New Illusions

[Ron Tocknell]

We are now facing a monumental challenge ahead of us. It isn’t a mountain or an ocean or even space travel. It is our own mindset.

At present, we are in a situation in which some reap huge rewards for relatively little input while others are bent in hard labour each and every waking hour in return for barely enough to feed their families.

This must be addressed.

The only predators we now have to face are our own species. The disempowered are exploited by the powerful. Each nation poses a potential threat to other nations who, in turn, are seen as a potential threat to them. Vast amounts of our resources are committed to the production of weapons and the maintenance of military power. We have become our own enemies.

This must be addressed.

Our progress and technological advancement is currently based on a monetary system, which can only operate by ensuring that the majority are enslaved by debt.

This must be addressed.

The exploitation of the Earth’s finite resources is taking us ever closer to irreparable damage to the environment on which we all depend.

This must be addressed.

We are caught up in a twilight world of avarice and acquisition dominated by stuff and objects we are hypnotised into believing we need.

This must be addressed.

That sounds like an awful lot of addressing; and it would be if we tried to address each element individually. However, each element is governed by one overall mindset:

It is the mindset that says: “I’m gonna screw you before you get a chance to screw me!”

It is the mindset that regards everyone as an enemy unless proven otherwise.

It is the mindset that says: I am the sum total of my stuff.

It is the mindset of an obsession with power and control.

That is what we have to address; this mindset that focuses on illusions.

It is an illusion that money is anything but a symbolic representation of an imagined unit of value. When money is released from the bank, it isn’t taken from anywhere. It is generated when the figures are entered into the computer. It then becomes a debt owed to the bank… with interest. Yet that money never existed in the first place because it is an illusion.

Our development and progress owes much to our capacity to imagine. When we work out complex mathematical calculations, we do so by converting the elements into imaginary symbols and then we imagine how they would interact with each other. Because this exercise of the imagination can lead us to a conclusion that can have a predictable impact on reality, we tend to think of mathematics as ‘reality’. It is not. It is an illusion we have learned to utilise.

A drawing of a buffalo is not a buffalo. It can be recognised as a buffalo by all who see it but it still is not a buffalo. It is an exercise of the imagination and the fact that the lines seem to suggest something we recognise as a buffalo is an illusion.

We utilise illusions all the time. We judge distance by the illusion that distant objects appear smaller than near objects. We judge time by the illusion that time is actually in motion, moving in measurable linear increments.

Much of what we accept as solid reality is simply illusion that we have learned to utilise. Concepts of wealth, poverty, power and so on are all illusions. This capacity for ‘imagineering’ (using imagination to bring about actual consequences) has been a vital element in our evolution to the beings we are.

Illusions are neither good nor bad; they simply are (or, to be more accurate: they simply are not). This capacity for illusion has enabled us to manifest a reality that otherwise would not be possible. There is no reason to believe that such a capacity would not continue to enable us to manifest impossible realities.

There is, however, an almost universally held view that our progress has somehow gone wrong. This, I feel, is largely due to the fact that many of the old illusions are no longer conducive to the overall concept of true progress.

The role of a leader in society is not simply to have power over others but to oversee and maintain the infrastructure and behavioural policies necessary to make a society work for the benefit of all. The fact that most leaders in our history have been, at least to some extent, despotic, megalomanic tyrants who were drawn to power by the prospect of personal gain and ego has clearly had an impact on our history. However, it has not prevented the progress towards better societies that improve the lives of the majority within them.

Until now.

The concept of power over others has now reached dangerous proportions. The damage caused by the illusion that a tiny few can hold absolute power over the masses is no longer ‘collateral damage’ along the path of improvement. It has become a threat to the course of progress itself.

We need new illusions. We need new tools for our future imagineering.

Whether it is a democracy or a dictatorship, power over others exists only by consent. It is not the illusion of one’s own power that makes it a reality; it is the consent of the masses to buy into that illusion that turns what would otherwise be delusions of grandeur into a position of actual power. Actual power is not in the head that wears the crown but in the hands that place the crown upon it.

