Great article, I agree with pretty much everything you said, though I'm sure many people won't like it given the current mood. Though I let myself be optimistic at first, I was immediately suspicious about how easily Trump won, and now I've become convinced that the fact they let him win riggable elections is enough to show that he isn't a threat to the establishment. People who are really threats are locked up (Assange), forced into exile (Snowden), or killed (Gary Webb). I have also been seeing some very naive comments, which you touched on here, about Davos being somehow "defeated" because not as many people showed up this year. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what Davos is, and people who think Klaus Schwab is the most powerful person in the world certainly don't realize this: they are just a planning/coordination apparatus for the central bankers, same as the UN, Bilderberg, etc. And as long as the same parasitic elites own the world's central banks Davos can never lose power, since they are just an extension of the power of the bankers. Also, the 500 billion dollar AI infrastructure investment on day two is a very bad sign in my opinion, and probably the most significant things he's done so far. To quote Larry Ellison, one of the investors in the project, "Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on. We're going to have supervision. Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times, and if there's a problem, AI will report the problem and report it to the appropriate person."
The ability of "AI" (which is not AI in the science fiction sense so much as it is a self adjusting algorithm) to both sort through the absolute mountain of data that is generated every day by every person's words and deeds, and to use that data to further refine their algorithms to identify those "problematic" to the ruling elites, places it at the top of my list of most dangerous current threats. This is why the elites are spending so much money on it; it really is the advent of Big Brother.
Absolutely. My intuition is that the immigration crisis will be used as a pretext to usher in mass surveillance, with Trump at the helm to deflect right wing criticism. The big tech oligarchs aligning themselves with him and the AI datacenters are an unfortunate step in this direction.
I'm not the first person to note that Obama has an old habit of laughing when challenged, so it's possible that his interaction with Trump was not as congenial as it appeared.
Along that same train of thought, the seating arrangements at the inauguration (along with many other clues, most of which you've been over before) clearly show a schism among the "elites," (hardly a newsflash), probably at the Policy Distributor/Policy Enforcer level of your organizational chart https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/the-global-world-order-is-centralized. The Policy Makers still appear to be in charge, and they may not care that much which faction below them prevails, preferring to let them fight it out, I couldn't say for sure about that, but clearly Trump's re-installment is a salvo in this schism. He is being used. The optimistic take is that while he is being used, he may do some things that are beneficial for us, since each side in the Trump/elite alliance has to cede some things to the other.
His Trumpcoin is one of the most breathtakingly corrupt things I have ever seen, and curiously the msm seems not to care, choosing to hyperventilate about other more culture war-ish subjects.
Nice comment, Martin. I think the schism is at the Policy Enforcer level, but you could be right -- basically, there is a nationalist "counter-elite" which is still subservient to the higher levels of the chart. This neatly explains the Trump assassination attempts, for example, where nation-level elites competing against his faction tried to take him out (assuming one believes the attempts were real, as I do; I havn't seen a good explanation for the murdered Corey Comperatore from those arguing the whole thing was fake). I delved into this competition here: https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/red-lines-of-the-counter-elite
I agree that Trump's victory signifies a split in the 'elite', but this doesn't mean that the factions have fundamental differences in their respective desired ends. 'WoKE' was only ever a contingent strategy, which has, according to the now-regnant faction, outlived its usefulness. It might be thought of in simple terms as a difference over timing, though there is more to it than that. It was never a matter of team woke vs team based. People who see things as one team vs the other (ie THE Left vs THE Right as stable categories) are either deluded or up to no good.
Edit: This comment is so goooood it got posted twice (not my fault). I will delete duplicate.
My guess is that Trump will be like Nixon: viewed as saving us from the DEM/LEFT which enabled him to implement vast portions of the ruling class ultra statis agenda.
