Consider, Grasshopper

[ecosophia]

Probably the best summary I've yet seen of the strategy I'd recommend for getting through the current multifactorial mess...

(source)

Comments

Whoa!

[(Anonymous)]

that's trippy because i've been ruminating on the facts of Kyle's situation with the dog mauling him:

dog
person
kennel
food
apparition giving advice

then i realized instead of going back in with screw driver or do what's expected, bring the apparition back, and since it had such amazing advice the first time, regarding: "if you want to live or die is not important to me, but if you want to live, it'd be a top priority to get your neck of his mouth right now"...

so what if you could get the apparition to give advice...

and then with this cartoon i just now realized while writing this... the act of even CONSIDERING the apparition's advice IS the "unexpected response"! the third way.

you change the game refuse to play theirs.

wow.

this is cool the synergy.

MURMURATION!

because The Murmurator... to MURMURATE is the answer, it's a different vibe like dancing and if you hate a creepy tech person you kill your own vibe.

the vibe is the answer to murmurate because if you were murmurating to a Jim Jones vibe, like this is, you're not vibing..

see, i JUST now got back from trader joe's and i listened to music on my headphones because i don't want to attract any more miserable people and i was just now telling James, "i could FEEL it. it's different, their vibe is uptight like a sphincter."

yes, they are sphincters.

but not bird sphincters for i learned via James that birds have no sphincters. how convenient or inconvenient, depending on what you're going for.

i'm 54 and i only just learned within the past few months no sphincters.

but this is a brilliant cartoon because i was thinking hard on how to undo the game and do it our way..

i was thinking we're in BARTELBY "i prefer not to" phase of things right now... but yes... what comes AFTER that if it is to succeed on the monumental megalomaniacal level that it CAN? wow...

and the act of even considering to ask the apparition for further advice in the situation is also something that would NEVER occur to the other side.

the hits just keep coming...

x

erika

Re: Whoa!

[ecosophia]

I'm 59 and I didn't know until just now that birds have no sphincters!

But yes, that's exactly the point. You deal with the other guy by refusing to play his game, and playing a different game that puts you out of his reach. You literally break out of the frame.

Whoa! part 2

[(Anonymous)]

this is also key as an alpha power move- to change the entire paradigm or story and refuse to play along.

the reason it will work better NOW than any laters, is because you want to act before you get the encrustations of stains and stink of despair poverty and self hate on the generations to come if you don't.

you have got to scrape away the remains of self hatred and wanting to play in ANY of their reindeer games to have the audacity to envision and manifest your own. trust THAT.

(mic drop)

erika

Re: Whoa! part 2

[ecosophia]

Reindeer games...

All of a sudden I'm thinking of that classic book on transactional analysis, Games People Play, and a chapter in John Keel's giddy visionary masterpiece The Mothman Prophecies titled "Games Nonpeople Play." It might be high time to indentify some of the hopelessly dysfunctional games that structure social interaction here and now, and talk about mutually beneficial games that we can play instead.

[frittermywig]

Thank you, JMG, I needed that!

[ecosophia]

You're most welcome.

So

[(Anonymous)]

Someone noted in a Magic Monday irrational rage was filling there system. I noted it was also doing the same to me.

As a Buddhist I started to do contemplation and meditated on "manifestation" of the powers of the Four Heavenly Kings - the protectors of Buddhist practitioners.

Vessarana,Virūlhaka,Dhatarattha and Virūpakkha for those keeping score at home.

It been working - a lot less negativity via rage has been noticeable in me. A slight melancholy but I am confident this too will pass. Just unplug for a bit and keep on keeping on

Re: So

[ecosophia]

A very sensible thing to do! As I recall, Virūlhaka (Zocho-ten in Japanese, which is the context where I encountered these potent entities) has a sword for his symbol, so not at all inappropriate to the context...

[(Anonymous)]

All fun and games, challenging other drivers at the intersection to race, till the challenger gets t-boned by the crazy freight train called life, after naively going across the white lines, and essentially running the lights. Choo choo.

Reason why not to get involved....you'll get hit too.

[ecosophia]

"The only way to win is not to play."

[(Anonymous)]

Beautiful timing. I was just thinking I was letting too many of my thoughts be occupied by those internal arguments. Cuts right to the point. Heh heh.

