I read this claim or accusation, almost all Americans argue in bad faith. Specifically, we are a post-truth society, where people say things and argue things they don’t even believe. This was the observation of a foreigner (or a bot, how would I know?) But this particular person/bot’s content is consistently original and intelligent. I decided to pay attention.
It took no more than a couple hours to see evidence of this. I was having a conversation with someone, that meant absolutely nothing. There was no content. I am not blaming the other person. The conversation belonged to both of us, but boy it made my hair stand on end. Were all my conversations, meaningless?
I didn’t think so, but my mind is open to everything so that was the first thing I considered. But I do consultations, people pay me, so you know these are real conversations. The gap between a conversation with a client and the conversation in question was huge. I was taken aback so I’ve been trying to figure it out.
I came up with all kinds of reasons to not say anything real. Chief among them, many people trust no one at this point. There’s also the idea you can say something, fine today, but taboo tomorrow. Also, no one wants to look stupid, get in a fight or BE TAGGED as a ______.
There are also a lot of people who have simply forgotten how to converse. I assume they once had the skill. When someone talks to them, they’re put on the spot and say meaningless things, hoping to exit as soon as humanly possible. Some people are simply consumers. When they have to produce the content – nothing.
I could go on with the variations but my point is, this is disturbing. It’s almost as if the “human” has been hollowed out, filled with something jumbled. The defense is to not let people get too near. It’s self-protective. “Keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, or open it and remove all doubt”, has been taken to an extreme here.
I don’t think this is the individual’s fault by the way. I think this has been inflicted upon us, but fixing it is the individual’s responsibility, assuming they want to change their course.
“Machiavellians can build tightly interlocked systems that keep naysayers in check and allow themselves to remain in control…”
Barbara Oakley in “Evil Genes”.
When we read about psychopaths, we tend to think about individuals in a family, or maybe a boss or a co-worker running their game. Some will also name a politician(s), but I think we have to look at this different; see the Machiavellians have constructed something larger; enclosing us all.
This is one of the reasons, I’ve been writing about figuring out how to live in your current circumstance. Fathoming your current circumstance is part of that.
It makes me think this quote I’ve carried with me since I was a kid. “We live amid surfaces. The idea is to skate well on them.” Fancy way to say, do your best or be your best. But even that simple, normal human drive, has been largely eradicated and replaced with… quiet quitting? Doing, if and only if, certain VERY NARROW conditions are met. Doing… but only until an hour later, when someone farts or breathes wrong. Many have become tyrants in this regard.
Now I don’t think I’m in a very good situation right now, but I’m absolutely determined to maintain my humanity, fulfill my commitments, keep my promises, tell the truth, be as generous and forgiving and helpful as I can. I also want to generate my own ideas, listen to the ideas of others, exchange insights and so forth.
These qualities are real and authentic to me. It’s my design, so this is the hill I will die on. I’m just not going to let psychopaths scoop out my insides put some gross shit in me, to replace it. Human individuals cannot be beat, for my purposes. The upgrade is a downgrade.
Were in a situation where most everyone finds people in positions they used to admire and respect have lost the collective trust and frankly, it’s probably warranted in many cases. But trust no one?
The obvious problem with that, is that trust is a two-way street. Trust is mutual. You trust no one and no one trusts you. It would not be possible.
Humans thrive when they put their trust in other humans. Not to say you should shut your brain off. I’m just saying, this bot/man seems to be on to something, when the majority of human conversation is disingenuous. I don’t want to contribute to the glut of meaningless words. I will be working on checking myself.
Can you relate to any of this?
Very well-articulated, lots of food for thought here. Thank you, Elsa,
Thank you, Ms Cat.
The woke police is commie patrols but in a more colorful garb. It pushes for self censorship. People used to snitch on eachother through spy networks in commie times. Now technology does that much more efficiently. So people curate their personalities and speech so that they dont get caught in the woke dragnet and lose their jobs or social circle. The funny sad things is, the more this escalated the more i found myself holding much more non-pc views. I think part of the reason it feels so hollow to talk now is that people are prostituting their fake personalities for a sense of safety. it is demoralizing. Thats why no one smiled under communism. it wasnt the poverty, its was the soul rape. I mean my god, people insist men can turn into women and 2+2 can sometimes equal 5. It’s like that episode of Star Trek.
How many lights are there, Picard!!
FOUR
On fire Elena!! Detecting an ‘intact gut’!!! Lol!!!
and yes americans are the most propagandized people on earth! i used to be mad at americans about what their foreign policy did to the rest of the world. Then I moved to the usa and forgave them. Most have no idea what their country does both inside and out. If they did, they would would be outraged.
are people waking up? a little….maybe?…maybe not??
