What if It Doesn't End With a Bang but With a Whimper

8/8/2019 What if It Doesn't End With a Bang but With a Whimper

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What If It Doesnt End With a Bang But With a Whimper?

Mind Games - Chapter One of Two

This essay was originally posted on www.ZeroHedge.com in twoparts, the first on August, 31 and the second September 5, 2010.May I suggest the reader visit the web site after reading eachchapter to read some of the comments left, many of which Ifound extremely insightful and informative.

Please excuse any grammatical or structural problems foundwithin the essay. Im an amate ur and did the editing myself,which is the ultimate expression of a fool serving himself. Thankyou for taking the time to read my work.

Cognitive Dissonance

09-07-2010

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-if-%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%9D-doesn%E2%80%99t-end-bang-whimper-mind-games-chapter-one-two


It aint what you dont know that gets you into trouble. Its whatyou kno w for sure that just aint so. Mark Twain
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One new trick this old dog has learned is elegantly simple. Themore certain I am that Im right, the greater the probability Imwrong. Before we dismiss this concept as simplistic or nonsensical(because we re absolutely certain were right) why dont we takea closer look at the underlying supposition and then apply whatwe learn to The Crash meme that s widely held among a clearmajority of Zero Hedge posters, contributors and commentators,including myself. It never hurts to check our math, right?

For those readers looking for an in-depth analysis of the currentsociopolitical and economic climate, stop right here because thisisnt what youre looking for . Other people can, and have, covered

that ground better than I could. This is a collective self examination of how we arrive at our beliefs using denial and howthis can lead us astray, especially when somethings obvious. Iwish to swim a bit upstream of the contrary waters, which is notthe same thing as taking a dip in the consensus reality pool.

When talking to family and friends about the greater probabilityof being wrong when we re absolutely certain were right , the

initial reaction I get is usually an assumption on their part thatIm applying a high probability of being incorrect. This isnt thecase. For something to be greater, all it needs to be is a bit morethan the baseline measure. Often our biggest mistakesmaterialize when we assume something (because i t s obvious,right?) when more often than we care to admit, our assumptionscould nt be further from the truth.

Mispricing Risk and Reality

For the sake of this discussion , lets say theres normally a 10%chance Im wrong and a greater chance is defined as 15%. Whilewe might brush this away as minor and immaterial, if you knewthe next time you got behind the wheel of your car you had a10% chance of getting into an accident, would you call that


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minor? I do nt think so. More to the point, we all have a tendencyto minimize risks we re familiar with and maximize risks we dontunderstand or that push our buttons. Since were intimatelyfamiliar with our own thinking, it stands to reason we dontrecognize the real risk of being wrong.

I suspect we ve all seen articles or news stories that highlight thepublics misperception of risk in our daily lives. For example,many people consider the risk of being attacked by a shark whileswimming to be greater (theres that term again) than of beinghit by a bus or lightening. Of course, none of these risks are evena tiny fraction of 1%. But try telling that to someone after

watching the movie Jaws, walking across a bus filled street orplaying golf during a lightening storm. Proximity has a lot to dowith our perception of risk. For this reason and more, we

misprice risk in all facets of our lives, especially whendeveloping and maintaining our worldview.

When it comes to our own decision making thought process, ourso called inner dialogue, we rarely recognize this variable nor do

we properly incorporate it into the conclusions we reach. And Ideliberately use the term inner dialogue here because whenwe re thinking or contemplating, the vast majority of us believewe re all alone and talking to ourselves. Even when wereconversing with others, either in real time by phone or in personor with a delay via letters, email or blogging, for the most part webelieve its us thats doing the talking and writing. Why wo uldntwe think this? Who else could it be?

For those who ve been reading me for awhile, this is an old themethat Id like to freshen up a bit. Our ego is always present andoften front and center. Most people consider their ego to be aninseparable part of themselves and give little thought to whatsreally going on in the background. Much of our day to day


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activity, be it physical, intellectual or emotional, is either egodriven or on ego auto pilot. I call it that because when were notconsciously engaged, its still the same body being flown bysomeone or something other than our conscious awareness. If you think about it, that something s the ego, though we think of it more like instinct or training.

Our Ego Maniac

Our ego is quite insecure and overly sensitive to being ignored orrejected. I ts assumed that the primary purpose of our ego is totake command of the ship of state during times of stress oremergency and to do whatever it takes to pull our butt out of harms way.

Whats tragically misunderstood by most is that the ego considersitself to be a separate and sovereign entity and not a part of the

self , thus not answerable to or affected by our decisions or(in) actions in the same way you or I perceive being affected . Ithelps if we view our ego as a parasite or virus rather than afriend or companion because the ego considers you and me to benothing more than the host.

For all intents and purposes, we re living the life of someone witha dual personality. But we ve been seduced into believing there sonly one person, the self or I we refer to when speaking aboutour personal being. The ego doesnt share this perception , whichmeans theres an entity involved in our day to day affairs thatdoesnt have our best interest in mind. Consider this concept

carefully for a moment because its eye opening. A potentiallymalicious stranger is permanently living within my house. Do Ileave him unattended or ignore his motives and actions?

Our ego is an ego maniac (no pun intended) that possesses (orshould I say is ) a severe sociopathic personality disorder. It


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seems our ego will go so far as to create disaster in our lives, ineffect sabotage us in order to be needed, wanted and paidattention to. That s the very definition of an ego maniac and thesociopathic personality. While this self destructive impulse variesfrom person to person, its there in everyone and must berecognized in order to deal with it.

The worlds most disturbed human beings arent dropped off onEarth by visiting space aliens nor do they grow on trees. Theyspring from within and the potential seed of their insanity can befound in all of us. This is why I endlessly repeat that in order tounderstand why people do certain things, one must look inside

oneself. It can be shocking to realize that the raw material of these personality types resides in us all.

Our ego is seamlessly integrated into our lives and society, to thepoint where its influence is rarely understood by the vast majorityof us. The more direct control we cede to our ego, something ournarcissistic naval gazing entertain- me -now consumer culture tellsus is desirable (which in turn feeds the ego) the more out of

control our lives become. A severe side effect of this ego centriclife is how it turns us into walking talking intellectual andemotional trip wires that can be, and often are, triggered for avariety of reasons. And this triggering almost always occurswithout us being consciously aware of whats going on or why.

Trip Wires and Mine Fields

Lets examine a small but commonly shared example of egoic

response to outside stimuli. How many times have we read a(Zero Hedge) article or comment and before we re even finished,we ve hit the reply button and are pounding away at thekeyboard. We leave a caustic or snide reply, or even a heartfeltopinion, and then we move down to the next comment. Tenminutes later, we check back and the next response below ours


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doesnt make any sense or isnt what we expected. What thehell s wrong with that idiot? Thats not what Im talking about .

