Trust the Road

Getting from here to there

I did a fair bit of hitchhiking in the mid seventies. At first, to get to school from a nearby big town I was ‘living’ in after getting kicked out of the family house. I liked the hitchhiking part so continued the practice as much as I could, knowing that hitchhiking days would soon be over. It worked quite well for about four years and four or five thousand miles. I never had a bad ride, loved hearing peoples stories and received many favors along the way, as well as paying for gas for some poor and honorable people. I even loved waiting for rides, expecting things to work out, and it did, even if a bit oddly at times.

At a young age I decided that I really, really liked life and became determined to create circumstances that might better provide for a long and happy life. However I came to notice how folk treat each quite badly and live with entrenched behavior patterns that seem to stretch back in time. After looking at the issue for awhile one conclusion was that small groups of people have found effective ways to monetize the suffering of the general population. All the while presenting themselves as the protectors of general well being. The layers of lies required to effect the goals of the dominant narrative builders creates cognitive dissonance that can be either recognized or buried. It is much easier to bury the dissonance, cause then ones work is done. On the other hand, trying to resolve the dissonance makes ones brain hurt, and is no fun at all. Everybody tries or is driven to reduce confusion somewhat, but usually settle on imitations of the real thing. (I leave out examples because it is better for folk to search their imagination and make their own examples.) Many belief sets are shallow and probably find adherents because the simplicity helps the social spread of that idea, and the social element re-enforces the idea still more. We seem to live on shallow old and exploitative ideas generated by think tanks and money men. While I can dodge many bullets because I am fucking super-man, many are not so blessed and have chaos impacting in uncontrolled ways.

Events that capture the public imagination are seldom the events that matter. There are things happening in Africa right now that are encouraging to folk that value self-determination over entrenched (colonial) authority structures. These events are likely kept out of the western news cycles partly because what the Africans have learned is analogous to the same thing that the western public still need to learn themselves. Africans starting in the Sahel region, are rejecting the poverty industry and finding prosperity through mutual support and in country economic projects. In Burkino Faso, Captian Traore is continuing the work and aspirations toward self-determination started by Thomas Sankara several decades ago. They bought or nationalized (not clear to me) some gold mines and are using the money to develop food processing facilities and incredible agricultural innovations. This after the colonial powers always maintained that many crops were simply unsuited to be grown in such an arid climate. Some material comes from from Arise Now via you-tube. Captian Traore’s strategy uses both the military and the jailed folk in useful ways to grow food productivity and national pride. The military then also protects the villagers from the western sent proxy forces trying to terrorize locals, because, you know, ‘that is just what poor Africans always do to each other’. Speaking of which the ex-colonists sent a well equipped, well funded and somewhat inside connected ‘armed force’ into Mali, killed the defence minister and expected the army then govt. to fall. A main conspirator was killed and his cell phone with contacts to other traitors was used to expose people connected to the plot, which then failed spectacularly.

It will be appropriate if Africans come to teach westerners of the value of self-determination. Rejecting the tentacles of the poverty industry is how people grow. Africans do not need the colonizers help. They only need them to stop stealing the produce of Africans efforts. As my dad responded to my questions about feed the starving African children adverts on the TV in the sixties; ‘Feeding starving children is a very good thing, but feeding people that make money from starving children is a very bad thing’. Captian Traore knows that food sovereignty is required for country sovereignty and Burkino Faso has found they can produce abundant food, and do the value added processing in country.

In hard times people learn to become dependant or they learn to be self reliant. Any dependency comes at a cost, while self reliance breeds growth and aspirations. Middle Eastern countries relied on the US to ‘protect’ them. This is likely a bad choice for the Arabs and for Israel. Depending on the hegemon is bad enough, depending on a fading hegemon will surely multiply the problems. Africans are learning the value of agency, self-determination and sovereignty in a hard but deep way. Good folk might want to pray for their success, and pray for others to follow their example.

