I was astonished recently to hear, from a highly respected writer, an astute analyst of the Corona agenda, at a gathering of real doctors here in New Zealand who stood up for informed consent and individualized treatment and the like, that we should get used to less liberty.
Pleased the poem spoke to you. I have gone to your website and read some of your poems which speak to me but cannot access the videos. You have no contact email there so perhaps you want to remain private. But if interested, email me (Jack--responsiblyfree@protonmail.com) and we can meet on my Zoom and bounce off each other in the "Tumbler of Ideas"; and also I hope you will join our weekend Tutorial's bigger tumbler here https://responsiblyfree.substack.com/p/the-philosophy-of-responsible-freedom
“It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.” Montaigne
Completely concur and agree, we’ll thought and discussed perspective on the reality to which we in New Zealand are subject and to which we have seemingly become inured, it is lamentable how so many still not realising simply acquiesce to these dystopian changes, the loss of liberties and freedoms, saddest of all as so poignantly noted, the younger generations than we boomers, amongst the easiest to have manipulated to this new diaspora.
Most tellingly how the educated and the so called voice of the people, our Professional’s especially in Science and Medicine aided they’re shills in the media have so eagerly embraced the nonsense promulgated by these WEF, PPP Fascists and the corrupt political class they have inculcated with this filth.
They serve now the multi national’s and the very worst, most extreme political views cheered on by once liberals, the academics and it seems everyone else with a vested interest in need of dollars and their turgid interest propelled to the fore.
Take Transgenderism as a case in point, how is it that we can have travelled from embracing gay rights including marriage to now dealing with a very real, yet complex mental health crisis of those who it would seem are no longer able to accept, perhaps, their homosexuality to the point they need to surgically transform their identity or gender into something any rational thinking person knows they are clearly not.
Are they that ashamed of being homosexual that they need contrive a heterosexual identity? What on earth has happened to these people because we know yo7 cannot be both, it is biologically impossible and if bi sexual why not stay as is… all relevant points I believe.
Since the beginning of time the X and Y chromosome and or composition of such determined your gender, settled, agreed upon and well established science, we did not have 3 or 4 genders to identify human beings or any other living species, irrespective of what it is.
Now here in 2023 and especially the last 3-5 years in particular we have been subjected to the most absurd, having it forced upon us, no more the live and live tolerance that has defined humanity in acceptance in those nations, where such change has been embraced as for example gay rights.
Nope we have alternate preferences shoved in our faces, rammed down our throats the extremities of this diaspora, of this overt personal and self, insecurity, even worse, the contrived and controlled agenda to influence the most vulnerable… being our young and teens, who all, as those of us who are are have been parents to young children know, do go through that self doubt period, that period of questioning, albeit in most cases brief, but nevertheless a time in life whereby doubts exist, legitimate doubts in many respects, but doubts and questions always able to be resolved without recourse to undue influence by those with what we now see is a patently selfish agenda, an agenda that has become so overtly politicised.
The sad uptick in the U.S of nearly 20% of the most recent generation of intermediate and high school aged children responding in recent surveys that they are unsure as to their true gender is cause for alarm…. Real alarm!
Sadly true debate, as with the COVID science, has been frowned upon, shut down, if you dare you are maligned, derided, disparaged, cancelled and or shunned for doing so, such being the weapon of choice to ensure silence, advancement and careers killed, just for speaking up, for wanting to debate facts.
Rigorous debate now seen as an outlier, a means of dissent, yet those who ask, no demand of us we merely accept by listening to them and their malady’s outright refuse the same courtesy to those of us who disagree and would prefer sound reasoned and a logic centric debate in order to arrive at consensus.
Such is the hypocrisy we now live with, little wonder when you step back, take a deep breath and look more closely at present realities especially the discourse and outcomes with the worst impact, our young disfiguring themselves, without truly, it would seem, understanding why…. you realise the lunatics have truly taken over, that some of what once could have been said to be the worst of mental illness has set itself truly free and runs amok, unchecked.
Once upon a time, anyone who ran around as some of the ardent and most vociferous adherents of Transgenderism are known to do, there would have likely been few professionals who would perhaps believe that schizophrenia was a likely diagnosis, no longer it seems, you can transform yourself into multiple personalities and or genders all with the Multi Nationals and the States blessing … crazy times indeed or …. just one more big distraction and cause to divide?
I am astounded by the nature and depth of comments such as yours, which are essays in their own right and which further our contemplation and thought --thank you so much.
Thank you for all you do and have done by choosing N.Z to live and to work, that your efforts via Substack bring and add to humanity.
