"Freedom is not Free" -US Dept of War

Something I wrote long ago, slightly edited to make paragraphs smaller:
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Some of the Principles of Large Scale Social Slavery.

Partial List of Rules for keeping a population enslaved:

Prime Strategy:
To Conquer, Divide, To Keep Conquered, Keep Divided

(Call it 'government', 'corporations', 'special interests', 'religions', 'nations', 'ethnic groups', 'races', 'economics', and many more)

If applied with enough distracting interrelated synergistic control systems, the enslaved population can be any size whatsoever. An effective slave system will be taken for granted by the slaves, and their slavery not even noticed.

(Desired Result of Prime Strategy) To cause slaves to conclude everything is unchangeable and anything they hear is unbelievable... Make slaves fear each other and fear cooperating in any way outside the control systems... Make sure the slaves intrinsically blame each other cynically for everything that happens.

(Call it 'human nature' and make sure all believe it of others)

Keep the slave population totally occupied attaining the right to live. Make them base their self-worth on slaving, so they will hate anyone who does not slave away their lives. Have the very definition of a good life be slaving, and have any failure to prosper from slaving always be considered the fault of the slave, not the system.

Also, no slave is as enthusiastically enslaved or works harder, even at makework, than a slave who is convinced he or she is free.

(Call it 'work' or 'employment' and for the smart ones, call it 'professions' and let them have attitudes and specialties, so they will believe nothing but 'approved' information.)

Concentrate the slave's minds on a system of 'permission' symbols which give access to life support and goods to make their lives fractionally easier. Allow more freedom for more symbols, so slaves will seek it ever harder and give up all human decency to attain it. Have the acquisition of the symbols be the very definition of 'practical' so the system will define all activity and prevent all actions not included in the system.

Let slaves who cannot acquire the symbols die in horrible conditions of starvation, lack of sanitary conditions, diseases, lack of shelter, and make sure they are considered unworthy of life by most slaves. Sacrificing a few slaves to horrible torturous deaths has long proven to scare the rest into non-thinking obedience to the system.

(Call it 'money' and make them think what they get using it is 'theirs'.)

Force all slaves to use it whenever they cooperate in any way, as long as they give back some of the symbols each time, to support the illusion that the system is supported by the slaves.

(Call it 'taxes')

Be sure to make them believe that the symbols are theirs by virtue of their work.

Control the worth of the symbols and the availability so as to force the slaves into doing what you want without having to use direct force.

(Call it 'interest rates', 'government contracts', and 'pay')

Keep the symbols scarce, so they have to continuously work harder and harder to get tiny quantities of technologically easily made goods, and they will never notice that what they get is the tiniest of leftovers from what is taken from them...

(Call it all 'economics')

Bombard the slaves, and especially their children, with enticements to keep them motivated to consume more, and include social messages within each enticement, so they will think they are less than others in wealth.

(Call it 'advertising')

Concentrate all acts of violence and aberrant behavior as if they occur nearby, so as to keep them both fearful and cynical, convinced that 'human nature' is evil and dysfunctional everywhere, so they will never work together outside control systems.

(Call it 'news media')

Keep continuous mass shows, some silly, some sillier, and some extreme competitions to provide relief from the pressure of attaining the right to live, producing an effect worse than drugs.

(Call them 'sitcoms' and 'sports' and 'reality shows')

For every word of truth that escapes or is generated by malcontent slaves, make sure a million slightly different versions are circulated, some pro, some con. For convincing the slaves that a lie is true, place the same story out to all slaves over and over again. This will also make sure that anything that happens but is not in an 'official' story is disregarded as a non-event.

(Call it 'the media')

Divide the world up into turfs, with the enslaved populations identifying with their turf symbols, and keep an organized subculture of brainwashed fanatics for each turf, and fight them with each other as a lesson to all the slaves, to keep them in fear.

(Call the symbols 'flags' and the subculture the 'military')

Use the subculture against the turf population if control starts to slip.

Create a document each turf population will worship even if it is just words on paper.

(Call it a 'constitution')

Let them believe the document defines the rules of the 'turf', when actually it defines only their social beliefs. Cause ideological conflict between those who hold different interpretations of the document, following the Prime Strategy.

Provide an illusion of control, through a fake selection of rulers.

(Call them 'elections' and 'candidates')

Make sure a few 'Turfs' have the appearance of old style slavery, using mass murder and rule by whim by figurehead leaders, to make the slaves in turfs with fake selection of rulers appreciate the illusion of control.

Tell the Slaves that the rules make them free and that they choose them.

(Call them 'laws' and violently suppress anyone who breaks them. It's a good way to keep those who see through this process down and keep order for better control.)

In the minds of the slaves, equate the revolutionary, the violent criminal, the non-violent criminal, and the poorest of the population, so the majority of the slaves will consider them all the same threat.

Create a huge bureaucracy that proclaims to speak for God, and the slaves will follow orders and work hard even if they kill themselves in the process.

(Call it 'religion'.)