I don’t live in the USA but feel wide awake these days…I don’t even know if people do or would feel outraged, everyone is so self-absorbed and as long as they are fed they just dont care…
Most the people still “sleeping” are insulated in some way. This looks to be changing over the next few weeks. Trauma incoming.
Just imagine what its gonna be like when everything is completely digitized. Living in the perpetual present. I now really regeret selling all my books 5 years ago. So short sighted.
Yes, yes,yes. I’ve been involved with alt radio discourse and this exact subject is well stated Elsa. I’m forwarding to a few non astrology philosopher buffs.
Thank you!
I feel I lost my ability at conversation maybe 10 years ago.
The thoughts i have are larger than what people want to talk about, or more serious, consequential. So i shut up. I repeat banal stuff about cooking and gardening as everyone seems okay with that.
I do get tired of the talking heads and general public discourse. They do not have substance to them. But then pluto touches most all of my chart and fluff has never been a thing for me.
Same here, Mud. Pluto touches everything in my chart but almost no one wants that kind of depth in their bartender, lol. So I have the same 3 conversations for a whole 12-hr shift and come home so drained by the inanity that I literally do not want to talk to anyone else, even close friends or family. Just… I’m off the clock, maaan. If you can’t say something REAL, don’t expect a response.
Mudlikesubstance totally feel that! Hadn’t thought of it from this angle, you made me laugh! You need a ‘Wednesday friend’ … and to keep posting on here! … I got a new friend last September and sick of all banalities above, I started as I meant to go on and luckily she’s 100% open to authentic me! Even though we’ve both made very different decisions these past 4 years, we’re both on the same page and just ‘open’ ( we have reversed sadge/ Gemini nodes so the magic probably lies there!) …my charts not particularly plutonic, but I’m starting to totally get Elsa’s posts of pluto transiting the 12th!!! Lol!!
Excellent! And we now have a highly effective way of finding the truth in politics…as Bismarck reputedly said, “I never believe anything until it’s been officially denied.” Nordstream would be a good example…….
hah. yes! ive now and think the opposite of anything official. during covid it saved my life!
Indeed, your skepticism was well rewarded!
I’ve been bartending for 12 years now and I absolutely feel like my conversational ability has atrophied in that time. So many people talk AT me, rather than TO me, that 95% of my end of any conversation is fulfilled by noises. “Mmhm.” “Really?” *clicks tongue* “Oh…” This article makes me think it’s not just me struggling, lol.
I feel like part of this, for me, is that I am 45 years old now and just feel… stagnant. The past ten years it’s like I’ve been stuck in a revolving door mumbling, “Time to make the donuts.” Same books, same music, the same people in the same news doing the same asinine shit they’ve always done, and I am the walking equivalent of the “meh” emoji.
Of course, t. Pluto was on my angles, squaring my Mars-Venus-Pluto conjunction for most of this time; now he’s closing in on my Aquarius moon. Things could have been much worse! I can live with boring (as long as I can complain sometimes, lol).
Imma cut this off here because I have about eleventy-billion thoughts on this and could probably babble on for eight-to-ten more paragraphs. 😛
One of the points I wanted to make with this – use it or lose it. It’s true of everything. I am hoping some who read this opt to re-engage in life…. as it may last another thirty years or whatever. Imagine the effects over time.
I do have a few regulars that I have interesting conversations with: the rock-hound that shows me his latest shinies (last week he found a meteorite fragment!), the religious scholar who did his seminary dissertation on nephilim in the pre-colonial Americas (we talk pyramids a lot), my county clerk keeps me abreast of local politics, the two ladies who run an animal rescue, a couple of woo-woo peeps that come in to discuss spells and astrology.
Those people are like a breath of fresh air to me. They give me hope that I’ve not entirely withered away, lol.
Oh those people sound most wonderful! Enjoy them for all of us!
Keep believing you will find one or more till you do mudlikesubstance! When uranus gets into Gemini, I’ve heard that more of our weird tribe will show up more locally! Let’s keep the faith!!! Let’s plant that seed with this new moon!!!!
So much truth right here — it’s not dead yet!
I have faith and a lot of practice rising from the abyss to find (at least) one human who is ready to be lit with a resonant flame.
Conversation. And the place I find them? In my local library. I was a writer and blogger for many decades, and became environmentally sensitive to many ubiquitous things scented products, etc. etc. My conversations dropped to one—my husband. I had to learn to cope with the losses and find my way back to living without (most everything)
I discovered how to love myself and through Art I learn that if I must explain myself again and again I’m wasting the mana(spirit )
Better to draw the meaning of my experiences onto the page and find those with the spark ripe for lighting.
