I really appreciate that you aren't just doing Boomer-style continuous doom posting. I read that crap for years on Zerohedge and finally stopped because I realized it was much a part of the control system as those it criticized. They want us to be in a passive state of despair.
We can't beat the system. I hoped maybe we could win with Trump but now I see that hope was unfounded. America is irredeemably fucked. But are our souls similarly doomed? No, in no way. Regardless of what corrupted system we must live in, we still have a life to live, and we should live it to the fullest. Thanks for showing the way.
Welcome back, I thought we had lost you after the last post, but this is exactly the type of post I was hoping you'd return with. Dark days are normal & natural and for someone that spends the amount of time you do reading & writing about these soulless creatures, it's to be expected you'll visit the dark corners now & again. IMO all roads must lead to a spiritual renaissance whether the war is won or lost, Frankl said "Man is not destroyed by suffering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning" and we only find this through understanding ourselves (individuation). I'm an old fool, but the win is best when the odds are long and your back is against the wall. Not all men are capable of facing these fears, the fear of an entrenched enemy nor the courage to face the reflection in the mirror, honestly. Frankl again "The prisoner who had lost faith in the future—his future—was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold... He simply gave up. There he remained, lying in his own excreta, and nothing bothered him anymore".
This is a very insightful post although I don't think you have to overestimate the elites' power, let alone to conjure a malevolent demiurge. We're living the end of an era, the end of our civilization. This does create a lot of challenges, mostly in regards to widespread spiritual corruption and loss of meaning.
All in all I do agree partially with your take, I just wouldn't think the doom & gloom relates to anything true about the nature of our world. I also think one of the most important step of individuation is community building. The word shouldn't confuse people into thinking individuation has to be a solitary journey. This is often quite the opposite.
"Modern government institutions and legislation are dead."
That depends on how you define "modern government." Unfortunately, if it's characterized as being inundated with bunch of mediocre grifters controlled by oligarchs and the national security state then it's alive and well and at its pinnacle of power. 🤑🤑🤑
How to survive (and thrive) in this neoliberal feudalism scheme?
Spiritually I favour a kind of mix between Marcus Aurelius stoicism, and appreciation for the wonder of Nature though observation and interaction. I don't believe in a "God" as such, the universe amazes me, (and that amazement is also a form of appreciation and respect) from earthly Nature at microscopic level, to the known universe at the macro level, if it was "designed" by some nebulous entity, it's beyond my comprehension how anything with that much power could allow the blatent evil in this world to manifest in all the ways it does. I don't believe in an afterlife, though I'll be pleasently surprised if there is.
Practically I think it best to have a self sufficient mindset, constantly learning and improving on skills that allow you to rely on yourself, and minimize reliance on others. Practical skills will allow you to thrive anywhichway society turns. Ai can take all the jobs but it can't service your car, fix your plumbing/roof/sewer pipes/guttering etc. etc. Practical skills also save you a shit ton of money, can add value to hard assets (or other peoples hard assets for pay). You're living in a service economy, so learn skills that service, skills that take effort to learn, because most people won't put that effort in, so you'll have marketable skills to those people, while saving yourself the cost of paying for those services.
Finacially, avoid debt, invest in hard assets that gain value above inflation, practically you'll need a mortgage which is the only debt that is acceptible IMO, but be smart about it, buy property that you can add value to, and pay down that debt as soon as practically possible, as if it's the reason for working. When that place is 'done' cash in and find another you can add value to, stepping stones to a high value property with no debt. I'm nearly 60yo, I've never erned more than 30k per year, paid off my mortgage 20yrs ago, and now live in a million pound asset. Live frugally, making all meals froms scratch is not only healthier avoiding all that processed crap, it's also much cheaper.
Try to be self employed, it has many tax advantages, and many personal advantages in that you only have yourself to answer to.
Choose hobbies that are cost neutral, that add strings to your bow, hobbies that cost money and time without increasing your value are a drain. And read books, lots of books, avoid fiction.
"practically you'll need a mortgage which is the only debt that is acceptible IMO, but be smart about it, buy property that you can add value to, and pay down that debt as soon as practically possible, as if it's the reason for working. When that place is 'done' cash in and find another you can add value to, stepping stones to a high value property with no debt. I'm nearly 60yo, I've never erned more than 30k per year, paid off my mortgage 20yrs ago, and now live in a million pound asset."