Power only works if we buy into the illusion.

Money, as a material object has little value. Coins could be made into useful items but the intrinsic value is no more than the usefulness of the substance from which they are made. Paper money, despite being in higher denominations, has even less intrinsic value. It isn’t edible, it doesn’t burn too well and it’s not even absorbent enough to use as toilet paper.

Let’s imagine you have a large, plastic bag containing $100,000 and the freedom to do whatever you want with it. In the illusory world of society, that would enable you to equip yourself with lots of advantages and, when it was spent, the plastic bag would go in the trash.

Now let’s imagine that you are stranded on a desert island when a plastic bag containing $100,000 is washed ashore. The plastic bag becomes the object of desire, as there is nothing in nature that replicates its properties. It can hold water; it can keep food fresh; it can keep things dry. The 100,000 rectangles of useless paper becomes the trash.

Money only works if we buy into the illusion.

We must now devise the illusions that we are prepared to buy into and reject the illusions that are leading us away from our path of perpetual improvement.

[Ron Tocknell]

"As per addressing the mindset... already happening."

I think to a degree it is. There has been, as you say, a conscious explosion in the past century. But we are still very much on the fringes with regard to addressing the overall mindset of society.

The mainstream, however, are still looking to the old establishment for answers and many believe they're actually getting them.

The Old Establishment is simply a minority of individuals who hold to the concept that power and control is the only way to avert chaos. That is the basis of the ideology. Individually, of course, they all want to hold on to their positions and maintain the incomes that positions of power tend to generate. But they're still people Regardless of the rights and wrongs, it is understandable if they find ideas such as expressed on AOAND threatening.

Local administrations rather than a huge central government would certainly be a vital step forward and it is also vital that this is achieved without conflict. This is the challenge. Imagine yourself hanging to the edge of a cliff and being told -- even by someone you know and trust -- that it's OK to let go. They are not the 'enemy' and this is not an 'us-and-them' issue. They have to reach a point at which they can let go of positions which, as individuals, has become an identity and, en mass, represents their concept of order. In order for them to do that, they have to share our dreams.

As I said in an earlier reply: we are on the foothills of a vast mountain.

Jeanne said:

As per addressing the mindset... already happening. I believe we've experienced in the past century, a consciousness explosion. ...and with it has come increased global awareness - a fantastic leap, indeed! However, unsustainable, if not balanced with local awareness.

An example of maintaining the status quo, while appearing to implement sustainable change... are those huge wind generators. The reason they are a problem is scale... they are a result of corporate self iterest protecting its interests in energy . If every home or building has its own wind energy capturing devices, there would be little need for big energy corps. Yet, research articles abound concerning problems with gigantic wind turbines... yeah, we know already. And big monies allocated for alternative energy continues to funnel to the same corps dedicated to keeping us energy dependent.

Keeping it local is about scale. Taking responsibility for our eco-footprint, right where we are, to the best of our ability, within the constraints of the existing infrastructure, while continually greening our local world - one step at a time... these are the steps toward healing and sustainability. The challenge is personal... from the point of view of community member - local and global, from the perspective of the interpersonal and the subjective intrapersonal... what we do, matters.

Taking our power back - literally and figuratively, in a thousand small ways, ... in mindful living, union with nature and empathetic community is simple... yet revolutionary.

[Bob Ballard]

Wow, awesome post! You clearly delineated the illusion of money in our current paradigm. I think one of the key elements needed to transition to the new world, the new economy is to simply keep speaking about and exposing the illusions we have lived with for so long. Although it may appear that nothing concrete is happening by describing the illusions, we are actually raising human consciousness and releasing us from the prison formed by the illusions. Thank you.

