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Jordan Peterson, the Intellectual Dark Web and the Mainstream Media
I like the thought of “the dignity of the human soul”.
You can also find it in YouTube at this link
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Georgina,
My personal opinion is not really relevant. But in general my thinking works along those lines:
There are a lot of changes in our political and economic landscape we need to be aware of to change our ways to be able to create and navigate for ourselves these changes and have a satisfying and inspired life.Therefore I always thought that being informed of things we like and things we do not like make a difference as all those show us those changes I am talking about. We cannot continue to think in the old ways as they will not give us the ability to remain flexible and modify our values and behaviors accordingly.
That being said here is is a commentary from someone else who points out one of the biggest mistake many people do. They get caught in the “entertainment” feel-good-now, think-not critically trend.
This excerpt comes from this article and I stumbled on it just yesterday.
Whether One agrees or disagrees with all that the author says depends on one’s values. In what is. A concerned I read things that I agree with and things that I don’t agree with and try to,learn about those changes lol the time. Remaining behind is not an option for me. If we really try to change and Transform The Planet, help,ourselves, our families and then our communities, first we need to know what IS, before we can change anything.Critical thinking and questioning remains our most important tool. That’s what I think.
TECHNOLOGY: DISTRACTING, DISTURBING, DECEIVING & DELUDING OURSELVES TO DEATH
“What Huxley teaches is that in the age of advanced technology, spiritual devastation is more likely to come from an enemy with a smiling face than from one whose countenance exudes suspicion and hate. In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth.
When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; a culture-death is a clear possibility.” ― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Something as mundane as using the restroom at work sometimes ends up triggering deeper thoughts about technology – its benefits, deficiencies and danger to our culture. I’ve been using the same restroom at work for the last twelve years. They remodeled the restroom a few years ago with the latest technology – automatic flushers, automatic soap dispensers, automatic spigots, and automatic towel dispenser. This technology is supposed to make things better, but from my perspective the technology just added complexity, glitches and unnecessary complications.
First off, these technological “improvements” did not eliminate any humans from the equation. The housekeepers responsible for the restrooms continued to be employed. Prior to the remodel they would fill a metal bin with individual paper towels and fill the soap dispenser with liquid soap. Now they have to insert a roll of paper towels in the electronic dispenser and a cartridge of soap in the electronic soap dispenser.
Instead of doing this daily, they wait until they are empty before replacing the towels and soap. That means they run out during the day. It must be dozens off times when I’ve washed my hands and put my hands in front of the automatic towel machine and nothing comes out. Then your choice is going to a stall and using toilet paper or wiping your hands on your pants. When it’s not empty, it jams 20% of the time. The automatic faucets stay on too long or go off by themselves with no one near them.
The bottom line is this bathroom technology was costly, requires ongoing costs for battery replacement, did not eliminate any labor costs, malfunctions at a far greater rate than the previous manual devices, and provides less service and satisfaction than the non-technological methods.
This led me to ponder whether this microcosm of technological dysfunction and dissatisfaction applies to technology on a much larger scale, as technology has been sold to the masses as the solution to all of our ills and a sure sign we are progressing as a civilization and culture. Technological advances have given the masses the false impression their lives have gotten better, when in reality the technology has enslaved and controlled them while providing a never-ending distraction from reality, critical thinking and the truth.
“Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials.” ― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
With virtually everyone in America having access to the internet, smart phones containing more computing power than NASA used to launch rocket ships into outer space, and the proliferation of computers even in the poorest school districts, the masses should be far more intelligent and informed than previous generations. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Technology is wasted on people who haven’t been taught to think critically, have been indoctrinated by government run schools to be subservient cogs in the machine, and believe feelings and emotions are more important than knowledge and understanding. The proliferation of social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) has resulted in the dumbing down of human interactions and replacement of discussing issues with virtue signaling, selfies, faux manufactured outrage, and glorifying shallow celebrities. We’re addicted to technology.
