Sam Harris: “Hunter Biden could literally have had the corpses of children in his basement…I would not have cared”
(twitter.com)
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Boy do you have that right!! A relative of mine sent me a talk Sam did on spirituality/enlightenment 6 or 7 years ago. Previously I was trying to help my relative who showed a modicum of interest in spiritual awareness. He's a liberal/materialist through and through with no spiritual grounding.
Anyway, I listened to Sam and was astonished at the way he seemed to "sound" like he knew what he was saying, but in fact didn't understand even a modicum of what he thought he had learned about spirituality. Sam missed the fundamental points about as badly as they could have been missed. How? I have no idea.
It was as if Sam invented an entirely new intellectual framework over and around an already age-old, tried-and-true spiritual framework. That's about the best way I could describe it. In effect, he obfuscated an already paradoxical subject with additional intellectual paradoxes. A disservice to all of his listeners in short...
Suffice it to say, I told my relative to forget every word he heard unless he wanted to be more confused about spirituality than he already was. And that pretty much put an end of our spiritual discussions. C'est la vie!
Yup, that was spot on!
I was also introduced to Harris through his talks on spirituality, and had exactly the same takeaway: he draws people in with the promise of spiritual/intellectual enlightenment--people who are genuinely in pursuit of the truth--but he leads them astray with Orwellian newspeak. His messages are made to appear deep, but if you take the time to unpack his language you'll only find a mess of contradictory claims.
You know, I watch a lot of movies (probably too many for my own good) and I've noticed that they often partake in a similar scrambling of language. I think I know why: it's a delivery mechanism for propaganda. A movie's not going to tell its audience outright, "you know, I think you should kill yourself. It would be very noble if you committed suicide." But through scrambled narratives, encrypted symbols and the like, they can get the viewer to digest themes of self-sacrifice.
Once you become aware of this technique, you see it everywhere, and to this day I find it quite shocking what you can discover embedded in the newspeak.
You're speaking my language 1000%!! If only I could get people around me to understand. You're exactly right.
I was given spiritual guidance back in 2010 to turn off my TV and never watch any movies again. I had already cancelled cable by that time but still watched various NetFlix programs and such (i.e. "Breaking Bad", my guiltiest of pleasures at the time).
I thought I knew how to watch out for the programming and negativity. Boy was that arrogant of me. I couldn't have been more wrong.
It took me about 3 years of shutting down all movies and TV before I started to realize what was happening. The programming is deeply and subtly embedded, not only in the imagery and actions, but moreso in the "newspeak" as you say. It's right there, hidden in plain sight. But you can't see it while you're accustomed to being immersed in it. The best way I can describe it is that there is some sort of a veil of recognition of this. You literally CANNOT see it, until you finally can. Not helpful I realize, but that was my experience.
Needless to say, I became an even less popular person to hang out with after my total ban of all "programming", but I couldn't be happier about it today. If I hear a television playing in the background, it sounds like fingernails being screeched down a chalkboard to me. In fact, when listening to various video posters I like, whenever they snip-in segments from tv broadcasts, I can't handle more than 30 seconds of it without FF'ing past it. It's like poison for my mind/ears.
Anyway, good to find some folks here on the same wavelength that reinforce my own observations. Most everyone else around me thinks I'm bonkers on this topic.
I found it impossible to go cold turkey off of movies so I just slowly watched fewer over the course of 2017. From 4/week in month one (16), to 3/week in month two (12), etc. until I had weened myself off of the distraction all together. And I feel much better having done it. It's like I'm being de-programmed more and more without even trying now. Food for thought anyway...
As to Sam, his Dzogchen experience and discussion was so far off the mark, I couldn't even make sense of what he was saying because he had NO IDEA what he was saying. To this day I'm still baffled that he put that talk out, and, perhaps more surprisingly, that people actual found it useful/valuable. Suffice it to say, the programming runs far deeper than we can imagine....
Not being sarcastic here: it sounds like you might be further along in your spiritual development than I am. I'm aware, to an extent, of the propaganda techniques they employ in film, but I keep coming back to the well so to speak.
Part of the reason I make a point of calling out the dark nature of television "programming" (they love putting it in plain sight, don't they?) is because I need to convince myself to replace it with a healthier habit.
I don't know if it's possible to live a completely vice-free life, but the things they hide in movies are much more sinister than people realize. It's certainly a contributing factor to the ongoing mental health crisis in the US. Film addiction is the kind of vice where you can't know precisely the amount of damage you're doing to yourself - at best, you get a vague sensation that you're messing up your neural pathways.
Movies are perfectly designed for people like myself who view the world in patterns, narrative structures, moral analyses. Complex fiction tickles the brain in a way rarely offered by the real world.
That's all well and good, until you stop to consider the intentions of the storytellers.
I couldn't agree more with all your assessments. I love(d) movies!! There is something uniquely satisfying about them that you can get nowhere else. But as you said, what are the storyteller's real intentions?
It was not an easy habit to break. As I mentioned, I was told to drop them in 2010 and it wasn't until 2017 that I finally "saw the light".
Here's a little tip for you next time you're feeling like watching a movie. Consider the value of "spending" your attention versus "investing" it. I realize sometimes we all just need to let go with mindless entertainment. Consider the possibility of dropping off into a daydream of you as the main character in your own scripted reality. See where it leads. Maybe if only for 5-10 minutes. Imagine the perfect life for yourself in all its details. See where that leads...
You might find that this could potentially become a viable substitute for watching somebody else's "scripted reality" being impressed upon your consciousness. it's kinda like this; if you don't take on some ownership, then they'll gladly take that responsibility off your hands.
Anyway if none of that resonates, just toss it aside. I had zero inclination to do what a very wise man recommended to me in 2010. Deep down, I knew he was right but but I kept watching anyway. There's always a right time and place and rarely is it "here and now", until one day it just finally is.... :)