It is voices such as yours that will hopefully, provide the catalyst that we both as a nation and world need to end this tyranny and accelerated dystopian nightmare we find ourselves in the midst of… I tip my hat… much respect
The speaker was doing his audience a favor by giving them a realistic perspective. My only disagreement would be that to call what is coming a loss of liberty is, sadly, an understatement. We are headed for difficult times. Consider what is going on with the WHO, with CBDCs, with our food supply, with AI, with systems of technological control and enforcement, with the ability to use technology to create sensory illusions that cannot be distinguished from what is real. Harari said the masses will be pacified with video games and drugs because he is a realist, and because, for most people, it works. The nature of our governments has been known for more than decades, with calls for We the People to rise up, to save the day. They never did. Instead, the Elite have consolidated their power. Matters are now worse, in terms of what the Elite can do and the psychological condition of the masses. It is not a fitting subject for poetry, for sentimental musings. The Elite prey on human nature because human nature is fallen. They understand that we cannot overcome our moral deficiencies even when we are able to recognize them and call them by name.
We have a respite, now, not because the medical freedom movement has prevailed, but because the Elite are taking time to set the stage for the next act. As we all know, intermittent stressors are more effective at tearing people down than uninterrupted oppression, which leads only to numbed adaptation. Instead of putting this time to good use, many in the medical freedom movement (for lack of a better term) are trying to convince everyone that we never had anything to fear in the first place. That does not cause people to ask hard questions, it numbs them to reality.
You say you ask yourself, daily, what is it that the Elite want? You will never find the answer unless you recognize that this is a spiritual battle between good and evil - no, actually, between God and those spiritual beings who oppose Him, as the driving forces that take effect through human action. The People think they can have freedom without being willing to die for it, although even those who say we must die are typically speaking, in error, in political terms. Jesus Christ said "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." He also said we must pick up our cross and die to ourselves daily because in our natural state we are slaves to sin, and incapable of being free.
I am not pointing my finger at others, because I have the same constitution as everyone else. The only difference is that I am committed to a different kingdom. I am not looking to my right, and to my left, wondering if others will act quickly enough to create some breathing space for those who oppose the global agenda. I have spent my entire life paying the price (gladly) to remain free from entanglements with this world, because this world is not what I love. My ability to accept what is coming, in peace, is not resignation. It is the direction of my energies and my affections toward an eternal goal.
Thanks for this thoughtful piece. "...as if 'who I say I am' assumes transcendent precedence over 'what I do'." Do you think this is partially an outgrowth/manipulation of the "New Age" movement that gained traction in the '70s (the same decade the WEF and Trilateral Commission were created)? Just wondering.
Platform Notice of "Retribution Party" - Could/Should be called "Never Again Party", but for Now We seek "Retribution"
First step a 3rd Party, we call it the “Retribution Party”
Among the platform of party besides retribution by clawback of $12 Trillion USD stolen funds is the hanging of top 50,000 covid enablers in USA; A list will be sorted by computer lottery; ( Bill Gates & ilk aka Trump/Biden et-al )
Then there is the issue of making good with the black-slaves our party proposes that all black ghetto folk today “OCCUPY” the homes of Covid Enablers already. That all USA homeless as well 'occupy' the homes of COVID enablers
When all are hung, when all funds are clawed back from big-pharma, msm, and gov cronys; and all homeless are occupying the home of covid enablers then we can call it even-steven.
This is what eugene debs, emma goldman, and maybe even Ellsberg would do. Certainly if RFK-jr was a human he too would seek retribution for murder of his family.
...
What is a COVID-Enabler? That be judges, cops, nurses/doctors, big-pharma execs, pharma that refused known work cure like iver/hcq, msm that censored, all social-media that censored and obfuscated; The list is long we make the top 50,000 worst assholes and they be hung; Anybody on the covid-enabler list to have all assets turned over to the homeless; Enablers include hospitals, and rest-homes where people were murdered; If you can be linked to a direct COVID death then your a candidate for the 'list' of 50,000;
That's a start to make COVID-SCAM even-steven.
Should be noted that those hung will be tried and found guilty of conspiring to murder USA citizens;
Those guilty of 'enabling-covid' are anybody who went along with the COVID BULLSHIT;
Apr 29, 2023·edited Apr 29, 2023Liked by NewZealandDoc
Many think of 'losing a freedom' like putting on a seat belt while driving, we have come to accept it as a compromise to our comfort so we are 'safe'. However, the analogy is not applicable to putting on masks or taking the jabs, or even standing 6 ft apart, all do NO good and cause much damage physically and mentally/emotionally. And after all this time, seat belt manufacturers do not advertise during the Superbowl and you cannot be fired from your job if you do not use a seatbelt!
