Control Systems
Why the hate for humanity?
It seems common in the world to find many control systems, be they religious, governmental, or other, which seem to, at the core but in a somewhat subtle way, hate humanity. Why?
Let’s look at some examples:
Devices to Control:
Guilt / Sin
Religions often use “sin” as an example to get you to hate yourself. Let’s see, for example, Saint Benedict. He is said to have thrown himself, naked, into a thorn bush after having strong sexual, lustful thoughts about a woman, apparently one he thought of as the devil incarnate. The story goes that after he thrashed around his bare body in the thorn bushes, he “overcame lust” and never had the desire again. In my opinion? He had a trauma response. His body associated libido with pain and injury, and thus prevented him from feeling it again. Basically, he got a boner and broke his body and mind because of it. And yet, you people worship that? venerate that? He broke himself. This is not “transcendence”, this is a breaking of the body and mind. How can you call breaking your vessel as “transcendence”?
What exactly is this “sin” about sexual desire? Sure, we can all see that wanting to fuck ten times a day, every day, is an addiction — and is a problem. But simply enjoying your partner in an intimate way? is it so wrong? If it is, and if you are told it is by your religion, then unconsciously, surely it stands to reason that internally you would understand that all people came from sex, therefore so did you, therefore your very birth was already doomed at the start, for your life was founded in “sin”. Already off the bat with a few words, they’ve got you hating yourself. If this sex is so bad, disown your parents and call them sinners!
It’s ridiculous. Delusion. The middle way seems the most sensible — neither extreme hedonism (because that causes ripples in the mind lake, not allowing you to see anything clearly), nor extreme asceticism (because that denies a large part of natural human nature) — neither of the extremes can be the way. You shouldn’t be a crazy addict about things, but also in staunch denial of basic things natural to a human you will not be getting at your goal of a Divine Union in your experience. Sure, some ascetic practices may alter the consciousness in some beneficial ways, but if you are starving yourself, sleep deprived, and hating yourself, all while strongly focused on the idea of your separation needing to get fixed — the self hatred (to wit, hatred of the temple containing that which you hold so dear) will just cause delusion.
The zealous types think their God is perfect and all knowing, omniscient, wise, etc. So if that be the case, then why assume he made you so wrong, so broken, so sinful? They may blame their Adam and such, but this cognitive dissonance runs deep — if your Creator is so good, as you say, then how is it that you are steeped in sin, always needing to repent, always needing to change — and oh, just in luck, your religion is gonna fix you! “Just donate and come regularly for the indoctrination, and don’t worry, your eternal soul will be saved.” Aye, made broken, made wrong, needing to repent, and if you don’t, an eternity in Hell — but He loves you, right?
I was not brought up in any religion, so lest I be accused of picking on the Christians, let’s look at the Hindus now.
In the Bhagavad Gita, it is said that a yogi is one who neither eats too much, nor eats too little; neither sleeps too much, nor sleeps too little. Wise, and true words. So how is it that you starve yourself in a cave? Sleep deprived for the Brahmamuhurta, eating only a few veggies a day, hating the world, wanting to transcend from it immediately? Why is it that you are so convinced that you need transcending? Won’t what happens after death, happen? Is this life so horrible that you want escape that bad?
Do you not feel it? that deep, inner tinge of feeling that you were before this, and will be after this? that perhaps, just perhaps, the answer is in enjoying this life as it is? You are a human, but you try to live like the Celestials, the Christians call them Angels, the Hindus the Devas, etc, beings seen in certain altered states, etc, trying to live like them by such a strong denial of anything physical?
They all (religions) see the physical world as a separation of God, and hence a thing to be got over, overcame, done away with, to return back to that Unity. Where, I’m asking, did that separation you think is real even occur? It seems to me, after many years spent in this internal inquiry through various means, that all that is is that Divinity (as the yogis say, Sarvam Khalvidam Brahman), so how is it possible that you have a separation? I think the only separation happens from lack of experience, but that doesn’t mean you have to do away with food, sleep, pleasure, sex, enjoyment of a human life, and take up an extreme ascetic practice. Mentally there is separation, but that doesn’t mean there is true separation.
The thingless seems to be the answer, but you put on a thing even in your thingless attempts! By so strongly being ascetic, you are putting on a thing and holding it very very strongly, internally, then later you say things like, “God is nirguna, without attribute” so you strongly employ ascetic practice thinking yourself to be getting rid of all things and forms to melt into the experience of the formless, yet all that happens is a strong internal impression of striving for what already is in place, viz. your Union; so the end result is just Delusion. How can the Infinite require a strong impression and denial of the rest in order to have it?
