This essay reminds me of Robert Anton Wilson, a person hero. Belief should always be questioned. Especially one’s own. Unfortunately I find that very few are open to this attitude, and many more are quite hostile to it. Dogma is truly the death of reason.
I have a distinct memory of a friend of mine bringing me a very dog eared 1st edition copy of R.A.W.’s Cosmic Trigger one day in 1998, which of course blew my mind and sent me down a Wilsonian rabbit hole. Many years later when I asked that friend about that day and thanked him he vehemently denied ever having heard of the book, let alone gifting it to me. True story ( in my narrative anyway… ). Hahhaha!
An East German friend was seventeen years old when the Berlin Wall came down. He said that the actual reason the Soviet Union collapsed was simply because there was no one left who believed anything the government media said. They collapsed under the weight of their own lies.
Those who presume to feed us propaganda and propel this current narrative have, in their hubris, overplayed their hand. This is a good thing, the silver lining. These lies become unsustainable.Every push of ridiculous lies wakes a up a few more. People get red-pilled. No one ever gets blue-pilled.
I read recently a quote, something along the lines of: it’s not necessary to make people believe the propaganda. The purpose of the propaganda is to demoralize and destabilize so no one can agree what is true. So, now that their narrative is showing its weaknesses, it becomes increasingly important to anchor our own narratives of truth and ethics, and join with others in the work.
Very good point. Now Bill Gates is trying to sell climate lockdowns "to save the planet". After the past 2 or 3 years are the majority going to accept this nonsense? We have come to the critical point of this control system, we should each one have access to enough information to come to a good decision re the future. You just have to look and use the space between your ears to think objectively.
Caitlin, you cleave through the BS and take no prisoners in your search for the truth. If only there was one leader today with an ounce of your integrity I might still have hope for the future.
"The quest is not just to refute propaganda, but to cease having an experience that is dominated by narrative."
this is impossible - we humans use narrative to make sense of out world - we are story telling animals - the quest is to understand this truth and to take control of it by examining where our personal narratives come from and who benefits from others .... without assuming we know their narrative
even the people we point out as "controlling" the narrative are more than likely living from unexamined narratives of their own - or at least unquestioned ones - we are all part of a narrative that began a very very long time ago
We do seem wired to love and crave stories. But can we ever have an independent personal story that is not significantly shaped by the dominant collective narrative/reality? And might the people scripting that controlling narrative know exactly what they are doing and how to do it?
Personally, I don’t believe those who craft and deliver the controlling narrative have unexamined lives—they have examined their lives and they’ve made a conscious choice to manipulate and control and deceive us away from truth and into a reality tunnel that increases their own power and wealth (usually at the expense of everyone else who is not in The Big Club). They do that willfully and without empathy.
But—maybe—that’s just my personal narrative. Still, until I get evidence to the contrary, I’m sticking to it.
Is the unexamined life worth living? Tolkien thought so. Look at most of the hobbits.
I began to doubt and question at the age of 13. 53 years later I am amazed that there is still so much to question and learn about the Universes outside and inside.
Thank you for getting me to look up the definitions. One definition says it is basically everything including space. There are other definitions. Physicists count a myriad of Universes.
So, the next reasonable question to ask and answer is why would anyone ever let the narratives of others overrule their own narrative?
That just doesn't happen when a person is secure in the narrative they've developed.
But who develops their own narrative?
We live in a world where developing your own narrative is frowned upon, ridiculed, and despised – unless you can get OODLES of people to agree with and follow it. Then the same narrative that was bonkers when you were alone in it suddenly becomes worthy of some consideration, at least – as long as it’s got the numbers and doesn’t challenge prevailing narratives that everyone believes are central and crucial to their security.
If your narrative does “threaten ______ security” (fill in the blank), then you’re a no-good, a rebel, an insurrectionist, a cult leader, a megalomaniac, especially if you're so secure you can stand on your narrative even when everyone around you disagrees or spurns you or even attacks you -- *not* because your narrative is wrong, because people who attack over narratives have done shitall to figure out what's right and wrong. You become the “enemy” merely because you have, in their minds, “threatened ______ security.
Insecure people attack. People who are so beaten down, beset with inferiority, and powerless that they cannot imagine creating their own narratives – let alone a narrative that diverges from prevailing, central narratives – cannot tolerate threats to their security.
Secure people have no need to attack anyone. They can defend against their attackers. But when someone tries to rape their children, they’ll fucking attack those people.