That reminds me of a panel I attended a couple of years ago with author Rory Miller. Wrote a couple of good books like Facing Violence and Conflict Communications.

He mentioned the one superpower we all have in those type of arguments. Just walk away. Say nothing, just walk away. It short circuts the monkey script and drops ego validation to zero. For the person walking away, it is also good to walk away internally as well.

[ecosophia]

That was the Sâr Peladan's advice for certain kinds of problems: "S'en va" ("go away"). It's a very powerful move.

Yes!

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks JMG! The power of focus and a delicious cup of tea is a force to be reckoned with.

OtterGirl

[(Anonymous)]

I love the cartoon! And I will pray to several gods that you be right!

beware

[(Anonymous)]

i think if you have to pray to the gods to be right, you're missing the point entirely.
ya dig?
(smile)

erika

[escorcher]

Very good.

Thanks.

Takes a little of the edge off the personal fear within the question I was going to ask you, but I will ask anyway ...

In your original pandemic hypothesis you write this about a rising pressure on hospitals and healthcare:
" ... It’s also impossible to know in advance how soon it will become clear that the vaccines are responsible—or just how violent a backlash against the political and economic establishment this could provoke."

Would you not think the backlash might be more likely against the 'scapegoated' unvaccinated, especially with such an obfuscation of data and therefore difficulty of linking cause to effect(s)?


 

[ecosophia]

There will be some backlash against the unvixenated in the near term, as of course there already is. As I see it, though, that's an intermediate stage, and the endgame is very different.

The force at the heart of what's going on right now is cognitive dissonance between the officially approved belief -- "the vaccines are safe and effective" -- and the unwelcome reality that the vaccines offer only temporary protection and cause a lot of harm. Cognitive dissonance follows a predictable trajectory as the conflict between belief and relaity mounts up. First the reality is ignored or dismissed easily, with a laugh; as the conflict becomes harder to ignore, the believers become angry and pushy, and their claims undergo exaggeration; then you start seeing increasingly frantic sacrificial gestures to prove your faith; and finally the faith collapses.

Once the latter stage hits, how much blowback you see depends on how much genuine harm was done. If it's just a matter of embarrassment, everyone slinks away and tries to pretend that none of it ever happened. If there's serious harm, you very often get violent rage against the people who were responsible for promoting the belief.

Right now the mainstream is strung out at various points between "angry and pushy" and "increasingly frantic." Thus it's a good time to separate yourself as much as possible from the true believers. When their world collapses around them, try to be kind and helpful, and stay clear of mob scenes.

[(Anonymous)]

A few minutes ago I prayed to Vidar for advice on how to come through this mess, and then I found this. How simple, but if it'd only be easy, too...

Nachtgurke

I love it!

[(Anonymous)]

100%. I know in my own nightmares, this is the only way they go away!

[(Anonymous)]

An example of breaking the fourth wall?

[ecosophia]

Or slicing it in half!

[seanbolger1]

I recently watched a short video on a Japanese longbow maker.
He is the 21st generation, his family has been making longbows in the same workshop using the same methods for 400 years.
Japan has certainly seen alot more turmoil and disaster in the last 400 years than I have in the last 2 and yet some things just carry on undisturbed.
It kind of put our current dilemma into perspective for me.
Kind regards
Sean

[(Anonymous)]

seanbolher1,

That sounds really interesting; could you give the link?

You are right, the turmoils and disasters of the past 400 years of Japanese history versus our last 2 help put things in perspective.

Cugel

This raises a question

[(Anonymous)]

Since I’m a draftsman, I love that it’s a comic that makes this philosophical point by graphical means.

This is as good an opportunity as I’m likely to get to discuss the following. It has been impressing itself upon me lately that every time I enter a grocery store or the like wearing one of those stupid paper masks, I am perforce participating in a ritual drama that reinforces the Narrative, which I consider to be malefic and indeed downright murderous in nature. It sticks in my craw to be giving it my mute assent.

I’m not as brave as Kimberly Steele or Allen Stevo, who never wear a mask. I live in a deep blue region and I can’t handle having a confrontation crisis every time I need to pick up some milk. But there is at least one tiny act of rebellion I’m contemplating.