It is incomprehensible our society has embraced technology for amusement, trivialities, and superficial displays of diversion, rather than advancement of knowledge, proliferation of ideas, and cultural progress and enrichment. The works of Aristotle, Socrates, Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, Tolstoy, Steinbeck, Orwell and Huxley are available with one click of your iGadget, but instead the masses choose to play Angry Birds, Candy Crush, and Madden, while worshipping at the altar of Kardashian. So much knowledge and wisdom at your fingertips, guaranteed to make you smarter and 99.9% choose to amuse themselves into a stupor of ignorance.
Are we just a society of intellectual lightweights, driven by emotions and sensitivities? Or is this infinite infantilism designed and implemented by those controlling the culture through their ownership of all media platforms? It appears to be a purposeful deliberate strategy implemented by the ruling class to dumb down the masses through the public education (indoctrination) system, divert their attention and thoughts through modern day electronic bread and circuses, enslaving them in debt, and pillaging global wealth and power through control of the political, financial, and mass media structures. And now they utilize the technology to spy on you and make sure you are not contradicting the establishment narrative.
“Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death.” ― Neil Postman
If the daily machinations, intrigues, schemes, and plot twists broadcast 24/7 seem like an orchestrated reality TV show, it’s because they are. It’s nothing more than an enhanced Truman Show where we are all Truman. The controllers produce the daily disinformation propaganda; superficial story-lines designed to play upon your emotions; plot twists designed to invoke hope, despair, anger, fear, and desire; and a ceaseless mantra that the government, mega-corporations, Wall Street bankers, and chosen “experts” know what is best for us.
They don’t want a citizenry who understands what is going on, how to think critically and question the establishment, or live within their means. They want obedient consumers who believe what they are told by “authorities” and are just smart enough to follow the rules laid down by their superiors. A nation built on illusions, delusions, disinformation and confusion.
“Television is altering the meaning of ‘being informed’ by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation. Disinformation does not mean false information. It means misleading information – misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information – information that creates the illusion of knowing something, but which in fact leads one away from knowing.” ― Neil Postman
Television has always been an effective tool in keeping the masses under control. Talking media heads, sold to the public as highly intelligent and educated journalists, mouthed their lines, written by invisible men working on behalf of the wealthy ruling class, to sooth the savage beasts known as the masses. Control the message and you control society.
With the advent of the internet, what should have been a vast awakening and enlightenment of the masses, has just been a degradation to the lowest common denominator. Social media platforms have eliminated thought, conversation, seriousness, knowledge, intelligence, and clarity from the public square and replaced it with narcissism, vitriol, virtue signaling, triviality, attacking anyone with a different viewpoint, and self-promotion.
Now that the Silicon Valley social media behemoth corporations have hundreds of millions addicted to amusing themselves to death, they can decide what is acceptable speech and that which doesn’t conform to their left-wing views. Censorship, public shaming, manufactured outrage and destroying those with an alternative point of view is now in the control of a small cabal of extremely rich men.
They use contrived incidents like the Covington High School kids “threatening” a “noble” Vietnam Vet Native American in a blatant attempt to spin their web of deceit. Their technological control over public discourse is a threat to our freedom of speech and to our society. Anyone who thinks for themselves is in danger of becoming an outcast and/or cyber criminal in our new dystopian existence.
“For in the end, he was trying to tell us what afflicted the people in ‘Brave New World’ was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking.” ― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
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In watching that video and the subsequent article Adriana posted, what comes to mind is that this is a universal model of change moment for humanity. Our old strategies are not working, and the elites and everyday people alike are desperately trying to cling to these old strategies and flailing around chaotically trying to find some kind of stability.
The world is becoming more complex and polarized on a daily basis and new strategies and ways of thinking are needed to do a sort of “cosmic parts integration” and re-unify our fractured reality behind a new paradigm at a higher logical level. And the key is to make sure this is a new paradigm with humanistic values.
With so much information and disinformation, it can be difficult to know what’s real and what’s not these days. One thing that resonated with me near the end of the video was when the one guy (not Peterson, I forget the guy’s name now) says something along the lines of “Your job is not to know what the f*** is going on… Your job is just to go ‘up.'” Now as Adriana said we need to do our best to research and piece together the best workable model for what’s going on that we can, but in some cases it may not be possible to know absolutely what is “real” and what is not.