When we go back and re-read what we originally responded to,

we find that somehow we completely missed what the person wassaying. Weve all had those I dont remember reading that moments where it feels as if were absorbing something for thefirst time, not the second or third. This foolish error of ours issometimes so obvious that we thank God no one knows who thehell we really are.

And this happens more often than we care to admit. It s almostas if we didnt read that particular comment but an entirelydifferent one instead. What the hell just happened? You see it allthe time in the comment section, to the point where you reallydont pay much attention since it all blends into the back ground noise and shouting.

You really only notice when it happens to you. And even then,you might deny it and blame it on the other person. Then thereare times when the comment section degenerates into nothingbut shouting and ego responses, where no one listens andeveryone s right.

If we pursue some quiet reflection on the matter we discover thatsomehow we missed nearly everything except a word or phrasethat s a hot button or trigger for us. Once we re triggered, it susually game over and nothing else is making its way into ourcentral processing unit except how to crush that fool who just

triggered us. This is why I talk about reading everything twice,once to feed the egoic trip wires and the second to absorb theinformation into our conscious awareness. And maybe even athird time just for the joy of it.


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While on the surface it might appear that it was me who responded, in fact it was most likely my ego. And as I saidbefore , they arent the same thing. I n todays fast paced world,its our ego thats often interacting with everything in ourpersonal universe . Only we dont recog nize it because we seelittle or no difference between our conscious mind and the ego.

A careful reading of centuries of history shows us that while ourego has always been a major influence in our daily lives, ourpresent day ADD need for constant stimuli and entertainment hasmostly blurred the dividing line between our inner consciousness,our inner spirituality (to use a trigger word) and our ego. In a

world where our collective and individual ego has run riot and theego is nearly always front and center, is it really that surprisingwe live in an insane world?

Contemplation and Reflection

It s only during quiet reflective times (some call this meditation,others deep thought) where we deliberately box off and isolateoutside distractions and diversions while also restraining theconstant chatter of our inner voice (our ego) can we begin tofind, and then reinforce, that dividing line. Most of us believe thatthe inner voice we hear is us when in fact its most often ourego. This misidentification of who and what we are, alongwith being manipulated by our own ego and the controlsystem, is in my opinion the primary source of many of ourpersonal and social woes.

We ve been separated for so long from our genuine inner self, ourtrue consciousness, that for many in todays world beingreacquainted is a frightening experience to be avoided at allcosts. The control system feeds this fear in order to maintainorder and control and we go along because weve been told its alla part of modern life. The average person flips on the radio or TV


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as soon as they enter their hom e or get in their car. Its all justthe back ground noise of the control system and for most people;its a shock when its gone .

At first I thought this accelerating fusion of the ego and ourconsciousness appeared only to be affecting the youngergeneration, mostly I assumed because they quickly assimilatedthe newest entertainment technology. But over the past decadeits spread and Ive noticed in the general population that theresalmost a quiet desperation never to be alone for long with onesthoughts. Ive written in depth about why in other essays so Iwont dwell on it here.

A few years ago, while riding my motorcycle solo along a popularmountain ridge with spectacular views and exhilarating switchbacks, I pulled into a rest area for a break. In the back corner of the parking lot was a large group of fellow riders. While their agesvaried from what looked like the early 20s to the late 60s,everyone was riding two up. Most of the riders hadcommunication devices that allowed them to talk to each other or

at a minimum MP3 players plugged into their helmets or ears.Here they were, in the heart of Mother Nature, and still theyrequired distraction and communication within the collective.

After exchanging pleasantries and while surrounded by those whocame over to look at my bike, one middle aged lady asked me themost remarkable question. She observed I was riding alone andthen asked How can you ride alone? Arent you lonely? Dont youget bored? I could tell it was a sincere question and she wasgenuinely perplexed. Immediately the small talk within the grouphushed as everyone waited for my response. It kind of surprisedme that they would care to hear what I had to say. I soonunderstood why.


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Without thinking I quickly said No, not at all. In fact, I considermyself quite good company. I love riding alone because it givesme time to think. Im never bored. The group just stared at thisstrange man from another world and then quickly broke up andremounted. I remember seeing combinations of surprise,confusion and even f ear in peoples faces and eyes.

From their point of view they were trying to avoid exactly what Iwas trying to achieve, communication with the inner sanctum. Formany years I d thought the growing lack of quiet reflectionamong the general population was just distractions and busylives, but now I see it as overt avoidance and even fear. People

are running from themselves and the control system isencouraging this with its constant me me consumer meme.We re becoming passive beginning with ourselves.

Its All About the Drugs

When examining information for the purpose of forming opinions,we often overlook our own unavoidable but correctableconfirmation bias. Ironically our confirmation bias gainsconsiderable strength in part from making correct choices in ourday to day decision making process. Remember that proximityaffects our perception and often being correct in the small dailytasks of life seduces us into believing we re extremely capable inour decision making process.

During our waking hours, we make hundreds of small decisionsthat are immediately confirmed as correct , at least in our

minds. This, along with other influences, encourages us to believeour analytical process is efficient and nearly foolproof, particularlyif we re already influenced by emotional confirmation bias andego triggers.


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We, or more accurately our ego, positively love to be correct. Andeach time our brilliance is confirmed, even if only in ourimagination, our brain floods our body with powerful endorphinssuch as dopamine, a natural drug thats dozens of times morepowerful and much more subtle than crack or heroin. Thisbiological process has evolved over millions of years and was, andstill is to some extent, essential to our survival.

But modern society, or should I say societys control systems,have distorted this natural mechanism. One only need studypsychological warfare techniques or even the advertising,entertainment and official (government) and unofficial (corporate

news) propaganda industry to see how our own natural biologicalresponses are being used against us on a daily basis. Becausewere totally immersed within our own world, for those who dontor wo nt pay attention, its nearly impossible to see theseinfluences for what they are. After a while, few wish to wake fromwonderland, especially when it morphs into hell.

Biologically speaking if were doing something right it might be

in our best interest to conti nue to be right if we wish to survive a while longer. But we need proper incentive beyond just survivalto ensure we replicate the survival behavior. Cue that wonderfullydelicious feeling we get when were right on the money. In fact,that natural high we feel is the dopamine drug rush. Its only amatter of time before we find a way to induce that high oncommand. And confirmation bias and denial are sure fire ways tothat Rocky Mountain high.

