(See “Hypocrisy in Morality” for the first part of this discussion.)
Most people have it backwards—morality does not determine motivations and values, values and motivations determine morality. This is why organized religion has it wrong, because it functions on the former—false—principle. And it is why societies which attempt to function based on this backward logic do not really benefit the people within it. Giving people what they selfishly desire, and what they are comfortable with, does not help them in the same way that “giving a man a fish” does not really help him beyond the immediate need or desire.
Religions try to determine and prescribe values and motivation by moral dogma and law; but as a good many supposed Christians have proven again and again throughout history, the opposite is, in fact, true—that laws and moralities are broken and forsaken with ease in the face of motivation and value. It only works as long as the person believes it. Once the person no longer believes it, then reality, which has been tenuously and artificially held at bay, steps in and takes over.
Reality precedes/trumps belief. Time and time again throughout history it has been shown that trying to control and determine motivation and value is like pointing an unloaded gun at a kung fu master: once the master realizes that the gun is not loaded, once the illusion is broken, the jig is up and it’s time to run. While it is possible to manipulate and (thereby) seemingly control people’s motivations and values (what propaganda and marketing are all about, of course), and while it often works (because of reasons that are too broad and numerous to go into here), the bottom line is that if one chooses to not be controlled by these efforts, then he or she will, quite simply, not be controlled by them; and so we see that, ultimately, we are in control, whether or not we are presently being controlled (manipulated).
It simply amazes me the way people allow themselves to be controlled by illusion and sophistry. The amount of dormant power, held at bay by an unloaded gun, is truly astounding. People have been brainwashed to be ignorant of the incredible amount of personal power within themselves that lies dormant, like a flame deprived of oxygen. And they have been brainwashed into thinking that this is “human nature;” they have been conditioned to want it this way.
One of the reasons the world is so screwed up is not simply this ubiquitous repression, but that it is not an airtight seal, and that power tends to express itself unhealthily, like a starving man at a banquet.
It is truly a form of oppression. Fortunately, though, it is ultimately repression and not oppression because the ultimate decision (and power) lies with the person to believe or not believe the hype, to be spoon-fed gruel, or to fix themselves a hearty meal, and to be able to see the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
There is simply no controlling a person who does not wish to be controlled—this is universally understood by hypnotists, as well as totalitarian regimes, as well as by slave owners who denied their slaves education—for ignorance is a prison, and knowledge is the key.
We live in a society of hypnotized people who arrogantly and ignorantly do not realize they are hypnotized, who are told they are free, so they think they are free; who are controlled by being told they are not controlled. It’s the old Jedi mind trick. But, as with the hypnotist, it is an illusion that is perpetuated by the hypnotized. Once the subject is unwilling to be hypnotized, there is no way to hypnotize him, there is nothing the hypnotist can do; where in the illusion the hypnotist is all powerful, even with minimal effort, once the subject has willingly given up control (which of course he does not believe once he is hypnotized), once the illusion is broken, once the subject is awakened to reality, once he can get past his own ego and presumptuous arrogance and narcissism, once he is no longer willing to be controlled, the hypnotist, like the man holding the unloaded gun, is utterly, and even pathetically, helpless—like the wizard of Oz. Yet again: illusion vs. reality.
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From my personal notes, 5/31/00