[Ron Tocknell]

I would strongly advise watching Zeitgeist as it will explain how the entire illusion of money was set up. However, I warn you that it is a long film and then you have to watch Zeitgeist Appendumm immediately afterward... and I mean IMMEDIATELY! DO NOT give yourself time to blow your brains out, otherwise you will (luckily I missed... I'm a lousy shot. It was curtains for the aspidistra though). It is, to say the least, a dark movie which is all the darker for the fact that it's the truth.

Appendum, however, is an optimistic view of the future. The makers really should have put an excerpt of it on a 'coming soon' section before showing the first movie. The follow-up puts forward what seems a very viable option to me.

An interesting point to ponder (which is not in the movie, hence my mentioning it here): if metals were valued according to its usefulness instead of its scarcity, iron would be the most expensive metal on the planet and gold would be used for making Christmas cracker trinkets. Gold is too soft and too heavy to be of any use except for the purpose it is currently used (ie; trinkets). The only property that it can boast is that it is immutable. It doesn't tarnish or decay. Tools and machines made of gold would be of no use but at least they'd be around for a while.

The only thing that makes it valuable is that there isn't much of it. This is the kind of logic we're dealing with. So, the next time you complain about the amount of dog shit there is on the streets, just be grateful it isn't scarce.

Bob Ballard said:

Wow, awesome post! You clearly delineated the illusion of money in our current paradigm. I think one of the key elements needed to transition to the new world, the new economy is to simply keep speaking about and exposing the illusions we have lived with for so long. Although it may appear that nothing concrete is happening by describing the illusions, we are actually raising human consciousness and releasing us from the prison formed by the illusions. Thank you.

[Lee]

Indeed in the last century we have experienced an explosion of nearly everything including consciousness, and I am glad to be part of the specific explosion explained in Jeanne's post.

For me alignment with (self, source, love, god, etc.) is the key. True alignment is evidenced by a time when every choice becomes more obvious and more void of internal conflict. As this happens the strongest contribution we can make becomes a more evident contribution for others to look to. That is the contribution of setting an example we believe in, can and will back up, and that is ever more in alignment with who we are. There is no reason to fight what we disagree with, all we need to do is build a better alternative, and the best way to do that is to first align ourself with ourself. Then we bring ourself to the world, void of the illusory aspects of ourself we needed to interface with the world as we learned so many valuable lessons. It is time to build a better way, and I am doing that in my life. In doing so I am joining with others that have found similar core attributes they use to interface with the world. Together we are becoming a bigger, better, more obvious example. It is time to build what we came to build. What I seem to be building is one small piece of an alternative to corporate centerd existence without conscience. The simplest aspect of this is the ridding of all unnecessary "stuff" and it gets as complicated as trying to 100% sustain myself, with, eventually, no interaction with the corporate marketplace. It is a work in progress, but it is progressing, and it is doing so faster all of the time. Deeply consider all choices. After a while this process becomes natural, and it gets easy to know what the right choice is. Once a right choice is clear, the pieces needed to implement that knock on our door. I think they have always been knocking, but I could neither hear nor see them for all of the shiny, noisy distractions in my world.

I am not indicating that we throw the baby out with the bath water. Until a truly sustainable system has cropped up under the current one there will be needs that can only be met by the current system. Some examples are certain medical needs, certain comodities, and perhaps even a few luxury items like a tent big enough and dry enough for my kids and myself. Starting with the basics though, food can mostly be replaced with very little interaction in the corporate marketplace. Eventually these other items will be better taken care of outside of the corporate marketplace, because the driving factor will not be profit, but I do believe we have a long way to go as a race before this happens. For now be the example, and build your alternative or piece thereof.

[Jeanne]

Bob B said, "...it may appear that nothing concrete is happening by describing the illusions, we are actually raising human consciousness and releasing us from the prison formed by the illusions."