And recognize that any violations of any person’s fundamental human rights is a crime of violence . And that being granted the trust of Political office by the people means the requirement of complete transparency, scrutiny, and accountability for all actions taken in the name of those positions. Lobbying and collusion with corporate interests and entities funded by corporate interests need to be made illegal and recognized as the threat it poses to the nation and the people. Accountability and transparency are NEVER optional. ‘For your safety’ , and ‘emergency powers’ are no longe4 acceptable in any form. It isn’t an excuse to violate fundamental human rights or collude with corporate agendas no matter what the ‘spin’.
I'm a classical musician in the States and have been working professionally for nearly three decades. I refused to give in to the pressure for the shot mandates. This came at a big cost but I would make the same choice again. It wasn't even a choice, but rather the only thing to do. In my field, people are all in. Total, I know of seven classical musicians, including myself, who didn't go along with the program. I admire your writing here and feel compelled to write this note and reach out to you. There's something inside that I call The Impulse. When it tells me to do something, I do that.
That is really wonderful, I'm very happy you wrote. I love classical music and have many musician friends - in fact there are a number here who did NOT take the jab and lost their jobs or waited things out until the mandates lifted, to their great credit. But the overwhelming majority just caved, they are already under pressure if they have orchestra jobs. In the past I was a consultant to a musical conservatory and I have an abiding fondness for you who have dedicated yourself to the sublime art of music in an age that rewards and applauds a lot of drivel. Thank you!
“we were all ‘coming together’, ironically enough, by staying apart.”
The following is my paraphrase of the post-Freudian scholar Norman O. Brown’s argument presented in his book “Life Against Death.”
The paradox of infantile grandiosity is that primary narcissism seeks to overcome the division of self and other — which is the work of Eros — by negation. In other words, the newborn denies its isolation from external bodies by trying to become the whole world, but the child can only create an inner simulacrum of lost unity in place of the original experience. But negation, as psychoanalytically informed readers like me believe, is the calling card of Thanatos — “like a stamp of origin,” I think Freud says.
In this way infantile fantasy negates its own ideal. That is, a wishful memory of a sensual unity between outside and inside worlds becomes a rejection of external reality, not a loving affirmation of existence in toto. Hence infantile narcissism’s withdrawal from life serves the Death drive though under the name or sign (i. e., memory) of Eros.
The psychic legacy of this paradox — this self-delusion, to be precise — is a semantic/meaningful schism in which signifier impersonates signified (to use Lacanian terms). This primally fraudulent act of representation sows perpetual confusion in mental life, both cognitively and libidinally, resulting in a profusion of psychic symbolism, a Babel Tower of obscure representations that are substituted for erotic unison.
Narcissistic ambition also fuels the defense mechanisms of projection and introjection, since both actions mitigate the splitting of self from other: introjection strengthens Eros’ drive to reconcile inner life with the outside world, while projection seeks to restore ego unity by separating consciousness from its own unwanted contents/sensations.
Tragically, narcissistic gratification misrepresents negation/death by masking it with its opposite, namely erotic wholeness. This self-deceiving escape from loss is a Faustian bargain of course, since our categorical rejection of Loss surely reduces us to a chronic, insidious state of death-by-a-thousand-cuts.
In other words, death always gets its due, which is why in my opinion Freud sanctified Thanatos as an Instinct — an inescapable force, like its complementary instinct Eros.
The therapeutic implication, I believe, is that we must learn to erotically affirm death’s instinctive demand, directly in all its sensual immediacy. The sickening alternative is to suffer death merely indirectly, covertly as a horde of divisive defense mechanisms that pretend to unify the pleasure-ego but instead vitiate the ego’s integrity, its vital power to integrate all life. This is the sickness unto death, in Kierkegaard’s phrase — the discontents in Freud’s civilization.
In fact, we cheat Eros when we artificially separate love from Death because we deny both instincts’ biological status as one indivisible demiurge.
Freud’s scheme of instinctual dualism is therefore a surrender to death’s antagonistic principle, aka dualism. Freud evidently couldn’t conceive a more dialectical balance of love and death’s instinctive tension: as soon as he propounds two opposed-yet-inextricable forces, he sides with death, according to the doctrine of division (TWO instincts) that he needs to define his model in the first place.
If, on the other hand, we side with the cohesive principle of Eros in accordance with Freud’s therapeutic goal of healing, then the fearsome advantage of Thanatos, of conflict, vanishes as it’s subsumed by all-encompassing Eros. The dualistic quandary thus collapses, with divisive Thanatos prevailing.
Freud’s hope for greater health and happiness can’t be fulfilled unless he dares to fully — not partially, since incompleteness is death’s domain — but fully give Eros its due.
Eros would then have to contain death within love’s aim of greater growth, as Death-in-Life or creative destruction. A more erotic instinctual model would allow that even death creates fusion, by returning discrete, individual lives to the inanimate, less differentiated origins from which life arises. In this way death restores (unifies) life to the non-human unity of the uni-verse, as Freud himself points out.