I’ve found it’s possible to write or paint one or two simple words on the topmost panel of one of these masks, without too much deformation when worn, for legibility. So I am thinking of decorating those I have with some smart-alecky protest phrases. If I do this, those who encounter me at close range will read that I am wearing a piece of “Medical Kabuki,” a “Paper Placebo,” or a that I am participating in a “Health Charade.”

I want to keep the tone light and playful, but what with the nature of mass psychosis I wouldn’t be surprised if I get some nasty confrontations anyway, and very likely plenty of dirty looks. Yet must one be a spineless worm merely to avoid unpleasantness? Laughably trivial as this little tactic seems, I feel it is better than doing nothing and just letting events take their course without a peep of protest from me. The swollen sack of ritual abnegation that is imposed upon us certainly deserves to be punctured with all the mockery one can muster.

Re: This raises a question

[(Anonymous)]

"OBEY" makes a more forceful point. That's what I had on a mask when this whole thing began. By March 2020 I realized it was horseshit and stopped playing the game in public. Once I had somebody Karen out on me the whole way through a quicky mart. I turned her into a chicken.

comrade simba

Head's up!

[(Anonymous)]

Having decades of experience recognizing what MSM is up to, I want to put this out there:

One line the MSM has been continually emphasizing in the Kyle Rittenhouse story is "he crossed state lines." Unfortunately, I see exactly where this is going. The media frequently seed things like this (remember the big deal about Fake News or Anti-Vixens?) to prepare the masses for future actions. Making it sound like crossing state lines is a crime is intentional.

What they are trying to normalize is that soon it will require the right QR code to cross a state line. This is already in the works with the plans of Transportation Director Pete Buttegeig who wants to monitor our ability to move freely. We are being prepped for this.

By restricting movement, they are also restricting the ability to protest and fight back against this tyranny. Wait for it folks. They are not even trying to hide anything anymore :(

Why do you think they put pylons up on all the major highways in the USA some years back? They will go with the QR codes in the future, which will be tied to the little boxes we have already had to put in our vehicles to drive on the highways.

+Love and Light
-AWH

p.s. Yes, the answer is to refuse to "play." This is the true "checkmate" that doesn't kill off the chess pieces but keeps them all on the board protecting both Queens. Once you've moved the first pawn, the game has been lost one way or other. A true king knows how to avoid war in the first place, being willing to die for his people rather than sending out the people to die for him. It is David being willing to fight Goliath rather than sending out the armies to die at Goliath's hands.

Re: Head's up!

[(Anonymous)]

I woke up just today having had a vivid dream about a future US being split into three regions. I took this to be partly influenced by the insane "state lines" narrative

Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

That's exactly what the cards have been telling me the last couple of days. Thanks for confirming my reading.

Fuzzy Gnome

Drunk on rage

[(Anonymous)]

I was reading what Levi said about intoxication and the past couple days I have been struggling. This appears to be a test. By this afternoon I had already made up my mind to get back on the wagon when a neighbor freaked out about some sticks that ended up in his yard and he thought they were mine. I calmly talked with him while artfully dodging his provocations, and as a result he mellowed out a bit. That’s a pretty cool super power to have.

[(Anonymous)]

It was the 'computer philosophy writer' Jaron Lanier how made a good point about this.

In his book 'Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now', in the 1980's when he was frequently a part of online bulletin boards. He found that the more he engaged online discussion/debate the more he found the worst in himself coming out. That he would become obsessed with the debates and vindictive towards other folks. He was one of the lucky few who figured this out well before the internet even began its journey into the home.

The only solution was to not get involved in the first place. I tend to agree, my interaction online is very limited nowadays. For those who want to kick up a storm (in any direction), I generally do not get involved any more.

Just try to be kind to each other, agree that we have differences, work with others despite these things and hope that we all pull through.

-Michael Gray

Thank you

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you, John Michael Greer. Your blog has been for me a beacon of light in the dark and fog.

As for what to do or not do in this mad situation, another analogy on my mind of late is the trout Viktor Schauberger observed remaining stationary in the middle of a fast-running alpine river.

I have often, indeed daily, recalled your excellent advice, "Back away slowly from the crazy person..."

Maroon Insouciant Quetzalcoatlus

[(Anonymous)]

This cartoon is sage advice. Well timed, JMG. I’ll consider it to be a 4-panel ‘survival guide for when society is wigging out’. Let’s not get sucked into other peoples’ vortices. I really appreciate your appeal for us to have compassion for those who are experiencing the agony of cognitive dissonance (which, by the looks of things, is likely to peak over the next half-year): a little compassion can go a long way.