(Biased) Junkies Are Us

In effect we ve become evolutionary dopamine junkies, cravingthe natural high we get when were rewarded for being right,even if its all in our mind . Its better than sex , lasts longer and isinfinitely repeatable. Jesus, talk about being biased. Does a super


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high quality drug factory located inside our brains count as biasedwhen we control the dopamine dispenser?

Is it any wonder we accept transparent lies from those we love or

those who lead? We should nt be surprised when we practicedeep denial and self deception in order to keep ourselves druggedwith dopamine. Not only are we getting off on the (self) loveendorphins (which are also triggered by nationalist or patrioticfeelings) but we get the confirmation bias endorphins as well inthe ultimate two-for-one drug deal from Mother Nature. Nowonder we call her Mother since we suckle on her drugs all thetime. Its amazing we get anything done during the day

considering were all walking around stoned to the eye balls. What a way to go.

This brings to mind old YouTube videos of monkeys or otheranimals pushing a lever or pecking at a button to solve problemsfor bits of food or sweets. Or how about those lab rats solving acomplicated task for food or a quiet evening of wine and neckingwith the opposite sex? Does it sound a little like our own rat race?

Of course, even as those images flash in our brains, our egotakes over and tells us But were intelligent human beings whopossess reason and logic. Who exactly are we trying to convincewith that little ditty? Just take a look around at the utter insanitywere currently immersed in and tell me again about the humanintellect and logic. Ticks run their lives better than we do. They

just lack running water and DirecTV.

Driving to Denial

For a more subtle example of denial , lets loo k at my ownpersonal decision making process and the intellectual denial itspawned. While driving to my office I make dozens of decisionsthat if in error could affect life and limb, particularly mine. Yet


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Ive not had an accident in over 16 years and I quite naturallyconsider myself a good driver. In fact, Im a great driver. Yet asIve aged, Ive noticed that for some strange reason I drift leftand right a bit more and the close calls seem to be occurring withincreasing frequency.

So despite the fac t that Im an excellent driver and without everacknowledging otherwise, Ive compensated for my aging byslowing down, looking more carefully before changing directionand so on. In other words, at some level Ive recognized theincreasing error rate and Im compensating , even though Iconsider myself a superior driver. Or maybe I should say Im

compensating despite being an expert driver that ostensiblywould have no need to compensate what-so-ever.

Like walking through a hall of mirrors, were never quite sureexactly what were seeing. But this doesnt slow us down one bit.In fact, when facing a conflict, our ego takes over and just barrelson through, pushing aside uncomfortable cognitive dissonancesas immaterial, unimportant or just plain silly with little to no

conscious thought involved.Actually, the only reason Ive slowed down is because it makessense to be careful, especially considering all the crazy distracteddrivers on the road these days. I most certainly didnt slow down because I needed to change my behavior. Its them, not me .And even if it were possible that I might have something to dowith this, my age has nothing to do with it. At least thats thecover story I tell myself.

The above illustration might seem ridiculous to some and theresno doubt I used exaggeration to push the point home . But weveall been there and to say otherwise is nt true. Some might evensay that at worst all I engaged in was a simple white lie or aharmless self deception to make me feel better about getting


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older. Whats the big deal? O r maybe I was just playing with semantics and its all of little consequence. B ut in fact its awide open window into the mechanism of denial and well worthour time to explore precisely because its so insidious andseductive.

The Slippery Slope

Consider that o n the physical level Im compensati ng for anobvious degradation of my driving skills in order to live a littlelonger, thus fulfilling my basic survival instincts. Of course I actedthis way. W hy wouldnt any sa ne and prudent person do thesame?

However, at the same time I m maintaining the mental andemotional illusion that few driving skills have degraded or beenlost. In fact I use the continuing streak of accident free driving,accomplished in great part because Ive slowed down and I mmore careful, to support the illusion that Im still an excellentdriver. Im engaging in a self deception in order to soothe andplacate an ego I dont consciously recognize as material. Why amI stroking my ego to begin with? Isnt it enough just to survivelonger?

As with all lying and self deception, the key to continuing is torationalize and justify past deceptions in order to continue in thefuture. To do this successfully, first we deny theres a problem (even if we fix it) then we deny we ever denied there was aproblem in the first place. Then, in the ultimate intellectual coup,

we forget we ever indulged in denial what-so-ever. In the closedloop isolated environment of our mind, we create our own realityalong with the proofs needed to affirm that reality. We re mastersof our own universe and we make the rules where we rule.


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We should recognize that we can still be engaged in denial even if we agree with or recognize some facts or infor mation. Its how wedeal with it that matters, not if we deal with it. We bargain withourselves all the time to avoid what we dont wish to see. Theresa great deal of subtlety and subterfuge employed in day to daydenial. When juggling reality and fantasy while avoiding the uglymonsters, we determine whats important and whats not. So wecan play games of all kinds to bury what bothers us.

If denial and self deception is present in such a mundane task asdriving to work , wouldnt it be an act of denial itself to claim thatdenial d oesnt affect our thought process when considering items

of much greater importance, such as the end of the economicworld as we know it? From a survival point of view, might weneed to concede the possibilit y that were not considering allpieces of information at our disposal when coming to conclusionsas to whats going to happen as well as when where and why?

Tricks of the Denial Trade

One of the tricks we employ when trading in denial is to dismiss(deny) contrary information as quickly as it comes in the frontdoor. This way we rarely experience an uncomfortable cognitivebackup that might nag us for attention and create an emotionalcrisis if left unattended. If one is to self deceive on any scale, outof necessity one must become efficient self deceivers if we re tolive comfortably with ourselves in our insane world.

Ive often thought that the job of the professional therapist is to

untangle the dissonant log jams and get them moving towardsthe saw mill, not to actually deal with the dissonant logsthemselves. Or maybe I should say they deal with just enough of them to get things moving again so the patient can happilyremount their hamster wheel. After all, in our society, the


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measure of sanity is how well we re coping with our insane world,not h ow sane we are.

In fact, people who in my opinion are declaring their sanity by

unplugging and walking away from financially lucrative butmorally or emotionally stressful jobs are considered by society tobe crazy. When the only goal offered and rewarded by society isto ascend the ladder of success, how else would society treatthose who chose to descend that very ladder but with disdain?Society tells us Here is the only reality that exists, now fit in ,shut up and be happy rather than Here is th e raw material, nowgo forth and create your own happiness and self worth.

