history has been, and continues to be, repeatedly obscured, edited and rewritten over countless generations to suit the control needs of each map maker, to simply swap maps is to swap problems, not find solutions let alone the truth.

To declare that because we have found our map defective, therefore we need a new one, simply invites the control system to infiltrate the process at any point along the way and once again obscure the results, leaving us in even more precarious straits. At least before with known damaged goods in hand, we cast doubt upon the validity of the old map and ventured forward carefully, deliberately. Now that we have embraced the substitute we are even more easily led astray because our faith and belief has been restored and the chain is again secured around our neck.

Once again sleepwalking through life, though this time with the belief we are wide awake, the damage we subsequently do to ourselves and to others by our cries of Eureka is magnitudes greater than before. Every rebel voice, every rebellion, contains its own seeds of destruction when it finally 'wins' and goes mainstream. And make no mistake about it; the alternative press is ‘our’ mainstream media. The personally sovereign never declares victory when still surrounded by the enemy, for to do so is to be quickly overwhelmed and assimilated.

 

04-07-2014

Cognitive Dissonance

Let’s suppose you’re charged with a crime, but you are innocent. Despite your innocence the court was able to ‘prove’ you were guilty and a jury of your ‘peers’ agreed with the evidence presented and unanimously returned a guilty verdict. Does the fact that the judicial system was able to win a conviction against you change the fact that you are innocent? Obviously the answer is ‘No’, though that does not alter the reality that you are now doing time. Continue reading The Sovereignty Series – Swimming with the Sharks – Being a Small Fish in a Big Pond →

Most of us will argue that on those occasions when we reach critical decision points in our life we believe they are successfully navigated. Just as important we believe the vast majority of our decisions are based upon current data, the present state of our personal affairs and how it all fits in with our perceived life goals.

Quite frankly, for many of us this is an illusion we embrace in order not to upset our sense of self and our positioning within the ‘real’ world we call ours. In reality we rarely deviate much from our present path, a path more often chosen for us by opportunity and circumstance then by directed thought and conscious decision.

When do we ever pull back and thoroughly assess where we are and what we want, not based upon debt or family pressures or even what our employment situation demands of us, but upon what we really truly desire of ourselves? Until recently, for this author at least, the honest answer was not very often.

In fact the last time I conducted this type of thorough self assessment was back in 1990 when I completely changed my career and life direction. While the decision was right for me at the time, it was now well past stale and moldy, the ‘sell by’ date long past expiration.

Since that critical juncture in my life I had not considered conducting another self assessment of this sort with any real seriousness. If anything I would engage in fantastical daydreaming about how neat this might be or how liberating living that way could be. To be frank I did not want to back myself into a emotional corner, to come to a conclusion contrary to where I was presently positioned in life, and then not follow through.

No one wishes to face their own impotence, to fail their ‘self’ and then have nowhere to hide. It is best not to have tried rather than fail and be unmasked and miserable. Sometimes we are most embarrassed when bare naked and fully exposed to our self.

This is the deeply conditioned slave mentality which I and so many others struggle with, a perspective that helps to explain quite well the present state of the zombie nation. We dull the ever present pain of our own failure with food, drink, TV, work, whatever it takes to forget if only for a moment more.

I did know that I was growing increasingly unhappy with my chosen profession and I wanted out. But like a deer in the headlights I was frozen in place and unable to make any significant decisions because of all the entanglements, real or otherwise, that I thought were tying me down.

Some I believed were financial, some physical, some emotional, but all were blown way out of proportion to the reality I was trying to avoid. One must build the walls of our own cage higher than we are willing to climb if we are to remain safely confined within our own mind.

In short I was unhappy enough to think about radical change, but just content enough (‘sated’ is probably a much better term to use here) with the status quo that I didn’t wish to upset my carefully stacked house of cards. Who really wants to gather up all their Jacks and fling them high into the air in order to see what comes up when they all fall down?

Mostly this was because I had never honestly asked myself “What it is that I desire most” or “How would I like to live”? Instead I would ask myself the normal questions society directs us towards; what is it that I want to ‘do’, or what do I want to ‘be’ when I grow up, get out of school, change careers or retire?

Think about one of the first questions you ask a stranger you are meeting for the first time in a casual social setting. Or what is asked of you during that same social function. “So….what do you do”? The honest answer is that we live in our own mental straitjacket with our body and life dragged along, securely attached via our own carefully constructed ball and chain.