Ron M

[(Anonymous)]

So incredibly synchronous JMG. I've been meditating on and planning an "early" retirement because the systems are so clearly broken beyond repair.
Retirement in my case is misleading because now I've come to realize I've squandered the past forty years evading my lifes work which has always been to tend and keep the garden, which can now begin in ernest.
With one foot on both sides of the fence, thinking I'll participate in the faustian delusion until I'm prepared to embrace the humble great work, I've accomplished neither. This converts the present dilemma to a blessing, a thrust block from which to push whith focused effort toward truly meaningful and appropriate work. Quite a relief really, to see that now is the time and that circumstances favor tending the garden in all its permutations.
I've been telling those I work with that it feels like the week before summer vacation in grade school, with the tingling butterflies and unformed dreams jumbled together in a big gunnysack hidden under the bed, waiting for last day.
I pray that others will be able to sense the excitement and hope and divinity of our present opportunity to apply toward their great work, to tend and keep their little corner of the garden consistent with their gifts and talents, which among the community here are many and diverse skills that will render our present inconveniences exciting opportunities.
Grateful for this space and all the community here, blessings and encouragement to all.
Gawain

[(Anonymous)]

Gawain - a wise decision, and the same one Candide made in the middle of the late 18th century French Crazy Years.

Not seeing the forest for the trees

[(Anonymous)]

JMG
Back in Jan 2021 on your other blog I posted about some thoughts going through my head while you were taking your break:

"With the level of fear we are seeing, it could burst out of control easily… and it was the social media posts calling for people to be killed for non-mask wearing that eventually got me thinking of the decisions that might need to be made if the madness of crowds falls upon us."
https://www.ecosophia.net/into-the-unknown-region/#comment-58962

and helpul thoughts from others led me to:
"For a realistic scenario right now, imagine that someone really really believes that not wearing a mask means you are a granny killer and that refusing a gene therapy injection makes you the incarnation of evil on this earth. So, when they come to give you your mandatory injection there are decisions to be made."

"Sometimes the capacity for violence (even when it could be rationalised and justified at the human level) is not the path taken – continued material existence here is not important in the overall scheme, but having the wisdom to know, to understand and to choose well is of value."
https://www.ecosophia.net/into-the-unknown-region/#comment-59106

I have been considering the matter further for the last 10 months having concluded back in January that the only thing I could do would be to get on with what I can. From the initial question it morphed into 'okay so what shall I do here and now?' - I recognised that 'internal work' was at the heart of the matter, and I have been putting things in place on how most usefully to proceed, but that cartoon you posted was delightfully synchronous and has led me to a most interesting and, hopefully a practical view/approach... that I was not seeing the forest for the trees.

Thank-you!

[earthworm]

Good cartooning

[(Anonymous)]

I love the famous swordsman's expression in the first panel. "I just want to drink my tea, dammit!" He's a lot happier in the last panel.

[(Anonymous)]

"then you start seeing increasingly frantic sacrificial gestures to prove your faith"

This is where the True Believers get their children jabbed. This aspect of the whole fiasco is the most horrifying.

The booster jabs come under the same category too but at least that's for adults. They really are an IQ test. On a more hopeful note, I read that half of Irish people are refusing the boosters, much to the dismay of our ruling class.

[(Anonymous)]

They haven't started really pushing the boosters for most yet though. They haven't even got to the 60 year olds turn. A couple more months of propaganda and they'll get those numbers up. I think they're trying to tread a fine line about demonizing the unvaxxed for being so stupid as to refuse an effective vaccine vs. frightening the jabbed by telling them how quickly their protection has waned.

Dot.

Unruly spirits

[sinners4diseasecontrol]

I just put forward my daily prayer, at the end praying that the children--our future generation--overcome the harm being cast at them and enjoy good lives. Then I mentioned our host and his recommendation, and asked that we could turn our backs on the "unruly spirits" (those that cause havoc according to the Great Words of Purification) and live our lives as if their shenanigans were nothing. There's a lot of "You can't live without [fill in the technological wonder blank}!!!" out there. To which I say, "Oh yeah?"