Hand Picked
Todd Hayen
Were we handpicked to know the truth? Are we the chosen ones? I have resisted this idea for almost three years. It seems much too biblical, and although I consider myself a spiritual/religious person I am not so sure if I see the Bible as literal as most religious people do.
And besides, does the Bible make any reference to “hand picking” people who will be critical thinkers and not get sucked into the evil narrative?
I know the Rapture suggests that only those who have taken Jesus Christ as savior will experience the Second Coming of Christ, but would that count?
I don’t know if all of us on this side of things have done that. I don’t think I have, really, not formally at least, not so a Christian would think I was part of their gang.
I was recently tooling around Facebook (which is kind of like a ghost town for me these days since all my “friends” have run away) and came across a post that commented about us being “chosen.” The person giving the “chosen” title said to the person receiving it to just hang tight and “do your job.” They were rather vague about what that job would be. I suppose just holding the truth, don’t comply, and stuff like that.
For me it is writing for my substack and Off-Guardian. This “hand picked” post I ran across got me thinking—again.
Since the beginning I have wondered why we, over here, think the way we think. Thinking like this comes naturally for me. I thought everyone thought this way—critically, inquisitively, curiously. It certainly doesn’t take any special intelligence or knowhow, although it seems as if the sheep are very often stupid, but I know a whole lot of very intelligent sheep—scientists, doctors, economic gurus, you name it. So I don’t think it is intelligence that sets us apart.
Like I said, I really have no idea what makes us different than sheep. Well, I shouldn’t say that, I do know how we are different, but I don’t know the answer to “why us?” There does not appear to be a common denominator, although through the years I have pondered on this, and I have come up with a few ideas.
Like I just said, I ruled out superior intelligence a long time ago. Although I have not yet met a really stupid critical thinker (on the other hand, have indeed met a few really dimwitted sheep) I just can’t accept the theory that all of us are super smart. A lot of us are, but it just doesn’t seem to be the common denominator I have been looking for.
As for critical thinking, it does seem we have a corner on that. But what exactly IS critical thinking? I wonder if we just say that if we get to conclusion B, then we got there because we were thinking critically, and sheep get to conclusion A because they don’t. My wife would fall into the sheep category, and I know she is a critical thinker, as well as being super smart, my brother in law (a super sheep) is a retired PhD scientist, I am sure he is a capable critical thinker (I know not all PhD scientists are, but I have known him a long time, he is). Now, I do think more of us think critically than sheep, but I think it takes more than that.
What about kowtowing to authority? Well, there might be something to that one. I have not yet met a rebel sheep. I mean a “general rebel”—one that gets pissed about things like taking shoes off at the airport, having to stand in a particular way in a particular line. And of course the obvious: wearing a mask anywhere and everywhere, walking only one way in a supermarket aisle, giving your ID for no respectable reason—stuff like that. A rebel nature seems to be important, but I again doubt if every single one of us is a rebel.
If being a rebel is an important attribute we all share, what gives us a rebel nature? Were we raised a particular way, at a particular time in history? I grew up in the ‘60s, a few years behind my two sisters who were ensconced in the “hippie/student/antiestablishment” world of young folks. I just missed that era, entering post pubescent quasi-young adulthood somewhere around 1970.
I strutted around at that time like a Young-Republican-Mr-America even wearing a little American flag pin on my shirt. Back then, young Republicans were super authority huggers. We didn’t break the law, didn’t take drugs, and didn’t say nasty things about “Pig” cops or the poor ragged young heroes coming back from the “righteous fight for freedom” in Viet Nam.
Now one of my ex-hippie sisters is right on board with us…and the other is a super sheep. What gives? It’s weird.
Maybe it really is just a swirling cacophony of variables that make up our nature, each little thing, like being a rebel, or being a critical thinker, or a dozen or so other attributes that give a person rebel-points. If you break past a certain cumulative number on the scale you then become a “freedom fighter.” The same would go for being a sheep.
Then when you look at each person you can’t see any one thing that is rebel-is or sheepish. But…maybe not. We each really do seem to be very much the same within our own groups. Those of us on this side of the fence share views, sentiments, beliefs, which are pretty similar. I can usually guess accurately which side we will take on any given issue. Fundamentally we are very much the same. This appears to be true with sheep as well.
So what is it? Any guesses? And really, it isn’t too difficult considering what I just said, to present an accurate list of “rebel qualities.” That isn’t the question. The question is how did we get those qualities? Why are we like we are?
So…the more I think about it the more the “hand picked” idea resonates. But then an even more compelling question comes to mind. Who or what did the picking?
This is when I really flip out because I am a believer in the divine, and I believe much the divine presents is subtle. I do not see God performing miracles very often that pull me out of the “typical” miracles of an “ordinary” day. I am one of those believers who considers life itself as miracle enough to believe in God. I don’t need much more as proof to me there is a divine hand at work in the universe.
Considering that we were divinely ordained to do what we are doing is a stretch for me, and carries a bit of responsibility to keep that truth from getting to my head. Talk about virtue signaling. But what else could it be?
So now I wonder: if this is true, that I was chosen by the hand of God to be a person who is going against the grain, then the most compelling question of all presents itself: why me?
