From the book "The Psychology of Self-Esteem" by Nathaniel Branden, circa 1969...recommended by a friend. The essence of the book is that, like food, water, shelter, security, etc. "self-esteem" is also a vital human need and that if goes unmet in many regards, pathological behaviors and tendencies ultimately arise. Anyway, the passage of particular interest was this:
pp 167-8: "Then there are the persons who are basically lacking in intellectual sovereignty. The worst guilt is reserved for this psychological type, i.e., those whose approach to moral judgments is authoritarian. In such cases, the force of their moral beliefs derives, not from rational understanding, but from the say-so of "significant others" [sic "experts/authorities"]. And when the authorities' rules are breached, there is no healthy core of inner sovereignty to protect the transgressors from feelings of metaphysical worthlessness. To themselves they are nothing but their bad actions. This is one of the reasons why pathological anxiety is often experienced as fear of the disapproval of others. "Others" are perceived as the voice of objective reality--calling them to judgment. It is among such persons that guilt is most often a conscious part of the anxiety experience. Also, it is among such persons that the anxiety itself is likely to be most severe."
This matches up very well with David Hawkins' work on developing his scale of consciousness in which he suggests that the lowest rungs of the scale are shame and guilt in which the person locked in these emotions is unable to properly apprehend reality and distinguish truth from falsehood.
What I found most interesting in this passage was the feelings of "Metaphysical Worthlessness". I'm translating this as a sense of purposelessness emanating deeply from within.
My rough translation of our current predicament is: The cabal is deliberately trying to create these pathological disorders through popular culture and then preying upon these people by creating the appearance of "Popular causes" (I support the next thing) that then temporarily fills the void of the NPCs/SJWs "metaphysical worthlessness" for a short while. In short, these people are 'adrift at sea' with a deep sense of purposelessness that are easily recruited to sustain the next "insane" thing they throw at us.
I'm curious as to what you all think of this...please share/discuss!
There may be some merit to that but what I believe is that people have a hard time admitting to themselves or anybody else, that they are/were wrong. It disrupts their entire world view.
For instance, a person who is say 80 years old and rejects the idea of God does so because to admit that God exists would be to admit that they have been wrong for 80 years. For 80 years, they have lied to and fooled themselves. That's a tough pill for a lot of people to swallow. To admit that they were wrong about the vaxx is to admit they allowed themselves to be injected with an experimental cocktail that is now wreaking havoc amongst many. They can't face that. Same with every other issue, so-called 'conspiracy theory,' etc. They can't face the truth that they've been wrong, wrong, wrong; they were swindled, they were stupid, their crazy conspiracy theory friends were right, etc.
Of course, to me, it's better to recognize you were wrong and move forward in the light, but what do I know?
I agree, but the heart of the issue is why these people are wrong to begin with (using the 'vaccines' as an example), and I think this theory helps explain this phenomenon. These people lack the ability to think for themselves because they don't believe they are capable of doing so, on account of low self-esteem. That the cabal promotes this and then leverages this to further their demonic globalist goals is a given.
I have an uncle who is a PhD who fits this to a T
Yes, I bet you know many people just like your uncle... I know I do. Basically a lot of this is due to a parenting failure, which has many causes. Both parents having to or choosing to work is a big one, but there are many others.
Weird thing is dad turned out fine. Uncle is a mess, aunt disappeared in the 70s and dad turned out just fine lol.
That is weird for sure! Have you ever thought about why? Maybe some different influences in their teenage years? People are extremely impressionable during this age.
Uncle was the oldest and dad was almost a mistake, five year difference. Dad credits it to him just sort of peacing out to go hunting rather than get involved in big brother and big sisters drama with mom and dad. Grandpa was a vet and a WWII POW so expectations were high which may be some of it.
Very interesting... thanks for sharing. I'm guessing you are happy to be more like your dad than your uncle.
Quite possibly. I don't know. I know some pretty humble people who don't think a lot of themselves but knew enough not to take the vaxx. It's probably a variety of different reasons for a variety of different people, or even a combination of reasons. Who knows?
Yes, true, there can be many factors in play. I think we can be humble and have healthy self-esteem at the same time though - they are not mutually exclusive.
I remember reading a list somewhere of the type of people most likely not to get the jab. Included were people that had experienced certain traumas early in life, people that were used to being the 'black sheep' within their extended family, people that had prior bad experiences with doctors, immigrants from totalitarian cultures, and several more that I can't remember. Fascinating stuff.
God has given them debased minds. They have to call on the most High to save them. ❤️
And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
Yes, self-esteem is a vital need, and real self-esteem comes from proper treatment in childhood (and earlier, actually).
