Leo's Blog: Infinite Insights — Page 56

Someone sent me an email saying that they had a dream of me swimming calmly in a bathtub full of crocodiles.

That's my life in a nutshell. But I'm not always so calm.

There exists an entire profession called Philosophical Counseling.

It's when an academically trained philosopher (with a masters or PhD in philosophy) is employed as a consultant or coach to help you think through existential problems in your life. For example, maybe you're confused about whether there are only two genders, or more. So you hire a philosophical counselor who will help you contemplate through the issue and reach some kind of conclusion that will put your mind at ease.

According to Wikipedia, here's what philosophical counseling involves:

"A philosophical practitioner helps clients to clarify, articulate, explore and comprehend philosophical aspects of their belief systems or world views. Clients may consult philosophical practitioners for help in exploring philosophical problems related to such matters as mid-life crises, career changes, stress, emotions, assertiveness, physical illness, death and dying, aging, meaning of life, and morality. On the other side philosophical practitioners also initiate projects in common life worlds with various goals that are related to essential problems of life, such as sustainable energy, direct democracy, etc.

Activities common to philosophical practice include:

1. The examination of clients' arguments and justifications
2. The clarification, analysis, and definition of important terms and concepts
3. The exposure and examination of underlying assumptions and logical implications
4. The exposure of conflicts and inconsistencies
5. The exploration of traditional philosophical theories and their significance for client issues
6. The initiation of projects for common goods
7. All other related activities that have historically been identified as philosophical."

I just wanted to share this because I thought it was a really cool application of philosophy and I'm sure some of you who follow my work would be interested in such a unique profession as a life purpose.

In light of this profession, I am like a Philosophical Drillmaster — where I bludgeon you with practical philosophy until you change how you live your life.

"Hey, Johnny, who do you want to be when you grow up? An astronaut? A firefighter?"

"A philosophical counselor!"

"Time and space are unreal, matter is an illusion, and the world consists of nothing but mind."

-- Bertrand Russell's summary of Hegel's philosophy

If you want to get really nerdy and develop a profound understanding of what fundamentalism is, I've got just the resource for you! It's called The Fundamentalism Project. This was a 10-year academic research project into the empirical study and analysis of fundamentalist movements around the world. It produced a series of 6 books on the subject which you can find at the link below:

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/FP.html

It's heavy reading, so this is not for the laymen, but if you're nerdy enough you might like it, and there's some gold in those books. Frankly, just one of the books should be enough. I recommend buying one with the newest date.

These are not self-help books, these books are for people who want an academic understanding of fundamentalism.

First, watch this clip of Musk and Rogan talking about how the left is a "death cult" because Musk found one radical leftist in the New York Times who said that mankind is a cancer upon the planet:

So because of this Musk (and Rogan's fanbase) support Trump and the right.

But the right's base are Christian Nationalists. They worked for Trump and wrote a 900 page manifesto for Trump's next term. Now observe that these Christian Nationalists literally pray for the End Times:

You see? This is the bullshit that the human mind spins up when it comes to rationalizing its own political biases and positions. This is what I mean when I warn about Double-Standards, Self-Bias, and Self-Deception.

By any objective measure, the American MAGA right is a Christian death cult. They write national policy based on this. They nominate Federal judges based on this. Yet Musk eagerly funds and supports them on the grounds that leftists are the death cult. This is the level of absurdity that our politics has produced.

It is galling when right-wingers and Trump supporters dare to claim that the Trump administration is anti-war and pro peace. These people pray for Armageddon. These people believe that Muslims are demons. These are the people staffing Trump's next administration. Don't ever speak to me about "anti-war" MAGA. Such people are incapable of being anti-war.

And at the same time, leftists whine about how bad Biden is on Gaza. Meanwhile Trumpists literally believe that Gaza is run by demons and Satan. How do you think Christian Nationalists will handle Gaza?

This is disturbingly accurate:

Intelligent talk by the wise Daniel Schmachtenberger:

Schmachtenberger is one of the only impressive public intellectuals. Everyone else is playing a lower game.

One of the most disappointing things I've realized in understanding how governments work and how politics works, is that every intelligence agency in the world is basically a collection of clinical psychopaths and sociopaths.

Intelligence agencies are based in pure selfishness and survival, not truth or consciousness. Many of the world's problems stem from this. When I was younger I was naive in assuming that intelligence agencies cared about being fair and honest. They don't. It's just a raw exercise in power and self-bias.

If the world is to be a fair, decent, and peaceful place, intelligence agencies would have to place truth and fairness as their top priority. Until that happens there will be conflict, exploitation, domination, and war.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat has brilliant analysis of wannabe authoritarians:

(skip to timestamp 13:30 for the start of the talk)

I love how she, even though an academic, doesn't try to pull her punches by doing the "both sides" thing. She lays out the reality without giving a damn if it indicts half of the American electorate. It just is what it is. Don't let the American right gaslight you. You are not crazy. They have lost their minds due to their inability to cope with Stage Green.

In a nutshell, what is happening in American politics?

50% of the population is developmentally, morally, emotionally, and intellectually incapable of accepting Stage Green, and they are going through an ego backlash. They would rather spoon with the Devil than admit that Stage Green is more evolved than Orange or Blue.

This explains everything you see in mainstream and non-mainstream media.

Look at how simple and clear it is!

What was the economic system in Nazi Germany? What were Hitler's views on the ideal economic system? I encourage you to research and contemplate these questions.