Why don't people develop their own narratives and marvel and appreciate the narratives of others? Why do people think that narratives are something to spurn and attack and eliminate people over?
Obviously, this is a psychotic degree of insecurity. But it's all we've known, so it's been "normal" ever since we were kids.
We are that abjectly insecure because, since day one of our lives, our security proved to be either baseless (neglect) or it was undermined ("parenting") or it was devastated (abuse).
After all, *everyone knows* (right?) that children are *always wrong* until the gods of their world *make them to be right*.
And no one seems to notice that doing so is none other than psycho-spiritual rape.
Soul-rape.
Well, after a lifetime of "learning” – i.e., being penetrated without consent for the insertion and embedding of cognitive and affective (far more important) information into our psyches, whether we wanted it or not, whether we thought it was true or not, and getting punished if we resisted – having been soul-raped by every "authority" in our lives, *dictated to* about true and false, right and wrong, smart and stupid, success and failure, is it any wonder we come out with Stockholm syndrome that's socially approved as "good" and "moral" and "respectable" and "nice"?
No sane, free, secure person allows others to overrule their own narrative. Such people are *not* considered normal by most others, who see them as abnormal, “wild”, “uncontrollable”, “dangerous”. Of course they’re abnormal, because the first rule of normality is "must conform".
Conform to what?
To the prevailing normality, whatever it might be. The “what” is variable, but conforming is not. Conforming is mandatory and absolute.
For authentic people, there is no "normal”. They're not interested in conforming to anyone or anything other than what *they* want and *they* decide is true. Nor are they interested in forcing others to conform to them.
We live in a world where freedom is the worst threat to security imaginable. We’re watching people by the billions beg for their freedom to be taken from them, trusting that they’ll get security in exchange.
And of course they will get it. Nothing is more guarded and secure than the capital of a capitalist. And the most valuable kind of capital is peepstock, aka “human resources”.
People who are “normal”, who bristle and object to creating their own narratives without regard to the centralized, approved ones, who expect everyone else to conform to the narratives that they selected for themselves – these are not powerful, secure people. That’s why they believe there is “strength in numbers”. That’s why they believe that they are powerless *unless* they join or create numbers.
That’s why they don’t recognize what real power is.
None of them have gone through a detox and deprogramming process to free themselves from the raped-in crap they grew up with. None of them is secure enough to develop and stand on their own independent narrative ("Uh... what's that?") when everyone around them disagrees or THREATENS THEIR RELATIONSHIP OVER THE DISAGREEMENT.
How does being *extorted* by people you’re dependent on constitute a “relationship”?
I love this comment - for many reasons. I have been living a distinct "narrative" and I am convinced to this day that I am correct. - stunningly, no one even bothers to question my story - or ask for clarification/explanation - they just attack because it's easier for them. I have been abused by Ruling Class actions for 28 years because I was in a distinct place to learn things I wish I never had. I think that living your own specific narrative is important and helps the individual remain sovereign to themselves. I prefer a society where everyone is a little different. I left my fathers house @ 16 years old, I dropped out of University when I realized I wasn't getting an education - I was being indoctrinated. I have resigned from more than 1 job due to actual criminal treatment. Staying authentic to ones self is the only way to actually be free - we may be in a cell without walls or bars - but there is 1 thing these Crooked Rulers will never have = my stubborn and absolute refusal to just "go along to get along". The real power in any person is the quality of character they exude in every action that they take. Joining Mobs is easy - standing alone against Tyranny - well, that is the hardest thing I have done & will NOT relent & will never give up. No matter what! I failed the world badly once - but never again.
Glad to hear from you Scott! Yeah man, stay strong. I mean, what else can we do? I'm not going to live a lie anymore. I realized that the vehemence in the attacks only proves how powerless these charlatans and attackers are. Who cares how violent they can be when they direct their violence at the least bit of exposure/disclosure, precisely because they've actually got *nothing*. They've got lies which fly only because they've flooded the place with sewage and called it "air".
Agreed - really nice to find a forum of free thinkers like yourself. Yes, these charlatans are completely exposed - that's why both sides flood the airwaves with nonsensical conspiracies = they are all involved in 1 that will destabilize the power structures. All their narratives are disintegrating and we are now watching them all "eat each other". it will probably get worse before it gets better. I fear no reprisals and the last few years I have been sleeping very soundly. Thanks Millard - it's always good to hear like minded observations from others trapped in this matrix.
Hey contact me, you say, "I can elucidate exactly what has been happening & why if anyone is interested." I want to hear. millardjmelnyk@proton.me. Couldn't find contact info for you. Found a "Scott Wright" profile on Facebook, but not sure if it's you.