People who are treated with love and respect in childhood have a natural, deeply grounded, life-long self-esteem that helps them deal with harsh truths and other negative experiences with grace and strength. When you've grown up being loved and esteemed (given freedom, respect, agency) you don't suddenly develop self-esteem issues as an adult. Nor are you cruel to others, with bizarre moral authoritarianism or anything else.
We've all known or at least met people with deep-seated self-esteem -- the kind that doesn't have a tense or grim overtone, that is generous and compassionate without being saccharine, that respects others and life generally but is, nonetheless, awake to those who are toxic.
For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence by Alice Miller describes the relevant dynamics in great detail, including a look at the childhoods of mass-murderers. Miller makes it clear that violence isn't the only problem stemming from cruelty in childhood, and that cruelty-free childhoods create very different and healthier personalities. For example:
Consider Jesus' ministry in this light:
Matthew 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
18:5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
and
John: 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
For specifics about the kinds of damage and symptoms created by trauma in childhood (from not only cruelty but from whatever source, such as loss of a parent), consider the ACE Study, with a cohort of over 17,000 people. You will be stunned at the findings, both in terms of how common such traumas are and the wide spectrum of harmful outcomes they create.
https://pinetreeinstitute.org/aces/
Great comments. Childhood traumas are incredibly devastating. I'm now evaluating solutions, both practical and spiritual in nature, to help them out of the darkness. Your comments are duly noted and integrated. Thanks!
I'd be interested to hear what you come up with, because this is a very tough nut to crack.
Repairing damage from trauma is notoriously difficult. Nearly all psychotherapy and self-help approaches involve STRENGTHENING defenses (i.e., making the person even MORE neurotic, because neurosis IS the repression of feeling).
That can lead to a CHANGE of defenses / symptoms which can be an improvement (more focus on exercise, less focus on alcohol for instance) but can just as easily be the reverse. And defenses / symptoms include things like high blood pressure that aren't usually visible or noticed, but which can have health effects.
Recidivism among psych patients, or for that matter those trying to eat less to lose weight or otherwise change their own behavior, is very high, and I don't know of anything that has a magic-bullet effect on reducing negative defenses / symptoms from emotional damage.
Alcoholics Anonymous is probably among the more effective approaches and even here, opinions, information, and study results are all over the map. But the format of people with a common problem coming together supportively with the same goal of changing a particular behavior problem is sound, I believe, either as a stand-alone approach or an adjunct to something else. Church is a similar example, which has of course been around far longer than AA. Such approaches don't work magic (they can't remove the trauma driving unhealthy behavior) but they CAN help, to one extent or another, millions of people to remove or at least lower the amount of unhealthy behavior they express and thus improve their lives.
These are all good points. I certainly don't think it's going to be easy. But I'm honed in on one simple concept at the moment. All these people feel unworthy, lacking a purpose in life, so they seek ways to escape these existential feelings.
Escapism from reality....put as simply as possible.
They need to re-engage with what's here and now, not with what was or what might be. This would include processing and INTEGRATING traumas, which isn't easy I understand. But failure to do so leads to further degradation, further DIS-INTEGRATION, further fragmentation of the mind (neuroses, psychoses).
So there are really only two choices. To integrate or to continue to disintegrate.
I'm just trying to get my mind wrapped around the ESSENCE at this stage. But I'm interested in your take on where I'm at thus far. I realize major, serious trauma is a difficult situation, no matter what. I don't think there's any "quick fix" other than facing it head-on, which many are not ready to do.
P.S. BTW, I think psychiatry and popular psychology are mistaken about a great many things. Not to say this sort of counseling doesn't work out for some people. But my hunch is, for those where traditional counseling, or AA or other mainstream approaches actually worked out well, it was the individual who ultimately had to make the choice of integration over continued disintegration. Just an early hunch. I could be wrong.
Yes, absolutely. I'll have more to say about your overall comment later, when I have a bigger chunk of time to work with.
Great, I appreciate it. I appreciate your thoughts and contributions Narg!
Jungle Jean: The Life and Times of Jean Liedloff, the Woman who Transformed Modern Parenting with The Continuum Concept by Geralyn Gendreau
The Continuum Concept: In Search Of Happiness Lost by Jean Liedloff
September 5, 2022
Morpheus11 --
I've written a longish reply and set it aside. Instead, I'm going to focus on Jean Leidloff, author of The Continuum Concept: In Search Of Happiness Lost, first published in 1975 and IMO one of the most important books on psychology and the human condition ever written.
