PDA

View Full Version : Be Wary of Absolutes



Freed Fox
10th March 2013, 02:21
As human beings we like to paint with broad strokes. Doing otherwise requires a greater complexity in our thinking. Dealing in absolutes does us little service, and in fact can do much harm.

Think of the concepts and movements which have been co-opted as a result of this practice. Hippies were thought of and portrayed as dirty, smelly, lazy, drug-addled misfits and thus the things they believed in and talked about were regarded in the same light.

As the wise modwiz once said regarding a similar idea, "it either gets infected or disinfected. If it can't be made to replicate the virus, it will be rendered sterile".

This includes environmentalism. "Tree-hugger" is one of the labels I hate the most. Such is seen as ungrounded, idealistic, lovey-dovey garbage. If you really think about it, though, being an advocate of the environment is the most grounded and intelligent approach to these issues. What could possibly be more important than ensuring the continuation of this planet and its ability to support life?

Unfortunately, the policies of many governments and corporations suggest that the economy is more important than the environment. This is afforded public support in part through the use of labels such as 'tree-hugger', and the associated images which are evoked.

This is the way public perception is ever so subtly influenced; mental association and our tendency to think in absolutes.

There should be nothing taboo or shameful about the 'New Age', as many of the concepts contained therein are empowering and beneficial. Over time it has been co-opted, at least in part, by individuals who are pseudo-spiritual 'gurus' looking to make a quick buck from what they see as an exploitable demographic (or, they are simply narcissists looking to feed their ego). It doesn't take long for the whole subset of concepts and ideas to be bastardized, and this becomes all that outsiders see.

The baby is thrown out with the bathwater on a routine basis.

When someone is brainwashed, it is often through usage of 'triggers'. That is, seeing or hearing one thing elicits the thinking or acting out of another. It is not because the trigger and the result are actually intimately related. This is a designed response, and often the trigger is completely different from the effect it brings about.

Advertisements do the very same thing. They make repeated suggestions that in order to experience happiness, belonging, fulfillment, we need to go out and buy x, y, and z. X = happiness, Y = belonging, and Z = fulfillment.

This brings me to the way in which extraterrestrials and particularly reptillians are depicted. Now, in pop culture (TV, movies, etc) they are almost unanimously villainous. I think this is conditioning akin to what is described above.

I'm not interested in any major debate about E.T. influence or who is really behind the so-called Powers-That-Be. What is absolutely undeniable about this is that somewhere near the top of the pyramid are human beings just like you and me, except less empathetic and more sociopathic. Whether or not E.T.'s occupy the level above these people, this control relies upon the existence of human controllers.

Now, if you take the view that much (if not all) of the mainstream media is controlled or at least overseen or dictated by these controllers, then why would E.T.'s be portrayed so negatively? Why are almost all reptillian humanoids in fictional works cast as villains? Completely counter-intuitive if you buy in to the so-called 'reptillian agenda'.

I absolutely advocate caution. We must remain aware that deception can and does take place. However, I think it would be the deepest tragedy if there was at last an open visitation by benevolent E.T.s, only for them to be killed or chased away by paranoid fanatics just because said E.T.s happen to be reptiles. The way some people around here talk, it sounds as if there is nothing any E.T. race could possibly do to earn their trust. I'm afraid that ego-driven, human-centric kind of thinking would only exacerbate the problem.

Not all humans are either good or bad. Some are virtuously good and others are horrifically bad. That is the truth you will find by looking at Earth and her history objectively. Therefore it only makes sense that other sentient beings would follow the same basic principle.

One bad apple DOES NOT spoil the bunch. If you actually believe that, then you are all just as bad as Adolf Hitler, or Genghis Khan, or any other murderer or rapist who has ever existed.

Please, don't fall prey to baseless speculation and/or false equivalency.

Be wary of absolutes.

Freed Fox
11th March 2013, 19:08
Hmm, I had thought at least a few would have something to say about this...

I think it's surprising how many larger issues stem from this. It is not a simple lesson to learn; more like the process of finding/knowing yourself. It requires a careful attendance to our thoughts. It helps us to trace the roots of our beliefs, and understand why we may have rejected others.

DNA
11th March 2013, 19:28
I hear what you are saying. It makes it easier to believe or express disbelief in something. That's what you are talking about really, belief. As much as I take in regarding UFO's, psychic phenomenon, government conspiracies, ancient archeology and what not, I rarely believe any of the sources I see coming down the pipe.
It takes a lot for me to take something and believe or express 100% disbelief, becuase I realize that I honestly don't know.

For the record, there are some things which have either rang true and or been corroborated to such an extent I do believe them.

Edgar Cayce is up there, and for what it is worth I believe Billy Meier as well.
Though I believe these things I understand folks who do not, and I would never profess to push this stuff on people.
Far from it.


I think it's funny, a lot of channelling talks in absolutes, and for me there is a big warning sign that comes with that.
Absolutes are trying to be contagious a lot of times, they want to share their conviction with others, the danger here is bypassing your own barometer for what is real and depending on the one who is imparting the conviction. Thus giving away your power.

ulli
11th March 2013, 20:01
Setting standards of absolutes for oneself is healthy, to a point. ;)

Kiforall
11th March 2013, 20:35
After learning about the amount of BS we as humanity have been fed over our entire history it seems fair that eventually there is going to the ultimate choice. The choice that is going to tip the scales, so to speak.

