[- the bamboozle | the all consuming flame -]

in #psychology2 years ago

One of the saddest lessons of history is this:
If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us.It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken.

-Carl Sagan

Aversion, one of the five hindrances in buddhism. The unwillingness to see, the avoidance of unpleasant emotions. Everything we do, or avoid, comes from a place of craving or aversion. A reaction to internal bodily sensations. It is easier to stay in a place of comfort and to not have to face off with these sensations. Even being unable to realize they come from within, not from the 'external.' We flee, unwanting to confront these feelings. It's easy to rationalize - the rational - lies that we tell ourselves to keep us feeling good. With the avoidance of doubt, we become unable to question that other than what we believe to be the truth. Like the prisoners in Platos allegory of the cave, believing that the dancing shadows projected on the screen are the totality, the reality...
In the allegory, if one were to try and bring the prisoners out of this cave of ignorance, the bright light on the surface would blind them. You'd be branded as insane and they would fight you to return to the comfort of the cave. It has been said that all of philosophy is but a series of footnotes on Plato. The longer we dwell in the cave, the harder it becomes to leave. It becomes the all consuming flame. But there is hope, with small doses, the allegorical light on the surface can be grown accustomed to. But not without discomfort. Facing this discomfort with equanimity isn't possible however for many as we live in a series, a chain of reactions. One leading to the next, and the next, in perpetuity. In some ways it could be argued that free will indeed doesn't exist, and many are of this belief.
In the book political ponerology[A study on the nature of evil, adjusted for political purposes], the author speaks of how after a certain amount of time of being exposed to the lie, the bamboozle, you could approach someone with useful information. Information that could help them, could set them free. But they will be unwilling, in fact unable to hear it. Such is the human condition, the totality of which is so painful and so absurd that it becomes a deaf effect, it's simply unable to be seen or understood even if presented in the simplest of terms. But little by little, with repeated exposure, people do eventually start to see. If others are willing to speak up and shine the light.


The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.

-Morpheus, The Matrix

While I don't believe the sentiment of anyone being an enemy so to speak, the iconic Matrix film has encompassed many philosophical nuances that people have questioned from the dawn of thought. Namely, what is reality, what can be known to be subjectively true, can we trust our 5 senses? Interestingly enough, the quantum slit experiment has ascertained that our ideas of concrete, solid reality, matter and density, are not as solid or concrete as we would like to think. That time and space are illusions. One of the fundamental takeaways of this experiment, which has been repeated hundreds of times with different variations, each time focusing on a different facet, has been to understand that the fundamental building block of reality isn't matter, it's information, and the conscious perception thereof.


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@tipu curate 🍸

nie musiałeś kochana rozku, ale gdybyś chciała, mógłabyś 😜 dzieki bardzo! 💝😃

Legendary Quotes dear. Best line in the movie ❤️

I'm glad you liked it :) He's got some good lines but that one stands out for sure 😎

How are you dear? so many days you absent here 🙂

I am doing well, yeah I've been busy... or just having a hard time prioritizing Hive but feeling good for February! :)

Amazing use of the word: bamboozled. Thanks for bring me out of the cave and into some shades of differing lights. The shadow puppets on the cave wall have run the script too long.

To use the cliche, the rabbit hole goes deep... much further than can be imagined.

oh most definatly it does...it comes out the other end though...there are a few way out of it.