A biography of Liedloff was published last year by Geralyn Gendreau who met Jean in the mid-1990s, when Jean was in her late 60s. Her book is every bit as excellent as The Continuum Concept and expands upon Jean's observations and theory with an extended look at Jean herself and how her experiences helped shape her views. Further, it shows that Jean's deep understanding of human nature and of her own early life did not heal her of the emotional wounds inflicted on her younger self, but did improve her life in a number of ways.
As a young girl, Liedloff had a powerful experience while alone in a forest glade -- a glimpse of her real, healthy self and of the world as it should be. She describes the experience in The Continuum Concept and Gendreau retells that story in her biography of Liedloff (in Chapter 2). That experience guided, centered, and enriched Jean for the rest of her life.
If you've not already encountered Liedloff, I recommend you start by visiting Amazon and downloading the free sample of Geralyn Gendreau's Jungle Jean: The Life and Times of Jean Liedloff, the Woman who Transformed Modern Parenting with The Continuum Concept.
Read the Prologue and Chapters One and (if the Sample goes this far) Chapter 2. That will either knock you out, or I've misread our conversation.
Liedloff spent years with primitive tribes in the Amazon and saw first-hand how different people are when they grow up without the heavy emotional repression so common in the world.
From Chapter 3 of Gendreau's biography of Liedloff:
BEGIN QUOTE
She climbed up ten yards and perched high on a rock. From that vantage point at a distance from the action, she noticed a curious fact. There, before her, was a group of men engaged in a single shared task. (Lugging a canoe up a steep, rocky ravine). Two of them were tense, frowning, losing their tempers at everything and everyone, cursing in the distinctive way of Tuscan men. The Tauripan guides, on the other hand, were having a fine time of it. They were laughing at the unwieldy canoe and making a game of the battle with gravity and rock. Between pushes, they showed off their scrapes and bruises. When, once again, the canoe would wobble forward, pin one, then another of them underneath it, they responded with amusement rather than upset. The fellow who was held barebacked against the scorching granite invariably laughed the loudest -- once he could breathe again.
All the men were doing the same work. All were experiencing strain and pain. All were sweating in the blazing hot sun. There was no difference in their situations except one -- Jean and the Italians had been conditioned by their culture to believe that such a combination of circumstances was at the very bottom of the scale of wellbeing. What's more, they were quite unaware they had a choice, any other option, as to how they could experience that situation.
The guides were equally unaware of their choice. These supposedly primitive people had also been conditioned to deal with their circumstances in a particular way. They knew what lay ahead but hadn't spent the days before the trek wallowing in dread -- quite the contrary. They approached the portage in a perfectly merry mood. They seemed to revel in the camaraderie. Each forward move of the canoe was viewed as a victory, a cause for celebration.
. . . So pure was the sweet freedom she had experienced that afternoon, she vowed to live that liberation ever after. But within a few days, the sweetness gave way to the tyranny of habit, to the great pull of conditioning that only sustained conscious effort can countermand.
END QUOTE
The difference in the two groups of men -- both in their behavior and in what we infer about their inner experience -- is jaw-dropping.
I'll point out that calling the difference between the natives and first-worlders "conditioning" is as misleading as would be using that term to describe the difference between a paraplegic on crutches and someone who can walk normally. Something much deeper and more entrenched than "conditioning" is involved in both cases.
This is a most exceptional missive Narg, fantastic! I especially resonated with this sentence: "What's more, they were quite unaware they had a choice, any other option, as to how they could experience that situation."
That's the whole shooting match in a nutshell. And I couldn't agree more with you in the fact that our cultural upbringing (conditioning), has everything to do with it.
There are many factors I am currently assembling with a friend at this time. I do things hierarchically and attempt to boil down complexity to its bare essence and encapsulate in one sentence. Here is the top line of my hierarchy at the moment:
"A healthy self-esteem and feeling confident with our individual perceptions and abilities is our NATURAL state of being". Where "Natural" and "Normal" are not synonymous in any way.
This is my "top line" assessment and as you have pointed out, has everything to do with our "conditioning" (indoctrination/brainwashing) into BELIEVING in things that "just ain't so", in the words of Mark Twain.
Suffice it to say, somebody out there would like our "normal" to be as far away from out "natural" state of being as possible. This explains our present reality in a nutshell. That which we take as axiomatic about ourselves, and the world around us is 100% lies and deceptions. And this explains our state of psychological dissociation. In a nutshell...
