A well-known Russian researcher, author, and sorceress, K. Menshikova, once spoke about the System, our dysphoric present, and the many dissatisfied individuals who wish to fight or eliminate the existing order of things. Actually, she spoke on the subject more than once, and many of her video lectures have found an appreciator in me, but there was one particularly brilliant allegory that stood out to me concerning this subject of our constant, chronic dissatisfaction with "the matrix".
Imagine that you are moving into a new house. Naturally, you will expect the previous tenants to move out and take all their belongings so that your family can come into a clean, empty dwelling with no signs of anyone else's presence.
When we move, in most cases it’s customary for the previous owners to take everything that's theirs and make the habitat as "neutral" as possible. No one in their right mind will question why the old tenants are taking their wine glasses and collections of antique books, carry out their grandfather's furniture, take down the curtains, and empty medicine cabinets when moving out. We don't demand that they leave behind a piano, or a sofa, or a closet full of designer clothes. We expect them to empty the house of all the good stuff along with all the bad stuff like trash, dirty laundry, used diapers, and old car tires.
It would be very odd and highly unacceptable to grab the old tenant by the hand and demand that he leaves behind his things simply because we like them and would like to keep using them after he is gone.
In this example, the "old tenant" is the system, and we, the newcomers, don't like the system very much.
Many so-called "woke" people out there want the system to change drastically or to disappear completely. But they forget that if (and when) the system goes, it will take everything that is its product, just like the old tenant will take all his furniture, books, utensils, Persian rugs, cookware, cars, trailers, medical supplies, food and water, and whatever else is inside the house he leaves behind.
If you want the system to be changed drastically or to be gone, you can't expect to keep using any of the established institutions because THEY ALL BELONG TO THIS SYSTEM and have been developed and enacted by it, its agents, and us, the consumers who AGREED to this order of things.
Yes, we have agreed. We agree to it every time when we take our kids to a public school, attend a religious institution, shop at a store (not family owned, and even most family owned ones are all screwed up in their own ways), use Internet, call a doctor, rely on an army or a police force, get any type of certificate or license, or even use basic things like electricity, gas, and hot water.
So when someone screams passionately about how he hates this system, ask if he has started making even the slightest attempts to stop using its establishments and become more self-sufficient and self-reliant.
Survival and basic needs I understand, we mostly kind of have to, but if that person is still regularly using anything that has to do with specifically “entertainment industry”, weeeeellll… you know you got yourself a bullshitter who basically just uses all this “I hate the system” to look rebellious.
Some may say we are enslaved by the existing order of things, and I will agree. But if we put our emotions aside, it becomes obvious that there is a type of a barter. The problem is that this barter isn't very fair.
For example, you can use the system's offer to provide your kids with public education, which will also give you 5-6 hours of "free time" 5 days a week to use as you wish while your kids are in someone else's care. It's not fair that you can't control HOW your kids are taught and what is being instilled in their minds. You can't decide what lessons are given to them. Moreover, if you want this kind of deal, you'd have to subject your kids to medical practices such as mandatory vaccinations. The vaccine issue itself (and whether you are for it or against it) isn't the point. The point is, you HAVE TO agree to it no matter what -- it's a part of this deal.
Another obvious example is trading the most valuable human resource - time - for money. And if we want police to protect us, we are forced to accept the existing police force system as is, with all its flaws. Some want the police to change, to be more humane, less corrupted, better... but no one from the outside can actually change much in this institution unless they dedicate THEIR WHOLE LIFE to fighting for this particular cause.
Just saying "I hate the system" doesn't mean anything unless we make significant attempts to stop using its institutions OR dedicate our lives to changing them the way WE think they should be. If neither is being done, then it's like that new tenant hating the old owners and wanting them gone, but please please leave all this comfy furniture, Chinese porcelain, and maybe your cars too because all these things are cool and we want to use them.
No, folks. It doesn't work that way in terms of energy. I don't want to go too much into esoteric stuff right now, but yes, it does have to do with agreements we make every moment of our life.
They aren’t JUST social and cultural agreements; it all happens on a deeper level where we use our time, attention, energy, health, and ultimately our life force to enact these agreements and exchanges. We constantly use and trade our lives (our process of existence) for being in this world in a specific way.
Every time we use something produced by the system, we agree with its ways and become intimately intertwined with it. That's why I don't believe anyone who says they "left the Matrix" unless they found the way not to use most of its products OR somehow changed the nature of the existing energy and time BARTER with this System. This is very, very complex, it's not as simple as putting on dark clothes and becoming Neo performing fly kicks or pulling himself out of the goo capsule.
this image is generated by AI (c) deepai.org
This is beautifully written. I agree with much of it and society's lack of personal ownership meanwhile ignorantly using the system is a moot point. Acting against their own best interest out of whatever the excuse is. The desire to live in a nanny state where life is made as easy as possible is also our addiction to the system. I often find myself challenging others when they complain about the system or matrix but don't seem to have any clear understanding of what that actually means besides it's the new cool thing to say.
Unfortunately, with society's lack of ownership also applies to a lack of morality that would ensue if "the system" was wiped out tomorrow in one fell swoop. most of us are not even close to prepared, Gaza currently is perhaps just a fastracked preview of what it would look like but obviously much slower degradation in counties not at war. The breakdown itself would likely follow the same pattern nonetheless regardless of duration.
The better way and less culturally shocking, would be to collectively agree to revamp it in a more organic and sustainable way. Being here during the steemit war that resulted in Hive was a mini representation of cleaning up a toxic concept to a more fair and balanced level using the same base already familiar with and improving them, but obviously everyone has to be on the same page and self police accordingly to make it work.
Society really lacks that. To be fair, that crypto war still involved probably 5000 strangers that never met each other and it was done. The Hive you enjoy today is the result of a morality war and re-organization in a smaller scale, and it did work, very well I might add. If you weren't around, back in the day. stemmit was pretty messed up. It was like the purge internet edition. Say hi or get upvoted by the wrong person could get your account nuked into nothingness just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Glad those days are done. So in theory cleaning up the current cultural infrastructure we are all accustomed to isn't a stretch but a hard task, mountains are big and immoveable but still climbable...All depends if there is enough will to make it happen. Society might not fully see what's wrong but recognizing something IS wrong is the first step.
I actually started writing on Steemit back int the day, but then took a break, and when I came back, Steemit was no more, so I just read about everything in people’s posts. Then I wrote on Hive and then personal things happened, which made me abandon the old account due to the fact that I couldn’t change the name and the posts anymore, but I wanted nothing to do with them. So this is my third attempt to start here from scratch ))
I agree! With this
The better way and less culturally shocking, would be to collectively agree to revamp it in a more organic and sustainable way.
While some darker part of me craves chaos and anarachy, the more reasonable and collected part understands that the pain will be unimaginable. Plus I myself am in no way ready to start doing things from scratch on the streets while keeping my few loved ones alive and safe.
Lol I agree, as much as the matrix concept irritates me, I'm in no way ready to rough it out. Just, there could be some huge improvements made.
Well, I'm in the same boat, I was maybe around longer but like you things happen, my original account got derailed a bit loosing access for one reason or another, had a couple years of not being here and here I am a second attempt. Hang in there.
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