Faced with no real substantial choice other than to fit in andconfronted by a society, aka the control system, that shuns andostracizes those who go against the flow and think and act too faroutside the small box, is it really surprising we engage in massiveself deception in order to kill the pain and go with the flow? Andwouldnt the control system encourage this self deception in orderto keep the hamsters on the wheel? God forbid you think for

yourself because left to your own devices, who would remain tofleece investors with another helping of CDO on rye or serve upcoffee and cardboard muffins at McSlops?

To remain emotionally safe and happy on the hamster wheel,we increase our denial efficiency by creating mental rules of

judgment, sometimes called rules of thumb or the smell test orideology or simply assumptions. There are dozens of names andterms to describe this process. The beauty of this intellectualshorthand is that we dont need to participate in the complicatedprocess of outright denial each time. Once we ve deniedsomething for whatever reason, we give ourselves permission todo the same with every other piece that s similar or that we wishto believe is similar.


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And we dont process denial in big pieces but in tiny little bites.We remove the more easily refutable parts and discard the rest.Then we wall these parts off and isolate them from corroboratingevidence and context that would disturb the denial process. Weuse a form of a priori to make sweeping generalizations thatkey off other denials, half truths and outright lies we keep readyfor instant deployment and presto, the problem is gone

In the world of denial, all we need is reasonable doubt to denyand we determine what reasonable doubt is. But we demand rocksolid proof when defending our denial and any proof offered canalways be refuted because we determine whats valid and whats

not. We cant lose using these rules of evidence and we neve r dounless we chose to.

In the ultimate twist, we then use these subsequent denials asfurther proof that our initial denial was correct. Faulty handlingand processing of information (aka denial) is used to denysomething as incorrect. Then additional denials are used tobuttress the initial denial, thus strengthening our resolve to deny

similar future information. We come to the denial party with gunsload. That my friend is a closed loop circular logic positivereinforcement mind game taken to the nth d egree and its thestaple of basic long term denial. And it all happens in seconds andits almost exclusively handled by our ego auto pilot.

In Chapter Two, we shall continue down the rabbit hole and seewhat Alice has to say about The Crash.


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What If It Doesnt End With a Bang But With a Whimper?

Mind Games - Chapter Two of Two

It aint what you dont know that gets you into trouble. Its whatyou know for sure that just aint so. Mark Twain

May I suggest the reader begin with Chapter One before progressing further in order to fully understand my meaningwhen I use various terms or phrases in this essay.


I started Chapter One with a simple declaration. The more certainI am that Im right, the greater the probability Im wrong. I shallcontinue that discussion in this final chapter, but with particularemphasis placed on questioning the majority held opinion thatThe Crash, defined as a relatively quick decline of the economicand social systems, is coming.

Rather than try and define the hund reds of variations of how It might play out, lets just say that for the purpose of this essay,the opposite of The Crash is a much longer and slower declinepeppered with a few rapid plunges along the way.

Could the Zero Hedge consensus view be wrong? Is everyonekeying off the collective bias and missing signs that the crashmight play out as a slow exhalation of air and bubbles as TheEmpire sinks slowly beneath the waves? Its quite possible this iswhats going on despite occasional rapid drops. Rather than lookat the mechanics, its far more intstructive to examine our own
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-if-%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%9D-doesn%E2%80%99t-end-bang-whimper-mind-games-chapter-one-twohttp://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-if-%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%9D-doesn%E2%80%99t-end-bang-whimper-mind-games-chapter-one-twohttp://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-if-%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%9D-doesn%E2%80%99t-end-bang-whimper-mind-games-chapter-one-twohttp://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-if-%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%9D-doesn%E2%80%99t-end-bang-whimper-mind-games-chapter-one-twohttp://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-if-%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%9D-doesn%E2%80%99t-end-bang-whimper-mind-games-chapter-one-twohttp://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-if-%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%9D-doesn%E2%80%99t-end-bang-whimper-mind-games-chapter-one-twohttp://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-if-%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%9D-doesn%E2%80%99t-end-bang-whimper-mind-games-chapter-one-two


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psychology. After all, its the human psyche thats the ultimatesource of the instability that drives the decline and fall.

Layers of Self Deception

It makes it so much easier to deal with lifes ugly inconsistencieswhen we can sweep them under the intellectual rug. And it allhappens in seconds with barely a blip in our blood pressure. Thereally tough dissonances might take a little longer, but neverunderestimate our capacity for self deception. And this cognitivetango is always running in the back ground with very littleconscious awareness. Unless, of course, we train ourselves to seewhats going on. But whod want to do that?

Since recognizing these cognitive gymnastics and thencompensating for them requires self examination and personalcourage, is it any wonder the average Joes worldview isdistorted? It may come as a shock to learn that for all of us , ourworldview isnt affected so much by a lack of information as our lack of desire to (re)examine, update and accept it. The onlyinformation vacuum we live in is the one we create between ourears.

Maybe its time to question our fundamental beliefs in the face of a relentless Ponzi. We claim private and governmental interestsare pulling a confidence game on the public and that were notfooled by it anymore because we clearly see the deception. But isthis really the case? How deep down the rabbit hole have wegone and how many holes are there anyway?

For many of us w eve gone just far enough to confirm our basicsuspicions, but not so far as to face some really ugly realities. Orto be fair lets call them ugly probabilities. Were willing to thinkoutside the conventional wisdom box, but not too far out. Imean, let s be reasonable here, some things are just crazy right?


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But when we offer that excuse, are we respecting societysreasonable boundaries or our own emotional limits? In mostcases Id say its the latter.

We construct and maintain our belief system and worldview not inorder to understand reality, but to protect us from the emotionaltrauma inflicted upon us by reality. Were taught a fairy tale frombirth of how the world and our country functions, including apropagandized and mythical history. For many of us, we spendour lives defending that fairy tale as best we can with the onlytools at our disposal, primarily denial and the quasi fantasy worldweve constructed that we call our belief system.

Dont get hung up on the word fantasy because were not talking about absolutes with regard to denial, but rather shapeshifting and blurred lines. Since we all see the world differently, itcan be argued that while there are many agreed upon facts weall share within the consensus reality, theres plenty of wiggleroom for deviation and denial, particularly if were the judge, juryand executioner of our own specially constructed inner world.

After all what is denial, but simply an altered perceived reality,our version of whats real and whats not as seen through ourown infinitely variable cognitive filters? We all own a pair of rosecolored glasses that are completely customizable andpersonalized. One might say that denial is self inflictedpropaganda for it serves the same purpose as corporate andgovernmental propaganda, that of spinning the (ugly) truth intosomething more palatable.