We are not PERCEIVING REALITY, as a collective. We are PERCEIVING a FALSE REALITY, brought to us by our authorities and experts in all walks of life. And this leads to the "DIS-INTEGRATION" of the mind and emotions, as we feel forced to accept/comply/obey something that we instinctively reject. Ultimately some are better at coping with this than others.
And thanks for sharing the book and links. I'll take a look at those chapters and get back with you later.
Let me know what you think!
P.S. I'm not including severe trauma as part of this overarching assessment I shared. While ultimately what I say applies to these situations as well, there is certainly more to it.
In other words: why can’t kids these days get off their cellphones? Because education has been failing for decades, “media” and “big tech” have an agenda.
There's no doubt about it.
This explains many Facebook dwellers. They get self-esteem by posting things in order to get the approval of others. They treat it as a legit community and will do anything to avoid judgement. They need the herd mentality and knowing that they are 'all in this together'. No wonder most of them bragged about being fortunate enough to get injected. After all, they were doing their fair share.
You are spot on with that observation. Fakebook "likes" are filling the void.
It's kind of scary to imagine what they would do if there was no more Fakebook (or any other similar lamestream social media platforms.
Thanks for your comments.
Brilliant post!
I have not read all the comments and don't want to just end up possibly regurgitating what someone else has already said, but your summary is quite fitting. The references not only support your summary of today's recruitment of of lost purposeless people but really addresses quite a bit of society's current mental illness at large.
Again, a very thought provoking post, well timed given the present madness in government and education, et all.
Thanks for your comment. I've been re-reading this passage for 5 days now. I'm still integrating its implications. It clearly speaks to what we're seeing with today's insanity.
Self-esteem at a high level is just pointless ego. It's even more dangerous when their heads and hearts are so empty that they can easily be swayed by any figure of authority that they follow without question.
I was the guy who started a D&D campaign in high school in a Christian university. We had our dice and 'demonic' books out in the open and we played every lunch break and after classes. It's understandable as to why the approval of the majority of my peers means so little to me.
Whenever I felt like I had no purpose, I found something productive to do for myself, be it learning programming, making my own games, learning to draw, learning how to write Japanese and Chinese characters or working out.
While I do have a bit of an ego sometimes, the first thought that always comes to mind if something doesn't seem right is "Did I do something wrong?" or "Did I misunderstand something?"
A lot of things are still unknown to us right now and some things might not be what they appear to be. It's a dangerous time to be inflexible.
As long as your set of beliefs are built up from your own experiences and insights, then it's okay to be stubborn with them. We all have to stand for something, after all. It's only really bad when you just have bootleg beliefs that's passed down second hand from someone else.
Yep, that's the scary part. Even scarier, that whomever one is borrowing those beliefs from can sway millions of minions with a few relentless media blasts. Like maybe shunning your friends/family for not wearing a mask or taking the jab, eh?
Our belief systems are almost always passed down from past generations - we then alter them to degrees based on our own experiences. Self-esteem is part of this - if your family unit teaches you real skills at a young age, you develop the idea that you are a capable person and therefore experience self-worth, or self-esteem. Ego and stubbornness are different animals.
You are right. Perhaps it was better to say that being stubborn with the wrong mindset for the time is dangerous.
I agree with this. While I wasn't actually taught that many skills, I was fortunate enough to be in an environment where I was left alone with resources to learn things on my own. While my father didn't teach me many skills, he was there to tell me stories and he bought me 2-3 sets of encyclopedias to read and eventually got me a computer for me to learn how to program on when I was a kid.
My mother wants to 'do everything' for my niece and nephew even if it's trivial and I know it's dangerous for their development. I stop her and tell them to learn how to do things on their own. I take the time to make them participate with cooking and I've taught them to lift those 5 gallon distilled water containers from the door to the kitchen, made them butcher and debone a whole chicken and then batter it up when they want to eat breaded fried chicken. When my nephew wanted ice cream, I made him walk with me in the rain to the store to get some so that he'd understand what it took to get ice cream under those conditions.
I'm aware that it's very hard to break out of being raised in a bad environment, but we're not all dealt the same cards when we start.
I believe I've read that it takes about 3 generations to subvert a society, based on what Yuri Besmenov said in his video. That would mean the current generation that was raised wrong and can't adapt will have to die out due to their poor upbringing and decisions before the survivors who got it right can raise a new generation with the proper values. The kids they leave behind will fall into hardship and that will hopefully give those that survive to grow up a better mindset.
All excellent points and I can tell that your kids are going to be part of the solution as opposed to begin part of the problem. I have also heard the '3 generations' theory and it sounds accurate to me.