I just hope that enough people are going to see through the next deception, I have no idea what it is going to be but I'm pretty sure the chances of out of the frying pan into the fire are pretty reasonable considering how TPTB are currently turning up the heat. People are so desperate to be saved from it all in my opinion the only way we can be sure it isn't another control mechanism is to do it alone, no outside interference and any interference that is here now must go.

Gekko
12th March 2013, 20:26
Hmm, I had thought at least a few would have something to say about this...

I thought of responding, but you covered all of the major points in your explanation. With good examples. Sometimes all that's left is the thanks button. :p

I've seen a few excellent topics on the forum pass by like that.

I too think it a pity when inherently neutral terms, concepts, ideas and even people acquire a stale aftertaste. We see this at work overtime in the media. One person from a minority or subculture commits a crime or acts a certain way, and it reinforces pre-existing stereotypes. Worse is when it's simply a difference that invokes fear because of misunderstanding or rigid beliefs. It can be difficult to dispel that kind of thinking when outnumbered.

sigma6
14th March 2013, 04:46
We may be caught in relative truths within our finite lives and limited knowledge... but that is a limitation of our own perception.

Truth itself is an absolute. As is the principle of Love.

Freed Fox
14th March 2013, 05:15
I agree that we are largely limited to relative/subjective truths. Some believe that is all there is, but I believe there must be an underlying absolute/objective truth underneath (even if it is imperceptible to us at this level).

There is great danger in accepting or presenting one's relative truth as the absolute. We see this demonstrated by dictators, demagogues, religions...those who claim a monopoly on understanding.

niki
15th March 2013, 09:50
As human beings we like to paint with broad strokes. Doing otherwise requires a greater complexity in our thinking. Dealing in absolutes does us little service, and in fact can do much harm.

Think of the concepts and movements which have been co-opted as a result of this practice. Hippies were thought of and portrayed as dirty, smelly, lazy, drug-addled misfits and thus the things they believed in and talked about were regarded in the same light.

As the wise modwiz once said regarding a similar idea, "it either gets infected or disinfected. If it can't be made to replicate the virus, it will be rendered sterile".

This includes environmentalism. "Tree-hugger" is one of the labels I hate the most. Such is seen as ungrounded, idealistic, lovey-dovey garbage. If you really think about it, though, being an advocate of the environment is the most grounded and intelligent approach to these issues. What could possibly be more important than ensuring the continuation of this planet and its ability to support life?

Unfortunately, the policies of many governments and corporations suggest that the economy is more important than the environment. This is afforded public support in part through the use of labels such as 'tree-hugger', and the associated images which are evoked.

This is the way public perception is ever so subtly influenced; mental association and our tendency to think in absolutes.

There should be nothing taboo or shameful about the 'New Age', as many of the concepts contained therein are empowering and beneficial. Over time it has been co-opted, at least in part, by individuals who are pseudo-spiritual 'gurus' looking to make a quick buck from what they see as an exploitable demographic (or, they are simply narcissists looking to feed their ego). It doesn't take long for the whole subset of concepts and ideas to be bastardized, and this becomes all that outsiders see.

The baby is thrown out with the bathwater on a routine basis.

When someone is brainwashed, it is often through usage of 'triggers'. That is, seeing or hearing one thing elicits the thinking or acting out of another. It is not because the trigger and the result are actually intimately related. This is a designed response, and often the trigger is completely different from the effect it brings about.

Advertisements do the very same thing. They make repeated suggestions that in order to experience happiness, belonging, fulfillment, we need to go out and buy x, y, and z. X = happiness, Y = belonging, and Z = fulfillment.

This brings me to the way in which extraterrestrials and particularly reptillians are depicted. Now, in pop culture (TV, movies, etc) they are almost unanimously villainous. I think this is conditioning akin to what is described above.

I'm not interested in any major debate about E.T. influence or who is really behind the so-called Powers-That-Be. What is absolutely undeniable about this is that somewhere near the top of the pyramid are human beings just like you and me, except less empathetic and more sociopathic. Whether or not E.T.'s occupy the level above these people, this control relies upon the existence of human controllers.

Now, if you take the view that much (if not all) of the mainstream media is controlled or at least overseen or dictated by these controllers, then why would E.T.'s be portrayed so negatively? Why are almost all reptillian humanoids in fictional works cast as villains? Completely counter-intuitive if you buy in to the so-called 'reptillian agenda'.

I absolutely advocate caution. We must remain aware that deception can and does take place. However, I think it would be the deepest tragedy if there was at last an open visitation by benevolent E.T.s, only for them to be killed or chased away by paranoid fanatics just because said E.T.s happen to be reptiles. The way some people around here talk, it sounds as if there is nothing any E.T. race could possibly do to earn their trust. I'm afraid that ego-driven, human-centric kind of thinking would only exacerbate the problem.

Not all humans are either good or bad. Some are virtuously good and others are horrifically bad. That is the truth you will find by looking at Earth and her history objectively. Therefore it only makes sense that other sentient beings would follow the same basic principle.

One bad apple DOES NOT spoil the bunch. If you actually believe that, then you are all just as bad as Adolf Hitler, or Genghis Khan, or any other murderer or rapist who has ever existed.

Please, don't fall prey to baseless speculation and/or false equivalency.

Be wary of absolutes.

@Freed Fox : thank you so much for creating this thread, and being really bold and straight-to-the-point, and also for being critical!

I'm sure if all people are honest with themselves in this forum, that they can learn a lot from your thread here,
even I have learned somehow to "not throw the baby out with the bathwater".

All in all, Critical-thinking is always needed in order to dissect and able to discern cautiously which one is true and which one is false/made-up and/or lies. especially in today's "post-modern anything-goesss" era.