Krishnamurti called it "observation without judgement"... this awareness with detachment... this seeing the illusion, while participating in it as a reality - without going mad. Seems its a goal of sorts to aspire to amidst this illusion of affluence that grew out of the need to survive. A question I have been wrestling with is... what is essential to existence? Beyond basic survival needs, what is essential to the existence of humanity and its inter-dependent environment?

To understand the question, one need ask more... What is the essence of something? What comprises an essence? I'm thinking essence-tial is an invisible quality first, of the spirit, that radiates outward into the visible.

The jaw-clenching, weapon-wielding survivalism existence of longstanding tradition, is not only passe and unnecessary, but has become a threat to our survival. As the vision of a citizenry armed with conflict resolution skills is surpassing the lynch mob mentality, so the essence of existence is evolving too. If we are to envision another way... what would it look like? What would we do without the illusions... how do we beat swords into plowshares?

[Denise Moules]

I can't agree more...I get annoyed more everyday,with cars all around me and i fight my way through, in order to walk with those ugly metal dirts.The noise,the air,the danger....just one in all, ugly ,material,artificial world...
In a so called ( cause it is assumed to be but actually it is not ) logical reality of our World,something fishy is going on...There seems to be a power ( which is beyond my understanding ) which I witness more and more everyday,that controls every single individual on this planet.From our childhood our families,schools,books,religions,governments talk about happiness and how much we should care for each other.But somehow,there is an invisible nasty attitude talking about these but acting on the contrary...In societies people are made prisoned to love only their family members by blood connection unconditionally ( and it is almost a sin happen to be not loving our families as if they are super human and perfect ) when people feel they have to care about their family sisters and brothers,they just pass by a person who is homeless on the street starving to death.Nobody cares.Nobody thinks that person is as close to us as our family members.
The understanding for each other and sharing love starts within families...
And this limited,little and narrow minded understanding for each other is extending and showing itself in religions,then in countries with borders,then in continents...
It must not be only blood connections that make people call each other families...
The notion of ''You are not one of us'' ''You do not belong here'' is like a virus,a monster just does not die.It is paralyzing people,hypnotising ...And that thing is utterly against of the nature of Human Kind...And more than strange thing is we are the only living beings with such hilarious mind.
Is there any Animal Kind on Earth drawing lines and prevent other beings live on that piece of land?They live in one forest,one space happy & in peace...
Have you ever heard of a monkey killing a bird because it was flying in its territory...Ashame the bird and prison it?
Have you ever heard of a bear printing paper and make it the most necessary thing to live...Charging every animal in order to enter the forest?If they dont have it let them die in starvation?
But human did...Creating a ZOO behind bars,capturing animals and charging people money in order to see the nature & animals.If you dont have money well its too bad...
How more nonsense it can go?What is going on?
Why can't we humans,survive on earth without changing it?Don't we belong to it at all?

[Ron Tocknell]

Deniz, what this shows us is how lost we've managed to get. It's a good point about the way animals treat each other. They do fight over necessary territory and mates and they do hunt and kill but this is necessary to their survival. No. They don't imprison or humiliate, torture or disempower each other. They don't take more than they need and leave the rest to starve. They haven't forgotten who they are.

It's interesting that the behaviour we usually refer to as "inhuman" tends to be exclusively human.

It's hard not to be angry and I often find myself trembling with anger at the way we behave. But, unlike free animals, we have become lost and we have forgotten who we are.

We long so much to be a part of the Whole but, if we don't know who we are, how can we? The Whole is who we are. We compensate for this by trying to be a part of bite-sized sections of the Whole and Jeanne and I touched on this in another post (Jeanne will be heaving a sigh and muttering "Here he goes again! He's off... sorry Jeanne).

Belonging to different cultures, clubs, religions, ideologies and so on help to make us feel part of a community so we obviously need to feel a part of a greater entity. But it can't really be done in bite-sized chunks. The Whole simply doesn't do bite-sized chunks. All these different factions do is create an illusion of separateness. They are actually statements of differentiation from other factions. It's as you say, the cries of "You do not belong here! You're not one of us!"