As we grow, and as needed to survive and thrive, we modify andalter our beliefs to accommodate the real world. But we do thisbegrudgingly and only when were left wi th little or no choice.Most importantly, rarely do we apply logic and consistency to theprocess nor is there an annual review or a ritual spring cleaning.


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Like a partially formed gaseous monster straight out of Star Trek,denial has few clear boundaries or sharp edges. It expands andcontracts to fill the emotional needs of its user and it rarely canbe positively identified or quantified as this or that fact basedtruth. However, the key ingredient to denial is convincingourselves that truth is all we deal with. This nebulous quality iswhat gives denial its enormous power to leap tall dissonances in asingle bound. We may power it, but for the most part denialcontrols us.

In a positive defense of denial, it can be used as part of a suite of cognitive tools to help absorb new or different perceptions into

our belief system. Think of using denial as a holding pattern whilewe attempt to land new information for assimilation. The problembegins when we become trapped in the holding pattern and areunwilling to accept the differences or reject incorrect beliefs. Wethen become mired in the muck of our rigid belief system anddenial is no longer used as a bridge but as a dam.

Bending in the Wind

When we read or leave comments on ZH that contain the words Ill never believe or Youll never convince me or Thatsimpossible or the classic I just cant believe we know theresfurther to go down the rabbit hole and its not information thatsholding the person back so much as denial. Terms such as thoseabove are not learning phrases used by an open mind to expandthe inner universe, but full stop rejections used to protect aclosed mind under attack.

An extremely important concept to understand about denial isthat its not an all or nothing proposition. There are multiplelevels, degrees and side channels to denial. So when conflicts areoverwhelming, well concede select points in order to keep othershidden. Were more than willing to lose a cognitive battle to win


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the denial war. And denial isnt black and white, but a hundredshades of gray. So to say someones in denial doesnt mean theyrefuse to deal with everything, just certain select parts and subtlevariations.

The enabling power of the denial process is convincing ourselveswere not in denial. Thus its imperative that we accept certainfacts while others are colored or phase shifted to blur the lines inorder to introduce a key ingredient of self deception, that of plausible deniability. In addition, we have a remarkable capacityto compartmentalize contrary pieces of information from eachother and ourselves. This allows us to hold incompatible and

contrary views or beliefs on the same subject at the same timeand literally think nothing of it.

For Example

A widely held and glaring example of inconsistent or contraryviews is that after decades of abuse, many people now firmlybelieve their government (along with people in and out of thegovernment) has repeatedly lied to them. They know theirgovernment will harm them, even going so far as to silencepeople by destroying them professionally or by reputation. Oreven kill them if they present too much of a threat to power.Many now believe their government has repeatedly deceivedthem, fabricating evidence in order to drive the country into waror prolong and/or escalate war.

They realize that the government manipulates statistics about the

economy, including allowing companies to cook their books toshow (better) profits through national security directives. Thatthey now overtly and covertly manipulate domestic and foreignstock, currency, commodities and precious metals markets tofurther their goals. And that they do so under cover of national


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security, saying in effect that the more they meddle, the morethey must continue to meddle.

The government lies about the condition of the environment, the

BP oil spill, national health issues, spying on its own citizens,torture and rendition, weapons of mass destruction, the list isendless. More and more people are beginning to comprehend thatthe government will rob the many to benefit the few and will hurtor kill those in its way.

People not only dont trust the government, but theyre downright frightened of the government and for good reason. Theyvecome to believe that the government is lethal to them, aremarkable admission considering its such a deviation from thepublic myth theyve been indoctrinated into since grade school.This is a very sobering realization and one youd think would havefully shaken them awake.

The (Cognitive) Border is Closed

But in many cases, people will only acknowledge emotionally

difficult insights contingent upon rejecting others they considerfar worse. This internal negotiation is carried out in a back roombargaining session with themselves, often with little awareness toguide the horse swapping other than a primal fear thats drivingthe urge to hide or get away. But ultimately where do we gowhen we live within, and depend upon, that which we fear?

Most likely as a form of emotional self defense, many of thesevery same people desperately wish to believe their government(along with people in and out of the government) would neverwillingly ignore, encourage, support, promote or execute (falseflag) attacks against its own citizens in order to further variousgoals or objectives, either private and/or governmental.


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In other words, they chose to believe there are moral, legal, andphysical boundaries that those in government, as well as theirpolitical allies and (corporate) enablers, just wont cross. They ineffect wish to believe that the sociopaths running the show willrespect certain select moral and legal lines drawn in the sand bysociety and the governed. That the powerful in and out of government can and will kill a few, but not more than a few, thatthey will defend their hold on power, but only up to a certainpoint.

These people admit the government may have crossed theselines in other countries in the past and may still cross them

today. And that they might have crossed these lines here inAmerica deep in the distant past. However, distant is usuallymeasured as being longer than theyve been alive, thus makingthese transgressions emotionally safer.

Remember again that the perception of personal risk or safety isa function of proximity to the risk. So the further away in timethey can pretend the government has violated the rules, the

lower the personal risk appears to the denier that thegovernment might again violate the rules. This allows us tobelieve that our present administration is the softer kindersociopathic version (44.0) and really doesnt have its citizens bythe throat.

Or maybe they need to be further from the fact that they wereasleep at the wheel, ignoring the obvious or inevitable while itoccurred and thus potentially responsible, even if only morally.After all, a popular public sport is to claim we didnt vote for soand so after the shits hit the fan. People in denial are very keento avoid personal responsibility that might lead them back to theirown denial.


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Even after admitting all of the above, they still insist thegovernment would never engage in this type of behavior todaynor did it ever do so in the recent past, meaning within their adultlifetime. It would be too close for comfort otherwise and toseriously entertain this idea would overload and crash theircognitive process as well as their sense of personal safety. Thusthe reason we read the I cant believe and Youll neverconvince me statements declaring a cognitive dissonant impasseand emotional safety. We all desire our comfort stories.

This belief is glaringly inconsistent, logically suspect andstrikingly narrow. And not surprising at all considering most of us

still wish to believe we live in the America of our history booksand public myth and not in a South American banana republicwith nuclear weapons and a reserve currency. Perception isreality, thus I control what I believe and what I perceive.

Which begs the obvious question? Whose line in the sand andwhat forbidden boundaries are we really talking about here? Theones we believe the government wont cross, the ones we dont

wish to admit have recently been crossed or our own emotionalboundaries, the ultimate do not enter stop sign?

This is a reasonable question because a brief look at history offersup dozens of publicly disclosed examples of major lines in thesand repeatedly crossed by so called democratic or representativegovernments, including the USA on multiple occasions. I say thisnot to define whos right or wrong, but to declare under nouncertain terms that if were not being consistent in our thinking,if were unwilling to honesty assess all information at ourdisposal, if were being selective in when we apply logic, that thisis a major signal that theres denial b locking the way forward.