A constant, pervasive sense of uncertainty may be part of our human evolution, forcing us to traverse values levels to cope with a cosmos with accelerating entropy. So how do we find which way is “up?” In a world where everything is relative, there has to be SOMETHING that we hold as absolute. And maybe that’s VL4 thinking and I’m describing my own path of evolution, which I am. But that’s an open question: how do we know which way is up? What guiding principles, strategies, values, etc. do we use to find direction in this murky information soup?
If you’re swimming underwater and you get disoriented, how do you figure out which way is up? You move toward the light. So whatever brings each person as an individual and humanity as a whole closer to the light, to joy, love, energy, consciousness, and the life we want, that way is up. And only each of us knows for ourselves when we’re getting closer to the light or further away in our own reality.
Those are my initial thoughts on finding “up,” but would love to hear more thoughts on strategies for coping with so much uncertainty in the world and creating our own sense of certainty, clarity, and direction, so we can help each other navigate this paradigm shift.
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I think the key Adam is flexibility and adaptability. As you said, and I agree, in my 48 years of age I have not seen such an open tree of possibilities for the future. The amount of uncertainty is huge. So even recognizing that is key to have goals and focus on what we want, it is also key to have those goals continuously updated with the new information that becomes available. Make sure to keep learning, growing and evolving on a daily basis and be very flexible and adaptive with the longer term goals and objectives as the world we are used to is changing at an incredible fast pace.
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We’re getting a little woo-woo here. So let me preface what I am about to say that this is not necessarily NLP although the right discrimination due to critical thinking always applies, and I will relate it to the NLP that we have learned and we know.
Everyone is different. Everyone is at a different stage in the VL. Everyone has a personal experience of life – their personal history – up until now. Different environmental conditions and different imprint in childhood.
Although there are commonalities due to trends, general societal values, being a human being, having our roots in Homo sapiens-sapiens species, and also basic principles which apply, I don’t think we can make one way “up” for all.
You’re right, that is a little VL4. Newtonian and Darwinian approach. Although these approaches work to a certain degree (we build buildings that don’t fall to the ground, we have trains, cars, bridges that stand and support the passerby, etc), the universe seems to operate more on the quantum perspective, where there are other rules.
What makes an electron or a photon make up its mind to choose a certain path in the light experiment?
Sheldrake talk a lot about this and the cutting edge physics addresses this issue very much today. There is something else that generates that decision.
I don’t think you were in the MP this year where I mad a new set of slides relating to the “choice” that the photon makes, beaded on the observation of the people doing the experiment. So the photon, a particle without feelings or emotions, responded to something else. Let’s call that consciousness. The act of – with awareness (= consciousness) – the observer influences the photon.
The observer also influences the cat in the Schrodinger experiment. With the cat in t box.So why do we make the choices we make? How do we decide what’s “up”?
Like in your metaphor: one may swim facing downwards, toward the bottom, another one to the left under water but parallel with the surface of the water etc. Therefore “up” will be different according to where one is.
According to hermetic teachings the universe as we know it throng our consciousness at this point has some basic immutable laws. Call them the laws of physics, Gravity, nuclear fusion, harmonics, frequencies, etc….
From ancient teachings throughout the whole cultures on the planet we also seem to encounter again and again a overarching common thread. Love seems to be always present.
And we know that love, compassion and generosity make us human. These are 3 quantities that are distinctly human. Loving someone or everyone not because they give you something you want in return but just because it makes you feel good and because it feels …hmmm..I am hesitant to use this word because it means nothing in and of itself, but here it is: because it feels right!
Having compassion for your enemy is something most people don’t think of. Compassion here does not mean you should ever accept behaviors that are simply not to be out up with. That’s a matter of enforcing one’s values and boundaries.
Through our choices every day we create reality for ourselves.However, as NLP presuppositions tell us, one’s behavior is different from themSELEVES. It’s that Self with capital S. People are not their behaviors. So it seems that it is never black and white. There are some absolute rules (the planets do rotate around the sun and there are physics laws that demonstrate that) AND the micro and macro cosmos fronds to something else as well.
This gave Einstain and Bohr a headache.But physics does not care about love. It’s a cut and dry method purely symbolical and purely Ad. Since we are all human beings, (at kept most of us can claim that ?) then “up” becomes so relative that one has to proceed by finding their own “up”.