All our advancements in technology and industry have reinforced this illusion of being apart from the Natural world. We call plastics "Man made". Do we call beeswax "Bee made"? No. We call it a natural product. We've created an imaginary division between the us that we think we are and the us that we think everything else is.

Alan Watts made a good analogy in The Book on the Taboo of Knowing Who You Are: He said that, to understand a potato thoroughly, we cut it up into small sections so we can study each section at a time in greater detail... then we try to figure out what relationship there is between each of the pieces. We forget that there were no divisions in the first place. Heart, mind, body, soul, earth, solar system, galaxy and so on are only divided by imaginary divisions that we invented to help us understand. Yet, all we understand is that there are an awful lot of bits. We've just forgotten what the whole potato looked like.

Most of us feel fragmented. I know I do. Knowing that it is an illusion doesn't seem to help. I find I'm so used to the illusion I can't break away from it. I can sort of sense this completeness but it feels like trying to grasp the details of a fading dream upon awakening (whereas it's actually trying to grasp a fading reality upon falling back to sleep).

We are a mad, dangerous, terrible, wonderful species and the only thing that can be said to differentiate us from nature is the sad fact that we don't know who we are.

[Denise Moules]

Thanks For Your Reply Ron !:-)***
Yes,that;s true...!
We seem to have been lost in many ways...
Considering the fact that we humans are not able to survive in nature with only what nature supply,we desperatly need to connect to our man-made environment...
When a human lost alone on an island it is only possible for him/her to survive certain time,after a while he/she is doomed to loose his/her mind & totally forget his/her own self and reason of being...
But animals don't loose themselves,no matter how wild the surrounding is they manage to survive in their terms without going mad...
This brings to my mind the question ( human thinks he/she is the only living being have any kind of right on earth regardless,and the king of everything!:-)))))))))))
I have greatest doubt that we do belong to this world ! I think it is us humankind that does not come from this nature,it is clear somehow we are like put here all of a sudden bringing our obviously- not- working-living ways....
I am in love with Earth's Nature and one day if it becomes clear ( somehow unfortunately it is ) we are not part of it ( I wish I was ) ,i will be very upset...!

[Ron Tocknell]

Well, Deniz. There are theories that humans arrived on earth from elsewhere but, whether true or not, we are here and whether we like it or not, we are part of nature. Even the fact that we have become lost is part of a natural process if only for the simple fact that it has happened... perhaps in the way that a caterpillar must become a dissolved 'soup' of cells within the cocoon. I think it is possible that this sense of separation may be part of a transition. I hope so.

[Ron Tocknell]

"When a human lost alone on an island it is only possible for him/her to survive certain time,after a while he/she is doomed to loose his/her mind & totally forget his/her own self and reason of being..."

I've thought about this comment on re-reading. I'm not convinced that this is necessarily so. Alexander Selkirk (who was the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe) survived four years of solitude on an island before his eventual rescue. However, there are accounts of people who have been stranded on islands or inaccessible jungle who have allegedly "turned feral". This may well be identified as a form of 'madness' or 'losing one's mind', but what does it really mean?

I think we're both agreed that the 'civilisation' in which we live induces a form of madness in which we live an illusory life. Escaping this illusory life must be something akin to peeling away veils of illusion (because none of them would work away from a civilisation that buys into such illusions). Losing one's identity as distinct and superior to the wildlife with which one shares one's space would almost certainly be interpreted as "losing one's dignity" but could, in fact, be the point at which one is attuned to the environment; at one with the space in which they live.

What we would identify as "madness" could actually be the absence of the kind of madness with which we are familiar. Of course, I've only read accounts of the behaviour of such people. It would be interesting to read an account of how such a person actually feels. Did they feel lost or did they feel at one with the Whole?

I am not suggesting that this is the way we would have to go. Evolution has always progressed forward. We cannot go back to the Whole from which we became fragmented; we must go forward to the point at which we finally understand that the Whole was never fragmented in the first place. But it would still appear to many as a form of madness.