You Cant Make Me, You Cant Make Me


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For those who (understandably) cant accept such a horrifyingthought and all its ugly implications, its rejected outright asimpossible or crazy. We can always come up with a thousandreasons or explanations to reject something in order to place asmuch emotional distance as we can between the frighteningreality were denying and ourselves. Again, one sees this all thetime with posts that begin with Youll never make me believe or

Nothing you show me will ever prove or I just cant believe.

The person making these statements is declaring that anyinformation contrary to their emotionally safer worldview will bepromptly rejected without an unbiased assessment. This is not an

open mind on display, but rather a mind whose steel trap is firmlywelded shut. The information is too frightening to even be fairlyconsidered, so its rejected outright before it ever crosses thecognitive threshold.

Youll never convince me is the sign that the mental deck isstacked. Yet after these people have finished the initial denialprocess and have regained their emotional composure, they

consider themselves to be fair and open minded and willing todiscuss anything, just as long as its reasonable. The y declarethat any information that opens the emotionally uncomfortablebox they just closed as crazy or unreasonable or unconfirmed orwhatever it takes to keep the monster at bay.

They make their own cognitive rules, which they then use to judge the quality and acceptability of the information. And therules will always say this information isnt going to be allowed. Ithelps immensely if others in their social peer group as well astheir leaders affirm their decision that some informations off limits. Thus we understand the critical need for leadership and itsenablers to establish the public myth and to lie in public and onthe record.


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This is done both in the run up to and after the limits have beenviolated and the lines crossed. Leadership declares for all whowish to believe the lie whats socially acceptable to believe andwhats not. This is also the purpose of blue ribbon fact findingcommissions, the so-called independent experts and authorities.Their primary job is to explore, modify and, after a few shocking

mistakes have been revealed to allow us the fantasy they did athorough job, ultimately bless the overall official public myth andlies.

The person in denial is looking for permission or affirmation froman outside (of their own mind) authority that his or her denial is

emotionally, socially and morally OK. Obviously, this doesntapply to the sociopaths. When were in emotional distress oracting in a morally or socially suspect manner, we seek comfortand affirmation from authority figures that were in the clear andany guilt is unwarranted. This is why I often write Daddy, tell meanother lie so I can believe its the truth.

Think back to when your own children were very young and they

were emotionally insecure or afraid. They were especially eagerfor you to (re)affirm them in their own denial or to reassure themthey were OK, particularly if it was about their own self image,stature or safety. Children arent the only emotionally insecurepeople who wish to be reassured, parti cularly when theyre indenial.

At one time or another, weve all been in a shaky relationshipwhere we made the choice to accept a lie rather than face thetruth. Since we all wish to believe were strong and mature itsdifficult to accept that we often act infantile and needy. Thus welleven repress the understanding of that basic emotional need if awareness leaves us vulnerable.


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For those who dont engage in this level of denial, or morerealistically dont admit they engage in this level of denial, myexplanation sounds suspect and unreasonable. After all, welleducated adults dont act this way. But this cognitive process iswell understood, particularly by the psychological warfare andsocial control experts who use the knowledge of our innerdisorder against us to manipulate and control. This is why I talkabout knowing yourself. One can only be violated when onedoesnt understand how and why its occurring.

These layers of subtle self bargaining and authority approvalseeking are an example of the seductive and insidious nature of

denial. And to the person employing it, it all sounds perfectlyreasonable. How often do we see directly after the post Ill neverbe convinced the statement that Its not me thats the problemhere because Im opened minded. Its you and your crazyinformation thats the issue.

Our worldview is constrained and maintained by ourselves, not byoutside forces, regardless of the grand tales we tell ourselves

about how fair and honest we are when viewing the world. Asy mpathetic soul might say We tell ourselves little white liesoccasionally so whats the big deal? Everybody does it.

This is precisely where denial begins, with little subtle deceptionsthat are harmless or inconsequential. We allow ourselves theco mforting self deception that small lies dont lead to big onesand we can stop lying to ourselves any time we want.

Self Psyops and Propagandizing Oneself

We have met the enemy and the enemy is us. This is why theresa never ending supply of fall guys and patsies pushed to the frontof the public perception as foils and enablers for our own self


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deception. Why beat ourselves up when we can hate someoneelse.

Were all desperate to some extent or another to deny a very

basic reality. Psychological warfare is used against us by ourgovernment and private interests to manipulate and control, byour social control systems to pacify, maintain order and control,and by ourselves to deny and self deceive in order to live withinthe insanity and with ourselves.

Its all about our individual and collective ego and our addiction tothe natural dopamine high that supports and enables our denial.It feels so good to convincingly deny something thatsemotionally painful. And that good feeling comes from ourendless natural supply of emotional pain killers. The crazier itgets in our real world, the more well reach for the pain relieverthats just a small denial away. Psychological warfare leveragesour own failings by exploiting the age old adage that you can cona dishonest man.

An important part of individual denial is how it coordinates withsocietys collective denial. Again, this is what I mean when I talkabout the public myth and the keepers of the public myth. We asa society maintain half truths and outright lies about our historyand ourselves in order to brush aside uncomfortable dissonancesand unpalatable facts.

Our leaders lie to set the public myth in stone as well as tosupport prior or future lies. And once a lie is released by

reputable authorities, the very fact that it exists and that it wasrecorded as truth because an authority spoke it, defiesanyone to say otherwise. Are you calling the great and exaltedauthority a liar? Daddy doesnt lie, at least not to the kids.


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this tendency backfiring when it comes to our assessment of whats coming and how it will play ou t?

In many respects, it doesnt make any difference whether the

governments lies or not with regard to longevity and stabilitywhen every other government is doing likewise. Remember thatwhile we might not trust the government, many still do. Eventhose who dont trust the government continue to act as if theydo simply because its in their own self interest. Combine thiswith the natural inertia of continuing on the same path andtheres still plenty of momentum to keep this Ponzi churning for along time.

The obvious question here is, are we thinking clearly andunbiased when considering the economic and social disaster weexpect is just around the corner. Personally I doubt it. As Ipointed out in chapter one, its easy to become biased and hardto re cognize when were emotionally involved. Often wereattracted to information that confirms our beliefs and regardlessof how accurate it is, Zero Hedge and other contrary websites

help us do this.Even if were ultimately correct about the crash, it migh t makesense once in a while to check our assumptions. But do we reallywant to prove ourselves wrong? Naturally, we tell people (andourselves) that were willing to admit when were wrong in orderto maintain public (and internal) credibility. But often we engagein the illusion that were double checking, just like we did duringgrade school to fool the teacher.