Make those slaves who reject the various God bureaucracies believe that what they think generates Universe, that their egos are the center of Universe, for then the slaves can only blame themselves, will never cooperate to change anything, and thereby never DO anything outside the control systems.

(Call it 'spirituality' or 'atheism'.)

Humanity must find it's natural way of living and loving, of organizing together for mutual support, in the expression of real human values. The idolatry of symbols and power must end!

As one of the greatest teachers in history stated;

"Ye shall know them by their love."

Some Other Thoughts:

If anything can be believed in, why believe in anything? Why hold on to conceptual fantasies when we walk around in a world so wondrous and beautiful that no amount of words, thoughts, or images can fully describe even a tiny portion of it.


The observation that 'I think, therefore I am' which is the most basic axiom of Western Civilization, is only a minor subset of the real most basic observation of life, that is 'All that is, IS'. The FORMER merely inflates the ego, declaring it supreme, and makes for concepts which destroy or despoil the world, while the LATTER, as the most basic of axioms, makes for a mind of inquiry, holding the ego secondary, and which makes for a 'benchmark' of what works and what doesn't that allows actions without destruction, true awareness of the worth of compassion, and adaptation without despoliation.


To consider ecological and cultural sanity impractical is the most extreme and subtle of insanities, yet it is the very basis of all existing subcultures on this planet. It is why conditions get worse despite all the efforts of groups and individuals who see the destruction of the environment and the tragic unnecessary sacrifice of human life and potential to poverty and ignorance.


Global social and environmental problems result not purely from individual actions... Nor will the problems be solved by any individual alone... The problems result from large scale individual actions within the axiomatic confines of social convention. To solve this problem, more and more people have to think 'outside the lines' of these social axioms and algorithms and work together to change those axioms and algorithms through group example.

Luckily, it does not take a high percentage of humanity to make a great difference, only a tiny fraction. But it is significant that there is no way to cause change through existing social outlets... they are designed to give the illusion of being a means of change, and yet not effect or alter the ongoing irrational processes of decision making whatsoever. Most of them do not realize these limitations, and would deny the existence of any limitations.


Evolution is continuing. To realize that evolution is not a process of chance but rather the intelligent actions of a planetary eco-entity that arose from biochemical and energetic processes inherent in Universe is to suddenly see that all that is going on in this world comes from ignorance of this fact. To know that conscious evolution proceeds from a synergistic consciousness made up of all the conscious beings on this planet, within a field generated by all Life on this planet, is to know that change will proceed apace and towards Global human sanity.

Knowing this gives great wisdom, and the loss of all fear, even of death, for suddenly we know we are part of something greater, which values us and which moves in our hearts and minds and in the hearts and minds of Humanity. One with all life on the planet, that life being an intelligent being, we are Evolution.


Egocentric 'spirituality' is just words. Saying 'God is love' or 'We are One.' from an ego belief is bogus unless it is preceded by the transformation of the mind through the understanding of the relationship of the ego to Universe, the realization of the Real Mind, and most of all, the compassionate actions such transformation generates. This takes great effort, for to transcend the ego is a door into sanity, and it is not done through exterior artifacts or exercises, nor through thoughts and beliefs.

Beliefs are irrelevant to the knowledge gained by the experience of dropping the ego completely and accepting the resulting perceptions. This is not a subtle phenomena, nor is it reached through any gradual 'path', but is an overwhelming, yet perfectly natural experience that lasts only moments and yet changes everything. With that experience, all doubts are lost, all fear disappears, especially of death, and all of Universe is valued to it's true measure. It causes permanent change, and that change is reflected in actions which benefit others profoundly.

This is not to say that compassion and love cannot be expressed by anyone anywhere, for the basis of our lives are our Real Mind, not our egos, and while beliefs are irrelevant to most actions taken by most people, with the ego rationalizing each action and claiming it as it's own, most of what goes on in the world is not sourced in the ego but in the Real Mind. Without this larger interaction, insane control systems would have killed off all life long ago. But despite their seeming total ubiquitous nature, the control systems are still superficial, a thin veneer over the actual dynamics of life, even human life. We but need to realize that, and get rid of the destructive corrosion.


"Work" is not what we do when we go somewhere and spend our lives following someone else's instructions doing activities that are far below our potential and which either does no good or does damage to the Planet. The Human Control system we are forced by violence to accept and which limits our existence and actions has no relationship to what is required to survive on this planet.

There is something called 'right livelihood' in Buddhism which really defines what true work is, and with an understanding of environment thrown in, Right Livelihood should guide all young people into work which will allow them to do real work in the world, work worth doing. To do work worth doing is more fulfilling in life, and better for all, than to do work which pays a lot of money, but which traps your soul into an false hell that winds down to eventual planetary death.


To live in an intentional participatory community is to live a full experience far exceeding most people's lives. The friendships, the entertainment, even the work is not much like living in the divided society most of us have experienced most of our lives. The feeling of belonging causes a security not found outside such communities, and even the problems are more interesting.