What does an Erotic worldview offer us today, now that all the world’s most powerful humans are hell-bent on destroying collective humanity — rather than, say, expending their wealth and power to unify us all into one healthier organism?
Another (less sanguine) possibility would be a monist revision where Thanatos rules supreme. But that notion still can’t account for love’s insistence on greater wholeness and health.
Pledging philosophic allegiance to all-consuming Thanatos is thus a self-fulfilling prophecy of nihilism.
But by the same token, a monist, omnipotent Eros is equally — and brilliantly — self-fulfilling.
The outcome — healthy growth or nihilism— depends on this question: which side are you on?
Decadent billionaires could direct their energy away from competitive (dualistic) self-aggrandizement toward self-erasing generosity that joins discrete egos with others in erotic expansiveness, instead of quixotically trying to live forever as some non-natural, godlike singularity that’s been purchased like a dehumanized commodity.
Freud’s famously pessimistic view of the human condition isn’t after all a consequence of dueling immortal instincts — as he supposed. Rather his pessimistic opinion (his concession to an instinct that deadens) resulted in a diagram of incompatible desires that incessantly divide and conquer us.
But F’s pessimistic opinion is really value-based: which is better — or stronger — ruin or creation?
A dualistic outlook reflects an over-valuation of separation and detachment (death) — of dualism itself — while concomitantly devaluing Eros’ will to unity.
F’s equivocation is a trick, an attempt to (erotically) resolve his contradictory valuations of the instincts — life and death — ab ovo. A properly defined Eros can have nothing to do with F’s impasse, with his wishful plea for a truce between enemies, because the deepest value of love is its ability to overcome death’s divisiveness altogether.
We value life over non-life because Love conquers all, by devaluing unhealthy, deathly isolation, including the exclusive isolation that money can buy.
Freud needs to more explicitly acknowledge his well-known debt to Nietzsche. In his capacity as psychologist, N envisioned a transvaluation of all values in the name of Dionysian inclusiveness.
Such a shift from Freudian values to values which increase the union of life and death, of Apollonian reserve and Dionysus’ exuberance, is necessarily a victory for Erotic fusion. Death, thou shalt die.
Hence N. O. Brown asserts, with Nietzsche, that “the unity of Apollo and Dionysus is itself Dionysian.”
Dionysian values or deadly values? This is the most decisive valuation of life’s worth. Whichever value we uphold — Nietzschean affirmation or Freudian repression — marks the difference between living and dying.
Well. You've enriched us with your own essay, raising and illuminating so many excellent features that it will inspire much consideration. Thank you so much for this!
He means he understands and accepts the madness on the surface of reality as it now presents in the world, the flotsam and jetsam of life, but the deeper and more real is the great undercurrent, God, The Divine, which is more important and worth looking forward to.
Maybe The 'Elite', Apologies - NOT 'Elite', Just 'Well Resourced', could take Our turn on the Hamster wheel! Maybe once I've enticed them 'On' - as perhaps some Neo Fetish - With maybe a Golden Oscar or a Club WEF Platinum card to The CorpoRAT Global Bathroom strung in front of them - Just out of reach, I could CONveniently 'Forget' to return, to relieve them. = AH, BLISS!
Doc, I was just reading a novel and this article struck me as being a continuation of the central character's observations about what had happened, unnoticed, in his small hometown. The name of the novel is "The Body Snatchers" by Jack Finney. It has been made into films under the title, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".
Sorry for the OT comment, but it seemed apropos to me. Thanks for a great article, and I'm glad to have found your stack by way of LRC's page for today, Wednesday, May 3, 2023.
"....get used to less liberty" Please slap me when I become that resigned so I can wake up again and keep fighting. BTW, will the last one left in NZ pls turn the lights off!
Yes, the “Overlords” have read Goethe:
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."
Brief encomium as encouragement for your writing.
Poignant and powerful in your powerlessness, Emmanuel.
You are earning the etymology of your name, but humanly as it should be.
“The Power of the Powerless” by Vaclav Havel becomes you.
I found your website with art and poetry, let the others know?
Murmurs of Montale and Quasimodo.
Thank you for being you, I take your words regularly along with Vitamin D.
“All the problems of the man who fears for his humanity come down to the same question: how to remain free?” Stefan Zweig
Stay strong, safe and free.
Thank you for your kind and astute observations! Ah, Goethe .... much appreciated
You are welcome, keep creating. I am enjoying your poems.
"Each alone on the heart of the earth,
impaled upon a ray of sun:
and suddenly it's evening."
