382 - Peeling of Realities

If the truth can be told so as to be understood, it will be believed. ~Terence McKenna

If someone had told me that in my later adulthood I would be witnessing a separation of realities, I wouldn't have believed it, but here we are. The internet has created factions of stern believers in all sorts of ideas and ideologies, that once taken hold are difficult to diffuse. Those who have not spent time understanding their own mind/consciousness are subject to conditioning. Understanding the mind is a life-long process because it is more than what we could possibly write down or comprehend in one sitting or even in one lifetime. We cannot fully understand individual consciousness by surface dwelling with spiritual tools of the day or reading books or taking mind-altering drugs or meditating in silence... Realizing and proactively using mind/consciousness means a difficult discovery of looking at our own behaviour, its cause/effect, and self-awareness through the insight that there are many varied perceptions in this world - all constantly changing and malleable.

Religious leaders, government/institution insiders, psychologists, advertisers/media, cult-leaders and gurus have all understood the power of suggestion. People will rigidly believe in something if it is presented simply and with conviction, and if they are in need of a feeling of camaraderie. Then, people will behave in a way that brings about situations to substantiate those beliefs. The pandemic has isolated many people to the point of desperately seeking out associations, and here is where they've turned to the internet.

Humanity has always felt that their current situation is the worst - we come out the other side and realize we're still here, and then no, NOW it's the worst. But, we will come out again, and learn that nothing has really changed when it comes to trying to understand reality... Is this all we're going to do? In perpetuity? When will we understand that our situations, whether seen as negative or positive, are self-created? When will we understand that people have different ways of being? Your way of knowing is not the same as someone else's - yet for some reason some people believe that what they think is the indisputable truth of a matter, and anyone who doesn't think the same way is just wrong.

Consider that there is truth in everything, because if it's seen as a reality, there's truth in it simply because it exists. I don't have to convince you about my way of looking at the world because I don't care to change your mind as a result of mine - you are responsible for your own views. It's when people decide to force their particular views onto others that it's a problem. This is why it's important to look at the views of others, expanding one's reality to at least know what others think and why.

More than ever we see a separation of realities, where certain groups of people have decided that what they believe is the truth for everyone. It's just not the case, and incredibly condescending to think it is. When the majority in a society have decided collectively to adhere to particular laws and codes of conduct, it's an agreement of how to participate with others in our surroundings. When people decide that they no longer want to adhere to particular laws and codes of conduct, there is a slow wash that comes over us, where ideas start to change minds and new laws are written or repealed. 

Revolutions come about by sudden changes in a portion of a population's beliefs, where a slow wash is too slow for them, and that group of people decide change needs to happen NOW. We are at a critical point in how we receive information (or disinformation/misinformation as the case may be) in that people wanting a revolution are living in echo-chambers of awareness, algorithms and social bubbles - they believe that they are a majority in our society, when in fact, they are a small, however loud, group. They believe they are a majority because the people they listen to and socialize with all think the same way - they live in a reality that doesn't include the realities of others - and so, desperately try to change others towards their way of thinking.

Ignoring this small group, as many seem to want to do, is not helpful because just as the group is loud now, they will become increasingly angry, that is where violence comes in. By understanding and being compassionate towards those of us who are dissatisfied with life as it stands, we can come to arrangements as to how they can expand their reality to include others who don't think they way they do. The avenues of change are there, and the more we can share maps that explain how to navigate established systems or even create new ones, the better we can all live our lives, in whatever reality we choose -- 

As long as it doesn't force others into having no individual choice. Every decision has a consequence, there is no escaping that truth, and if you don't like the consequence of your choice, make a different one. But know that some consequences will not have a likable outcome no matter what you choose, and that is a reality.