I have lived in both dysfunctional and extremely functional communities, and find that even dysfunctional communities are more interesting than living as a 'nuclear family' or alone. Dysfunctional communities don't last long, but functional communities tend to create lifelong friends. No individuality is lost, although some bad habits may fade in importance, and so much is gained, that, in my opinion, it is natural to join with others in community, and forge a future together.


AND IN RESPONSE TO ED ELKIN WHO WROTE - WHEN INTRODUCING ROAN'S NEWSLETTER TO HIS LIST:

"Note that the overall message is hopeful and positive, although it may not at
first seem so. In my initial comments back to Roan with whom I've exchanged ideas for well over a year, but never met in person, I wrote, in part,

"I'm glad that you end on a positive note..... and see a light at the end of
the tunnel.

My perception is that the "tunnel" isn't quite as black and full of demons as you portray it and that it's even possible to enjoy the journey through. Admittedly, billions of us on the planet suffer a living hell, but there are enough of us awakening to begin the transformation process toward the light. Thanks for the stimulation of sharing your truth. For me, it is far more useful to make 'energetic progress in the good' than to rail against that which I oppose.... which only feeds its destructive energy by adding to the amount of negativity on the planet."

(end of quote from Ed Elkin)

ROAN HAD THIS COMMENT:

Ed, my friend,

I used to just think and talk purely positive viewpoints. Then one day I noticed that a large number of people I knew, who also just thought and talked positive stuff DID only negative stuff and either didn't realize it or always rationalized their actions through twisting their viewpoint to make it positive... Usually they would not think about what they actually did, and blinder their perceptions to see only what their egos wanted them to see, which allowed them to do negative or apathetic actions, for some reason they did not think about either, seeing it as 'normal' or 'practical'.

I realized that positive thinking was not enough. To understand the problem is to overcome it. To understand the problem and communicate that understanding to others is a very positive thing to do, because it helps them perceive it and then overcome it. And the solutions are never just in what we think, nor what we say, but in what we do also. Positive thoughts can be literally any thoughts, about anything, and actions can be negative even if the thoughts are positive. If ego belief is the only criteria, then anything goes and the world does not change for the better.

I am not putting negativity out into the world. I am putting positive stuff into the world, because what I am putting out is a very large set of questions each has to face when reading my posts. Even if they file away my posts in their 'crazy' or 'negative' folder, they will continue on in their lives, and Life itself will keep giving them experiences which will make my filed words jump out of the folder.

Then one day it will jump up in their laps and they will have to face the transformation of their own minds. The world will then be different to them, and they will act upon that difference, and the planet will be that much closer to survivability and the love we know is it's rightful harmony. That transformation is not conceivable to the ego, but it is as real as anything that exists.

Egocentric spirituality is pretty much bogus because it will not accept responsibility for what it does, only for what it thinks. It mistakes the Real Mind with the ego, which is like mistaking a world for a tiny stone, in scale at least. This is the essence of negativity, and is worse than cynical thought because the actions resulting will be from apathy and rationalization. The cynic at least does evil because he cannot see any alternative through his cynical thought... the egocentric spiritualist can do evil while thinking it's good.

Wishful thinking is not necessarily 'positive'. To see Universe as it is, is to know what to do, to act upon the knowledge, in physical as well as mental action. It rarely has negative results, short term, and never in the long term.

Frankly, imho, egocentric spirituality is often pure fear and results in denial no better than the German people's denial and fear as they saw Jews being carted away in boxcars. More people are being killed right now than during those days, if spread across the planet instead of concentrated, and apathy, rationalized in a million conceptual ways, is still allowing that evil.

There is a difference between judgment and perception. To perceive evil is not to condone it. Evil actions and words can be perceived, acted upon, and overcome.

Judgment is only of people, of them personally, and to judge a person can be to amplify that evil they have done, or diminish it, according to what actions (words are one kind of action) are taken after the judgment. THAT is when non-judgment can have a real changing energy to it.

To perceive evil and not do something about it, magnifies that evil, and the world's negativity is made greater. The newsletter was specifically positive, even if it pointed out negative stuff, because that stuff will not change unless folks know it exists, (can think of it in a new way so they look for the possibility that it exists,) and affects them... if they do not know it exists and affects them, they have no choice about it, because they do not know it exists. As members of it, they will instead promote it, and not know they are doing that either.

This is why saving the world is not easy -- grin

Thanks for passing the newsletter on. I respect your opinion, but felt it necessary to clarify why my messages seem negative. The world is acting in negative ways, and to change that requires more than just a positive attitude. I have a positive attitude, actually an incredibly positive attitude, or I would not have continued these efforts. I know we are far more than we think we are, and know also that we are One in ways few have perceived. That most will perceive this also is a given to me, although it takes my and others efforts to do that change, and when it is a common perception, the world will change slowly into Grace.

Love,
-Roan

In other words, as said to a friend: "Calling attention to a crack in a dam is not negative, and calling attention to existing conditions is not negative if they lead to people choosing to change them. Seeing through an illusion is the only way to dissolve it, but first it is required to know it is an illusion."