Sure there is a general direction, absolutely!
But Adam I will not go through that here as it is not the platform to discuss those – as you know they belong to APEP and not all the forum participants can benefit or even care about that kind of discussion.
Bottom line, how do you live a happy, meaningful, inspired and free-to-make-your-own-choices life?
Learn what IS first, and then navigate with extreme flexibility of behavior what you want to make according to the environment. But if you don’t know the environment how can you hope to change it?As you see, from the NLP perspective, it’s all in your values. When your values are fulfilled you feel on top of the game. When they are not you feel exactly the opposite.
Maybe the answer is then that we create and imagine our own “ups” and thus participate actively in the development of new “ups” every day through out own choices. I think I bit the horse to death talking about creativity and imagination in the master practitioner.
What if there is no absolute “IT” by itself? What if there is no “up” by itself?
What if the “up” waits for us to create it every day and chose to swim right, left, facing up, facing down, oblique relative to the water surface?
Choice, choice, choice …But if we buy the generalized “up” given to us, than that’s what we are going to create. And those who give it to us will get their creation going while we are passive participants.
It’s a matter of being reactive VS pro-active.
It’s a matter of thinking not in either/or but both/and. Which is the 3rd perceptual position in NLP. And even that choice cannot be static. Because then you end up with being ALL the time one one side (all the time 3rd perceptual position VS choosing a side) when necessary and that leads again to passivity -reactive- rather than pro-active.
Uh, mind curling things to contemplate!I hope I gave you and others some things to think about. ?
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Thanks Alejandro and Adriana. And yes, lots to contemplate in what you wrote.
So I guess in the end we have to ask, “Up compared to what?” “Up’ itself is meaningless if you’re floating in outer space… it’s only meaningful relative to solid ground.
So we construct our own model of the world, of what IS (the more accurate the better), and that forms the ground level that we’re operating from. And then from there we define “up” via our values and goals, and we develop strategies that propel us in that direction.
This is one of my main growth points here in the Master Trainer program, and probably for other students as well… making the VL4 to VL5 transition and moving from following someone else’s plan and looking for direction externally, to developing our own plan and bringing our own dreams into reality… finding our own inner compass and following that.
And we can… 🙂
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And I think that cuts to the heart of the issue for me, personally, now that I think about it… I’ve been wanting someone else to tell me which way is up so I can go that way. Or at least for someone to give my version of up the red stamp of approval before I proceed so I’m not going off the end of the twig on my own… but I guess that’s what leadership is about… being willing to stand alone with or without anyone’s approval and follow your own leadership.
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We’re getting a little woo-woo here. So let me preface what I am about to say that this is not necessarily NLP although the right discrimination due to critical thinking always applies, and I will relate it to the NLP that we have learned and we know.
Everyone is different. Everyone is at a different stage in the VL. Everyone has a personal experience of life – their personal history – up until now. Different environmental conditions and different imprint in childhood.
Although there are commonalities due to trends, general societal values, being a human being, having our roots in Homo sapiens-sapiens species, and also basic principles which apply, I don’t think we can make one way “up” for all.
You’re right, that is a little VL4. Newtonian and Darwinian approach. Although these approaches work to a certain degree (we build buildings that don’t fall to the ground, we have trains, cars, bridges that stand and support the passerby, etc), the universe seems to operate more on the quantum perspective, where there are other rules.
What makes an electron or a photon make up its mind to choose a certain path in the light experiment?
Sheldrake talk a lot about this and the cutting edge physics addresses this issue very much today. There is something else that generates that decision.
I don’t think you were in the MP this year where I mad a new set of slides relating to the “choice” that the photon makes, beased on the observation of the scientists doing the experiment. So the photon, a particle without feelings or emotions, responded to something else. Let’s call that consciousness. The act of making a choice in their minds – with awareness (= consciousness) – Has had the scientists influence the photon.
The observer also influences the cat in the Schrodinger experiment. With the cat in t box.So why do we make the choices we make? How do we decide what’s “up”?
Like in your metaphor: one may swim facing downwards, toward the bottom, another one to the left under water but parallel with the surface of the water etc. Therefore “up” will be different according to where one is.