Salvatore Quasimodo, translated by Allen Mandelbaum
check out my poem
https://www.resourceforyoursource.com/26_jack-reading-his-poem
Stay safe and free.
thank you ... and for the link to your extraordinary video and poetry!
Pleased the poem spoke to you. I have gone to your website and read some of your poems which speak to me but cannot access the videos. You have no contact email there so perhaps you want to remain private. But if interested, email me (Jack--responsiblyfree@protonmail.com) and we can meet on my Zoom and bounce off each other in the "Tumbler of Ideas"; and also I hope you will join our weekend Tutorial's bigger tumbler here https://responsiblyfree.substack.com/p/the-philosophy-of-responsible-freedom
“It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.” Montaigne
Keep safe and free.
Astute observations here!
I am not sure what we can do, apart from drawing attention to this subtle gaslighting that we are being subjected to, in so many areas of our lives.
But perhaps that will be enough, at least to keep us from going along with unwitting consent.
The first step is simple awareness, thanks for commenting!
Agree absolutely! Thank you for this great post.
Completely concur and agree, we’ll thought and discussed perspective on the reality to which we in New Zealand are subject and to which we have seemingly become inured, it is lamentable how so many still not realising simply acquiesce to these dystopian changes, the loss of liberties and freedoms, saddest of all as so poignantly noted, the younger generations than we boomers, amongst the easiest to have manipulated to this new diaspora.
Most tellingly how the educated and the so called voice of the people, our Professional’s especially in Science and Medicine aided they’re shills in the media have so eagerly embraced the nonsense promulgated by these WEF, PPP Fascists and the corrupt political class they have inculcated with this filth.
They serve now the multi national’s and the very worst, most extreme political views cheered on by once liberals, the academics and it seems everyone else with a vested interest in need of dollars and their turgid interest propelled to the fore.
Take Transgenderism as a case in point, how is it that we can have travelled from embracing gay rights including marriage to now dealing with a very real, yet complex mental health crisis of those who it would seem are no longer able to accept, perhaps, their homosexuality to the point they need to surgically transform their identity or gender into something any rational thinking person knows they are clearly not.
Are they that ashamed of being homosexual that they need contrive a heterosexual identity? What on earth has happened to these people because we know yo7 cannot be both, it is biologically impossible and if bi sexual why not stay as is… all relevant points I believe.
Since the beginning of time the X and Y chromosome and or composition of such determined your gender, settled, agreed upon and well established science, we did not have 3 or 4 genders to identify human beings or any other living species, irrespective of what it is.
Now here in 2023 and especially the last 3-5 years in particular we have been subjected to the most absurd, having it forced upon us, no more the live and live tolerance that has defined humanity in acceptance in those nations, where such change has been embraced as for example gay rights.
Nope we have alternate preferences shoved in our faces, rammed down our throats the extremities of this diaspora, of this overt personal and self, insecurity, even worse, the contrived and controlled agenda to influence the most vulnerable… being our young and teens, who all, as those of us who are are have been parents to young children know, do go through that self doubt period, that period of questioning, albeit in most cases brief, but nevertheless a time in life whereby doubts exist, legitimate doubts in many respects, but doubts and questions always able to be resolved without recourse to undue influence by those with what we now see is a patently selfish agenda, an agenda that has become so overtly politicised.
The sad uptick in the U.S of nearly 20% of the most recent generation of intermediate and high school aged children responding in recent surveys that they are unsure as to their true gender is cause for alarm…. Real alarm!
Sadly true debate, as with the COVID science, has been frowned upon, shut down, if you dare you are maligned, derided, disparaged, cancelled and or shunned for doing so, such being the weapon of choice to ensure silence, advancement and careers killed, just for speaking up, for wanting to debate facts.
Rigorous debate now seen as an outlier, a means of dissent, yet those who ask, no demand of us we merely accept by listening to them and their malady’s outright refuse the same courtesy to those of us who disagree and would prefer sound reasoned and a logic centric debate in order to arrive at consensus.
Such is the hypocrisy we now live with, little wonder when you step back, take a deep breath and look more closely at present realities especially the discourse and outcomes with the worst impact, our young disfiguring themselves, without truly, it would seem, understanding why…. you realise the lunatics have truly taken over, that some of what once could have been said to be the worst of mental illness has set itself truly free and runs amok, unchecked.
Once upon a time, anyone who ran around as some of the ardent and most vociferous adherents of Transgenderism are known to do, there would have likely been few professionals who would perhaps believe that schizophrenia was a likely diagnosis, no longer it seems, you can transform yourself into multiple personalities and or genders all with the Multi Nationals and the States blessing … crazy times indeed or …. just one more big distraction and cause to divide?
I am astounded by the nature and depth of comments such as yours, which are essays in their own right and which further our contemplation and thought --thank you so much.