Todd Hayen is a registered psychotherapist practicing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He holds a PhD in depth psychotherapy and an MA in Consciousness Studies. He specializes in Jungian, archetypal, psychology. Todd also writes for his own substack, which you can read here
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I don’t think I’m “chosen” and certainly not “chosen” by a higher or divine being. I remember that I was not afraid of the “killer virus” when they all started to panick before WHO launched the “pandemic”. When the WHO launched the “pandemic” I had mixed feelings & thoughts. Sometimes it was: “They’re over-reacting, they will calm down soon.” But when they locked down one thought occured in my mind, as a flash: “This is a test for odedience”. As a kid I was “different”. I hated soccer! I didn’t have male buddies and preferred playing with girls. I hated the smell of sweat in the school gym. I distrusted all adults except my mother. I knew when adults lied to me – and many of them did. I knew that my parents would divorce when there were no visible signs. I knew that I would never see my mother… Read more »
We don’t really agree with each other all that much. As a European anarcho-pacifist I might share distrust of the government with a US rightwing Libertarian but we have essentially nothing in common how/why we get there. They also hate me because I’m disabled and reliant on our current state (the fact of it not being their taxes doesn’t seem to help), and it would be suicidal and/or stupidity to think I’d be better off with them than even the most lockdown-happy, healthcare access removing, Tories/Libs. Their emphasis is on being left alone by the government, not how to improve on that system to have something that empowers and better benefits the people. There are a lot of differences in views and perspective, and even if someone could truly be said to be thinking critically on one issue, as you found it doesn’t follow they always will. As to why… Read more »
As much as we can look for a common denominator, I don’t believe we’ll ever find it, there’s the life experience of each of us, and the combination of those experiences, the impact they had on us, the what, the when, the how it shaped us, that with covid allowed us, or led us to being outsiders. And then, there are also many different ways of being an outsider in this. I personally don’t resonate to those who are always insulting or mocking the narrative followers. I could have been one of them. There’s this facebook friend that said stoicism is the common denominator, I guess it’s the closest to what you’re looking for here, but then again, I know people who in their lives have been quite stoic and took a very long time to start questioning the official narrative. I guess it must have to do with the… Read more »
Loved what you have been pondering and expressed, thankyou.Yahweh I have concluded.
I think one quality of NOT being a sheep is being reconciled to the idea of being an outsider. Both my husband and I were in that category as young people. He never had male friends as a kid because he didn’t fit the jocular jock mode of so many adolescent boys. As the daughter of German immigrants to Canada shortly after the war, I was different enough to never fit in, even though I was born here. I had no friends until maybe grade 5. You get used to being an outsider, and then it’s not so bad. Of the two of us, I was the first to smell a rat with Covid (he is a retired doctor, and thus was inclined to believe some of the narratives). Fortunately, I dug up information on the suppression of medicines and the true nature of the unsafe injections that turned him… Read more »
It sure is a big responsibility. Both of your childhood experiences resonate, I too found it difficult to integrate. I couldn’t understand why I had to go to school, I perceived it as a punishment of sorts and stood in the playground alone watching all the other kids running “wild”. My mother told me recently that I never learned like “normal” kids, but was quiet and when I did eventually start to speak, it in was in full sentences, bizzare. Thankyou for your post.
I too have wondered what makes those of us on this side of the divide so different. Many have asked me as if, having been a psychologist, I must know. As in the study of individual differences. Correct – not intelligence. Correct – not astute critical thinking. Correct – not about being Christian or not. Only common denominator I found after asking many awokened warriors, was being ok to not go along to get along throughout their lives. Happy to be set apart from others. And not accepting Authority figures or statements for Authority’s sake. The majority when asked claimed that they’ve been so even as a young child. It’s like standing tall without sulking when the teacher gave another detention for asking too many questions. As in the defiance of saying, ‘fine, give me another, I Won’t change my mind. Is it a backbone to stand up for what… Read more »
Thankyou for your post. It’s just what I was thinking and needed to hear.
Well said. It should be sheep vs. goats as in the parable.
https://baldmichael.substack.com/p/sheep-and-goats-matthew-2531-46-updated
In another thread after another article I announced my intention to write to my Congressperson. Another commented that I might as well write to Santa. Laughed my ass off.
Maybe that is the common thread we all have. None of us ever believed in Santa as young children.
I know I didn’t. I remember my parents and others trying to convince me. I thought THEY had gone goofy and I was the only sane one.
Be careful what you tell young kids. They may resort to visiting places like Off-Guardian.
Some have the necessary stamina, fortitude, courage or simply respect to face the Truth. Others cannot bear as much. None of us can bear all of it at the Human level.
Those who can bear more of the Truth may consider themselves blessed, but then… they have to bear it. The principle ascribed to the military applies here: RHIR – Rank Has Its Responsibilities. The Privilege of knowing the Truth can be hard to make out at times!
It is very simple. One way or another, we lost faith in the mainstream at some point. For me, it was 9/11. Once I saw through the deception, there was no going back. I questioned everything. Whenever I saw anything on the news, I automatically assumed that the opposite must be true and I had to dig into it if I was interested to know more.
The Remnants. Referenced in Isaiah no less. Read this article – wonderful and thought provoking not least because it was written in the 1930s describing an ancient time that is literally being replayed in front of our eyes. History is Our Story.
https://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job
Old soul vs new soul / Player character vs Non-player character / sceptic vs believer / risk-taker vs risk-avoider – some of many possible reasons. I go with the ‘75% of the people in the world are NPCs’ idea which I recently read. As the WHO revealed a couple of days ago that around 30% of the world are unvaccinated, that fits.
I consider myself a person who goes against the grain. “Why me?”
In my case it has al lot to do with experience. I went through abusive relationships, I also experienced abuse as a child.
This is why I recognize abuse, abusive methods, abusive people. In the beginning of 2020 I got the feeling that something just wasn´t right, I smelled abuse, and I started to investigate. Still do.
I experienced abuse as a child and I ended up as a dejected, deshevilled, destitute and suicidal drug addict and alcoholic in my 20s. I’ve been to the bottom, I’m lucky to still be alive and I’m grateful every day for the choices I made in order to save myself and to the people who helped me and continue to help me. I know that I have nothing to fear. Life has been as bad as it gets for me, I’ve had nothing and survived. I’ve been an outsider for my entire life. I’ve never really cared for what other think of me. There’s no way I was ever going to accept the scamdemic. My brother is another survivor and recovering addict, an outsider who doesn’t fit into any kind of box made for him by society, and of course he saw through it too. When you’ve spent your entire… Read more »
Well said…makes such sense. I have been fortunate in my early life and present life too and hugely respect you and others who have navigated on their own and managed to come out of the challenges so wise. You are the best teachers for navigating what is happening right now.