Interesting you say that. I having been feeling Nixon vibes in the cultural zeitgeist as well. There are some parallels, we are winding down from wars, though in this era the elite wised up and fought them by proxy. Woke is in some ways analogous to the hippies, though less grounded in the Earth and even more stupid and short sighted. Trump is kind of an "Archie Bunker," figure more street wise than "Meathead" but at the end of the day no more intelligent about what's really going on.
I vaccilate between begrudgingly optimistic and fully cynical but always settle into my natural state -- skeptical realism.
I can't really tell if the Trump Show has been anything other than performative...just the next scripted reality with his crass form of ad lib spead on top.
There are structural pillars of Truth and Reality that keep me grounded. E.g. The spending will continue until the dollar collapses and then the switch to some digital currency as cover has even odds over the next 10 years.
I think there might be another way to view the power shift at the highest levels.
Bolshevism and Zionism have been the primary Jewish factions since the late 1800s; an old article in the London times from circa 1910 by Churchill lays this out clearly. (We are no longer allowed to discuss such things in "polite" society.) Both have evolved over the past 125 years but it still comes down to the philosophical descendants of the Bolsheviks trying to create a state(s) that reflects their values amongst the White Europeans (with them in charge, of course; that's one of the primary values) versus the Zionists hard at work expanding the Israel Project. A lot of the time their interests align but sometimes they don't.
This all came to a head recently when it became obvious that the Progressive (cultural Marxism) movement was putting the Israel Project in danger by collapsing the military capability of the Global American Empire on which it depends; the final nail in the coffin was the Progressive Left campus based useful idiots siding with the Palestinians and actually attacking Jews. Referring back to the JRR Tolkien quote, the Progressives are in freefall because they have found their bankers' checkbooks have been shut, both literally (for funding) and figuratively (for influence). Kamala spent a billion dollars, sure, but like everything else the feckless leftists do, they pissed it away and didn't gain any real influence.
Personally, I want an option where American interests are primary and Jewish/GAE/elitist interests are somewhere down the list but that doesn't seem to be on the menu.
'the Progressive (cultural Marxism) movement was putting the Israel Project in danger by collapsing the military capability of the Global American Empire on which it depends; the final nail in the coffin was the Progressive Left campus based useful idiots siding with the Palestinians and actually attacking Jews.'
This is the main impetus for the mischling right's delirious support of Trump. They see him as an imperial protector of the Jews. The Jews love an empire.
Did you know, Neo, that in all gold deposits in nature, the co-deposition of 'fools gold' (pyrite) is what actually permits the gold deposit to form? The iron in the pyrite reduces the sulfur concentration in the fluid carrying the gold, allowing the gold in solution to come out of that solution and form gold mineralization. The same sort of thing happens in human matters, too -- nature, related to humanity or not, is a very complicated and usually surprising system.
I didn't know that, interesting, thanks for sharing Larry. Hopefully pyrite Trump's upcoming reveal of the empire unmasked may also lead to an eventual discovery of real gold.
You’re making too much sense, the Chinese mafia backing the Trump coin projects are going to be angry if you dissuade young American men from getting scammed by them.
Great piece NLP. I used to find it really difficult to fathom the way public opinion swings on a dime into copium. The Trump cope is almost on the same level as the Obama rhetoric just before he came into office first time round (well maybe not quite that big, that really was something to behold). Last time I had any optimism in politics was back in 94 with TB in the UK, and look what happened there lol.
I recall arguing on a forum that nothing was going to change with Obama, it was all BS spin, only to have lefty heads explode, now it's similar on the right (although I've given up arguing about it lol).
I think it comes back to that 30/70 ish split from the milgram experiments and the % of people who have an internal dialog that you've pointed out in a previous post. Although it explains a lot, it doesn't leave me any room for optimism about 'waking enough people up'.
I went back though your footnote 3, excellent job laying out how the crypto scam plays into Trumps fake "No CBDC" thing, the "no CBDC" announcment seems to have a lot of people stumped. I think I woulda added that they can use the treasury notes they buy with shitecoin as security for loans, so it's definately not an inflation neutral play, it's a double sum inflationary play, "going direct" on acid.