If were serious and really do check, we might find something wedont like which certainly wont please us. No one likes tocontradict themsel ves, especially when were emotionallyinvolved. Its so much easier to say we checked and thateverythings fine, then leave well enough alone.


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That might also be why we hang around Zero Hedge so much, toallow us the illusion that someone else is on the case. And whysome get nervous when it goes off line for any extended period of time. Wheres my ZH fix? Left alone without our constant spinand reassurance, doubt may seep in or we might start to driftfrom the message. Would we still be so resolute if Zero Hedgewasnt here?

After all, on Zero Hedge we receive constant assurance that wereright and theyre wrong. Plus we get to mingle with other likeminded individuals, which lends us moral support and positivefeedback. Its all right there and everyt hing we need, delivered

up in 10 to 15 articles a day and a dynamite comment section.Were in Nirvana, also known as our own little contrary universe.

Zero Hedge has just as much bias as CNBC, just in a differentdirection. Remember that the term bias doe snt measureaccuracy, just direction, momentum or magnitude. Thats just astatement of fact and not a condemnation of ZH or any othercontrary website. One must always understand and compensate

for the basis and bias of any information we consume. Just readthe Zero Hedge disclosure.

Are we willing to subject our view of the coming crash to as rigidan examination as we do the Ponzi view? Or do we just assumethe Ponzi is lying and declare anything opposite the lie must bethe truth and the real reality ? Is the real reality what we believeit should be or what it really is day to day?

Why do we think the truth will prevail? Thats not a foregoneconclusion by any stretch of the imagination. Nor that exposingthe truth will sink the lie thats su pposedly supporting theeconomy when its clearly in nearly everyones short term bestinterest to lie and live another day. Does truth always prevail oris that just another part of our individual and collective myth by


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way of our grade school conditioning and indoctrination? Herecomes Mighty Mouse to save the day.

Why would we possibly think people are motivated not only to

learn the truth but then live the truth? My personal lifeexperience doesnt support this supposition though I will admitits o ne of my comfort stories.

More to the point, the truth will not force the government tostop promoting a lie when to do so will put people in physical,emotional and financial peril, not to mention the leadership. Weall understand that at times its so much easier to maintain the liethan to finally begin to speak the truth. So much needs to beundone and explained so why even try?

The government creates crisis after crisis to frighten the herd.And based upon every cowboy movie Ive ever seen, stampedi ngherds just want the fear to go away. To think that at some pointthere will be such an overwhelming outcry from the public thatthe sociopaths will cease and desist and perp walk themselves to

jail is beyond childish. Frogs in the bottom of a pot brought slowlyto a boil dont do much of anything other than complain about theweather.

Now that we know the truth and are some of the earlyadopters, are we acting to support the truth and stop the lies orare we just cueing up for another ZH expos? Why do we expectothers to act differently than we have acted once they learn the

truth?

Ive asked this question a few times before here on ZH as well asother places and Im mostly ignored. It appears Im cutting tooclose to the bone because while most wo nt admit it, we seem tobe waiting around for someone else to do what we dont wish todo.


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We claim to have truth and justice on our side, but just knowingthe truth doesnt stop the lies. There seems to be this belief thatonce the truth becomes widel y known, reinforcements will swellthe ranks and then we can strike at the belly of the beast. Isuspect this is just another comfort story we tell ourselves inorder to sleep better at night. And that this dissonance betweenwhat we say and what we do feeds into our collective denial.

Even better (worse?), do we claim the moral high ground whereall is sacred and self questioning is blasphemy? I fully understandthe importance of declaring the emperor to be naked, but thesociopaths deduct points for truth and they have control of the

reins and the game. Righteous indignation, something we love torevel in, has throughout the ages covered up a lot of bad thinkingby the so called good guys.

Inconsistent Inconsistencies

An example of an inconsistency in our thinking might be that thePonzi has lasted much longer than many predicted it would. Veryfew on ZH considered the possibility in March of 09 that the stockmarket would be much higher a year and a half later. It wasobvious systemic death was just around the corner, right?

Even fewer believed the US, British and EU governments andcentral banks could have repeatedly issued multiple trillions of dollars in sovereign debt and Treasury paper in multiplecurrencies at ever decreasing interest rates without a currencycrisis and collapse. And yet thats precisely what theyve

successfully done if success is measured as paper issuance andno collapse.

Or maybe the dissonance can be found within the precious metalsarena. While there were some who felt otherwise, many peoplewere convinced that once the public was told of the Federal


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Reserves Gold price suppression techniques that the Gold papertrade would collapse. And yet it continues to this day, even if itshobbled to some extent. How can that be?

Lately Ive heard the explanation that there wasnt enough publicexposure of Gold manipulation to cause collapse. While thatsounds reasonable, wont the public ignore what they dont wantto hear no matter the quantity or quality of evidence? You canbring the horse to water but.

I agree that it defies common sense that a market asmanipulated and undercapitalized with actual physical Goldwouldnt disintegrate the moment the news of manipulation hitBloomberg. And yet it didnt disintegrate and still function s today.Is this not an aberration that must be carefully examined? Itseems were incrementally increasing our denial as the Ponzimarches on.

All I see people doing is pushing back the expected date of collapse, saying next time theres a run on Comex or the Chinesewant more physical or more tungsten is found inside 400 ouncebars, then it will collapse. Even if it does collapse, what comesnext? When only Gold has perceived value, it would be foolish tothink the sociopaths will allow us to keep ours. Think about thatand then read some history. The insanity isnt extinguished; itebbs and flows or just morphs into new bodies and forms.

We continue to brush aside multiple contradictions to the quickcollapse scenario without seriously considering this could continue

on for many more years. Some may not wish to recognize this,but those who understand whats going on, meaning the principalsupporters and benefactors of the Ponzi (both on Wall and MainStreet) will cling to the devil they know rather than face the blackabyss of the unknown. This alone assures a much longerunraveling than were acknowledging.


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Im not taking sides in this argument as much as Im asking amore fundamental question. Are we taking a side and thenignoring evidence that might prove us incorrect? The more ourargument for the crash or a collapse can withstand criticalscrutiny and the more we probe and dissect its weaknesses, thestronger it becomes unless its weak or baseless.

However, the more we shield our argument from scrutiny, eitherby overt or covert denial, obstruction or obscuration, the weakerit becomes. This method of interrogation is how we pummel thePonzi, by relentlessly questioning its suppositions and evidence.Shouldnt we apply the same acid test to our ow n arguments or is

our only claim to fame simply that since we proved them wrong,we must be right?