I totally agree. I was witness to abusive but legally sanctioned behaviour in the medical field and realised these people I had previously admired had no moral (or even scientific) compass and were certainly not as smart as I’d thought they were. I battled against this but ultimately they won. And from that moment on I didn’t trust the motives of the medical field as a whole. So not taking the vaccines till I’d had time to assess how bad the virus was (or if there even was one at all) was a given. And election fraud and false flags in the UK had always been on my radar. But maybe it does go back further – a love of alternate reality films / science fiction books throughout childhood and young adulthood left me with the conviction that things are not always what they seem. I have eight siblings and… Read more »
Another well said comment…thanks for posting…I am learning a lot. And appreciating a lot.
That’s so interesting Dag, thank you for posting.
I started to became more aware after my girlfriend had to come to terms with childhood abuse.
Her whole family turned against us even though she was an innocent victim.
Soon after I started to see through the ISIS ‘terror attacks’ and other media lies.
I asked God to give me strength and show me truth, and he did.
Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Mathew 7:7
I’m in my 60’s and have an educated guess as to perhaps part of the reason why non-sheep are different, based on my experience. At risk of over simplifying it, I think that those who are not afraid to question the mainstream learned long ago not to be controlled by the fear of rejection. Perhaps it is because they have learned to value themselves above relying on the positive judgements and acceptance of others. Recent trends in social psychology have started to look at how our unconscious mind drives us to go along to get along, so to speak, and this happens entirely as an unconscious process. Essentially, we evolved in small tribal communities and our psyche evolved to fear engaging in any behaviour or thoughts that would cause us to be rejected/ejected from this group, upon which our survival fully depended. Hence, why labelling someone a ‘conspiracy theorist’ is… Read more »
‘Fear’ 5D: you nailed it.
Have a care bring psychology to the table. The 911 aftermath has pretty much stripped the mask away from it. If it was ever there to help humanity, that’s no longer the case.
Thank you for more wisdom. I think so well said. I am learning so much…lots to contemplate further. I am pretty overwhelmed with this conversation. Pretty inspiring all of you to say the least
Thanks for being a part of it Skinnymouse. Glad to have virtually met you. 🙂
Gerry the giraffe was the tallest of all the animals of the savanna. He was enamoured by his great size and wondrous self image. So much so he felt different from all those around him.
So he asked God, “Lord – am I ‘special’?
And the Lord responded;
“No Gerry – you’re just a giraffe.”
Beautiful comment – made me laugh. Thanks Michael.
God made me write it. Thanks poo bear
Beautiful comment – made me laugh. Thanks Michael.
Glad to share the point with you 5D. Thanks. Have a beautiful day.
Since I’m not in your clique (along with poo bear and SD), I feel free to say I thought it was a stupid comment.
A giraffe is indeed special, as is every other being on the planet. If God thinks otherwise, then the fault lies in heaven, not in the savanna.
Thanks for your comment Howard. It’s as valid as mine, along with anybody else’s here. I share no clique with anyone – and wish to exclude no-one. I truly hope you have a beautiful life. I hope all the animals of this planet do. I wish human kind could adopt a way to live in harmony with itself, each other and everything else in this beautiful place. I really do.
Sincerely: Thanks again for sharing your thoughts Howard. I hope you have a beautiful day.
great comment. Peace
I don’t think Todd is saying that those who question mainstream narratives are “special”…they just question…
Nor am I Skinnymouse. I’m pondering the question: “Do all the creatures of this earth question God”? Just as we humans do. And are the answers they receive from God the same? Or do they perceive them differently?
Thanks for your comment. Have a beautiful day.
I questioned this sort of thing in between the referendums Scottish independence/Brexit, the Trump ascension and then the fake pandemic. What IS it that makes someone think differently? We all generally eat, drink, bathe, sleep, work and relax in roughly similar conditions- exposed to the same weather, news, entertainment and pitfalls- why do only so many take the second to stop and go…”erm….this isn’t too clever”?
I’m glad it’s a small pool, anyway. Most of the “rest”, frankly are fucking idiots.
” The Holy Spirit blows where it wishes “
https://johannesgreber.wordpress.com/books/
Hmm. Remember David Koresh in Waco or Jonestown in Guyana? A little bit dangerous, I think.
I don’t know what comparisons you are trying to make between Kreshh and Jones. The latter caused mass suicide among his followers in order to catch an alien space ship. The former was massacred by the government for wanting their congregation to be separate from the world as is written in Scripture.
I don’t think it’s fair comparing David Koresh and Jim Jones. Or maybe it is: maybe both were the victims of media character assassination.
The government and its media mouthpiece are kind of like the Olympian deities: “Who the gods would destroy they first make mad.”
And that’s just what the media did – certainly to Koresh, perhaps also to Jones. They made him out to be a madman.
Not a comparison to each other. Examples of the same thing. Both leaders thought they were chosen.
Yes, examples of the same thing as they were both cult leaders. Cults are dangerous, hierarchical organizations with a leader and followers. Cult leaders are narcissists, psychopaths, followers of their ego. They think they are special, and they think others are just extensions of their ego.
Both Koresh and Jones used and abused their followers. Both ended up destroying both themselves and their cult, killing many people. Their extended suicides are like that of Hitler. Cult leaders are such cowards, too afraid to even die alone.
Hitler thought he was special too, chosen by ”Providence”. Insanity, that’s what it is.
“Intelligent” is a word that has almost lost it’s meaning. We’re all intelligent, some are intellectual but divorced from reality; some are immersed in reality but with no moral compass at all. The other day I came across a video of Mark Passio lecturing on Natural Law in three parts: long, basic and very intense. I was very reluctant to give hours of my time to a lecture but it was well worth it. Natural Law is human reality, nothing abstract- living science and without it intelligence, whatever it is, is worthless.
Altruism. Truthful altruism.
Your parents had sex. And you were the best swimmer on the day.
Congratulations.
No, a human being is not a sperm cell. A man is not his body.
Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Proverbs 9:5-10
Strengthen your knowledge of God through Scripture, don’t be decievef or follow something of your own making.
It’s a cool book Joshua, but so is the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao te Ching, the Confucian Analects and anything that Jiddu Krishnamurti said.
Eclectic = enlightenment?
Who knows.
Nothing comes close, my friend.
A billion Muslims would disagree.
Funny, that.