Thank you for all you do and have done by choosing N.Z to live and to work, that your efforts via Substack bring and add to humanity.
It is voices such as yours that will hopefully, provide the catalyst that we both as a nation and world need to end this tyranny and accelerated dystopian nightmare we find ourselves in the midst of… I tip my hat… much respect
Best always
PJT
you are far too kind ... thank you
The speaker was doing his audience a favor by giving them a realistic perspective. My only disagreement would be that to call what is coming a loss of liberty is, sadly, an understatement. We are headed for difficult times. Consider what is going on with the WHO, with CBDCs, with our food supply, with AI, with systems of technological control and enforcement, with the ability to use technology to create sensory illusions that cannot be distinguished from what is real. Harari said the masses will be pacified with video games and drugs because he is a realist, and because, for most people, it works. The nature of our governments has been known for more than decades, with calls for We the People to rise up, to save the day. They never did. Instead, the Elite have consolidated their power. Matters are now worse, in terms of what the Elite can do and the psychological condition of the masses. It is not a fitting subject for poetry, for sentimental musings. The Elite prey on human nature because human nature is fallen. They understand that we cannot overcome our moral deficiencies even when we are able to recognize them and call them by name.
We have a respite, now, not because the medical freedom movement has prevailed, but because the Elite are taking time to set the stage for the next act. As we all know, intermittent stressors are more effective at tearing people down than uninterrupted oppression, which leads only to numbed adaptation. Instead of putting this time to good use, many in the medical freedom movement (for lack of a better term) are trying to convince everyone that we never had anything to fear in the first place. That does not cause people to ask hard questions, it numbs them to reality.
You say you ask yourself, daily, what is it that the Elite want? You will never find the answer unless you recognize that this is a spiritual battle between good and evil - no, actually, between God and those spiritual beings who oppose Him, as the driving forces that take effect through human action. The People think they can have freedom without being willing to die for it, although even those who say we must die are typically speaking, in error, in political terms. Jesus Christ said "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." He also said we must pick up our cross and die to ourselves daily because in our natural state we are slaves to sin, and incapable of being free.
I am not pointing my finger at others, because I have the same constitution as everyone else. The only difference is that I am committed to a different kingdom. I am not looking to my right, and to my left, wondering if others will act quickly enough to create some breathing space for those who oppose the global agenda. I have spent my entire life paying the price (gladly) to remain free from entanglements with this world, because this world is not what I love. My ability to accept what is coming, in peace, is not resignation. It is the direction of my energies and my affections toward an eternal goal.
This is a rich and brilliant essay of its own. Thank you very much!! I am committed to freedom, come what may.
Thanks for this thoughtful piece. "...as if 'who I say I am' assumes transcendent precedence over 'what I do'." Do you think this is partially an outgrowth/manipulation of the "New Age" movement that gained traction in the '70s (the same decade the WEF and Trilateral Commission were created)? Just wondering.
And thank you for your kind words. Yes, this has been in the works for decades ...
Excellent essay.
Thank you!
Take your country back yesterday ... Its easy
Platform Notice of "Retribution Party" - Could/Should be called "Never Again Party", but for Now We seek "Retribution"
First step a 3rd Party, we call it the “Retribution Party”
Among the platform of party besides retribution by clawback of $12 Trillion USD stolen funds is the hanging of top 50,000 covid enablers in USA; A list will be sorted by computer lottery; ( Bill Gates & ilk aka Trump/Biden et-al )
Then there is the issue of making good with the black-slaves our party proposes that all black ghetto folk today “OCCUPY” the homes of Covid Enablers already. That all USA homeless as well 'occupy' the homes of COVID enablers
When all are hung, when all funds are clawed back from big-pharma, msm, and gov cronys; and all homeless are occupying the home of covid enablers then we can call it even-steven.
This is what eugene debs, emma goldman, and maybe even Ellsberg would do. Certainly if RFK-jr was a human he too would seek retribution for murder of his family.
...
What is a COVID-Enabler? That be judges, cops, nurses/doctors, big-pharma execs, pharma that refused known work cure like iver/hcq, msm that censored, all social-media that censored and obfuscated; The list is long we make the top 50,000 worst assholes and they be hung; Anybody on the covid-enabler list to have all assets turned over to the homeless; Enablers include hospitals, and rest-homes where people were murdered; If you can be linked to a direct COVID death then your a candidate for the 'list' of 50,000;
That's a start to make COVID-SCAM even-steven.
Should be noted that those hung will be tried and found guilty of conspiring to murder USA citizens;
Those guilty of 'enabling-covid' are anybody who went along with the COVID BULLSHIT;
So many enablers, so many perpetrators ... thank your for commenting
Globally. This crime was a global crime.