I find them one at a time in those libraries, when they see the art and come close. I believe it has to do with igniting the gut; training intuitive conversation. Slow to medium pace, and intimate lyrics. It’s a course in becoming the “app” and finding one other being who resonates.
I don’t know how to review this comment so here it goes😘
I’m not a huge fan of responsibility/ leading etc … I wouldn’t want to f-up big time … but I totally get holding on to those keeping hold of those insides!!!! Gut instinct/ intuition/ how we ‘know’ and yes to be authetic/ be alive/ be human I totally try to share with others and try to ride out the exchanges, when they come up … they sure hit you in the gut! ‘Each to their own, we think differently, it’s ok’ is usually my get out of jail ending card … my gut feels this to be true now, I’m not sure it slways did! Lol!!! Totally resonate with how easy it can be to contact our ‘guts’ being linked to society/ how we have been brought up on the micro/ macro … I’ve said before I’ve seen some if the gifts (not only the wounds) of 4H chiron these last 4 years … I remember you Elsa posting a newsletter way back that with a neptune transit their could be fog or the veil can drop … and was stunned for a while re … how would it drop? Because those still connected to their still intact insides will see!!! … I might have gone off on a tangent, into my own haze…but it’s neptooooon right?!!!
Here you go: https://elsaelsa.com/astrology/what-is-the-neptune-veil-how-does-it-drop/
Absolutely love the veil drop article … I was wrong … it has not as much as I thought to do with intact insides! Lol! It can’t be pinned down that easily! Lol!! There’s a lot of magic and hope within it! Loving the sedna analogy too, she’d been hanging near my sun when I got a ‘veil drop’ hit!
“Now I don’t think I’m in a very good situation right now, but I’m absolutely determined to maintain my humanity, fulfill my commitments, keep my promises, tell the truth, be as generous and forgiving and helpful as I can. I also want to generate my own ideas, listen to the ideas of others, exchange insights and so forth.”
This is why I am here Elsa. I hear you and enjoy your missives. You are helping many people and we enjoy your writing.
Recently I was at a Korean Won Buddhist temple where they celebrated their “birthday”. The dharma talk was about being human and its meaning. They suggested that it had more to do with recognizing the humanity in others; being human means being with people and learning to be good to one another. You cannot just be human by yourself. We are not meant to be alone, but so many people are lonely.
Years ago, I read an interesting book by Caroline Myss, “Anatomy of the Spirit”. I probably need to reread it, cannot remember it all in detail, but one part talked about the Astrological cycles or Ages. She stated that part of the great gift of the Age of Pisces was Buddhism and Christianity since they taught compassion. That was not well known in the Age of Aries, hence the tribal, war-like, vengeance driven themes of that time. So this cycle we have been experiencing collectively has been exploring the themes, good and bad of the Age of Pisces.
Perhaps we are struggling adjusting to the technological advancements brought forth during this century cusp of the start of the Age of Aquarius. Part of me blames the internet for our loneliness. Another part of me blames our culture of narcissism, where everyone is asking “What about me?” all the time. Everyone is thinking about themselves, but no one really knows themself. Have we truly learned all that we need to learn about the Age of Pisces? Could this Neptune in Pisces cycle be influencing the distillation process?
I shared this post with my husband and he had an interesting thought. There is a common term used today, NPC, or non-player character. People have been programmed and are following what they are told is important, acceptable to say. Everyone is sharing what they have heard, but not really being unique, creative individuals with their own authentic thoughts. And they argue or attack those who do. He said it was like The Matrix, where Agent Smith could turn into anyone in the Matrix and attack the awakened human player. Attack anyone who challenges the system.
Final thought, George Kavassilas (star-visitor experiencer) shared an interesting perspective regarding paradigms. He said that we are so invested in finding the truth, but what truth will we find? There are many different versions of it. Many people know “their truth” bent towards religion, science, or culture. He said what he was interested in was reality. He wanted to know what is real. Considering the nature of Pisces and the nature of Aquarius, could we all be struggling with truth and reality? Do we really want to know what is real?
Thanks for the kind compliment. I agree with your husband and have called people that, myself. It was not meant to denigrate. I mean that sincerely. It seemed a good way to say, hey! You’re on the sidelines! But some of the people on the sidelines, are Machiavellian and there, to gatekeep the playing field. Fakers if you will.
There are other explanations, like fear or legit shyness. I dumped the analogy because it was flawed, from my perspective.