He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
Mumonkan … Hekigan Roku … Ramana Maharshi … Sri Nisargadatta …
My teacher always used the word “congeniality”.
Do all that is good. Avoid all that is evil. Purify your heart.
Seems Mr. Hayen took some heat for suggesting that some persons are chosen, or predestined for certain ways of thinking. I used to think this of myself. Then everything in my life began to reverse, and nothing but trouble soon followed. Alas…
“Infinity would suggest that the individual is always infinitely outnumbered”
– Paul Vonharnish –
(September 19, 2019)
Being “chosen” isn’t always a good thing.
And we are ALL chosen for something…
Some people choose to be the sacrifice. Just imagine, we all agreed to play our part before we came. We all forgot our pledge yet play our part as best we can. This isn’t even over yet. Thinking it is and that you are saved is a huge mistake. Some will die. Those that live will wish they had died with the rest. Only a very few will be left in the end. The Remnants. Imagine the sacrifices they will have to make.
Yes, I don’t think everyone was chosen for THIS path.
Hello Todd: I wasn’t ridiculing you or your article. My original comment was a sideways slam on the (alleged) “chosen” people. Their claim of being chosen has always pissed me off…
I wasn’t kidding when I mentioned that my “awakening” led to a serious disintegration of nearly every survival element of my life. It would seem I was being instructed to not become too full of myself. One never knows. The Universe may have no voice. But it can speak…
I think the article and the author got exactly what they’ve expected and wanted: a healthy 234-comment piece as per now and counting; a deserved revenge on the last one.
Congrats.
I wasn’t chosen or hand picked for anything and I generally regard people who regard themselves as “chosen”, “hand picked” or “special” to be arrogant and/or deluded dickheads who lack self awareness.
Personally, I don’t just do as I’m told to do without some strong, convincing reasoning behind the command and I have the backbone to stand up for what I think to be the right course of action for me rather aquiesce to somebody else’s illogical demands or pander to their bullshit. But I’m just an ordinary human being who has been lucky enough to have the upbringing, the life experience and the personality to think for myself and generally not give much of a fuck about what others think of me. I’m nothing special at all.
Wow…some of you folks really don’t get what I was saying did you? Sorry. I guess I wasn’t clear.
And sorry, you are special.
The Universe is special, and I’m special in the sense that I am a part of its glorious and amazing oneness and that I get to be, in this physical reality that I currently inhabit, a part of the Universe experiencing itself, and I cherish that. But that can apply to anybody should they wish to see it, or be fortunate enough to have it revealed to them by life circumstances and to be open enough to be receptive to that truth, and then to see through the manmade false mental divisions that separate our conciousness from perceiving the oneness of everything. And I include belief in human created deities in those false mental divisions. In fact, I consider belief per se to be the root cause of mental division and closed mindedness. I don’t need to believe in the oneness of the Universe. I know it. I am it.… Read more »
All are called, but few choose to listen. As yet. Tolerance for pain is not infinite and here is a mercy that sets a limit by which to stir a questioning of what we took to be true. “There has to be another way to look at this” Insofar as we choose not to persist what has never really worked but brought us to such a pass, we release a mind set in fear of pain of loss to see another as our selves. The freedom to love is not a right to determine another’s choice But to release them of a demand that they support ours or our ‘love’ turn to hate! Active ignorance thinks to already know, and so it cannot ask or receive answer. The process, step by step, of releasing baggage that no longer serves even to mask in, is an un-peeling of self-illusion. Who is… Read more »
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
https://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/13-13.htm
The temperament we see in animals aside, independence in humans IMO comes from a willingness to judge. Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind decried the cultural theme which was teaching his students 20 years ago that to judge– even to have a preference– was wrong, bigoted and narrow-minded. In the intervening years we’ve seen this cultural thread deified: the abnormal is to be admired, our true roots and history denigrated. One ought not judge anything– including authority. When I was a child of eight I read in the Akron Beacon Journal that children who were unloved came to think that there was something wrong with THEM. I was baffled; surely if a person of any age encounters unfairness they MUST dislike the person who’s unfair or unkind. How is anything else possible? Even an animal knows this. I don’t know if early unfairness can really cause people to… Read more »
Mr Hayen, can someone be both, religious and critical thinker?
i thought the two terms can never coexist in the same sentence!
It would be an odd religion that said everything is currently perfect. Beyond criticism. So yes, they can.
But then ‘critical thinking’ is a vague concept anyway:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking#Definitions
Yes, most definitely. “Religion” is a developed system with doctrines and dogma generally established over a few thousand years. If you stick 100% to the dogma, blindly, you might be right. What “religions” are based on is something else. There is only one constant, “love”, but try to define that and you end up with endless rhetoric. Human beings, as material entities, are saddled with the formidable task of taking “love” and applying it to a physical existence. That’s where the fun starts. So the answer to your question as to whether a person can be both religious and a critical thinker… Yes, and no, no and yes. Figure it out…! 😀
it’s not about being both religious and a critical thinker…..
It’s about being spiritual and a critical thinker….
being religious does not mean that a person is spiritual…
being loving is what makes a person spiritual and being spiritual is what makes a person loving….
to be continued……Peace.
Yep
Self-deception.
‘Being loving’ is a kind of cannibalism, assault. Rene Girard calls it mimetic desire. The good Kant once set the maxim respect, justice. The claim to love someone is hunger. A hunger that is insatiable because it does not nourish.
What a perverse view. Stop reading nonsense. To love is to nourish. Tell a mother she is wrong for loving her kids.
“the chosen ones, why us?”
Excellent question!!
I have been wondering this myself all along! What makes me so different from my friends and co-workers? I thought we were on the same wavelength about important things and it’s been hard to lose some of the few friends I have. I feel like this has to do with karma and destiny. I have never really fit in and questioned things my whole life, even when I was very young. So I must have come in this way, like you said, a truth seeker. It’s so bizarre when everyone around you thinks life is hunky dory and believes what the mainstream media feeds us. I’m not sure what my role will be as the BS continues to play out in the near future. I’m doing my best to stay positive in spite of it all.
