"You also see how predictable people are when they are stuck in their reactive patterns. You can see that in our leaders. They are not surprising or inspired in any way at all; they are monotonously boring and beholden to the patterning of their psychological conditioning, and their behavior is predictable. Evil, yes, but also predictable."
Sociopaths see everything as a zero-sum no-holds-barred winner-takes-all game, so, yes, our rulers are predictable.
Caitlin you are brilliant here in response to Chloe. As a psychotherapist for 50 years I can say you hit the nail on the head. Thank you from all of us.
Caitlin, what a wonderful (and personally insightful) article! Thank you (and Tim) for this! ❤️🙏
CJ>>"Imperial propaganda uses our fears, our tribal loyalties, our insecurities, and our learned helplessness to control us as efficiently as if they installed levers in our brain. If you dissolve those levers, you become a very dangerous entity to the machine. You become a free human being no longer acting in patterned and predictable ways, but moving with the needs of the moment. That is empowering."
👌👍💯👏
Much love and gratitude for your many empowering and deeply meaningful articles! ❤️🙏
Caitlin, you are the most articulate, brilliant and emotionally intelligent person I have ever encountered. Thank you Tim for your wonderful narration of her words.
Well, Caitlin, you've come up with some doozies, but this really is a doozie-doozie:
"You can see that the monsters who rule our world aren’t so much monsters as just little kids with far too much power unconsciously acting out their defense mechanisms. The suffering they cause is real and horrifying, but at the root of it, they are humans playing out a very human pattern. In this context, it’s comprehensible. You’ve found similar things in yourself, so it’s not an alien threat which defies understanding."
I teach Gen Zers and they are onto this whole idea that the empire is predictable. We had a convo about J. Edgar Hoover with more or less your premise that he was a wounded child with loads of power. I have to believe that laughing with others about the stupidity of the world when in full agreement chips away at its power bit by bit. I have been working on a memoiry thing called Writing about Boys where I show there is healing eventually in being a conscious witness to the matrix.
Thanks for this incredibly empowering, liberating and world healing post, Caitlin. When we heal we know how to respond to the world in a constructive and powerful way.
This is beautiful and needed. Thank you. It feels like so many of us wake up to how broken the world is, and the instinct is to despair or to want to “fix” everything before we can even begin healing. It’s powerful to be reminded that healing doesn’t require perfection or safety - it’s about leaning into discomfort, examining our unconscious reactions, and slowly working through them. That kind of inner work is resistance: building compassion, clarity, resilience. I appreciate the idea that we don’t have to wait for “the monsters to be vanquished” to start healing. Maybe healing ourselves is also part of what changes the world.
What a beautiful explanation of healing. I found mine through a 12-step fellowship.
We have the world we have the consciousness for, so our individual healing is the only solution to getting us out of this mess. In a very real way, getting free is the most powerful rebellion one can engage in.
Fuck yeah! Free Palestine, and cancel Israel.
Well said and agreed, Mr. Nasmith
This is the synthesis I needed. Healing is an active process, and resisting evil (and complacency and helplessness) is part of it. Fuck yeah!
synthesis. that is a good find to express what I often find listening to their essays.
"You also see how predictable people are when they are stuck in their reactive patterns. You can see that in our leaders. They are not surprising or inspired in any way at all; they are monotonously boring and beholden to the patterning of their psychological conditioning, and their behavior is predictable. Evil, yes, but also predictable."
Sociopaths see everything as a zero-sum no-holds-barred winner-takes-all game, so, yes, our rulers are predictable.
All human problems are psychological.
Caitlin you are brilliant here in response to Chloe. As a psychotherapist for 50 years I can say you hit the nail on the head. Thank you from all of us.
Caitlin, what a wonderful (and personally insightful) article! Thank you (and Tim) for this! ❤️🙏
CJ>>"Imperial propaganda uses our fears, our tribal loyalties, our insecurities, and our learned helplessness to control us as efficiently as if they installed levers in our brain. If you dissolve those levers, you become a very dangerous entity to the machine. You become a free human being no longer acting in patterned and predictable ways, but moving with the needs of the moment. That is empowering."
👌👍💯👏
Much love and gratitude for your many empowering and deeply meaningful articles! ❤️🙏
Caitlin, you are the most articulate, brilliant and emotionally intelligent person I have ever encountered. Thank you Tim for your wonderful narration of her words.
Well, Caitlin, you've come up with some doozies, but this really is a doozie-doozie:
"You can see that the monsters who rule our world aren’t so much monsters as just little kids with far too much power unconsciously acting out their defense mechanisms. The suffering they cause is real and horrifying, but at the root of it, they are humans playing out a very human pattern. In this context, it’s comprehensible. You’ve found similar things in yourself, so it’s not an alien threat which defies understanding."
Thank you.
I teach Gen Zers and they are onto this whole idea that the empire is predictable. We had a convo about J. Edgar Hoover with more or less your premise that he was a wounded child with loads of power. I have to believe that laughing with others about the stupidity of the world when in full agreement chips away at its power bit by bit. I have been working on a memoiry thing called Writing about Boys where I show there is healing eventually in being a conscious witness to the matrix.
“…a conscious witness to the matrix.” 💯
And once you see it, you can never unsee it! It happened to me a few years ago on my long walks. Mind blowing, and extremely emotional in a weird way.
Everything looks “different”.
'Let's face it'.
Thanks for this incredibly empowering, liberating and world healing post, Caitlin. When we heal we know how to respond to the world in a constructive and powerful way.
Took me over 40 years to learn that lesson… thank you for the essay
Fuck yeah!! And free Palestine!
This is beautiful and needed. Thank you. It feels like so many of us wake up to how broken the world is, and the instinct is to despair or to want to “fix” everything before we can even begin healing. It’s powerful to be reminded that healing doesn’t require perfection or safety - it’s about leaning into discomfort, examining our unconscious reactions, and slowly working through them. That kind of inner work is resistance: building compassion, clarity, resilience. I appreciate the idea that we don’t have to wait for “the monsters to be vanquished” to start healing. Maybe healing ourselves is also part of what changes the world.
Beautifully written, very helpful, many thanks!
What a beautiful explanation of healing. I found mine through a 12-step fellowship.
We have the world we have the consciousness for, so our individual healing is the only solution to getting us out of this mess. In a very real way, getting free is the most powerful rebellion one can engage in.
✌️💪
Thank You Caitlin
Profound analysis! Thank you