Martin Armstrongs model is predicting WW3 by 2027, it's been pretty accurate on major global affairs for at least the last 30yrs, so there's that to look forward to lol. I wonder if Trumps "peace" will be a rerun of the event in Compiègne Forest 1918, that set the stage for WW2.
I’ve unsubscribed from most of the Substackers you have listed in the graph. As for ‘John Carter’, I have him targeted, but will wait and see; he seems like he’s too wrapped up in futurist sci-fi optimism, and has made libertarian coded remarks about immigration—supporting it from a pro-balkanization/free association angle (*heard on Millennial Woes Christmas podcast). Anyhow, the gaslighting has been unreal recently. Truly disconcerting.
Thanks for the new Substacker recommendations. I will certainly check them out. I’m really getting used to trading in—and up. Cheers
Thanks Skeptical. Re: John Carter, I think he's keyed himself into the BAP/Moldbug counter-elite network which is getting him invited to events and networking with higher-level people. However, that comes with certain and very real strings attached which require fundamental compromises and self-censorship. Maybe that compromise is worth it to him - a man's gotta eat, right? I'd prefer to stay on the sidelines and criticize everyone.
I am just going to be blunt "John Carter," is a useful idiot for technocrats who likes sniffing his own farts, and who desperately needs an editor. Apparently he was bamboozled by reading sci fi at an early age. I love me some Philip K. Dick, and Harlan Ellison, and even some old school Star Trek Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. But at the end of the day it's fantasy and a poor guide for a future that IMO is going to be more Amish than cyberpunk.
While I agree with your basic premise that it is good to be skeptical and questioning of Trump, particularly around mRNA and H1B, I think your foundational assumptions about Trump selling out are entirely debatable, not at all as absolute as you make them out to be.
Words are cheap. On balance I am quite pleased with the Trump Admin thus far, and watching some of the big dog talks at Davos, lib financial elite reveal themselves to be quite retarded and weak. Mostly though I am taking a wait and see what the actions look like in practice.
"The clue and giveaway that Trump caved in 2024 is that, other than the fact that he was allowed to win a controlled election2, Trump’s criminal and civil trials disappeared, the elite-owned media stopped endlessly calling him the equivalent of Hitler and started treating him neutrally to even positively, and the shitlib NPC mobs were placed on idle-mode stand-down — this would literally not have happened unless they were comfortable and accepting of whatever role they now have for Trump."
That's why it's good to focus on recursive prediction: write down your predictions for 2025 and revisit them at the end of the year. For whatever you got wrong, update your thesis about it. We can all get closer to truth this way.
I was fairly accurate, but my predictions were fairly general. I do recall last year wanting to write in that post about an attempt to kill Trump, but I did not want to contribute to calling it into being. I wrote a post this year too. Part of my way of being is to not let myself deny my mistakes.
I knew nothing of his *extension* of aid to Israel (can't say I'm surprised exactly) or the CBDC or MRNA stuff. My close-to-home concern is how his treatment of European states will unfurl--a question that American nationalist Trump-boosters ignore. America now is more imperial entity than nation. Few of them seem to grasp or care for this fact. He cannot and doesn't want to return America to the (allegedly) isolationist stance of ThE RePuBLiC, of that I'm sure.
'Trump has totally capitulated to this order, been integrated into it, and no longer serves as any kind of threat to it at all'
Thank you - absolutely helpful and informative and echoes my own thoughts. I truly hope that my predictiions for the future do not come about. The word ‘hero’ is one that, at this time in history, anyway, should best be considered moot. If there truly ever was any such a one.
I can’t disagree with anything you’ve written here. It’s unfortunate so many—otherwise intelligent—people have such a short memory when it comes to politics. It prevents them from seeing the political landscape with clarity.
The key to understanding politics in the 21st century is that it is largely performative, and focused on crafting and maintaining illusions in order to keep the general public in the dark.