My thoughts too…thanks for expressing them so well!
I would suggest one thing many of us have in common is a peculiar inability to convince others of what we knew (with research) and felt (with experience). Cassandra’s “gift” was a curse, after all.
I definitely have that inability!
I often like your posts, Todd, but quite honestly this bit is totally asinine. What a ridiculous question (if I am a ‘chosen”, why me?); both parts of that question are ridiculous. That construct has taken you deep into the quagmire of the mental maze, a murky region of dimwittedness into which humans have disappeared since time immemorial.
Hello in there……in there…..in there…… Todd?…..Todd?….Todd?….. Come on out…. on out…. on out………
Ha…! You are funny…maybe I truly HAVE gone insane!
To recognise our insanity is the gift of a light be which to now know we are not totally insane. That we see in others what we judge against in ourself reverses to open a means of true escape.
Loving our ‘enemy’ is really a willingness to witness to love in the temptation to give hate for hate. What is then revealed is a gift that is shared – but gifts don’t demand. And so we often receive love long after it was given, because now we are ready and willing to.
Hello wally jasper: I can appreciate your comment. I’ve met quite a few persons who fell headlong into the quagmire of “self-realization”. The more they chased the tiger, the more remote they became to others.
My favorite quote: I tried positive thinking. But I knew it wouldn’t work…
No you have got it wrong. Somewhere in your ancestry you will find the Irish. Their contribution to this world is best expressed by the quotation.
“that which is believed by almost everyone almost everywhere is almost certain to be untrue.”
I wish I could remember who was first to say it.
That chosen and special has caused a lot of deaths – torture because they think there chosen and special and everything below them, is less than.
Well, I hear what you are saying, but my particular musing here is not of that nature. It just seems strange to me that’s all. I certainly do not think any of us are “better” than anyone else.
I would put it in relation to love not to specialness.
That love should move through me is not because there is anything special or deserving in any sense that isn’t true of all. Hence elitism gives way to gratitude.
that I may get in my own way in reaching to others is ‘practice’ by which to grow or learn to truly accept another as they are – for here is my release.
Correct. There’s been a lot of Christian martyrs over the years. Somehow, I don’t think that many of them had a swelled head over being chosen. Jesus promised Christians persecution after all. Persecution is a stark reality of living the Christian life. The apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12 warned “that everyone who wants to live a godly lide in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,..”. Jesus Christ warned in John 15: 18-19 (KJV) “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you”. In view of these facts of the Christian life, if it was up to the individual to choose to become a Christian they would likely have second thoughts. That’s… Read more »
Jesus teaches that the pure and perfect truth of life is that we are here to create heaven on earth, to bring the perfection of what is above down to us, and in doing so to become transformed as human beings into something great and beautiful. To become fully anthropos; fully human, our most perfected state. To become fully realized is to know who you are and what you are here to do, to consciously and actively fulfill your promise to God and yourself, and to find the others in your soul family and help them to do the same. There are those who have become aware of this truth; if we feel we have been chosen, perhaps it is more an innate soul urge to re-member with our divine self (God) and we have simply reached a state in our experiences as human where we have answered that nudge.… Read more »
So well said….thank you!
Maybe recognise we can never get it right, in our own might or light.
Then we learn instead to get out of our own way, that a way reveal itself that is not of a self-guilt-or sin denied, punished or vindicated, but the gift of a perfect now – before a thought, after all thinking is done and never truly absent while thinking to be stuck in a repeating cycle of getting something ‘else’ for a sense of lack masked over and distanced?
We are all born wit a “bullshit detector”.
Whether it gets turned on or not is directly related to how easily lead an individual is.
Yes, but what makes some easily led, and others not?
The wish to walk behind and use ‘leaders’ or to walk in front to gain followers is the Game of ego – because ego uses other forgetting…
who we truly walk beside
I don’t think it is such a duality. I certainly don’t want to follow others, but I don’t want to lead a bunch of stupid retards either. (Retard is used like fire retardant. When one puts a thought retardant on their brain from getting a degree they become retarded. It is a choice to be a retard, not a term for a mentally challenged person.)
Those that you or I want to ‘walk beside us’ must be able to comprehend that “not walking” is “not communicating” reciprocally.
If mind is closed, it is always the fear question (what are you afraid of?) … only the fear of being wrong.
The majority are people pleasers who want to be praised for following rules- in my humble opinion. It can be difficult and uncomfortable to go against the flow and be the lone dissenter.
Thank you for the article, I have been thinking about this very thing: what makes 80% of people in my circle stay clueless about what’s happening. And I came to a conclusion that its about whether the individual got sucked into the System. And by that I mean any system of authority with which the individual is having parent-child relationship. The government, the place of employment, any system where the person exchanged power to choose for safety and paycheck, unconsciously. The parent-child relationship with the system got them.
Lots of stuff here, none of which really answers the “hand picked” question, in my view. There are those who see Earth as a prison planet populated by criminals from other parts of the universe, as well as freedom fighters who ruffled the feathers of the rulers elsewhere. The “hand picked” are these souls. Then, there are others who believe that they are chosen and others who say that there is no-one to choose. Some point towards the human tendency to gravitate to the collective or the individual. Others see genetics as the answer. Then there is the person, like the cussed horse, that will not be ridden, no matter what. I don’t have the answer. In my first year at school I told the teacher what she could do with her star she would have given me if I colored in properly! When conscripted into the military I received… Read more »
Sorry to deflate all your self-important ideas that you were ‘different’, ‘special’, a ‘critical thinker’, a ‘rebel’….but it’s my understanding that we have all been subjected to a massive psy-op using hypnosis and NLP techniques.
But some of us, for various reasons, apparently cannot be hypnotised.
So voila! We were left untouched, which gave us the space to start looking critically at what was going on and realise it was a load of garbage. ‘Follow the science’!!
Henri Bergson begs to differ:
“Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon them from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of following the crowd and by choosing knowledge over the veils of ignorance.”
I don’t dispute that. Those born with spiritual immunity however don’t wander around congratulating themselves for being born with that immunity. That’s fake virtue, just like there are genuine and fake diamonds there is genuine and fake virtue.
