As you look around you, do you ever get the feeling that something is going on? Have you ever suspected that some gargantuan joke is being played, and that there are some people who are having a great laugh at our expense?
How about the idea of an artificial framework imposed on our existence - imposed, moreover, not by any god or gods, but very ordinary human beings with a knack for controlling people and a sense of how to influence our society? These people are the cream of the crop when it comes to manipulating our impulses.
Our world is encapsulated in a matrix, an artificial structure, which has been imposed upon us all. However, if this is the case, how can it be so resilient? How can it survive all the tumultuous rises and falls of civilizations and empires throughout we have experienced over the last several millennia? The answer lies in its being firmly rooted in three basic aspects of human nature.
The first characteristic is the search for authority. Although we all possess the capacity for free thought, most of us prefer not to use it except as a last resort. Most of the decisions we think we are making consist of little more than a reaction against our surroundings. Thus our daily routines have less to do with choice and more with convenience and necessity: we must eat, work and interact with others, but we generally avoid making any dramatic decisions.
Instead we shift from one trance-like state to another. Every activity in which we engage requires us to conform to some pre-existing norm, and we oblige. It is only when we encounter something new or different that we snap into full wakefulness and engage our minds. As this requires us to expend energy, we tend to avoid it unless it is absolutely necessary. This unwillingness to think for ourselves says a lot about the way in which The Game works, and the reasons which cause us to surrender to the control of The Players.
This disinclination to think creates a vacuum, which the players are very happy to fill. Of course, for this hypnosis to work it must be veiled, otherwise we would immediately rebel against someone trying to overtly take control of our minds. To get around this problem we are sold a meticulously crafted version of reality, which is framed by a collection of myths. These myths are bound together by one great meta-myth: the myth of linearity. This serves to seed the soil effectively in our minds for the other myths to be received. This societal trance is so expertly layered that it makes it extremely difficult to detect.
If we are to understand this artificial reality we must accept that it is impressively intricate. So closely are the myths connected that it is almost impossible to isolate and discredit a single one without dealing with all the others at the same time.
On the individual level, there is the narcissistic trance. The underlying presumption of this trance is that we experience ourselves as being the nexus of the universe. Instead of seeing ourselves as part of a whole, we experience the whole as an extension of ourselves. Only pure narcissists, such as the players, experience the world literally in this way. For the rest of us, who are merely narcissistic, it represents a bias, which is in the background of our thoughts all the time. This bias is subtle, but nevertheless, extremely potent.
Today's world is characterised more than ever by this trend towards narcissism. Whereas past generations are remembered by other traits - from bravery to cruelty - we are narcissists, and our world is conditioned accordingly. Narcissism exists across the spectrum of race, creed and colour, to the extent that we have come to accept it as the norm and never question its fundamental status as part of our society.
Moreover we have now reached the stage where narcissism itself is no longer seen as reprehensible, but as something to aspire it. It is the idol of the Players, and therefore serves as our idol too. We have become a community of idle idolaters, each aspiring to embody that "enlightened selfishness" which was the philosophy Adam Smith expounded as the justification for an acquisitive outlook in which greed has come to dominate over need.
So much for the myth of narcissistic supremacy. Now we must turn our attention to the tribal identities perpetuated by our society. Human beings, who are naturally social creatures, tend to define themselves as members of a group or groups, and to organise themselves accordingly. Every group to which we belong has some impact on the outlook of its members, and it is fair to say that our group affiliations more often than not come to define who we are and the views we subscribe to.
Finally we are all caught up in a societal trance, conditioned by a series of myths such as the myth of scarcity, law and order and the sanctity of science. Whereas we might challenge any one of these myths in isolation, the truth is that together they represent a daunting phenomenon.
The myth of linearity is the meta-myth, which supports all the others. It is the belief that sequential logic rules the world. That everything is related by interminable chains of cause and effect. Linearity is the wellspring from which all the other myths emanate and this myth is the glue that binds all others together.