My general response to experiences is first, wondering what is going on, then, how shallow or deep is my understanding, on to, what can I do to improve my understanding? Many folk create careers off of their claims of understanding, and certainly some of them deserve fine careers. Others carry a form of understanding that can tend to lack substance, yet they survive by using the language of their profession as their claim (to legitimacy), yet without deep understanding of the meanings behind the language or the adopted process used to achieve a given end. We all get educated to try and deepen our understanding, but are we getting educated or merely conditioned? Some of each, I would guess, as there are limitations of meaning content in every conceptual framework.

My wife and I have dear friends we play music with every week. I will venture opinions only when prompted because mine are quite different when compared to the normal socially well adjusted person. Also, I do not want to share my opinions if it’s falling on deaf ears. Our friends are recent first time grandparents who have not seen their grandson because he has not been vaccinated yet. The wife said, almost under her breath, something about ‘crazy anti-vaxers’. I kept my best poker face and said nothing. I would like people to gain confidence in hearing their inner voice and develop their individuality in this manner, rather than always listening to social or external prompts. So my attempts , at service, involve encouraging people to think for themselves rather than trying to get my own ‘points’ across. My friend took the first step by vocalizing her subconscious tension. Only a few days later we were at a larger event when another person made reference to ‘crazy anti-vaxers’ while seated next to my first friend who had said it a few days before. This time I responded, rather casually, well, I am a ‘crazy anti- vaxer’. I let the person repeat the formulaic defense/ promotion of vaccines, then responded.

We do know that our govt. and others lie to us for profit , right? In 1911 the military started vaccinating all soldiers. These soldiers soon went to war, but the war stopped before it was expected to stop, so the govt. had millions of extra doses and sold the public on getting vaccinated to ‘protect’ themselves from the disease being brought from the trenches. Via the soldiers who were sickened by war and vaccine effects. Then the country came down with “Spanish Flue’ The Jehovah Witnesses tended to many sick people but never picked up the ‘Spanish Flue’, because it was not the flue , it was poisoning by direct injection into the bloodstream, of proteins and other substances that do not belong in the blood. At this point my friends were a bit shocked so I stopped and suggested that that there is danger in having ones beliefs define ones identity. My good friend agreed to this while the other friend remained mute.

I do not try to ‘convince’ others using my ‘impressive’ knowledge of shit. Because knowledge that cannot be digested can become a source of fragmentation, and I do not care to hurt other people. My aim is to open space for others to do their own inner work. In my opinion this is better done with love than with information. My hope is that love can help with the digestion and integration of new knowledge. My wife serves well as an example here. She is a total normie, retired from a ‘health’ specialty that I have little respect toward. She thinks I am ‘crazy’ from time to time, and tends to worry about what I may say in public or with friends and workmates. At her retirement party a fine over educated (PHD) person brought up some climate fear porn material, to which I replied quietly, I do not belong to the climate cult. The conversation moved on without skipping a beat. If one loves another, the loved one is loved just the way they are. My wife and I never tell each other what to do. It became hard during the latest shit show, but has smoothed out since and she now does better understand where I am coming from.

God hears all, and mostly and for a long time human intentions wish for harm toward others. Coercion is central to our mentality, so we need not be surprised at the results. In my opinion, this is not human nature but rather it is human habit created by our way of looking at reality. When we split reality into the ‘spiritual’ and ‘material’, we created object oriented conceptual structures that normalizes manipulation. If we formalize the idea that the spiritual and the material is similar we may build a society based on relationships rather than objects. However it seems we are driven all to much by the glamour of the spectacle and desired self righteousness to notice our continually complicit contributions to the shit show. God hears all and as long as collectively, we desire harm for others, that is what we will get. We have incredible creative power and influence and it is time for us to redirect that power.

Powerful people become that way because they are willing to do anything to get that power. This was cribbed from a nepo baby’s vid explaining how the Epstein class works. It is also self evident.

So, what are some implications that are difficult to face up too? That we learn to live on crumbs in a very rich world? That we are enablers of abuse? That power and agents of power can lie continually in order to build the world in their image? That truth can be found more readily in fiction than in non-fiction? That every statement of ‘fact’ needs to be reexamined? That only divine guidance or perhaps intervention will provide space for redemption and/or real growth?

I remain an optimist, although it seems there will be bumpy times ahead.

Thanks for reading.