Can you hear your ears or see your eyes? Not if there are fine functioning. If not, you’ll see your eyes and hear your ears. Your eyes and ears are not self conscious of themselves as eyes and ears. Similarly, true virtue is not self conscious of itself as being virtue, it just is what it is, and most of all doesn’t tear itself into a discourse about itself.
I do not think Todd is saying we are special. I think he is simply asking why do some people question things and others do not?
I’m not saying you stole that piece of cake, I’m just saying you took it without permission.;-)
Why do we look for the spectacles we were wearing all along?
That is while we look though our ‘mind’ for getting we cannot look at it.
Yet once we look at the beliefs and definition by which we perceive, we are free to see differently and open a different response or not respond at all as a creative freedom to simply be that we are.
Then we learn to look within while looking ‘out’ to recognise we never really do look ‘out’. Synchronicity is always true, but unless we know our question we wont recognise we are answered.
The stirring or a real question revealed what was not really concealed so much as masked over and pushed back and back by fear given protection or love, as love under threat.
What do you think would be the response if you ask the Taliban, Al Qaeda, or ISIS if their cruel and violent actions are morally and ethically justified? They would say that it is moral for them to be vicious and cruel because they believe human society to be in an emergency situation and they alone will save us. To them, the world is full of evil people who are offenders towards God and his desires. Therefore, anything and everything, no matter how harmful to others, is justified in their quest to take over. Because they will enforce God’s desires aka utopia, on the world. Their ends justify their means. Their ends are to gain power over everyone, their means are violence. Just like them, the mainstream left have turned into proponents of political jihadism. Their ends also justify their means. Lying, deception, destruction, cruelty, viciousness—all of it is necessary… Read more »
So it’s only Democrats who are the problem? OK. How about Warp Speed? Was that solely up to Democrats? The Iraq war? Afghanistan? Vietnam? WWII? The creation of the CIA, NSA, etc.? The list of fully non-partisan wars and blatant corruption is fucking endless here in the US, as it is in most of the world if we’re really honest. The US alone isn’t the entire problem either, although many still cling to the belief that it is. The first step in facing what is happening to us is giving up, entirely, the partisan lens. That right there is a huge part of the problem and it always has been. I see that now and I cannot unsee it either. Once you break through that you cannot go back, not if you’re really being honest and seeking actual, you know, truth. I used to be a “Full Democrat” in your… Read more »
Well said. Exactly how I feel about it all.
Thank you for expressing my thoughts exactly! I used to be a “democrat” although I never felt comfortable giving myself a label, but no way would I consider myself one now, after witnessing the events of the last couple years. But no way do/would I consider myself “republican” either. This is such a good discussion because I have been wracking my brain from the beginning asking myself the same question…why do I “get it” but everyone I work with and pretty much all my friends “don’t get it.” What makes me different from them? Anyway, I appreciate your assessment.
Lizzyh7, yes, you’re right– give up the partisan lens. Either people seem to be afraid to judge at all, or they judge based on false criteria that’s been sanctified by some group.
Hear, hear….
Check out Kit’s article on “Network”…
The US of As may not, in spite of all appearances, be the “entire problem.
Still once that territory is divided up into five “nations” that can gleefully kill each other to appease their bloodlust, the other “problems” the Global Majority faces will be solved readily.
kana: I think it’s the heat. It’s hard to think clearly when it’s 100+ degrees in the shade…
Intelligence consists of different aspects such as logical and mathematical skills, memory, creativity, analytics, etc. Probably most sheep excel or fail in one or more of these aspects but lack the aspect that harmonizes all these elements allowing us to express ourselves best as human beings, what most of all makes us who we are, namely Morality.
Wisdom, as well as morality. That’s perhaps a fault of the educational system, which encourages the cultivation of the specialist, over the polymath
Integrality is a wholeness of bing. There are many creatures demonstrating intelligence relative to their environment that have no brain or central nervous system.
So there are elements of integrity I recognise in your comment, and the use of Morality.
Moral ethic can and does guide us but it does not create what we are.
Regardless how we may say or recognise it, we are either aligned in love or in something else trying to pass off as love, become love or associate in the socially accepted forms of love.
It may be that what you mean by morality is no more or less that as love would move us to be. But the imposition of moral self-righteous hate on others is the fanatical attempt to mask over fear of doubt in the attempt to correct others!
You can’t be “chosen” unless you wear a funny little hat.
“Sheep” is not as pejorative in a Biblical sense as it has since become, with its connotations of stupidity and imbecility. Jesus was The Good Shepherd. The “sheep” of his flock were ordinary, decent, salt of the earth people who deserved a better deal in life than they were getting, and whose needs were ignored by the elite of the day.
Jesus was first revealed at his birth to people like shepherds, who were at the bottom of the social pyramid.. Shepherds were looked down upon as dirty, smelly, dishonest people who habitually stole each others’ sheep. Shepherds could not give evidence in court.
There is a lot of merit in the account of Jesus’ life, even if for the sake of argument you dismiss it as fictitious.
Hello paul: There is merit in contemplating the role that (Jesus) the Christ played in the parable. The Bible should be read as story/parable. Much of early literature is a mixture of folk lore, oral history, and mythology.
There’s nothing particularly new about attempts to mis-direct people into a superficially attractive notion of the heroic rebel that ultimately leads to self-destruction. An example in literature is ‘Wuthering Heights’. The most important line in the book is when Cathy says “heaven did not seem to be my home”. Instead she wants to be united with the Byronic figure of Heathcliff. Byron seems the prototype for the “live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse” seduction (funnily enough the actor who uttered that line i) didn’t [like he who hoped he’d die before he got old – and the Bushes, Kissingers and Windsors who lived to ripe old ages] and ii) seems to have become some sort of handler for beta sex kittens) Look into Byron’s life and – surprise! – one finds child abuse and incest. Cathy’s fixation with Heathcliff dooms her to wonder the earth as a… Read more »
“Heaven”
My mother always warned me to never consult a psychic.
She had a friend that was told by a psychic that her husband
was about to die. The poor woman walked about in fear for
years and years and years.