This is the British way of keeping things as they are... The land of landlords.
Since I'm niether a landlord, nor a tennant, I fail to see your point.
We all need somewhere to live, you can either pay through the nose for it renting from somene else and never own the asset, or minimise the theft of your sweat equity through usery whilist owning an appreciating asset.
If you have a better solution I'm all ears. I'm about to downsize, have a smaller house with a large garden and a half million quid lump sum left over for my retirement, I hope your solution comes close to that for you.
Some of what you write is “over my head” … but I read it anyway, figuring it was put before me for a reason. (To think or reflect upon) Today, the lyrics to the Grateful Dead’s Ripple kept coming to mind as I read … I keep feeling that it’s just a little push, a slight shift in consciousness. like a bird ready to fledge, it’s a dangerous but necessary step if we are to survive.
This is a great comment. You've outlined the process. To be open minded enough to allow the truth to seep through - almost always not understood, but felt. Creating space on your life to think and reflect on the words, which leads to a deeper relationship with your intuition and the path to your heart.
Thank you for taking the time to write this. A lot of good stuff to chew on. I quite like the “no gods, no masters” philosophy for myself so as far as mental coping goes, I try to take the approach of a curious observer. Learning and understanding all I can about everything is my purpose.
I spoke to my uncle about a similar topic. About the true reality of our world and what I believe to be a world of illusions. This article is just another piece of the stack of ideas and perspectives I've come across that points to the same conclusion. Long story short, every single human is apart of the greater whole, representing an expression of the Universe or better known as God. Therefore, to know God is to know yourself.
AI art, to me, isn’t better. It’s different, seems more sharp, concise, but that doesn’t mean it’s better. There is a tremendous amount of creativity allowed with it, but even that doesn’t, to me, make it better art. Maybe better fantasy-style art. Maybe the same may apply to written and musical AI works.
Don’t know for sure. Just some thoughts. Personally, so far, don’t care so much for a lot of it, but that doesn’t really matter. Just a point of view. Will just keep watchin’ the show.
I agree with you, there’s an uncanny valley effect to AI art that repels me, and I see a similar “flat” effect with AI generated written content - it’s just boring and disconnective. Maybe there will ultimately be labels like on organic food (where those labels are mostly fake) or made-by-hand products, “made by human” (a lot of times it will still be made or guided by AI) like I am seeing pop up from various Substack authors…
Oh my! “Made by human!” Where’s the t-shirt? Maybe even human-appearing beings may need those, so those not can be IDd.
There’s a lot “out there” about AI taking over. I don’t disagree; I see little attention being given to the other world takeover that’s being implemented right now by another almost seemingly AI-generated populace, though. The two have very similar characteristics, behaviors, the way it looks to me. Similar MOs. You write about it. Some others do, but the fear factor of that takeover is minimized, as we know, as compared to the AI takeover. Are we being squished between the two? Are we, the humans, the peanut butter and jelly of the sandwich…?
Just thinking again - just thoughts as I watch both of these HUGE issues proceed. Actually, I know nothing, but that’s how it looks to me.
Thank you for your reply and thanks for your writing.
Great article and hopefully the beginning of a new cycle!
Quite a few years ago I came to the same conclusion, that at the end of the day, there never was and never will be any hope at reforming our current predicament. Your essay really is a great read, especially because the conclusion is a positive affirmation about life and meaning and moving forward.
Ironically even those political movements which create a parallel 'system' before taking over as 'the new majority' (Orban/fidez in Hungary or Lula/Brazil), ultimately get swalled up into the game of modernity, co-opted (and corrupted) by the system. By way of analogy all the 'new/alt right' even if they succeed, they'll fail in the same way: getting rid of the idea of material wealth is too much, and so they'll get corrupted by 'the system' they seek to replace even if they 'make it' (which I'm not sure will happen, realistically).
I really do think we're living through a historical moment, the end of something, the clown show is ever more retarded, the decline well underway and at any moment the wheels might come off. We could carry on like we are for the next ten years, but I think it's unlikely.