We have been too long now in the dark; too long victims of these trance-states. It is time to case off the dominance of the myth-smiths and reclaim authority over our own destiny. What they will look like no one can know, but I for one am all for finding out! - 31521
How about the idea of an artificial framework imposed on our existence - imposed, moreover, not by any god or gods, but very ordinary human beings with a knack for controlling people and a sense of how to influence our society? These people are the cream of the crop when it comes to manipulating our impulses.
Our world is encapsulated in a matrix, an artificial structure, which has been imposed upon us all. However, if this is the case, how can it be so resilient? How can it survive all the tumultuous rises and falls of civilizations and empires throughout we have experienced over the last several millennia? The answer lies in its being firmly rooted in three basic aspects of human nature.
The first characteristic is the search for authority. Although we all possess the capacity for free thought, most of us prefer not to use it except as a last resort. Most of the decisions we think we are making consist of little more than a reaction against our surroundings. Thus our daily routines have less to do with choice and more with convenience and necessity: we must eat, work and interact with others, but we generally avoid making any dramatic decisions.
Instead we shift from one trance-like state to another. Every activity in which we engage requires us to conform to some pre-existing norm, and we oblige. It is only when we encounter something new or different that we snap into full wakefulness and engage our minds. As this requires us to expend energy, we tend to avoid it unless it is absolutely necessary. This unwillingness to think for ourselves says a lot about the way in which The Game works, and the reasons which cause us to surrender to the control of The Players.
This disinclination to think creates a vacuum, which the players are very happy to fill. Of course, for this hypnosis to work it must be veiled, otherwise we would immediately rebel against someone trying to overtly take control of our minds. To get around this problem we are sold a meticulously crafted version of reality, which is framed by a collection of myths. These myths are bound together by one great meta-myth: the myth of linearity. This serves to seed the soil effectively in our minds for the other myths to be received. This societal trance is so expertly layered that it makes it extremely difficult to detect.
If we are to understand this artificial reality we must accept that it is impressively intricate. So closely are the myths connected that it is almost impossible to isolate and discredit a single one without dealing with all the others at the same time.
On the individual level, there is the narcissistic trance. The underlying presumption of this trance is that we experience ourselves as being the nexus of the universe. Instead of seeing ourselves as part of a whole, we experience the whole as an extension of ourselves. Only pure narcissists, such as the players, experience the world literally in this way. For the rest of us, who are merely narcissistic, it represents a bias, which is in the background of our thoughts all the time. This bias is subtle, but nevertheless, extremely potent.
Today's world is characterised more than ever by this trend towards narcissism. Whereas past generations are remembered by other traits - from bravery to cruelty - we are narcissists, and our world is conditioned accordingly. Narcissism exists across the spectrum of race, creed and colour, to the extent that we have come to accept it as the norm and never question its fundamental status as part of our society.
Moreover we have now reached the stage where narcissism itself is no longer seen as reprehensible, but as something to aspire it. It is the idol of the Players, and therefore serves as our idol too. We have become a community of idle idolaters, each aspiring to embody that "enlightened selfishness" which was the philosophy Adam Smith expounded as the justification for an acquisitive outlook in which greed has come to dominate over need.
So much for the myth of narcissistic supremacy. Now we must turn our attention to the tribal identities perpetuated by our society. Human beings, who are naturally social creatures, tend to define themselves as members of a group or groups, and to organise themselves accordingly. Every group to which we belong has some impact on the outlook of its members, and it is fair to say that our group affiliations more often than not come to define who we are and the views we subscribe to.
Finally we are all caught up in a societal trance, conditioned by a series of myths such as the myth of scarcity, law and order and the sanctity of science. Whereas we might challenge any one of these myths in isolation, the truth is that together they represent a daunting phenomenon.
The myth of linearity is the meta-myth, which supports all the others. It is the belief that sequential logic rules the world. That everything is related by interminable chains of cause and effect. Linearity is the wellspring from which all the other myths emanate and this myth is the glue that binds all others together.
We have been too long now in the dark; too long victims of these trance-states. It is time to case off the dominance of the myth-smiths and reclaim authority over our own destiny. What they will look like no one can know, but I for one am all for finding out! - 31521
About the Author:
John Berling Hardy gives you the inside track on how to play the hidden game which is there in every one of life's social arenas. For more of his writings please visit www.playingtheplayers.com