Ah, now Camus would disagree with you there and increasingly so would I. Hope is a distraction, a weakness even. Nec spe, nec metu is the motto of Sisyphus.
So the world is run by near-omnipotent Satanists whose plan is to enslave and destroy mankind. Everyone needs a hobby I guess. It's kind of a bummer, but it does at least focus the mind on what's important. The C.S. Lewis quote in your piece on Gnostic individuation is spot on. The only thing of any real importance in life is simultaneously the only thing we each have complete control over; our immortal souls. The Satanists can scheme and plot all they like, they are not getting mine.
How to make sure we come down on the right side at those all important inflection points? The grounding mechanism you describe for information processing is vital, but so too is a moral grounding. In the post-Christian West this is no trivial matter, as it is apparent very many people can simply no longer recognize evil. My advice here would be to cultivate, as best one can, an unconditional love for the human condition, warts and all. This both correctly orientates one's moral compass and at the same time stimulates the search for truths that are immune to narrative.
I like your chart, though given Riley's gloriously bleak & sardonic style I'd argue his data point ought to be to the left of yours.
Agree Re Gnosticism - I feel now that going backwards in time and also inwards to deepen one's understanding of self is a key. The Nag Hammadi Scriptures intrigue.
'Steady the feet of those who stumble and extend your hands to the sick. Feed the hungry and give rest to the weary. Awaken those who wish to arise and rouse those who sleep, for you embody vigorous understanding. If what is strong acts like this, it becomes even stronger.
The Gospel of Truth : Do the Father's Will (33,1-32) The Nag Hammadi Scriptures.
Great article, I agree with pretty much everything you said, though I'm sure many people won't like it given the current mood. Though I let myself be optimistic at first, I was immediately suspicious about how easily Trump won, and now I've become convinced that the fact they let him win riggable elections is enough to show that he isn't a threat to the establishment. People who are really threats are locked up (Assange), forced into exile (Snowden), or killed (Gary Webb). I have also been seeing some very naive comments, which you touched on here, about Davos being somehow "defeated" because not as many people showed up this year. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what Davos is, and people who think Klaus Schwab is the most powerful person in the world certainly don't realize this: they are just a planning/coordination apparatus for the central bankers, same as the UN, Bilderberg, etc. And as long as the same parasitic elites own the world's central banks Davos can never lose power, since they are just an extension of the power of the bankers. Also, the 500 billion dollar AI infrastructure investment on day two is a very bad sign in my opinion, and probably the most significant things he's done so far. To quote Larry Ellison, one of the investors in the project, "Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that's going on. We're going to have supervision. Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times, and if there's a problem, AI will report the problem and report it to the appropriate person."
Great comment, thanks dgb.
The ability of "AI" (which is not AI in the science fiction sense so much as it is a self adjusting algorithm) to both sort through the absolute mountain of data that is generated every day by every person's words and deeds, and to use that data to further refine their algorithms to identify those "problematic" to the ruling elites, places it at the top of my list of most dangerous current threats. This is why the elites are spending so much money on it; it really is the advent of Big Brother.
Absolutely. My intuition is that the immigration crisis will be used as a pretext to usher in mass surveillance, with Trump at the helm to deflect right wing criticism. The big tech oligarchs aligning themselves with him and the AI datacenters are an unfortunate step in this direction.
The descent into the machine seems irreversible... that's where faith steps in.
I'm not the first person to note that Obama has an old habit of laughing when challenged, so it's possible that his interaction with Trump was not as congenial as it appeared.
Along that same train of thought, the seating arrangements at the inauguration (along with many other clues, most of which you've been over before) clearly show a schism among the "elites," (hardly a newsflash), probably at the Policy Distributor/Policy Enforcer level of your organizational chart https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/the-global-world-order-is-centralized. The Policy Makers still appear to be in charge, and they may not care that much which faction below them prevails, preferring to let them fight it out, I couldn't say for sure about that, but clearly Trump's re-installment is a salvo in this schism. He is being used. The optimistic take is that while he is being used, he may do some things that are beneficial for us, since each side in the Trump/elite alliance has to cede some things to the other.