I like how you tie up these themes with the spiritual journey each one of us must undertake. Salvation is within and all around. From my perspective what we call life is an experience each one of us undertakes for their own reasons (karma) and purpose. It's a long game. Our lives are just one 'stage' of the journey etc. I'm not here to comment on Christianity or any other faiths, save to say there's only one creator.
NLF, this is a great post. Thank you. Please forgive me if this sounds daft, but how then is my Catholicism not a winning strategy for me, personally, if it entails me just living according to good internal principles?
Hi Irish, no forgiveness needed, it’s a fair question.
If Catholicism gives you grounding, meaning, and a moral framework that resonates with your inner nature, then I think it absolutely is a winning strategy for you personally. Life paths differ, and not everyone needs to arrive at the same metaphysical coordinates to orient themselves meaningfully.
My critique isn’t aimed at sincere personal faith, but at the institutional shell that now houses it. I explored Catholicism (and later Eastern Orthodoxy) in my own search to escape secular nihilism and recover symbolic coherence. But I found that Catholicism, particularly in the post-WWII era, has been spiritually gutted, transformed into a kind of managed faith downstream of globalist power structures: https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/how-globohomo-skinsuited-the-catholic . Orthodoxy, while less captured, carries its own structural pathologies: https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/an-exploration-of-eastern-orthodoxy
So for me the dilemma becomes: how does one live meaningfully in a desacralized and inverted world, where even the old pillars of spiritual authority have been repurposed? That’s the axis I focus on: not to dismiss private faith but to distinguish it from institutional metaphysics no longer aligned with transcendence.
In other words: if you’re not trying to “win the game” of politics, but just trying to live with inner integrity, Catholicism can serve you beautifully. My inquiry is haunted by the question: when the forms are compromised, where does the essence relocate?
I recently found your blog and enjoyed reading your essays. I come from Europe and one of my main observations is that all the things you mention seem to be much more amplified in the US than in Europe. Many of them are present in Europe and there is a lot of state intervention here of course as well as mass migration but when it comes to labour and the rat race I get the feeling that there is much less "slavery" than in the US and we have a lot more free time to focus on our passions and hobbies. People are also generally much less accepting of figures like Elon Musk and other "feudalist" figures and big tax cuts for the rich are unlikely to be a possibility here.
I would be curious to know your thoughts about Europe and whether you believe that perhaps the US is simply the main "testing ground" for all these ideas and that sooner or later it is inevitable that Europe will also be affected.
On a side note, this is perhaps not your type of content but despite my reservations about the Star Wars franchise I find the recent Andor series quite interesting and revealing about the state of things in the world and often deals with how the ever powerful empire destroys all hope one might have to 'beat it'.
Hi Alessandro, thanks for the comment and question. I agree with you that Europe has a much better work/life balance than America, appreciates life for it’s own sake more, consumes less and generally healthier, etc. However, I think it’s pretty clear that Europe is an occupied U.S. colony post WW2 and it’s opinions don’t matter much as a result, despite the media noise (sorry), which we can see by the number of U.S. military bases throughout Europe - see below image (119 bases in Germany alone!). Nationalism and populism can and will remain brutally suppressed using whatever means necessary under this setup; see the famous Hastings Ismay quote, the first Secretary General of NATO, who famously said that the purpose of NATO was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down". Furthermore, Europe has increasingly adopted the American culture - it’s music, film, McDonalds, etc., as I saw on my recent trip to Italy…What do you think?
AI is going to make "reality" unknowable for a lot of people. It will destroy what is left of the liberal mind. The only solution to that seems to be analog, that is, a strong foundation in the real, in nature and the local.
I spoke to my uncle about a similar topic. About the true reality of our world and what I believe to be a world of illusions. This article is just another piece of the stack of ideas and perspectives I've come across that points to the same conclusion. Long story short, every single human is apart of the greater whole, representing an expression of the Universe or better known as God. Therefore, to know God is to know yourself.
I really appreciate that you aren't just doing Boomer-style continuous doom posting. I read that crap for years on Zerohedge and finally stopped because I realized it was much a part of the control system as those it criticized. They want us to be in a passive state of despair.
We can't beat the system. I hoped maybe we could win with Trump but now I see that hope was unfounded. America is irredeemably fucked. But are our souls similarly doomed? No, in no way. Regardless of what corrupted system we must live in, we still have a life to live, and we should live it to the fullest. Thanks for showing the way.
