I think there is a major commonality between what Good Citizen refers to as new religions and what most think of as "traditional"* religions is that they are fear based. Prmarily around the fear of death.
* I don't think most of these religions started as being fear based but quite the opposite. I think that fear based cultures subverted them into the fear based cultures as a way of making them impotent because they originally challenged fear based cultures by being alternatives to those dominant cultures.
I am definitely going to enjoy these epistolary exchanges based on the first round, thank you WS and GC.
For me this says it all:
<<We have to be careful and alert to the possibility that the dominant belief may not have been (or is) the majority belief, but the system of thought that has had the most influence over the most people - eventually becoming a dominant belief or at least having the appearance of such.>>
Running away when you see a snake on the path in front of you, to realise with relief it was merely a stick, is potentially embarrassing but a good survival strategy. The problem comes, as recent history demonstrates abundantly, when we are conditioned through relentless reminders that there might be snakes on the path at any moment.
I feel I've just been educated in ways I had never realised. Thank you, Winston, for your concise, circling diorama of our human folly. I look forward to reading more of this discourse with Good Citizen. More out of the box the better.
Angles of hellfire Winston! Damn nature or nuture! neuropsychobiology? The slaughter house is gone. You dropped a scientific moab onto a sheep's meadow. Their shearlings will be dropping in nearby villages for years. I don't know that I'll ever make sense of it with my limited horizon of simultaneity but it's so damn fascinating and challenging I don't regret anything, other than the idea of formulating any sort of coherent response that doesn't immediately attempt to hijack things straight toward more rudimentary and safe territory. I will for now avoid those impulses while awaiting another "shorter burst" of yours toward your final lines, from a nuclear bunker of course. There should be plenty here in Poland.
I subscribe to both of you, but this is something different to process. Good of you both to start this.
I think there is a major commonality between what Good Citizen refers to as new religions and what most think of as "traditional"* religions is that they are fear based. Prmarily around the fear of death.
* I don't think most of these religions started as being fear based but quite the opposite. I think that fear based cultures subverted them into the fear based cultures as a way of making them impotent because they originally challenged fear based cultures by being alternatives to those dominant cultures.
I am definitely going to enjoy these epistolary exchanges based on the first round, thank you WS and GC.
For me this says it all:
<<We have to be careful and alert to the possibility that the dominant belief may not have been (or is) the majority belief, but the system of thought that has had the most influence over the most people - eventually becoming a dominant belief or at least having the appearance of such.>>
Running away when you see a snake on the path in front of you, to realise with relief it was merely a stick, is potentially embarrassing but a good survival strategy. The problem comes, as recent history demonstrates abundantly, when we are conditioned through relentless reminders that there might be snakes on the path at any moment.
I feel I've just been educated in ways I had never realised. Thank you, Winston, for your concise, circling diorama of our human folly. I look forward to reading more of this discourse with Good Citizen. More out of the box the better.
Angles of hellfire Winston! Damn nature or nuture! neuropsychobiology? The slaughter house is gone. You dropped a scientific moab onto a sheep's meadow. Their shearlings will be dropping in nearby villages for years. I don't know that I'll ever make sense of it with my limited horizon of simultaneity but it's so damn fascinating and challenging I don't regret anything, other than the idea of formulating any sort of coherent response that doesn't immediately attempt to hijack things straight toward more rudimentary and safe territory. I will for now avoid those impulses while awaiting another "shorter burst" of yours toward your final lines, from a nuclear bunker of course. There should be plenty here in Poland.
Found you via GC and love your intellect and writing talents. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and thoughts. Much appreciated.
Great stuff. Have you read Robert Anton Wilson's book Prometheus Rising?
I loved it, your style is similar. So much better than traditional psychology.
You really dig deep into the subconscious and unconscious. Doubleplus good!
Here's a great lecture about how modern language changed the way we thought and acted. "Programming language" of humanity you could say, lol
https://robnitro.substack.com/p/alphabet-vs-the-goddess?s=w