His Trumpcoin is one of the most breathtakingly corrupt things I have ever seen, and curiously the msm seems not to care, choosing to hyperventilate about other more culture war-ish subjects.
Nice comment, Martin. I think the schism is at the Policy Enforcer level, but you could be right -- basically, there is a nationalist "counter-elite" which is still subservient to the higher levels of the chart. This neatly explains the Trump assassination attempts, for example, where nation-level elites competing against his faction tried to take him out (assuming one believes the attempts were real, as I do; I havn't seen a good explanation for the murdered Corey Comperatore from those arguing the whole thing was fake). I delved into this competition here: https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/red-lines-of-the-counter-elite
I agree that Trump's victory signifies a split in the 'elite', but this doesn't mean that the factions have fundamental differences in their respective desired ends. 'WoKE' was only ever a contingent strategy, which has, according to the now-regnant faction, outlived its usefulness. It might be thought of in simple terms as a difference over timing, though there is more to it than that. It was never a matter of team woke vs team based. People who see things as one team vs the other (ie THE Left vs THE Right as stable categories) are either deluded or up to no good.
Edit: This comment is so goooood it got posted twice (not my fault). I will delete duplicate.
My guess is that Trump will be like Nixon: viewed as saving us from the DEM/LEFT which enabled him to implement vast portions of the ruling class ultra statis agenda.
Interesting you say that. I having been feeling Nixon vibes in the cultural zeitgeist as well. There are some parallels, we are winding down from wars, though in this era the elite wised up and fought them by proxy. Woke is in some ways analogous to the hippies, though less grounded in the Earth and even more stupid and short sighted. Trump is kind of an "Archie Bunker," figure more street wise than "Meathead" but at the end of the day no more intelligent about what's really going on.
Well said. You have one of the more grounded perspectives I have come across.
I totally agree with your zionist "tack". Judaic supremacism is a rampant plague on humanity. Good to see Karl Haemers on your list.
But where has Karl been? Does he a different substack? Because nothing has been posted since last year as far as I can tell...
I don’t know anymore than you. I hope he is ok. If anyone has info re Karl or other links etc please share.
I vaccilate between begrudgingly optimistic and fully cynical but always settle into my natural state -- skeptical realism.
I can't really tell if the Trump Show has been anything other than performative...just the next scripted reality with his crass form of ad lib spead on top.
There are structural pillars of Truth and Reality that keep me grounded. E.g. The spending will continue until the dollar collapses and then the switch to some digital currency as cover has even odds over the next 10 years.
Appreciate the food for thought.
I think there might be another way to view the power shift at the highest levels.
Bolshevism and Zionism have been the primary Jewish factions since the late 1800s; an old article in the London times from circa 1910 by Churchill lays this out clearly. (We are no longer allowed to discuss such things in "polite" society.) Both have evolved over the past 125 years but it still comes down to the philosophical descendants of the Bolsheviks trying to create a state(s) that reflects their values amongst the White Europeans (with them in charge, of course; that's one of the primary values) versus the Zionists hard at work expanding the Israel Project. A lot of the time their interests align but sometimes they don't.
This all came to a head recently when it became obvious that the Progressive (cultural Marxism) movement was putting the Israel Project in danger by collapsing the military capability of the Global American Empire on which it depends; the final nail in the coffin was the Progressive Left campus based useful idiots siding with the Palestinians and actually attacking Jews. Referring back to the JRR Tolkien quote, the Progressives are in freefall because they have found their bankers' checkbooks have been shut, both literally (for funding) and figuratively (for influence). Kamala spent a billion dollars, sure, but like everything else the feckless leftists do, they pissed it away and didn't gain any real influence.
Personally, I want an option where American interests are primary and Jewish/GAE/elitist interests are somewhere down the list but that doesn't seem to be on the menu.
