CONCLUSION:
Why You Need to Rock Your World
Where there is no strife there is decay:
the mixture that
is not shaken decomposes.
Heraclitus
E VOLUTION DOESNT JUST HAPPEN because mother nature gets bored scarfing down DNA bon-bons while watching her soaps. Evolution occurs because of mother natures soapsbecause of all the mama (that would be her again), drama, and resultant trauma that seduces or startles or otherwise stimulates us just enough to make us get up off our lazy asses, thereby making us better human beings in spite of ourselves.
Tropical fish placed in a barren bowl remain lethargic. That is, until you place a simple rock in the bottom of their bowl. Then our finny little cousins will swim around and around that rock until their little flippers fall off.
And how do you expect all the little birdies to ever learn to fly if they are not first flung forth from the nest?
We humans are a lot like that.
Mythologist Joseph Campbell (19041987) succinctly outlined the universal Heros Journey, the various stages of life all of us pass throughregardless of the times we live in, regardless of our respective cultureon our way to personal revelation, empowerment, transformation, and finally self-actualization.
The initial necessary step on this Heros Journey most often comes about not because we suddenlymiraculouslygrow ourselves a big brass pair, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and set off in search of a demon, dragonor a Death Starto slay, but rather because of some trauma or tragedy shocking us out of our comfortable malaise.
The Ice Age, the Fall of Rome, the Black Plague, Pearl Harbor, 9/11 ... maybe if we could become better self-starters, then Mama Nature wouldnt feel the parental responsibility to so violently shove us from the nest on a regular basis.
Dont fret. Just flap your arms harder ... harder!
Struggle is our friend , though we seldom recognize his face as that of a friend while hes busy slapping us around. Yeah, it is a toxic relationship. But it sure beats the hell out of the alternative stagnation ... and death in an unmarkedunremarkablegrave.
Only by pushing against his walls does the prisoner grow strongerand stay relatively sane in the process. At least until freedom once more becomes a possibility to him.
Of course, you might be one of those, like psychologist Erich Fromm (19001980), who maintains that freedom is highly overratedor is that undervalued ?
According to Fromm, its human nature to want to escape from too much freedom, that most of us are willing to give up that freedom every time some slick-talking Mind Slayer comes along asking us to.
Of course, atheist Friedrich Nietzsche would have dismissed this passive Frommian assessment as blasphemy, knowing full well that we human beings need struggle to help challenge our innate Will to Poweran instinctual drive, fueled by our dissatisfaction with the status quo, spurring us to strive, to succeed, to conquer, to be all that we can be ... despite all the legislative legerdemain crafted by oh-so-politically-correct genteel society at large to breed and browbeat this survival instinct out of us.
The good news is that our least resistance to any compromise to, dallying with or attempted diluting of our basic survival mechanismour Will to Powerconstitutes legitimate struggle .
Resistance is struggle. Struggle is life. Only the dead (so far as we know) are free from struggle. And that kind of freedom ... well, youre welcome to it.
And, at least according to Nietzsche and Mother Nature (two authorities on the subject if ever there were!), struggle is necessary necessary, that is, so long as youre still interested in seeing whats over the next hill and still interested in your DNA outlasting your enemys DNA?
So every morning when you wake up (if only because you probably wouldnt like the alternative), thank the gods, thank Mother Nature, your selfish and xenophobic DNA, and even Nietzsche for tossing a few rocks into your fishbowl!
GLOSSARY
3-D: What propaganda does to an enemy: (1) demeans, (2) dehumanizes, and (3) demonizesall in order to demoralize and ultimately defeat your foe.
Aces-n-Eights: A two-pair poker hand superstitiously believed to bring bad luck. Generically used to indicate that a Mind Slayer scheme has gone horribly wrong.
Amettori-jutsu: (Jp.) Literally, a man of straw. Encompasses all tactics and techniques of deception. The name comes from the ploy of dressing up a scarecrow to make an enemy think it is a real sentry or soldier.
ASP: Additional sensory perception. The full use of our five senses that give the impression to others we possess a sixth sense, i.e., ESP.
Assassins: Medieval Middle Eastern secret society noted for its terror, treachery, and mind-manipulation techniques.
Atari-kokoro: Japanese mind-mastery techniques. ( See Kiai-shin-jutsu)
Autogenic : Self-generated therapies (e.g., biofeedback, self-hypnosis, meditation, autosuggestion), coined by Anthony Zafutto, 1974.
Awfulizing: Imagining the worst that can happen, making mountains out of molehills. Chronic worry. Hint: this is something you want your enemies doing!
Banking: Holding back valuable and/or damaging information (indiscretions, faux pas, etc.) youve discovered about a person for use in blackmailing and/or disgracing them at a later, more opportune time.
Big Brother: Oppressive government, always watching. Coined by George Orwell in his 1948 novel 1984 . ( See Orwellian)
Biometrics: System of scientific measurement of body parts and actions designed to give insight into intent. ( See Tells)
Bio-Resources: People whose talents you can utilize to accomplish your goals.
Black Curtain, the: (Jp.) Kuromaku , lit. string-puller. Generic: the veil of secrecy and skullduggery sinister cadres hide behind. Synonym for smoke screen. Specific: the head of a Japanese yakuza crime family. ( See Ilumi-nati, Synarchy.)
Black Science, the: Generic: any strategy, tactic, or technique used to undermine a persons ability to reason and respond for themselves. Coined by researcher C.B. Black. Generic: synonym for mind control and manipulation.
Bloodtie: Dangerous and damaging information we hold over another. ( See The Killer Bs)
C.H.A.O.S. Principle, the: Create hurdles (hazards, hardships, etc.) and offer solutions, i.e., profiting from difficulties and crisis you have secretly created.
Ching and Chi: Chinese, direct and indirect (i.e., sneaky) actions. Also spelled Zhing and Qi.
Cock-Blockin: Generic: deliberate, or inadvertent interference in the plans of another. Specific: interfering with the seduction plans of another person.
Cogniceuticals: Drugs designed to enhance or entrance the mind.
Cognitive Dissonance: Mental anxiety created when a person must reconcile their contradictory ideas and/or actions.
Cult-Speak: Special passwords and coded phrases cults and cliques use to identify one another while marginalizing outsiders.
Cutting-at-the-Edges: Coined by Miyamoto Musashi (15941645). When a powerful enemy cannot be attacked directly, undermine his confidence and ability to fight by attacking and otherwise eroding his comfort zone and support network (e.g., family, friends, and financial resources).
Dead Dog Ploy: Giving up superfluous information in order to keep more important information hidden.
Dim-mak: (Ch.) Death touch.