I still can't like posts, so Hear! Hear! to both of you!
We need more GOYMAXING. What is GOYMAXING?
1. Denying the abrahamic god
2. Saying no to debt
3. Living in a small town or rural area
4. Putting kids, family and neighbors first
5. Maximizing time spent working with hands
Think of it as going orthogonal to what globohomo ZOG wants with your life.
Welcome back, I thought we had lost you after the last post, but this is exactly the type of post I was hoping you'd return with. Dark days are normal & natural and for someone that spends the amount of time you do reading & writing about these soulless creatures, it's to be expected you'll visit the dark corners now & again. IMO all roads must lead to a spiritual renaissance whether the war is won or lost, Frankl said "Man is not destroyed by suffering; he is destroyed by suffering without meaning" and we only find this through understanding ourselves (individuation). I'm an old fool, but the win is best when the odds are long and your back is against the wall. Not all men are capable of facing these fears, the fear of an entrenched enemy nor the courage to face the reflection in the mirror, honestly. Frankl again "The prisoner who had lost faith in the future—his future—was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold... He simply gave up. There he remained, lying in his own excreta, and nothing bothered him anymore".
Nice work!!
This is a very insightful post although I don't think you have to overestimate the elites' power, let alone to conjure a malevolent demiurge. We're living the end of an era, the end of our civilization. This does create a lot of challenges, mostly in regards to widespread spiritual corruption and loss of meaning.
All in all I do agree partially with your take, I just wouldn't think the doom & gloom relates to anything true about the nature of our world. I also think one of the most important step of individuation is community building. The word shouldn't confuse people into thinking individuation has to be a solitary journey. This is often quite the opposite.
"Modern government institutions and legislation are dead."
That depends on how you define "modern government." Unfortunately, if it's characterized as being inundated with bunch of mediocre grifters controlled by oligarchs and the national security state then it's alive and well and at its pinnacle of power. 🤑🤑🤑
How to survive (and thrive) in this neoliberal feudalism scheme?
Spiritually I favour a kind of mix between Marcus Aurelius stoicism, and appreciation for the wonder of Nature though observation and interaction. I don't believe in a "God" as such, the universe amazes me, (and that amazement is also a form of appreciation and respect) from earthly Nature at microscopic level, to the known universe at the macro level, if it was "designed" by some nebulous entity, it's beyond my comprehension how anything with that much power could allow the blatent evil in this world to manifest in all the ways it does. I don't believe in an afterlife, though I'll be pleasently surprised if there is.
Practically I think it best to have a self sufficient mindset, constantly learning and improving on skills that allow you to rely on yourself, and minimize reliance on others. Practical skills will allow you to thrive anywhichway society turns. Ai can take all the jobs but it can't service your car, fix your plumbing/roof/sewer pipes/guttering etc. etc. Practical skills also save you a shit ton of money, can add value to hard assets (or other peoples hard assets for pay). You're living in a service economy, so learn skills that service, skills that take effort to learn, because most people won't put that effort in, so you'll have marketable skills to those people, while saving yourself the cost of paying for those services.
Finacially, avoid debt, invest in hard assets that gain value above inflation, practically you'll need a mortgage which is the only debt that is acceptible IMO, but be smart about it, buy property that you can add value to, and pay down that debt as soon as practically possible, as if it's the reason for working. When that place is 'done' cash in and find another you can add value to, stepping stones to a high value property with no debt. I'm nearly 60yo, I've never erned more than 30k per year, paid off my mortgage 20yrs ago, and now live in a million pound asset. Live frugally, making all meals froms scratch is not only healthier avoiding all that processed crap, it's also much cheaper.
Try to be self employed, it has many tax advantages, and many personal advantages in that you only have yourself to answer to.
Choose hobbies that are cost neutral, that add strings to your bow, hobbies that cost money and time without increasing your value are a drain. And read books, lots of books, avoid fiction.
"practically you'll need a mortgage which is the only debt that is acceptible IMO, but be smart about it, buy property that you can add value to, and pay down that debt as soon as practically possible, as if it's the reason for working. When that place is 'done' cash in and find another you can add value to, stepping stones to a high value property with no debt. I'm nearly 60yo, I've never erned more than 30k per year, paid off my mortgage 20yrs ago, and now live in a million pound asset."