I believe that there are people who are reunited with the reality of the Whole and are regarded by many as strange. Perhaps the journey must take us through a form of madness and perhaps the madness we are experiencing now is that transition.

I feel that you are saying "we don't belong here!" Isn't that a little like saying to others "You don't belong here"? I sense your anger at the human race and I understand it... and, all too frequently, I share it. But we have to be forgiving even to those who do the most damage.

We cannot meet contempt with contempt. That's the way of conflict. Yes. We do what we can to bring about change: we write to our MPs or Senators and we write to the press. If so moved, we protest in the streets but we do it with Love, not with contempt or conflict. It's not about putting oppressors behind bars or 'not letting them get away with it'. It's about calling out to those who are hacking through the undergrowth and saying: "Hey! Put your machetes away! Look! There's a path!"

Then all you can do is just follow that path. You've shown them where it is; it's up to them to follow.

[Jackie]

Finally got back to the Architects and the subject is good. We all are living in some kind of an illusiion, we have been dumbed down for so long that we the people have no knowledge of the real truth if it came up and hit us in the face, or there a few left that really know the truth and trying to get it out is something else. For starters this ploy for money and power is only among the greediest of us and hopefully you alll know where they reside, you betcha Wash.D.C., we attempt to vote knowing full well nothing the people say ever gets to the right place, the person we "vote" for turns out to be a carbon copy of what went before him, what a loss.I would have been nice if he had kept his "promise" but of course now we know it was only a ploy to advance his own place of power.
We should be out of the far east permanently, this is not a war it is a ploy to put money in the elitest pocket and it certainly has. At the expense of the poor Americans scratching for food, housing and basics of a decent life, instead we today are below the poverty range all over America, how sad. Our children are not learning anything in the so-called schools, that continually pump drugs into their little bodies, and are graduating from hi school without any real learning, can't read, do math, no absolutely nothing about history-yes our schools are a dismal failure today.
It is time for all to realize this and start showing some stamina for their country, losing our declaration of independence is an outrage, also the fact we allowed them to do it. We really are either stupid or so out of it that it makes me sick.
Time to realize all the lies we are fed daily by our so called media, which is bought and paid for to say only what is fed them by the elitests.
The only thing that will save us is to realize the Total Truth and there are quite a few whom are willing to let us know.
War is not the way, it is for barbarians, are we? Don't think so.
Learn to love deeply all humans world wide and know we all are in the same boat, together we can stop what is going on if we show compassion and love, starting at home for it does no good to run around helping others if our own house is in disorder, for sure. Our people need jobs to build them up again, to know that they are needed, Then maybe we can think rightly instead standing around with our hand out for a few sheckels.
The health scam is another bad item as well, if we had factories within our country and our people were working it would be different. Thanks for letting me go on, but am sick and tired of watching my country fade away into oblivian, not fair.
JackieO

[Ron Tocknell]

I really understand your anger, Jackie. If I allowed myself to, I could so easily share it. But that's just gonna give me an ulcer and nothing will be achieved, will it?

We tend to vent our anger toward those we hold responsible but who are they? The President? Obama is not in control. All governments are answerable not to the people but to a 'corporatocracy'. The President is never more than a figurhead whose real job it is to keep the people more or less pacified. So who is responsible? The top people in the top companies within the top industries? Naaaa! If you really want to yell at the person responsible for all the inequality, yell at me; yell at your next door neighbour and yell in the mirror. All of this takes place with our consent.

No person has any natural power over another. Except that some are stronger or more intelligent than others but the powers that control our lives are not real powers. The power to give commands is entirely reliant on the willingness of others to obey them. As long as we buy into the illusion that 'They' are in control, we will always be at their mercy. Personally, I find it hard to believe that over six billion people worldwide are at the mercy of a handful of people who assume an illusionary position of power.