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!
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.
-- A great line and a truthful observation that will, I expect, encourage people to self-improve.
I'll caution you that childhood trauma is more common and more damaging, even among adults from seemingly benign backgrounds, than you may believe.
From that previously-linked article on the ACE study:
ACEs [Adverse Childhood Events] are Prevalent
The “ACE Score”
I mention this only because in my experience, nearly everyone, including many therapists, underestimate how common serious emotional damage really is. Just be ready for that, however you can. It will mean, among other things, that those you work with will have a difficult time adjusting their attitudes and behavior, and that recidivism will be common. That doesn't mean the work is wasted; it just means it'll be -- like getting that canoe up the ravine -- a serious pain in the ass sometimes. How you experience that, of course, is . . . up to you.
-- A great line and a truthful observation that will, I expect, encourage people to self-improve.
I'll caution you that childhood trauma is more common and more damaging, even among adults from seemingly benign backgrounds, than you may believe.
From that previously-linked article on the ACE study:
ACEs [Adverse Childhood Events] are Prevalent
The “ACE Score”
I mention this only because in my experience, nearly everyone, including many therapists, underestimate how common serious emotional damage really is. Just be ready for that, however you can. It will mean, among other things, that those you work with will have a difficult time adjusting their attitudes and behavior, and that recidivism will be common. That doesn't mean the work is wasted; it just means it'll be -- like getting that canoe up the ravine -- a serious pain in the ass sometimes. How you experience that, of course . . . is up to you. 😅