According to hermetic teachings the universe as we know it throng our consciousness at this point has some basic immutable laws. Call them the laws of physics, Gravity, nuclear fusion, harmonics, frequencies, etc….
From ancient teachings throughout the whole cultures on the planet we also seem to encounter again and again a overarching common thread. Love seems to be always present.
And we know that love, compassion and generosity make us human. These are 3 quantities that are distinctly human. Loving someone or everyone not because they give you something you want in return but just because it makes you feel good and because it feels …hmmm..I am hesitant to use this word because it means nothing in and of itself, but here it is: because it feels right!
Having compassion for your enemy is something most people don’t think of. Compassion here does not mean you should ever accept behaviors that are simply not to be out up with. That’s a matter of enforcing one’s values and boundaries.
Through our choices every day we create reality for ourselves.However, as NLP presuppositions tell us, one’s behavior is different from themSELVES. It’s that Self with capital S. People are not their behaviors. So it seems that it is never black and white. There are some absolute rules (the planets do rotate around the sun and there are physics laws that demonstrate that) AND the micro and macro cosmos seems to work according to something else as well.
This gave Einstain and Bohr a headache.But physics does not care about love. It’s a cut and dry method purely symbolical and purely Ad. Since we are all human beings, (at kept most of us can claim that ?) then “up” becomes so relative that one has to proceed by finding their own “up”.
Sure there is a general direction, absolutely!
But Adam I will not go through that here as it is not the platform to discuss those – as you know they belong to APEP and not all the forum participants can benefit or even care about that kind of discussion.
Bottom line, how do you live a happy, meaningful, inspired and free-to-make-your-own-choices life?
Learn what IS first, and then navigate with extreme flexibility of behavior what you want to make according to the environment. But if you don’t know the environment how can you hope to change it?As you see, from the NLP perspective, it’s all in your values. When your values are fulfilled you feel on top of the game. When they are not you feel exactly the opposite.
Maybe the answer is then that we create and imagine our own “ups” and thus participate actively in the development of new “ups” every day through out own choices. I think I bit the horse to death talking about creativity and imagination in the master practitioner.
What if there is no absolute “IT” by itself? What if there is no “up” by itself?
What if the “up” waits for us to create it every day and chose to swim right, left, facing up, facing down, oblique relative to the water surface?
Choice, choice, choice …But if we buy the generalized “up” given to us, than that’s what we are going to create. And those who give it to us will get their creation going while we are passive participants.
It’s a matter of being reactive VS pro-active.
It’s a matter of thinking not in either/or but both/and. Which is the 3rd perceptual position in NLP. And even that choice cannot be static. Because then you end up with being ALL the time one one side (all the time 3rd perceptual position VS choosing a side) when necessary and that leads again to passivity -reactive- rather than pro-active.
Uh, mind curling things to contemplate!I hope I gave you and others some things to think about. ?
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Oh and one more thing.
I am reminded all the time of the law of requisite variety.
The one with the most flexibility of behavior controls the system.By contrast, the one with the most stuck position in their MOW loses.
So flexibility of mind and thinking, willingness to learn all the time about new things, even if contrary to our own MOW, letting go of fear and other NE, maintaining right discrimination thought critical thinking as a daily practice and focus on what we really want… All these remain our basic strategies and tools to create for ourselves and others around us that free and inspired and satisfying life we all desire and want.
Moreover, we can have a real contribution in deed not only in words to the new world which is being created right now.
AWARENESS = CONSCIOUSNESS as I many, many times repeated during the MP.Critical thinking, critical thinking…. Willingness to question, why now, why this topic, why, why, why????
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Wow! What a powerful article! Thank you, Adriana, for the link to this article and for the web site from which it springs. I now have another source for clear thinking.
I am diligently preparing the training modules for my upcoming Master Practitioner training; Critical Thinking is one of the “must have” subjects and this article will feature prominently in that module.
Best,
Paul Jensen
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Great news Paul.
You’ll see when you teach the MP, that even if it seems more cumbersome than the Practitioner, in a way it is easier as you have more time.
Of course, I am not saying you should not prepare. There is no substitute for knowing your material, but at least to me, this is the most fun training I teach. I love it even more than TT.
It makes me think a lot.Let us know if you need any help in preparation for it.
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