In some sects like Buddhism and even in a certain Western work there is mention of hating the body. Directly said. If I recall, the Buddhists talk about having disgust about it, then they give vidid words like pus, feces, blood, sinew, etc, to drive home their point. But, are not these tissues simply what they are? They are disgusting if they are regarded as a possible food source, or otherwise some material to cover your possessions. Indeed, a shitty bedsheet is something to feel disgust about. But in themselves, how can it be said they are this or that? They just are. Pus is there for physiological reasons, as is the shit, as is the blood, etc. It is neither good nor bad in and of its own core, it is only in context with something else that this comparison can arise.
I am not denying the existence of Divinity. I am not denying that religions can have great and wonderful truths and helps to people. I am not denying the efficacy of yoga. I am not denying the true and measurable, experientially valid changes of consciousness from extreme practices. What I am skeptical of is the foundation from all these controlling mechanisms.
I wonder — is there a source which spreads this human-hating principle in the world?
How much is earnest attempts over time by people who’ve spent their lives searching for that which would, in their experience, bring them nearest their desire — and how much is deliberate controlling modifications to the minds of humanity for some reason I am still trying to see?
Let’s see some more devices:
Need
Have you noticed in control systems this feeling of, “without this one thing, my life is wrong”?
Without this practice, group, religion, etc, you feel like your life is going off course, something is wrong inside. This is different from your own self recognizing good things for you, like needing to exercise, etc. This is when someone else, something else is giving you this feeling, subtly or overtly, that without them / that thing, that all is hopeless and lost. But is that so? 120 billion estimated skeletons, how many lived full lives without your thing?
What are the chances that in this vast universe and wonderful human design, nearly all except those doing what you do got it all wrong, and you’re one of a rare few in a group that has it all set? Wow, what fortune you have!
This is a cult like thing, this instilling of need into you — need for the other thing, need for them, else you are all wrong. It’s sick. You’re not all wrong. Maybe you’re not all right, but you aren’t hopeless at life’s end without this one thing. Maybe all you need to have a great life is right inside — stillness, passion; kindness, boundary; focus, laxity; intensity, relaxation; inclusion, exclusion.
Language
They use these words like animal nature and lower vs. higher. Let’s look at these. Animal nature. This term is used to describe things in a human seen as common among animals, with the connotation that it is undesirable and unbefitting for a person of a higher divine direction. Eating and sleeping and sex and passions are the main things here being referred to. Tell me, how can you think about God if you are starving to death? How can you have the cognitive clarity to think about the world and its origin if you are sleep deprived? How can you create more humans to carry forward the world if you are celibate? How can any truly great achievement get made without passion, even obsession?
Lower vs. higher. Like this: muladhara chakra and swadhisthana chakra and the manipura chakra are the lower chakras. The anahatha, vishuddhi, agna, and sahasraha are the higher ones. Then they tell you, don’t worry, the lower ones aren’t less important — they’re foundational! But you know with NLP, surely it is that you have the connotations for lower and higher as worse and better. If something is of a low esteem versus a high esteem, you know those definitions. If a score is lower or higher, you know that. At best, it was a poor word choice on the part of the speakers. Or perhaps, a specific design was made to give you a subtle cognitive dissonance that way you don’t feel overtly bad about eating… you just feel more inclined to sit and meditate and listen to their theory, all while having just enough sleep deprivation to not think too critically, and not enough food and protien requisite for the testosterone needed to make your own choices, and not be led as cattle.
Clarification
I am not saying that all systems are bad. Scaffolding can help you climb. I am just asking you to be careful, for whose ladder are you climbing? what is the agenda? how sturdy is the ground upon which it all rests? whose strings control the positioning of the ladder? Aye, did you see the blog image? The marionette strings are holding the comedy and tragedy masks — your moods, your life — are they controlled by unseen forces? have you read the opening first page of Edward Bernays’ 1928 Propaganda?
THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.
We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.
— Propaganda
This. Now, see how I just did it to you? I made it look as bad as I could — in fact, all I did was quote the first paragraph and a half of his opening first page. Here is the rest of the second half of the paragraph:
This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.
As you can see, the first quoted part looks really bad. The second half makes it seem less bad, because it appeals to logic and to inclusion of humanity. By me deliberately leaving it out on the first read, I didn’t give you the chance to see the other side. How often has this been done to you in your life?
To be fair, there still is a problem with the second half — he cites democracy, but fails to include the part about the informed citizen electing the choices for the society. He then goes on to touch on this point, saying that given the huge population of the US and how many things need to happen, it would be impossible for the “average citizen” to be so informed as to make choices for everything, hence the need for invisible governors. Not an unfair point he made. But the issue is, what is the true agenda and intention of those making these choices? Is it for harmony and forward progress for all? gain for a few? Or something far worse? Something like, instilling hatred for humanity?