Narratives are unavoidable but they are simply someone's point of view, or that of societal institutions as tools for control. And certain forms and implements of control have positive and liberating value, and others don't. Society itself is neutral, can be good or bad depending on its forms and objectives. But the fact is those forms and objectives have been hijacked, in the past and at present, by powerful elements in their own selfish and destructive interests. It's a matter of unravelling, analyzing, finding security in insecurity, and having faith that good exists, and is the basis of all creation. The true narrative is, salvation is awareness of the gift of creation of which we are all equally part: there is no other kind.
What kind of narratives do I / we want? That's how I prefer to think these days. It's useful to criticize but it's also important and rather harder to imagine and propose alternatives that might help us.
I've often wondered what makes some people quite willing to see their paradigm shattered while most are, understandably, fearful. I suspect the use of psychedelics may be a factor.
I'd like a narrative spun in reality where the world isn't blown to smithereens through nuclear warfare, and we actually are compelled take action to alleviate the effects of climate change before it's too late. The oligarchs who actually rule the world don't seem to think those are stories worth telling, alas.
But even your hand before your face is a type of narrative in the Matrix. The color you see in your hand is not really color, but electromagnetic frequency waves. And scientists today, don't even know how one perceives color itself. How is "color" color? And where and what is the Self that knows itself? It seems to exist, but is that too an illusion of narrative?
This essay reminds me of Robert Anton Wilson, a person hero. Belief should always be questioned. Especially one’s own. Unfortunately I find that very few are open to this attitude, and many more are quite hostile to it. Dogma is truly the death of reason.
"Reality is what you can get away with." ~ Robert Anton Wilson
'The revolution of lowered expectations' - a phrase that has stuck with me
Maybe logic... I remember it well.
I have a distinct memory of a friend of mine bringing me a very dog eared 1st edition copy of R.A.W.’s Cosmic Trigger one day in 1998, which of course blew my mind and sent me down a Wilsonian rabbit hole. Many years later when I asked that friend about that day and thanked him he vehemently denied ever having heard of the book, let alone gifting it to me. True story ( in my narrative anyway… ). Hahhaha!
That's a cool story. RAW would approve. What happened to counter culture? It's the fuckin coolest shit there is. The mysteries!
Thanks!
Reality is what you can get away with.
"Your Karma ran over my dogma"
Quantum Psychology. Those experiments are life changers... reality tunnel collapsers...
If narrative is a tool (and I agree), then it is described by the statement "Tools are good servants but poor masters."
An East German friend was seventeen years old when the Berlin Wall came down. He said that the actual reason the Soviet Union collapsed was simply because there was no one left who believed anything the government media said. They collapsed under the weight of their own lies.
Those who presume to feed us propaganda and propel this current narrative have, in their hubris, overplayed their hand. This is a good thing, the silver lining. These lies become unsustainable.Every push of ridiculous lies wakes a up a few more. People get red-pilled. No one ever gets blue-pilled.
I read recently a quote, something along the lines of: it’s not necessary to make people believe the propaganda. The purpose of the propaganda is to demoralize and destabilize so no one can agree what is true. So, now that their narrative is showing its weaknesses, it becomes increasingly important to anchor our own narratives of truth and ethics, and join with others in the work.
Very good point. Now Bill Gates is trying to sell climate lockdowns "to save the planet". After the past 2 or 3 years are the majority going to accept this nonsense? We have come to the critical point of this control system, we should each one have access to enough information to come to a good decision re the future. You just have to look and use the space between your ears to think objectively.
Caitlin, you cleave through the BS and take no prisoners in your search for the truth. If only there was one leader today with an ounce of your integrity I might still have hope for the future.
"The quest is not just to refute propaganda, but to cease having an experience that is dominated by narrative."
this is impossible - we humans use narrative to make sense of out world - we are story telling animals - the quest is to understand this truth and to take control of it by examining where our personal narratives come from and who benefits from others .... without assuming we know their narrative
even the people we point out as "controlling" the narrative are more than likely living from unexamined narratives of their own - or at least unquestioned ones - we are all part of a narrative that began a very very long time ago
We do seem wired to love and crave stories. But can we ever have an independent personal story that is not significantly shaped by the dominant collective narrative/reality? And might the people scripting that controlling narrative know exactly what they are doing and how to do it?