For most of us the ‘life’ decision process, at least initially, works in reverse. We start off listing what it is we don’t want and move forward from there. And the number one item at the top of most lists of undesirables is the following……“I don’t wish to be poor”.

Since we are forever focused on the ‘money meme’ every decision radiates out from that central focal point. It may help to remember that the all controlling meme permeates so deeply into our childhood that the tooth fairy brings money in exchange for recently removed used body parts.

Ok……….well if I don’t wish to be poor I will ‘need’ (as opposed to ‘want’) a good education followed by a decent job to start my career, then marriage, kids, cars, house etc. Before we know it our exercise wheel is up to speed and we are off to the races on our never ending run to nowhere.

Back in 1990 I changed everything in my life after nearly two decades wasted. Because I headed off the deep end just after graduating from high school, rather than money being my central focus it was another equally damaging obsession that I revolved around. Seventeen years later, my life in tatters by my own hand, but still well along in the process of living, I struggled to move forward while balancing single parenthood demands with the need to earn a living.

The decisions I made at that point suited my life situation, not my happiness. I did what needed to be done to finish raising my son, who was then only five years of age, and to begin the process of cleaning up the mess I had created which trailed far behind me.

When the time came for my son to leave home and move on, essentially thirteen years later with me still single and uninvolved, I settled in to begin the serious work of examining the world around me, something I never fully pursued earlier since life was demanding my attention after I got my act together.

Back in 1990 after I awoke from my stupor I saw contradictions and cognitive dissonances as far as the eye could see, but I deliberately chose not to look too deep in order to maintain some semblance of stability in my son’s life, not to mention my own. It was years, actually more than a decade, before I felt stable enough to really begin to deeply examine what I perceived as wrong with the world.

Once we begin the process of questioning everything, eventually we begin to seriously question ourselves, a course of action that often derives its value from the procedure itself rather than any actual results obtained. If we find the courage to travel far enough down the rabbit hole we find ourselves face to face with……….well, with our ‘self’. It is then that we reach a decision point unlike any we have encountered up to this point in our lives.

Do we travel a path, the path, any path that ultimately frees us from ourselves (or at least gets us a little bit closer), one which opens up an entirely new panorama of choices, the road less traveled if you will? Or do we look into the abyss, experience only disorientation and fear, then rapidly retreat to the perceived safety of our existing familiar surroundings.

If we have remained in a continuous state of low level pain for a long enough period of time, the idea of making radical changes in order to relieve that pain is not as inviting as it might seem at first blush. The elevated level of pain we mentally and emotionally project will result from the change is nearly always believed to be much worse than it actually turns out to be.

A perfect example of this is the person with a nagging toothache who is frightened of the dentist. On an accumulated basis that person might experience ten times more pain over a month’s time before finally capitulating to the inevitable trip to the dentist rather than if he had just ripped the tooth out at home with some pliers. Procrastination is just as much a process of bargaining with ourselves as it is fear and consequence avoidance.

This isn’t to say that one must change everything in order to begin the process of being true to oneself. Becoming personally sovereign in the middle of an insane asylum is a journey at best and not a destination. One can never be truly clean when we wash in filthy water, but we can begin to filter the water and improve the conditions under which we bathe.

The thing is that the end result for many who go down this road is not a product of any one decision, but of a series of half steps and reluctant conclusions that lead to a fundamental recognition. Eventually we come to understand that if we are to be true to ourselves we can no longer live in the manner we currently are. It is then that we discover if we have the courage to take a chance and move deeper down into the rabbit hole, or do we scurry away back to the perceived safety of the herd’s insanity.

I say this not to be judgmental of anything the reader is or is not doing. I live in a very fragile glass house with no intention of throwing stones or examining the quality of your life’s construction. Nor do I claim to have arrived at my destination and thus am qualified to give advice and direction. What I am doing works for me, and most likely will not work for you precisely because we are all unique individuals with distinctively different needs and life situations.

While I have clearly stated that personal sovereignty is a ‘State of Mind’, meaning we adopt a particular mindset that fully encompasses total personal responsibility for our ‘self’, it also requires that we be more centered than most of us presently are. If we are unhappy with our lives, or if we are in denial about our unhappiness, which simply pushes us further and further away from our center, trying to adopt the personal sovereignty mindset is nearly impossible.

Take that first step; reassess where you are and why you aren’t somewhere else. Look deeply, ask those difficult questions of your ‘self’, push your outer boundaries and scale those walls. You have little to lose and everything to gain…..including your centering.

 

03-15-2014

Cognitive Dissonance