At a health fair there was a psychic with a booth. I got a free, quick
consultation and she told me that I went kicking and screaming
when they told me in Heaven that I had to return to this planet.
Probably tells that one to everyone. 🙂
I love your insights on “Wuthering Heights” once of my favourite archetypal pieces of literature…
You sound like a person that has never done anything of value in life. Living vicariously thru book written by people who did more dreaming than you did doing. Keep quoting old relics. They had more agency than you. It’s that plain and simple. You are an NPC
We are all sheep wether you like it or not.
Some sheep know it but don’t want to acknowledge it and others just don’t know or are happy with it.
Which makes Todd’s question “why me?” rethorical. You’re not special Todd.
You are just one kind of sheep like all of us.
If you want to try to step out of your sheepness, try to become a goat. It’s really worth to try. Not that I ever succeeded!
I’m not quite sure what you mean by “you’re not special”…aren’t we all special? Don’t we all ask “why me?” dozens of times a day? I think it is odd that many of the readers here seem to think I am making some sort of narcissistic statement of being chosen because I am “better” than this or that. I actually don’t think it has anything to do with being superior, but that doesn’t make me less curious as to why some of us are on this side of the fence, and others are on the other side. As I say in the article, there are many things we can identify, but nothing that seems to be the primary factor in determining our particular “uniqueness”….and yes, I am “special”, and so are you, and so is each and every sheep. Also, suggesting that God calls us forth, and hand picks us,… Read more »
RE: Last paragraph.
Agreed, but no one would classify “knowing the truth” as is mentioned in the opening of the article under “various [ordinary] tasks”.
Perhaps “knowing the truth” might have been substituted by a less grandiose wording.
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
Here in the US I vote (US) Green Party.
Have long described the two main parties, in a word, as
Jerks (Republicans)
Crazy (Democrats).
Crazy, currently in power, has never been so dead on correct a characterization
as now.
Though I have long supported the (US) Green Party
that may change, reluctantly. The candidate I supported in the 2020 election
later came out in support of the neocon warmongers and
weapons supplierswar profiteers re:their Ukraine project.
In Canada, the Jewish Lobby had an Anti-Anti-Semitism law assented by parliament. So now, any complaints will have the accused endure the treatment of Ernst Zundel or Ursula Haverbeck.
Two realizations:
1) Criticism of Jews is Illegal in Canada, and a criminal offense.
2) We are all Palestinians now.
The Jewish Lobby also interfered with the Green Party of Canada, by passing party bylaws that are incompatible with the Canadian Constitution. The effect was cancelling the candidacy of two members who would not declare fealty to Israel, Jews or the Jewish lobby.
Technically, what I have just written is a criminal offense.
Technically, even suggesting that Israel is also behind the “Slava Ukrani” woke hoax, is also a criminal offense.
THINK HARD AND CLEARLY ABOUT THIS.
“Ask who you are not allowed to criticise……..”
Very well put.
I guess when you are “chosen”, it means everyone else Isn’t…
Nope, that is not what I meant at all. Maybe all of us “chosen” were chosen to end up in the crap end of the stick…who knows.
Why me is not the question: if you know you have a destiny it is, now what.
We can apply this to others. We see that Klaus Schwab’s “quo vadis the universe” is a cover story for a banker heist.
What do we do with that information?
https://moneycircus.substack.com/p/crisis-update-bank-runs-as-pretext
To me, Klaus Anal Schwab is a ridiculous figure, one of a large number of red herrings tossed to people to bitch about.
As far as money, or economics, the current crisis goes deeper than that. It’s not a monetary crisis, it’s a physical, thermodynamic crisis. In other words, it’s physically impossible to keep the physical economy going at the current ever-increasing pace, let alone the fact that the financial system, or its claims on the underlying physical stuff, has become completely divorced from reality.
Will the banksters be able to keep the financial system afloat and continue controlling people through it? A good question.
https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/
What do we do with that information?
I own two machetes.
What should I do with that information?
God may be the very last place to look for an answer to Todd Hayen’s question. You simply cannot separate the concept of God – of any god – from the concept of authoritarianism.
Believers are denied the possibility of questioning not only God itself but all commandments ascribed to it.
When Jesus supposedly said to “render unto God…and unto Caesar…” he was carrying forward the age old maxim that some deserve rendering unto while the rest are consigned to doing the rendering.
Not a good basis for critical thinking.
I’m not sure that’s the case, H. Paul ( the main man, not me) encouraged critical thinking in his missionary work. He said – don’t just accept what I say – use your critical judgment – decide for yourself if what I say makes sense. Listen to what I say, and test it.
You can’t question an ‘it’, true, but you can question a Person
Atheists have no true concept of God. If they had, they wouldn’t be atheists.
God is Sovereign, not authoritarian. God is One and True. All false gods are false and not God at all. Everything false is false, opposing God.
Prof. Rieck, specialist in game theory, thinks Hersh may have been misused to discredit the all-too-clear suspicion of American perpetration. Moreover, the theory with the nutshell “Andromeda”, which is implausible in his eyes, could at the same time be a signal to Ukraine that America is losing patience with Zelensky endless claims. Approximately in the same way as rulers in the Middle Ages showed their torture instruments only briefly as a warning, without having to use torture themselves. Ultimately, America’s reputation as a “NATO partner” is at stake. NATO would be deprived of any basis for trust if the truth were revealed. Moreover, it is about the enormous insurance sum for the damage to be prevented if the culprit turns out to be the state respectively its military. Furthermore, he will discuss why perpetrators cover their tracks by constantly creating new scenarios, even the most implausible ones, which in the… Read more »
6 men in a 50 foot boat. Jerome K. Jerome x 2. But where’s Montmorency? They could have come up with a better cover story than the S.S. Minnow, but they didn’t want to. They require people to sign up to and swallow this chromium plated patent BS nonsense to humiliate them, and as a test of loyalty. Sergeant Schulz has to stand there in silence like a bitch slapped, stuffed dummy as Brandon states his intention in advance to blow up his critical infrastructure worth billions, that will totally wreck the German economy, and not say a word. An utterly obsequious, grovelling, subservient, cocksucking good little satrap, standing there and taking it and pretending it’s raining as Brandon spits in his face. Is there anything more contemptible than that? Brandon fancies himself as a two-bit hood, taking on Cornpop. Are there any Germans left with any backbone, or are… Read more »
You forgot to mention the obligatory ‘left behind’ passports to assist with identification of culprits, al la 911 and numerous other flase flags. I’m just waiting for the gilligans island meme videos to emerge – won’t be long!