Personally, I don’t believe those who craft and deliver the controlling narrative have unexamined lives—they have examined their lives and they’ve made a conscious choice to manipulate and control and deceive us away from truth and into a reality tunnel that increases their own power and wealth (usually at the expense of everyone else who is not in The Big Club). They do that willfully and without empathy.
But—maybe—that’s just my personal narrative. Still, until I get evidence to the contrary, I’m sticking to it.
Reminds me of the very first sentence of Carl Jung's autobiography that he wrote in his 80s, with the assistance of Aniela Jaffe:
"My life is a story of the self-realization of the unconscious."
Not just the self-realization of the unconscious, but a *story* of self-realization. Incredible first sentence by Carl.
Is the unexamined life worth living? Tolkien thought so. Look at most of the hobbits.
I began to doubt and question at the age of 13. 53 years later I am amazed that there is still so much to question and learn about the Universes outside and inside.
I still wait another day and see what the sunrise brings in the morning.
There is only one. (By definition).
Thank you for getting me to look up the definitions. One definition says it is basically everything including space. There are other definitions. Physicists count a myriad of Universes.
Excellent article Caitlin! Right on.
So, the next reasonable question to ask and answer is why would anyone ever let the narratives of others overrule their own narrative?
That just doesn't happen when a person is secure in the narrative they've developed.
But who develops their own narrative?
We live in a world where developing your own narrative is frowned upon, ridiculed, and despised – unless you can get OODLES of people to agree with and follow it. Then the same narrative that was bonkers when you were alone in it suddenly becomes worthy of some consideration, at least – as long as it’s got the numbers and doesn’t challenge prevailing narratives that everyone believes are central and crucial to their security.
If your narrative does “threaten ______ security” (fill in the blank), then you’re a no-good, a rebel, an insurrectionist, a cult leader, a megalomaniac, especially if you're so secure you can stand on your narrative even when everyone around you disagrees or spurns you or even attacks you -- *not* because your narrative is wrong, because people who attack over narratives have done shitall to figure out what's right and wrong. You become the “enemy” merely because you have, in their minds, “threatened ______ security.
Insecure people attack. People who are so beaten down, beset with inferiority, and powerless that they cannot imagine creating their own narratives – let alone a narrative that diverges from prevailing, central narratives – cannot tolerate threats to their security.
Secure people have no need to attack anyone. They can defend against their attackers. But when someone tries to rape their children, they’ll fucking attack those people.
Why don't people develop their own narratives and marvel and appreciate the narratives of others? Why do people think that narratives are something to spurn and attack and eliminate people over?
Obviously, this is a psychotic degree of insecurity. But it's all we've known, so it's been "normal" ever since we were kids.
We are that abjectly insecure because, since day one of our lives, our security proved to be either baseless (neglect) or it was undermined ("parenting") or it was devastated (abuse).
After all, *everyone knows* (right?) that children are *always wrong* until the gods of their world *make them to be right*.
And no one seems to notice that doing so is none other than psycho-spiritual rape.
Soul-rape.
Well, after a lifetime of "learning” – i.e., being penetrated without consent for the insertion and embedding of cognitive and affective (far more important) information into our psyches, whether we wanted it or not, whether we thought it was true or not, and getting punished if we resisted – having been soul-raped by every "authority" in our lives, *dictated to* about true and false, right and wrong, smart and stupid, success and failure, is it any wonder we come out with Stockholm syndrome that's socially approved as "good" and "moral" and "respectable" and "nice"?
No sane, free, secure person allows others to overrule their own narrative. Such people are *not* considered normal by most others, who see them as abnormal, “wild”, “uncontrollable”, “dangerous”. Of course they’re abnormal, because the first rule of normality is "must conform".
Conform to what?
To the prevailing normality, whatever it might be. The “what” is variable, but conforming is not. Conforming is mandatory and absolute.
For authentic people, there is no "normal”. They're not interested in conforming to anyone or anything other than what *they* want and *they* decide is true. Nor are they interested in forcing others to conform to them.
We live in a world where freedom is the worst threat to security imaginable. We’re watching people by the billions beg for their freedom to be taken from them, trusting that they’ll get security in exchange.
And of course they will get it. Nothing is more guarded and secure than the capital of a capitalist. And the most valuable kind of capital is peepstock, aka “human resources”.
People who are “normal”, who bristle and object to creating their own narratives without regard to the centralized, approved ones, who expect everyone else to conform to the narratives that they selected for themselves – these are not powerful, secure people. That’s why they believe there is “strength in numbers”. That’s why they believe that they are powerless *unless* they join or create numbers.
