I highly encourage you to do this awareness test before reading the rest of the article, as it will give you direct, applicable experience regarding the central theme of this article.
That video is a microcosm of what’s occurring on a collective level.
Distractions small and large, personally and collectively, all work this way. When your focus gets fixated on something, you filter out things that would otherwise be obvious.
It’s the old “Hey look at my right hand!” while the hidden left hand is covertly performing the magic trick.
The petri dish of culture (see what I did there?) we find ourselves in is a grand illusion, or a grand delusion, whose very existence depends on concealing itself behind endless distractions.
Weapons of Mass Distraction
The mainstream media is nothing but fear-porn and heated debates over minutiae designed to program and paralyze our psyches. Television is called “programming” for a reason.
Celebrity gossip is constantly thrown in our faces, like it’s of utmost importance to our lives. This further keeps people’s focus away from what really matters and exhausts energy on utter stupidity.
Sports, instead of being played by adults, have turned into a form of idol worship. Grown men wear the names of other grown men on their backs (jerseys) in a silly externalization of personal power. And most sports fanatics have more passion about other people throwing balls around than they do about their family or their own purpose in life.
Politicians discuss asinine topics instead of what really matters. If they would address the fundamental aspects of society, then real change would take place. But they don’t. A couple essential topics that need to be addressed are energy (which is the foundation of shelter, food, transportation and all human necessities) and the monetary system as a whole (which is fiat currency based on debt and funnels wealth into the hands of a few). But having a serious discussion about clean, free energy, for example, would render any control system obsolete, so that topic is vehemently ignored and suppressed.
Standard education has children memorizing and regurgitating useless facts instead of learning knowledge of self, critical thinking or applicable life skills. John D Rockefeller, who created the general education board for the US in 1902, summed it up when he said “I don’t want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers.” For those who are willing to take an objective look, it’s not the education system, but the indoctrination system, driven by weapons of mass instruction.
Even though we all have access to more information in our pockets than the president of the United States had 30 years ago, most use their smartphones just to take selfies and proclaim to the world every time they step out of their house. Without a foundation of self-mastery, instead of using a smartphone as a tool, you become a slave to the tool.
The Essential Questions
How come very few people even consider the essential questions of life?
Who are we? Where do we come from? What is humanity’s story? What is the nature of reality? How do we interact with reality? Where do our ideas come from?
Why don’t we investigate these fundamental questions first? Wouldn’t it make sense to start there? Isn’t it important to understand the nature of the game you’re playing?
Why aren’t children taught any form of self-mastery? Wouldn’t mindfulness meditation (being able to objectively observe your thoughts and emotions) be useful? Of course it would. That is the foundation upon which any conscious change can be made. Wouldn’t something like yoga, getting in tune with your body, be useful? Wouldn’t breathing practices be useful to learn? I mean, deep breathing can extinguish the flames of anxiety in a matter of seconds. But nope, those things are completely ignored by traditional education.
Why aren’t the most useful skills of being human taught? Survival skills, growing food…etc. Why isn’t personal finance taught? Why do so few people even know what money really is?
Here’s why none of the most important questions never get addressed; because we’re being distracted in every moment. Between education (indoctrination), television, the media, misuse of technology and most adults being dizzyingly busy, the average person doesn’t have the time or energy left to explore the most fundamental questions.
I call this situation “the squeeze.” Resources are limited and economies are manipulated to put more pressure on families, so both parents now have to work to financially sustain the family. This creates a time squeeze in which people are too busy to explore the essential questions of life or even think for themselves. Combine this with omnipresent distractions (aka bread and circuses) and no one ever stops to question the situation in which humanity has found itself.
The term bread and circuses was coined by Roman satirist Juvenal, and it’s defined as “Something, as extravagant entertainment, offered as an expedient means of pacifying discontent or diverting attention from a source of grievance.” Does that sound familiar? The bread and circuses of today (education, media, celebrity gossip, politics, smartphone misuse…etc.) are pacifying your discontent with how blatantly dysfunctional our societal paradigms are. And what grievance is it diverting your attention from? Well, the grievance of knowing in your heart of hearts that there are far better ways of doing things, far more harmonious ways of living and far more that humanity is capable of achieving.
It’s all about distracting people from what really matters. A population can be easily controlled if all they focus on is external, asinine things. The distractions are so intense because once the curtain is pulled back, the powers that (wanna)be are exposed and their house of cards collapses. It’s exactly like what happens in The Wizard of Oz, the seemingly ominous authority figure, once exposed, is nothing but a fearful little man. His power was solely based upon creating fear through deception, and was usurped upon exposure. Once you shine light on cockroaches, they scatter. All it takes is a bit of light to illuminate a whole room. Cast the distractions aside and shine your light.
photo credit: The Wizard of Oz
What Can You Do?
Stop distracting yourself – Turn off the tv, stop watching the news and stop giving your energy to the fabricated illusion.
Focus on yourself – Focusing on yourself isn’t selfish. To be able to serve you must first be fit to serve. You can only give what you’re able to give, so it pays exponentially to make yourself more able. Get in tune with yourself. Go within, meditate, observe your thoughts and emotions, do the inner work, rid yourself of limiting beliefs, let go of trauma you’re holding onto, continuously improve yourself and find/create your purpose. Maximize yourself and you will be of far greater benefit and help to others. If you know your own power, you’re not going to give it away to forces who don’t have your best interest in mind.
Investigate the nature of reality for yourself – Ask yourself the big questions posed above. Be curious, open-minded and entertain any idea without clinging to it. View the world as an idea playground. Do your own research, find a healthy amount of unique data points and form your own conclusions.
Don’t indoctrinate your children – Standard education, particularly in the US, is a massive consciousness-suppressant. And it was designed that way. As epitomized by the Rockefeller quote above, was designed to create obedient workers, not creative, free-thinking individuals. Everyone is a genius in their own unique way, it just takes years of mandatory education to bury it. Find a progressive, alternative school or homeschool your children (but make sure you’re a part of some community if you do this, as socialization is obviously important too).
Create your own culture – Read my article on this, “Stop Consuming Culture and Create Your Own.”
One love.
– Stevie P!
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