Conservatives would like you to believe it was socialism. Of course that's not what the historical record shows:

In recent weeks it has come to light just how much Silicon Valley tech bros and oligarchs are lining up behind Trump. People like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen, Mark Zuckerberg, David Sacks, and many others of their ilk. At first this may seem odd because isn't Silicon Valley supposed to be liberal and progressive? In some sense they are. They are culturally liberal. However, the one thing all these guys have in common is that they are megalomaniacal oligarchs. What they want above all else is POWER. They don't fundamentally believe in democracy (one person one vote). They believe that their opinion should matter more than everyone else's. So just like in Nazi Germany, the capitalists, industrialists, and tech oligarch's moral principles are secondary to power and profits. The industrialists in Nazi Germany supported Hitler because Hitler was good for business — at least for a while. Hitler enabled them to extract wealth from and rule over the workforce.

Understand how society is actually structured: No dictator or ruler in any nation holds power alone. There is no such thing as one-man rule. Power is always accumulated through a network of elites who all scratch each others backs, working against the majority of the people to extract wealth. A small group of wealthy, egotistical, shameless, ruthless, anti-democratic, corrupt, sociopathic, megalomaniacs form an alliance of convenience with a ruler or autocrat. They strike a business deal. The deal is this: the oligarchs get favorable conditions to keep exploiting the masses, while the autocrat gets the power to curb-stomp any democratic reforms which would redistribute power and wealth more evenly across society. Government is thus made into a wealth-extraction vehicle. The purpose of the government is not to serve the majority but to serve a tiny exclusive minority by leeching the majority dry.

This is how it works in Russia, in North Korea, in China, in Saudi Arabia, and of course in America. America is not above this! American oligarchs are fundamentally no different than Russian or Chinese oligarchs. The underlying psychology is the same: extract power and wealth by any means possible. The biggest difference with American oligarchs is that they have deluded themselves into thinking they are the good guys, that they are evolved and decent. Of course tech oligarchs side with Trump, because a truly progressive President would break up all their monopolies and regulate their theft of data. American oligarchs have invented a customized ideology which convinces them that they are not oligarchs, that they are not corrupt, that they are liberal and not fascist. But the reality is that they are anti-democratic monopolists who will support fascism as soon as it is convenient. Because their business is their top value.

If Big Tech doesn't get behind Trump, and Trump wins, he will deliberately use government to damage their businesses. They know this, so they start to kiss Trump's ass. This is nothing new. They also know that Trump has no moral principles and he doesn't care about doing what's right for democracy — such as serious anti-trust regulation — so if they kiss his ass he will grant them favors and deregulate them, which means they can exploit the masses like never before.

Capitalism, fascism, and oligarchy go hand in hand. Large corporations and billionaires don't care about democracy, or equality, or fairness, or truth, or consciousness — they care about getting more power for themselves. But, like what happened in Nazi Germany, in so doing they end up killing the goose that lays the golden eggs — the foundation which allows for business at all: which is rule of law, fair markets, and general stability. American capitalism is eating itself alive, as it did in Nazi Germany. These American capitalists have convinced themselves that the solution to America's problem is more capitalism, more power for them to solve the problems. How perfectly convenient. "Just give me and my friends more power and money and we will solve all of Americans problems. We promise." That's what these egomaniacs have convinced themselves of, and they have no one around to tell them otherwise because everyone in their social circle benefits from and echos back to them their corrupt perspective. These people are so corrupt they don't even understand they are corrupt. Their corruption is like a black hole that consumes everything out to an infinite horizon. And it's painted over with a veneer of liberalism, progressivism, and high technology like robots, AI, fancy electric cars, rockets, mobile apps, and free 2-day shipping.

But there's a plot twist: These oligarchs aren't just bribing the politicians, they are are also bribing you, the customers! The unconscious deal they made with you is: they will supply you with cheap or free goods and services to help your survival in the short-term, and you will shut up and not question the corruption and erosion of democracy, truth, and consciousness. Instead of serious consciousness or understanding, you will sit there and click your phone for hours like a fucking monkey. Or you will get distracted investing in their tech stocks, hoping to make a quick buck.

What really runs societies is an insatiable thirst for power and domination, a thirst by a minority to get rich off the backs of the majority. It has always been this way, and it is still this way today. But today's American oligarchs are foolish enough to believe their own virtue signaling and innocence. The extent to which a nation is able to prevent this exploitation (and it occurs in many degrees), is the extent to which a nation is great. Almost nobody understands this or how to prevent it, and this is why politics is so tricky. People don't even understand what the goal of political action ought to be and why.

In conclusion, the Devil is a businessman and you are his mindless bitch.

Ta-daaaa!

Note: Of course, don't make the mistake of thinking that this oligarch capitalism problem only exists on the right. It also exists on the left. The desire for power and wealth corrupts every mind, regardless of your ideology. Corruption is a force that transcends all belief systems, all moral systems, all political systems, all economic systems, all classes, all virtue signaling, all good intentions, all spiritual and religious inclinations, all stages of development. Corruption, like gravity, is universal.

Note: Socialism does not solve the problems I am talking about. You can't solve the problem of corruption by switching to socialism, because all your socialist leaders will also be corrupt! If the solution was that easy, I wouldn't be talking about it, it would have been solved 100 years ago.

Note: Don't forget, you cannot demonize businessmen because business is how you survive. If you're not a businessperson yourself then your certainly work for one. Or you conduct business with one. So you're not above this problem. You are swimming up to your neck in human shit, and you produced some of that shit yourself. This is our situation.