At this stage of the game, (as if the running of a system that should be designed to enhance the refinement of humanity is considered a “game”), it’s clear that the truth seekers/tellers are simply acting as adults, forced to babysit a circus cabal whose lies are increasingly obvious and detrimental. To them, everything is the business of show, but the “charade of silence”, i.e. censorship, can no longer maintain the facade of legitimate and worthy leadership.
The Empire of Lies Strikes Back… Extraordinary Cover-Up of Nord Stream Terrorism
Western news outlets pompously claim to be pinnacles of journalism and defenders of public interest and democracy. They are nothing but the propaganda ministry for Washington – the Empire of Lies.
I don’t know about any of you, but I was simply a fringe person from my childhood onwards. So it came easy to me to suspect evil when the stage was set in march 2020. As I had never “belonged” I simply went on not belonging, finding all things corona hilarious and watching the show from the wings.
Maybe fringe people are the chosen ones. I, for one, couldn’t care less. All my longing goes to magically “belong” some day, although I don’t count on it..
I’m similar, liked my own company most – although do enjoy been with others as a second 😉 choice
I always did think ‘out of the box’ and never understood how people parroted things from books at school and were classed as intelligent. no one was encouraged to question things (grew up in the 60’s)
then one day, it was diana and the ‘accident’ 1997
i just thought casually ‘oh they finally murdered her’ and thought nothing of it – while people suddenly virtue signalled and cried ‘princess of hearts’
then 9/11
weapons of mass destruction
that really got me thinking outta ze box!
If people ask why I like my own company, I tell them it’s because I prefer intelligent company. (Also works when asked why I’m talking to myself)
Recognizing that there are natural monopolies likes healthcare and education What idiot said that? There is nothing monopolistic about either healthcare or education. You can have as many private doctors and hospitals or schools and kindergartens as you want. In fact, it would be the most welcome thing because it would introduce competition into the system, as opposed to the ultimately hierarchical regulated scheme that exists at present and is prone to be hijacked by opportunist motherfuckers, where COVID-19 is a case in point par excellence. Ditto the present incarnation of education … err … indoctrination … Natural monopoly would be something like the railroad network because, let’s face it, building an infinite number of parallel railways that would compete with one another is not really feasible. As to Hayek’s spontaneous order, which basically amounts to anarchy, I see nothing wrong with it in theory, except that it’s utopian. For… Read more »
For it to work, people would have to manage to merge collectivism with individualism, It has always worked, its just that the allure of Mammon Worship somehow shortens the attention span of many individuals who originally “thought” they were collective in spirit. Anarchy is probably the way out. It has never moved itself to regime change, starting wars, or censorship. The key is being aware of when inherent self interest allows one to prosper while allowing those around to prosper. Allowing as many in society to prosper is an imperative, compared to encouraging greed and now barbarity via “tribute to the rich”. Initiative is more favourable to ambition. Something I have been saying for years now towards former acquaintances is, “I certainly would like to prosper. I don’t worry about the cash, as business is a relationship with however many individuals, and each one is unique. So by looking at… Read more »
Why do some people want to surround themselves in opulence? Why did Queen Ellizabeth paint her skin white? Why wear a crown? Why was the palace of Versailles built? To try to replicate divine majesty. When the human body is illuminated from within, a halo is said to appear, the skin shines with light… these are ancient cellular memories carried within humanity… dormant. All of today’s distractions are to keep us from rediscovering this fountain of bliss, though I’ll never understand why we all wouldn’t want to revive this together rather than settling for cheap replicates…
There’s nothing good about rebellion in itself. Luciferians love rebellion, they see Lucifer as the first rebel. Convid lockdown was a taster of how life will look under a Luciferian world order for those who haven’t worked it out yet. Great, wasn’t it? Two 1950s’ films are revealing of aimless rebellion, ‘The Wild One’ and ‘Rebel without a cause’. Both prepped the way of the invention of the teenager and the 1960s’ counterculture. How did it work out for our two lead rebels? Brando ended up a bloated embarrassment and Dean was dead young (or it was faked – who knows?). They love steering the rebelious into self-destruction, it uses the weight of an attacker against them like in the martial arts they also love. BTW those with a strong stomach might investigate what was happening on the set of RWAC. The director Nicholas Ray was a monster (and it… Read more »
Not sure what definition of rebellion is, but the way I understand it, there is everything good about rebellion. For no matter how well things might have been figured out and no matter how well they might at the initial stage work, they will sooner or later get corrupted or hijacked by some opportunist asshole (there’s always plenty of them around), and the well-functioning whatever becomes a dysfunctional nightmare. The conformist conservatives will cling to the fucked up system because they, as you, harbor the belief that there is nothing good about rebellion, thus perpetuating the fucked up state of affairs. You need rebels to shake up things from time to time, kick some ass, throw an asshole or two out of the window, things like that. On the other day, somebody posted a quote from some US president who said just that. That people gotta get rambunctious every about… Read more »
“What are ya rebellin’ against, Johnny?”
“Waddya got?” — Marlon Brando in The Wild Ones.
“Rebellion” has been commoditized and marketed to young people as a virtue. No healthy functional society has ever encouraged it’s youth to rebel against it.
The 50s films were primarily offshoots of the ‘angry young men’ philosophy.
“… aroused by what they perceived as the hypocrisy and mediocrity of the upper and middle classes.”
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Angry-Young-Men
Thanks
Great friend of mine called me Jim. Just that I appreciate it. I don’t know partically why but another was ‘unk’, or you could say uncle Roy to a chum.
It’s also interesting the regarding longevity through the 60”s onto the early 70’s imo.