This is the British way of keeping things as they are... The land of landlords.
Since I'm niether a landlord, nor a tennant, I fail to see your point.
We all need somewhere to live, you can either pay through the nose for it renting from somene else and never own the asset, or minimise the theft of your sweat equity through usery whilist owning an appreciating asset.
If you have a better solution I'm all ears. I'm about to downsize, have a smaller house with a large garden and a half million quid lump sum left over for my retirement, I hope your solution comes close to that for you.
Some of what you write is “over my head” … but I read it anyway, figuring it was put before me for a reason. (To think or reflect upon) Today, the lyrics to the Grateful Dead’s Ripple kept coming to mind as I read … I keep feeling that it’s just a little push, a slight shift in consciousness. like a bird ready to fledge, it’s a dangerous but necessary step if we are to survive.
This is a great comment. You've outlined the process. To be open minded enough to allow the truth to seep through - almost always not understood, but felt. Creating space on your life to think and reflect on the words, which leads to a deeper relationship with your intuition and the path to your heart.
Let it be known there is a fountain, That was not made by the hands of men
Thanks for the reminder
Thank you for taking the time to write this. A lot of good stuff to chew on. I quite like the “no gods, no masters” philosophy for myself so as far as mental coping goes, I try to take the approach of a curious observer. Learning and understanding all I can about everything is my purpose.
I spoke to my uncle about a similar topic. About the true reality of our world and what I believe to be a world of illusions. This article is just another piece of the stack of ideas and perspectives I've come across that points to the same conclusion. Long story short, every single human is apart of the greater whole, representing an expression of the Universe or better known as God. Therefore, to know God is to know yourself.
Yes.
AI art, to me, isn’t better. It’s different, seems more sharp, concise, but that doesn’t mean it’s better. There is a tremendous amount of creativity allowed with it, but even that doesn’t, to me, make it better art. Maybe better fantasy-style art. Maybe the same may apply to written and musical AI works.
Don’t know for sure. Just some thoughts. Personally, so far, don’t care so much for a lot of it, but that doesn’t really matter. Just a point of view. Will just keep watchin’ the show.
I agree with you, there’s an uncanny valley effect to AI art that repels me, and I see a similar “flat” effect with AI generated written content - it’s just boring and disconnective. Maybe there will ultimately be labels like on organic food (where those labels are mostly fake) or made-by-hand products, “made by human” (a lot of times it will still be made or guided by AI) like I am seeing pop up from various Substack authors…
Oh my! “Made by human!” Where’s the t-shirt? Maybe even human-appearing beings may need those, so those not can be IDd.
There’s a lot “out there” about AI taking over. I don’t disagree; I see little attention being given to the other world takeover that’s being implemented right now by another almost seemingly AI-generated populace, though. The two have very similar characteristics, behaviors, the way it looks to me. Similar MOs. You write about it. Some others do, but the fear factor of that takeover is minimized, as we know, as compared to the AI takeover. Are we being squished between the two? Are we, the humans, the peanut butter and jelly of the sandwich…?
Just thinking again - just thoughts as I watch both of these HUGE issues proceed. Actually, I know nothing, but that’s how it looks to me.
Thank you for your reply and thanks for your writing.
You know what it's great for? Working out a difficult composition with figures. Then you can do the remainder.
Great article and hopefully the beginning of a new cycle!
Quite a few years ago I came to the same conclusion, that at the end of the day, there never was and never will be any hope at reforming our current predicament. Your essay really is a great read, especially because the conclusion is a positive affirmation about life and meaning and moving forward.
Ironically even those political movements which create a parallel 'system' before taking over as 'the new majority' (Orban/fidez in Hungary or Lula/Brazil), ultimately get swalled up into the game of modernity, co-opted (and corrupted) by the system. By way of analogy all the 'new/alt right' even if they succeed, they'll fail in the same way: getting rid of the idea of material wealth is too much, and so they'll get corrupted by 'the system' they seek to replace even if they 'make it' (which I'm not sure will happen, realistically).
