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The process of bonding that precedes entrainment, or “following a leader,” as Michael described it, (1) is similar to shopping. We look at what’s being offered, mull it over, and buy or don’t buy it.
Just as no supermarket produce lacks a shape or flavor, so no leader’s direction lacks a bias. It’s a filter through which things are seen, a basis upon which choices are made, and a spur to action.
It starts as a reaction to something, which then becomes a preference, which then becomes a bias.
In this imaginary model I’m constructing, our political choices reflect these biases.
Everyone has them. AND they’re usually self-serving. (2)
In the best of all possible worlds, my only request would be that we state them. But that’s asking a lot in today’s world.
We’re all of us pretending as if there’s a world war pending when, in reality, Trump, Putin, Xi, bin Salman et al are all allies and GESARA (3) is waiting in the wings, bringing with it world peace. But let’s keep the pretense up for whatever purpose it serves. Oh, yes, we’re scaring the sleeping into waking up.
Thus, we may not be anywhere near the place of acknowledging our own biases. I actually think that we as a society have a tremendous amount of fence-mending to do as soon as we’ve finished fighting and pretending. But we as a society seem to be nowhere near that. And neither am I!
However, I suppose I can start the process by acknowledging my own bias. My bias politically is centrist in ideological terms and moderate reformer in action terms. I’m not a conservative in sentiment, nor a rightist, nor a Republican (even if I could vote). I’m a Donald Trump supporter. My bias is also heavily influenced and shaped by my being a Canadian.
There. I did not die from saying that.
My further bias – and this one is predominant – is that I want to be a writer – not a spiritual teacher and not a political leader. I’m an urban monk and introvert. (4) And what I love to do more than anything else is write.
As a journalist I report what’s actually happening. And there’s where I have to manage my bias – to keep it within bounds.
Draining the swamp is my objective and so I’m not going to post deep-state propaganda, obviously. But then there are finer and finer distinctions which I’m always having to manage. It’s part of living in times of rapid change.
As a follower of the path of awareness, I remain aware of how I’m responding to the challenges. And here, as an aside, I have to thank Suzi Maresca for helping me with the challenges to my own beliefs and biases I was wrestling with recently.
I observe that always in the background is the concern for my own survival (not death, which I don’t fear, (5) but the survival of my freedom, livelihood, etc.). Always I shy away from something that threatens it or I blanket it in lethargy and forget about it. (6)
I also see that I have a hierarchy of biases, arranged in order of importance.
Survival, comfort, ability to get work done – every “fork in the road” has its own bias.
The whole thing taken together I call my “personality” or my “ego,” depending on your bias. Program in the ego’s primal command: “I want X. I don’t want Y.”
Now wrap it all up in skin, stitch it up, and call it a “person.”
Cameras! Action! Let the play begin.
Follow the leader whose bias you agree with, I say. As an admirer of America, I follow Trump. As a Canadian, it’s not as clear a choice. As yet.
Footnotes
(1) “Collective Consciousness, Collective Will, and Entrainment,” September 15, 2024, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2024/09/15/collective-consciousness-collective-will-and-entrainment/.
(2) See On the Self-Serving Bias at https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/On-the-Self-Serving-Bias-2.pdf
(3) For newcomers, see Toward a World That Works for Everyone at https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Toward-a-World-That-Works-for-Everyone-4.pdf
(4) See “Quietness and Stillness; or, If You Reach a Fork in the Road,”
(5) See “The Disappearance of the Fear of Death,” November 14, 2023, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2023/11/14/349489/
(6) See:
- “How the Fog of Lethargy Operates,” June 6, 2024, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2024/06/06/how-the-fog-of-lethargy-operates/
- “The Blanketing Mechanism Called Lethargy,” October 2, 2023, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/?p=348441