'the Progressive (cultural Marxism) movement was putting the Israel Project in danger by collapsing the military capability of the Global American Empire on which it depends; the final nail in the coffin was the Progressive Left campus based useful idiots siding with the Palestinians and actually attacking Jews.'
This is the main impetus for the mischling right's delirious support of Trump. They see him as an imperial protector of the Jews. The Jews love an empire.
Did you know, Neo, that in all gold deposits in nature, the co-deposition of 'fools gold' (pyrite) is what actually permits the gold deposit to form? The iron in the pyrite reduces the sulfur concentration in the fluid carrying the gold, allowing the gold in solution to come out of that solution and form gold mineralization. The same sort of thing happens in human matters, too -- nature, related to humanity or not, is a very complicated and usually surprising system.
I didn't know that, interesting, thanks for sharing Larry. Hopefully pyrite Trump's upcoming reveal of the empire unmasked may also lead to an eventual discovery of real gold.
Point was, not all that appears false or valueless is useless or without value, Neo.
You’re making too much sense, the Chinese mafia backing the Trump coin projects are going to be angry if you dissuade young American men from getting scammed by them.
Very un-American and un-MAGA.
😉
Great piece NLP. I used to find it really difficult to fathom the way public opinion swings on a dime into copium. The Trump cope is almost on the same level as the Obama rhetoric just before he came into office first time round (well maybe not quite that big, that really was something to behold). Last time I had any optimism in politics was back in 94 with TB in the UK, and look what happened there lol.
I recall arguing on a forum that nothing was going to change with Obama, it was all BS spin, only to have lefty heads explode, now it's similar on the right (although I've given up arguing about it lol).
I think it comes back to that 30/70 ish split from the milgram experiments and the % of people who have an internal dialog that you've pointed out in a previous post. Although it explains a lot, it doesn't leave me any room for optimism about 'waking enough people up'.
I went back though your footnote 3, excellent job laying out how the crypto scam plays into Trumps fake "No CBDC" thing, the "no CBDC" announcment seems to have a lot of people stumped. I think I woulda added that they can use the treasury notes they buy with shitecoin as security for loans, so it's definately not an inflation neutral play, it's a double sum inflationary play, "going direct" on acid.
Martin Armstrongs model is predicting WW3 by 2027, it's been pretty accurate on major global affairs for at least the last 30yrs, so there's that to look forward to lol. I wonder if Trumps "peace" will be a rerun of the event in Compiègne Forest 1918, that set the stage for WW2.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/trump-fails-to-end-ukraine-war-on-day-1/
I’ve unsubscribed from most of the Substackers you have listed in the graph. As for ‘John Carter’, I have him targeted, but will wait and see; he seems like he’s too wrapped up in futurist sci-fi optimism, and has made libertarian coded remarks about immigration—supporting it from a pro-balkanization/free association angle (*heard on Millennial Woes Christmas podcast). Anyhow, the gaslighting has been unreal recently. Truly disconcerting.
Thanks for the new Substacker recommendations. I will certainly check them out. I’m really getting used to trading in—and up. Cheers
Thanks Skeptical. Re: John Carter, I think he's keyed himself into the BAP/Moldbug counter-elite network which is getting him invited to events and networking with higher-level people. However, that comes with certain and very real strings attached which require fundamental compromises and self-censorship. Maybe that compromise is worth it to him - a man's gotta eat, right? I'd prefer to stay on the sidelines and criticize everyone.
I am just going to be blunt "John Carter," is a useful idiot for technocrats who likes sniffing his own farts, and who desperately needs an editor. Apparently he was bamboozled by reading sci fi at an early age. I love me some Philip K. Dick, and Harlan Ellison, and even some old school Star Trek Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. But at the end of the day it's fantasy and a poor guide for a future that IMO is going to be more Amish than cyberpunk.
While I agree with your basic premise that it is good to be skeptical and questioning of Trump, particularly around mRNA and H1B, I think your foundational assumptions about Trump selling out are entirely debatable, not at all as absolute as you make them out to be.