That’s why they don’t recognize what real power is.
None of them have gone through a detox and deprogramming process to free themselves from the raped-in crap they grew up with. None of them is secure enough to develop and stand on their own independent narrative ("Uh... what's that?") when everyone around them disagrees or THREATENS THEIR RELATIONSHIP OVER THE DISAGREEMENT.
How does being *extorted* by people you’re dependent on constitute a “relationship”?
I love this comment - for many reasons. I have been living a distinct "narrative" and I am convinced to this day that I am correct. - stunningly, no one even bothers to question my story - or ask for clarification/explanation - they just attack because it's easier for them. I have been abused by Ruling Class actions for 28 years because I was in a distinct place to learn things I wish I never had. I think that living your own specific narrative is important and helps the individual remain sovereign to themselves. I prefer a society where everyone is a little different. I left my fathers house @ 16 years old, I dropped out of University when I realized I wasn't getting an education - I was being indoctrinated. I have resigned from more than 1 job due to actual criminal treatment. Staying authentic to ones self is the only way to actually be free - we may be in a cell without walls or bars - but there is 1 thing these Crooked Rulers will never have = my stubborn and absolute refusal to just "go along to get along". The real power in any person is the quality of character they exude in every action that they take. Joining Mobs is easy - standing alone against Tyranny - well, that is the hardest thing I have done & will NOT relent & will never give up. No matter what! I failed the world badly once - but never again.
Glad to hear from you Scott! Yeah man, stay strong. I mean, what else can we do? I'm not going to live a lie anymore. I realized that the vehemence in the attacks only proves how powerless these charlatans and attackers are. Who cares how violent they can be when they direct their violence at the least bit of exposure/disclosure, precisely because they've actually got *nothing*. They've got lies which fly only because they've flooded the place with sewage and called it "air".
Agreed - really nice to find a forum of free thinkers like yourself. Yes, these charlatans are completely exposed - that's why both sides flood the airwaves with nonsensical conspiracies = they are all involved in 1 that will destabilize the power structures. All their narratives are disintegrating and we are now watching them all "eat each other". it will probably get worse before it gets better. I fear no reprisals and the last few years I have been sleeping very soundly. Thanks Millard - it's always good to hear like minded observations from others trapped in this matrix.
Hey contact me, you say, "I can elucidate exactly what has been happening & why if anyone is interested." I want to hear. millardjmelnyk@proton.me. Couldn't find contact info for you. Found a "Scott Wright" profile on Facebook, but not sure if it's you.
will do.
That's quite a narrative!
The social narrative is hard to escape from our termite nest of expectations.
Reading a different kind of book narrative or anything else revolutionary keep’s sanity alive.
Like tuning into Wild Caitlin here .
Narratives are unavoidable but they are simply someone's point of view, or that of societal institutions as tools for control. And certain forms and implements of control have positive and liberating value, and others don't. Society itself is neutral, can be good or bad depending on its forms and objectives. But the fact is those forms and objectives have been hijacked, in the past and at present, by powerful elements in their own selfish and destructive interests. It's a matter of unravelling, analyzing, finding security in insecurity, and having faith that good exists, and is the basis of all creation. The true narrative is, salvation is awareness of the gift of creation of which we are all equally part: there is no other kind.
narrative control is also a WEF/globalist 'thing'. Featured prominently in Event 201 and the preceding exercises.
What kind of narratives do I / we want? That's how I prefer to think these days. It's useful to criticize but it's also important and rather harder to imagine and propose alternatives that might help us.
I've often wondered what makes some people quite willing to see their paradigm shattered while most are, understandably, fearful. I suspect the use of psychedelics may be a factor.
A writer's point of view, Id say, but her main premise was true, she just went overboard.
I'd like a narrative spun in reality where the world isn't blown to smithereens through nuclear warfare, and we actually are compelled take action to alleviate the effects of climate change before it's too late. The oligarchs who actually rule the world don't seem to think those are stories worth telling, alas.
But even your hand before your face is a type of narrative in the Matrix. The color you see in your hand is not really color, but electromagnetic frequency waves. And scientists today, don't even know how one perceives color itself. How is "color" color? And where and what is the Self that knows itself? It seems to exist, but is that too an illusion of narrative?
It's very simple. All words are narrative. Learn to stop thinking (eg, in meditation) and you may know reality. But it's nothing our of the ordinary.
I wrote an article related to narrative. It's why you can't change the mind of an NPC.
https://nevertrustawizard.substack.com/p/the-secret-of-npcs