Many think of 'losing a freedom' like putting on a seat belt while driving, we have come to accept it as a compromise to our comfort so we are 'safe'. However, the analogy is not applicable to putting on masks or taking the jabs, or even standing 6 ft apart, all do NO good and cause much damage physically and mentally/emotionally. And after all this time, seat belt manufacturers do not advertise during the Superbowl and you cannot be fired from your job if you do not use a seatbelt!
And recognize that any violations of any person’s fundamental human rights is a crime of violence . And that being granted the trust of Political office by the people means the requirement of complete transparency, scrutiny, and accountability for all actions taken in the name of those positions. Lobbying and collusion with corporate interests and entities funded by corporate interests need to be made illegal and recognized as the threat it poses to the nation and the people. Accountability and transparency are NEVER optional. ‘For your safety’ , and ‘emergency powers’ are no longe4 acceptable in any form. It isn’t an excuse to violate fundamental human rights or collude with corporate agendas no matter what the ‘spin’.
Exactly, well put! Thank you
Well said, thank you
Hello, NZ Doc,
I'm a classical musician in the States and have been working professionally for nearly three decades. I refused to give in to the pressure for the shot mandates. This came at a big cost but I would make the same choice again. It wasn't even a choice, but rather the only thing to do. In my field, people are all in. Total, I know of seven classical musicians, including myself, who didn't go along with the program. I admire your writing here and feel compelled to write this note and reach out to you. There's something inside that I call The Impulse. When it tells me to do something, I do that.
That is really wonderful, I'm very happy you wrote. I love classical music and have many musician friends - in fact there are a number here who did NOT take the jab and lost their jobs or waited things out until the mandates lifted, to their great credit. But the overwhelming majority just caved, they are already under pressure if they have orchestra jobs. In the past I was a consultant to a musical conservatory and I have an abiding fondness for you who have dedicated yourself to the sublime art of music in an age that rewards and applauds a lot of drivel. Thank you!
I hope it's not that bad, but if it is, those who comply will get what they richly deserve.
“we were all ‘coming together’, ironically enough, by staying apart.”
The following is my paraphrase of the post-Freudian scholar Norman O. Brown’s argument presented in his book “Life Against Death.”
The paradox of infantile grandiosity is that primary narcissism seeks to overcome the division of self and other — which is the work of Eros — by negation. In other words, the newborn denies its isolation from external bodies by trying to become the whole world, but the child can only create an inner simulacrum of lost unity in place of the original experience. But negation, as psychoanalytically informed readers like me believe, is the calling card of Thanatos — “like a stamp of origin,” I think Freud says.
In this way infantile fantasy negates its own ideal. That is, a wishful memory of a sensual unity between outside and inside worlds becomes a rejection of external reality, not a loving affirmation of existence in toto. Hence infantile narcissism’s withdrawal from life serves the Death drive though under the name or sign (i. e., memory) of Eros.
The psychic legacy of this paradox — this self-delusion, to be precise — is a semantic/meaningful schism in which signifier impersonates signified (to use Lacanian terms). This primally fraudulent act of representation sows perpetual confusion in mental life, both cognitively and libidinally, resulting in a profusion of psychic symbolism, a Babel Tower of obscure representations that are substituted for erotic unison.
Narcissistic ambition also fuels the defense mechanisms of projection and introjection, since both actions mitigate the splitting of self from other: introjection strengthens Eros’ drive to reconcile inner life with the outside world, while projection seeks to restore ego unity by separating consciousness from its own unwanted contents/sensations.
Tragically, narcissistic gratification misrepresents negation/death by masking it with its opposite, namely erotic wholeness. This self-deceiving escape from loss is a Faustian bargain of course, since our categorical rejection of Loss surely reduces us to a chronic, insidious state of death-by-a-thousand-cuts.
In other words, death always gets its due, which is why in my opinion Freud sanctified Thanatos as an Instinct — an inescapable force, like its complementary instinct Eros.
The therapeutic implication, I believe, is that we must learn to erotically affirm death’s instinctive demand, directly in all its sensual immediacy. The sickening alternative is to suffer death merely indirectly, covertly as a horde of divisive defense mechanisms that pretend to unify the pleasure-ego but instead vitiate the ego’s integrity, its vital power to integrate all life. This is the sickness unto death, in Kierkegaard’s phrase — the discontents in Freud’s civilization.
In fact, we cheat Eros when we artificially separate love from Death because we deny both instincts’ biological status as one indivisible demiurge.
Freud’s scheme of instinctual dualism is therefore a surrender to death’s antagonistic principle, aka dualism. Freud evidently couldn’t conceive a more dialectical balance of love and death’s instinctive tension: as soon as he propounds two opposed-yet-inextricable forces, he sides with death, according to the doctrine of division (TWO instincts) that he needs to define his model in the first place.