Shoot the Messenger, Ignore the Message

Whats obvious to you and me is rarely obvious to others, notbecause it cant be seen, but because it can be ignored andrejected. The same can be said in reverse. Many people, includingthis author, are at times irritated with certain contributors andcommentators and their barrage of articles and comments onZero Hedge that seem to defy the laws of common sense.

You live in a fantasy world or Sooner or later youll be crushed are all common refrains left to refute these people. Im not sayingthe comments are or arent valid. But we must ask ourselvessome questions if were to face our own emotional outbursts. Ar ewe angry with the authors because theyre delusional or because

they represent everything and everyone thats holding this Ponzitogether and precisely the reason its lasted longer than weexpected? Maybe were holding it together ourselves?

These authors are an emotional and intellectual trigger for manyhere on Zero Hedge. Rather than rant at them, we should step


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back and examine why were being triggered. Often we yell andscream in order to hide from self examination. Is that whatsgoing on here? I suspect that for many its not the money thatsupsetting, but instead a sense of bloody outrage over themagnitude of the thieving and the colossal gall exhibited by theprincipal sorcerers thats clouding our vision.

Once we look within and understand the trigger, we can discoverthe underlying dissonance thats obscuring our worldview andbeliefs. I know that when I experience an emotional outburst,particularly when Im feeling righteous indignation, this is a clearindication Ive been triggered and that somethings unsettled

within.

It could be seen as a huge blow to our ego to admit that it mightbe time to hunt within for some inner truth when the streets arefilled with the thieves and the complicit. But I know if we continueto be triggered, well be easily manipulated and seriously out of balance. Only when were at peace with ourselves can we beeffective in all other aspects of our life.

When were triggered, rather than get caught up in the details of the information being argued, we should be looking closely atwhat we fear or what were avoiding thats causing such anoutburst. Were angry that the Ponzi uses diversionary tactics todistract and bluff the public from the truth. Yet we use the verysame tactics on ourselves rather than take a long hard lookwithin. Maybe some personal housekeeping is in order?

Admittedly this is a difficult task and it requires self confidenceand discipline to pull back and pause when our ego is screamingfor us to do something to defend our ego honor or ego self respect. When weve been emotionally triggered and were upsetover something that was written or said , whats really going onhere, whats really been triggered is our sense that our worldview


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is under assault. This is precisely when we must calm down andreach within to find the courage to look deeper into whats goingon.

The Abuser/Abused ParadigmThe reason I always talk about our ego not being us, but rathera separate and distinct entity, is because were constantly led tobelieve by our ego that our ego is our friend and can be fullytrusted. Our ego accomplishes this by convincing us that our egois us and that we are one and the same as our ego. Thus webelieve that when our ego is talking, in fact its us thats talking.

As I said in Chapter One, this is hardly the case. The egoconsiders itself to be a separate and sovereign entity, not a partof us. Thus the ego is not bound by any moral, emotional orsocial boundaries nor does it feel constrained from lying,cheating or using subterfuge to get what it wants. Since our egodoesnt physically control our bodies, it must use manipulativemethods (essentially self psyops or self propaganda) to achieveits goals.

In a remarkable example of how the fabric and structure of oursociety and social order mimics our internal disorder, the controlsystem (the Ponzi, the banking cabal aka the Federal Reserve andother central/commercial banks, the political and justice systems,the so called free press aka main stream media, religions,corporations, academia and the education system etc) doesexactly the same thing to us externally as our ego does

internally. And for the most part we fully participate in this.Using subterfuge and illusion as well as encouraging our own self deception, t he control system convinces us that its our controlsystem. Were told that the decision to send our troops (I didntknow I had an army) into foreign wars is our decision and in


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our best interest. That its our government despite the factthat our government doesnt act in our best interest. Wererepeatedly told that we must save our too -big-to-fail banks inorder to save ourselves from those very same too -big-to-failbanks.

The main stream media, an integral part of the control system,assures us that we must protect and enable our financialelites and our government so that they may employ and protect

us. If the financial elites are treated poorly by us taxpayers,theyll take their ball and go home and we shall starve .

Yet for decades weve been assured theyll trickle down some of what we give them so I guess its all good folks. Yet the incomeand wealth disparity continues to grow to new records each year.Without judging the validity of my statements, understand w hatsreally going on here.

We the (self) abused have been and are being conditioned to loveand cherish our abuser. Or at least tolerate it. Whack! Thank youvery much sir. May I have another? Whack! To tolerate such adisparity without revolt takes a great deal of emotional andintellectual bargaining and denial.

Of course, this doesnt apply to you and me because weunderstand whats going on, right? I hear this all the time on ZH,that were the informed and thus immune. Is this another comfortstory we tell ourselves or are we just caught in the emotionalheadlights and frozen in our tracks?

The Big Bang or the Little Whimper

So, what if it doesnt end with a bang but with a whimper? Ibelieve this unraveling can and will go on much longer than weexpect and we should plan accordingly. Since no one really wantsour way of life to end, many will subtly and covertly maintain it


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even if it means they must maintain the lie. And thats the key toa slow and painful death of the Ponzi rather than a collapse.

As was so wonderfully illustrated in The Matrix, nearly all of the

population will fight to remain within the lie for as long as theycan simply because the alternative is too horrible to accept. Forthem, to lie is to live. So theyll bargain away anything they cantmaintain and deny the pain for as long as they can.

Like walking down a staircase, only when forced will they acceptanother step down into the abyss. Once there, theyll acclimateall over again using the only coping tools they have, those of denial and bargaining. Then theyll take the next step and thenext step and the next step in a slow walk to hell.

For those who have forgotten, historys littered with failedEmpires, some as recently as 65 years ago. The one constantthroughout history is that the citizens of those failed empireslived in great denial of their current condition and they slowlybargained away their souls for another day in misery. Thisdoesnt need to be, but it usually is anyway.

While we as a society and a collective are slowly relinquishing oursovereignty to the powers that be, the one area that is under ourcomplete control is our own mind. Lets not cede that as well byblindly following our own contrarian herd.

We should not adopt positions or beliefs that oppose the Ponzisimply because its contrary to the Ponzi. Doing so just shifts theillusion of control to us, but still leaves us dancing to the Ponzibeat. Our views should be adopted only after rigorousexamination and vetting. This is the only way to a truly peaceful,free and sovereign life.

Cognitive Dissonance

Documents

What if It Doesn't End With a Bang but With a Whimper