Words are cheap. On balance I am quite pleased with the Trump Admin thus far, and watching some of the big dog talks at Davos, lib financial elite reveal themselves to be quite retarded and weak. Mostly though I am taking a wait and see what the actions look like in practice.
"The clue and giveaway that Trump caved in 2024 is that, other than the fact that he was allowed to win a controlled election2, Trump’s criminal and civil trials disappeared, the elite-owned media stopped endlessly calling him the equivalent of Hitler and started treating him neutrally to even positively, and the shitlib NPC mobs were placed on idle-mode stand-down — this would literally not have happened unless they were comfortable and accepting of whatever role they now have for Trump."
That's why it's good to focus on recursive prediction: write down your predictions for 2025 and revisit them at the end of the year. For whatever you got wrong, update your thesis about it. We can all get closer to truth this way.
I was fairly accurate, but my predictions were fairly general. I do recall last year wanting to write in that post about an attempt to kill Trump, but I did not want to contribute to calling it into being. I wrote a post this year too. Part of my way of being is to not let myself deny my mistakes.
I have been cautiously optimistic as well. But this article is sobering and we are in the era of sleep with one eye open.
This is all very fair.
I knew nothing of his *extension* of aid to Israel (can't say I'm surprised exactly) or the CBDC or MRNA stuff. My close-to-home concern is how his treatment of European states will unfurl--a question that American nationalist Trump-boosters ignore. America now is more imperial entity than nation. Few of them seem to grasp or care for this fact. He cannot and doesn't want to return America to the (allegedly) isolationist stance of ThE RePuBLiC, of that I'm sure.
'Trump has totally capitulated to this order, been integrated into it, and no longer serves as any kind of threat to it at all'
This is the crux of the matter yes
Thank you - absolutely helpful and informative and echoes my own thoughts. I truly hope that my predictiions for the future do not come about. The word ‘hero’ is one that, at this time in history, anyway, should best be considered moot. If there truly ever was any such a one.
I can’t disagree with anything you’ve written here. It’s unfortunate so many—otherwise intelligent—people have such a short memory when it comes to politics. It prevents them from seeing the political landscape with clarity.
The key to understanding politics in the 21st century is that it is largely performative, and focused on crafting and maintaining illusions in order to keep the general public in the dark.
"One requires hope in order to live.."
Ah, now Camus would disagree with you there and increasingly so would I. Hope is a distraction, a weakness even. Nec spe, nec metu is the motto of Sisyphus.
So the world is run by near-omnipotent Satanists whose plan is to enslave and destroy mankind. Everyone needs a hobby I guess. It's kind of a bummer, but it does at least focus the mind on what's important. The C.S. Lewis quote in your piece on Gnostic individuation is spot on. The only thing of any real importance in life is simultaneously the only thing we each have complete control over; our immortal souls. The Satanists can scheme and plot all they like, they are not getting mine.
How to make sure we come down on the right side at those all important inflection points? The grounding mechanism you describe for information processing is vital, but so too is a moral grounding. In the post-Christian West this is no trivial matter, as it is apparent very many people can simply no longer recognize evil. My advice here would be to cultivate, as best one can, an unconditional love for the human condition, warts and all. This both correctly orientates one's moral compass and at the same time stimulates the search for truths that are immune to narrative.
I like your chart, though given Riley's gloriously bleak & sardonic style I'd argue his data point ought to be to the left of yours.
Agree Re Gnosticism - I feel now that going backwards in time and also inwards to deepen one's understanding of self is a key. The Nag Hammadi Scriptures intrigue.
'Steady the feet of those who stumble and extend your hands to the sick. Feed the hungry and give rest to the weary. Awaken those who wish to arise and rouse those who sleep, for you embody vigorous understanding. If what is strong acts like this, it becomes even stronger.
The Gospel of Truth : Do the Father's Will (33,1-32) The Nag Hammadi Scriptures.