If, on the other hand, we side with the cohesive principle of Eros in accordance with Freud’s therapeutic goal of healing, then the fearsome advantage of Thanatos, of conflict, vanishes as it’s subsumed by all-encompassing Eros. The dualistic quandary thus collapses, with divisive Thanatos prevailing.
Freud’s hope for greater health and happiness can’t be fulfilled unless he dares to fully — not partially, since incompleteness is death’s domain — but fully give Eros its due.
Eros would then have to contain death within love’s aim of greater growth, as Death-in-Life or creative destruction. A more erotic instinctual model would allow that even death creates fusion, by returning discrete, individual lives to the inanimate, less differentiated origins from which life arises. In this way death restores (unifies) life to the non-human unity of the uni-verse, as Freud himself points out.
What does an Erotic worldview offer us today, now that all the world’s most powerful humans are hell-bent on destroying collective humanity — rather than, say, expending their wealth and power to unify us all into one healthier organism?
Another (less sanguine) possibility would be a monist revision where Thanatos rules supreme. But that notion still can’t account for love’s insistence on greater wholeness and health.
Pledging philosophic allegiance to all-consuming Thanatos is thus a self-fulfilling prophecy of nihilism.
But by the same token, a monist, omnipotent Eros is equally — and brilliantly — self-fulfilling.
The outcome — healthy growth or nihilism— depends on this question: which side are you on?
Decadent billionaires could direct their energy away from competitive (dualistic) self-aggrandizement toward self-erasing generosity that joins discrete egos with others in erotic expansiveness, instead of quixotically trying to live forever as some non-natural, godlike singularity that’s been purchased like a dehumanized commodity.
Freud’s famously pessimistic view of the human condition isn’t after all a consequence of dueling immortal instincts — as he supposed. Rather his pessimistic opinion (his concession to an instinct that deadens) resulted in a diagram of incompatible desires that incessantly divide and conquer us.
But F’s pessimistic opinion is really value-based: which is better — or stronger — ruin or creation?
A dualistic outlook reflects an over-valuation of separation and detachment (death) — of dualism itself — while concomitantly devaluing Eros’ will to unity.
F’s equivocation is a trick, an attempt to (erotically) resolve his contradictory valuations of the instincts — life and death — ab ovo. A properly defined Eros can have nothing to do with F’s impasse, with his wishful plea for a truce between enemies, because the deepest value of love is its ability to overcome death’s divisiveness altogether.
We value life over non-life because Love conquers all, by devaluing unhealthy, deathly isolation, including the exclusive isolation that money can buy.
Freud needs to more explicitly acknowledge his well-known debt to Nietzsche. In his capacity as psychologist, N envisioned a transvaluation of all values in the name of Dionysian inclusiveness.
Such a shift from Freudian values to values which increase the union of life and death, of Apollonian reserve and Dionysus’ exuberance, is necessarily a victory for Erotic fusion. Death, thou shalt die.
Hence N. O. Brown asserts, with Nietzsche, that “the unity of Apollo and Dionysus is itself Dionysian.”
Dionysian values or deadly values? This is the most decisive valuation of life’s worth. Whichever value we uphold — Nietzschean affirmation or Freudian repression — marks the difference between living and dying.
Well. You've enriched us with your own essay, raising and illuminating so many excellent features that it will inspire much consideration. Thank you so much for this!
He means he understands and accepts the madness on the surface of reality as it now presents in the world, the flotsam and jetsam of life, but the deeper and more real is the great undercurrent, God, The Divine, which is more important and worth looking forward to.
Maybe The 'Elite', Apologies - NOT 'Elite', Just 'Well Resourced', could take Our turn on the Hamster wheel! Maybe once I've enticed them 'On' - as perhaps some Neo Fetish - With maybe a Golden Oscar or a Club WEF Platinum card to The CorpoRAT Global Bathroom strung in front of them - Just out of reach, I could CONveniently 'Forget' to return, to relieve them. = AH, BLISS!
Wellness - John D.
Doc, I was just reading a novel and this article struck me as being a continuation of the central character's observations about what had happened, unnoticed, in his small hometown. The name of the novel is "The Body Snatchers" by Jack Finney. It has been made into films under the title, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".
Sorry for the OT comment, but it seemed apropos to me. Thanks for a great article, and I'm glad to have found your stack by way of LRC's page for today, Wednesday, May 3, 2023.
"....get used to less liberty" Please slap me when I become that resigned so I can wake up again and keep fighting. BTW, will the last one left in NZ pls turn the lights off!
What did he mean?
I wish I knew!