I really do think we're living through a historical moment, the end of something, the clown show is ever more retarded, the decline well underway and at any moment the wheels might come off. We could carry on like we are for the next ten years, but I think it's unlikely.
I like how you tie up these themes with the spiritual journey each one of us must undertake. Salvation is within and all around. From my perspective what we call life is an experience each one of us undertakes for their own reasons (karma) and purpose. It's a long game. Our lives are just one 'stage' of the journey etc. I'm not here to comment on Christianity or any other faiths, save to say there's only one creator.
NLF, this is a great post. Thank you. Please forgive me if this sounds daft, but how then is my Catholicism not a winning strategy for me, personally, if it entails me just living according to good internal principles?
Hi Irish, no forgiveness needed, it’s a fair question.
If Catholicism gives you grounding, meaning, and a moral framework that resonates with your inner nature, then I think it absolutely is a winning strategy for you personally. Life paths differ, and not everyone needs to arrive at the same metaphysical coordinates to orient themselves meaningfully.
My critique isn’t aimed at sincere personal faith, but at the institutional shell that now houses it. I explored Catholicism (and later Eastern Orthodoxy) in my own search to escape secular nihilism and recover symbolic coherence. But I found that Catholicism, particularly in the post-WWII era, has been spiritually gutted, transformed into a kind of managed faith downstream of globalist power structures: https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/how-globohomo-skinsuited-the-catholic . Orthodoxy, while less captured, carries its own structural pathologies: https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/an-exploration-of-eastern-orthodoxy
So for me the dilemma becomes: how does one live meaningfully in a desacralized and inverted world, where even the old pillars of spiritual authority have been repurposed? That’s the axis I focus on: not to dismiss private faith but to distinguish it from institutional metaphysics no longer aligned with transcendence.
In other words: if you’re not trying to “win the game” of politics, but just trying to live with inner integrity, Catholicism can serve you beautifully. My inquiry is haunted by the question: when the forms are compromised, where does the essence relocate?
I recently found your blog and enjoyed reading your essays. I come from Europe and one of my main observations is that all the things you mention seem to be much more amplified in the US than in Europe. Many of them are present in Europe and there is a lot of state intervention here of course as well as mass migration but when it comes to labour and the rat race I get the feeling that there is much less "slavery" than in the US and we have a lot more free time to focus on our passions and hobbies. People are also generally much less accepting of figures like Elon Musk and other "feudalist" figures and big tax cuts for the rich are unlikely to be a possibility here.
I would be curious to know your thoughts about Europe and whether you believe that perhaps the US is simply the main "testing ground" for all these ideas and that sooner or later it is inevitable that Europe will also be affected.
On a side note, this is perhaps not your type of content but despite my reservations about the Star Wars franchise I find the recent Andor series quite interesting and revealing about the state of things in the world and often deals with how the ever powerful empire destroys all hope one might have to 'beat it'.
Hi Alessandro, thanks for the comment and question. I agree with you that Europe has a much better work/life balance than America, appreciates life for it’s own sake more, consumes less and generally healthier, etc. However, I think it’s pretty clear that Europe is an occupied U.S. colony post WW2 and it’s opinions don’t matter much as a result, despite the media noise (sorry), which we can see by the number of U.S. military bases throughout Europe - see below image (119 bases in Germany alone!). Nationalism and populism can and will remain brutally suppressed using whatever means necessary under this setup; see the famous Hastings Ismay quote, the first Secretary General of NATO, who famously said that the purpose of NATO was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down". Furthermore, Europe has increasingly adopted the American culture - it’s music, film, McDonalds, etc., as I saw on my recent trip to Italy…What do you think?
individuation, conflict, negotiation, unification? Mass non-compliance?
The twenty-first century will be spiritual or it will not be. Andre Malraux.
AI is going to make "reality" unknowable for a lot of people. It will destroy what is left of the liberal mind. The only solution to that seems to be analog, that is, a strong foundation in the real, in nature and the local.
I spoke to my uncle about a similar topic. About the true reality of our world and what I believe to be a world of illusions. This article is just another piece of the stack of ideas and perspectives I've come across that points to the same conclusion. Long story short, every single human is apart of the greater whole, representing an expression of the Universe or better known as God. Therefore, to know God is to know yourself.