The Preservation of Sanity And Civilization

I hadn’t planned on this post, but the ongoing mania compels me to contribute something toward the preservation of sanity and civilization. And so, here are some things to remember:

Humans are idolaters. Or at least most are when pressured. What we’re seeing now is an expression of idolatry and dogma. And bear in mind that the proudly anti-religious are often the most idolatrous and dogmatic.

Whenever people are getting whipped up for a cause – any cause – that’s the right time to step away. And if they start chanting, move away quickly. I’ll forgo the long explanation, but joining the pack slays reason, and for as long as you remain in the pack.

And this really is idolatry, because whatever we place above reason… whatever we place above open questioning… has become our god.

The crowd is always a deceiver. No one expressed this more concisely than Simone Weil, when she said, “conscience is deceived by the social.” Conscience is individual, social is collective, and the two are at odds. Likewise, sanity is individual and mania is collective.

Within the crowd, malice appears as duty, honor, order and justice. To reside in the crowd is to be deceived; the only question is how much.

Just a few specifics:

  • Any time you surrender your decision-making to outsiders, you are making an error. (And yes, that means that authority is fundamentally a scam.)

  • The more intimidated you are, the less your better functions operate.

  • Moral courage is far, far more important than physical courage.

The mob is the enemy of what’s best in you. Separate from it at the first opportunity.

Civilization is not a function of systems, it’s a function of what’s in us. We are the primaries; all systems, good, bad or indifferent, are derivatives.

The great error of the democratic era, certainly true over my now-fairly-considerable lifetime, was that people believed Democracy would solve all their problems, and would by itself assure civilization. That was always an idolatrous dream. What matters is what we are as individual people.

No institution is to be taken as anything more than a blunt tool. The civilization we hold in ourselves is what holds the world in sanity, and nothing else can, no matter how it is advertised.

Grouping degrades human function. As individuals, we are magical creatures who can reverse entropy willfully. Within the group, we are a collection of pieces trying to feel powerful.

Being grouped degrades us and teaches us bad lessons. Standing as an individual makes us better, sometimes in spurts and sometimes slowly. Whatever exceptions and gray areas may exist, joining a crowd makes us worse. What makes us better is freedom of conscience, a recognition of human dignity, and a belief in our own efficacy.

Finally…

I want to make one statement very clearly, and I hope you remember it:

The people who marshal movements are taking advantage of human weaknesses.

And yes, many of them are aware of it. So step away from the crowd, cultivate your individual mind, and have civilization in yourself.

**

Paul Rosenberg

freemansperspective.com

5 thoughts on “The Preservation of Sanity And Civilization”

  1. Virtue Signaling Watching people of one skin color prostrate themselves before people of another skin color in a phony display of confession is truly sickening and disgusting. These people have absolutely no idea what they are apologizing for. They hear loud voices and drum beats and they fall to their knees. Why are they doing this? Did they do something wrong themselves? Do they personally know anyone who has done something wrong who hasn’t faced the consequences of their wrong doing? What was it? Please, please tell us. Don’t repeat some platitude you heard at a march or on television. What do you personally know? What did you witness, what did you do, and when did you do it? Why didn’t you do anything about it then and what do you intend to do about it now once you have gotten off of your knees?

    Do these people think their prostration will shield them from harm? Do they think their humiliation will promote love and respect for them or, for those in elected positions, votes? Is this a way for them to feel that they are “better” than others who are not groveling? I don’t know about you, but to me these displays hearken back thousands of years to a biblical story told about people worshiping before a golden calf. They build a false god, chant the god’s power and authority, and prostrate themselves before it.

  2. Thanks Paul.

    I always enjoy being reminded that common sense is not so common at all. I am glad you took the time to write this important message.

  3. Dear Paul
    Thank you so much for these comments.
    Historically and factually you are absolutely right on all points.
    Luckily my mother inculcated in me never to join a crowd or a club/institution in her process of making me into a free thinker/mover.
    This is just another “madness of Crowds” situation which we will have go live through but it all follows like choreography the greatest mass manipulation and conditioning of the public of this “virus story”…..in order to prepare them for the next step.
    As you said, “cultivate your own individual mind”……..Thanks again

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