Adjusting to an Abnormal Society
I keep asking myself, whether there is a singular narrative that gets to me more than the rest, or if witnessing and experiencing abnormality in an abnormal society, is what really strains my mind. Living in a masked society, including children and babies, is a surrealistic, soul-piercing phenomena, which I continue to experience.
The ongoing democide and iatrogenocide from the killshots is a major constant stressor, especially when following Mark Crispin Miller’s saddening yet critically important work on tracking those who are dying suddenly, becoming chronically ill, and now becoming violent suddenly.
I have come to believe that the greatest threat posed to the mental health of the sane in an insane society, is from the sane having to watch people and places they love become insane.
A measure of mental illness
In Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley wrote:
Our "increasing mental sickness" may find expression in neurotic symptoms. These symptoms are conspicuous and extremely distressing. But "let us beware," says Dr. Fromm, "of defining mental hygiene as the prevention of symptoms. Symptoms as such are not our enemy, but our friend; where there are symptoms there is conflict, and conflict always indicates that the forces of life which strive for integration and happiness are still fighting."
The really hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal.
“Many of them are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives, that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does.”
They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted, still cherish "the illusion of individuality," but in fact they have been to a great extent deindividualized.
Their conformity is developing into something like uniformity. But "uniformity and freedom are incompatible. Uniformity and mental health are incompatible too. . . . Man is not made to be an automaton, and if he becomes one, the basis for mental health is destroyed."
I have been contemplating this passage, and wondering what the inverse of people being perfectly adjusted to abnormality means, for those of us who are not adjusted, and who cannot normalise absurdities and atrocities.
Does the fact that I struggle to make sense of what has happened to the people and places I love being changed beyond recognition, demonstrate a ‘symptom’ of conflict within me and a force of life that is still fighting?
Is the fact that I am deeply unsettled by totalitarianism, dystopia, and my fellow humans loving their servitude, a positive measure of my mental health? As opposed to a measure of mental sickness for those who are adjusted.
I do not think it is that simple, to just invert Huxley’s deductions of the “hopeless victims of mental illness.”
There is a high price to pay for not conforming, assimilating, or acquiescing to clown world. All of the stressors I have described, continue to compound.
Self-censoring or speaking up
Whenever I have chosen to self-censor, for fear of not turning a conversation of pleasantries into a standoff, I have usually regretted it later on. I have also found myself regretting speaking up and souring the mood. When I do respond to people discussing ‘current things’, with my version of the truth and alternate viewpoints, I try to do so concisely.
Their responses are often muted, indifferent, and in a couldn’t care less attitude.
After being enthusiastically regaled with an excited recounting of King Charles’ Coronation, I calmly told this person about Charles’ relationship with Jimmy Savile.
They had never heard about this.
I went on briefly to expand on the dark history of the royals. I suggested that they watch a short video to learn more on this:
They then asked me about the weather in Thailand, and we moved on.
Others have recently been gushing with relief since the WHO declared that the Covid global health emergency is over. They are convinced that we are going back to normal.
I told them that I disagreed, and that we have only a brief respite from medical tyranny. They rolled their eyes. I tried to tell them about the WHO pandemic treaty, and the changes to the International Health Regulations, that threaten our way of life.
They mumbled something about global problems needing global solutions. Then they asked me if I had watched the Eurovision song contest, and mentioned Ukraine flags and something about a blue and yellow submarine parade in the streets.
When everything that most people believe is entirely false, how do we reach them? We keep on speaking up, imparting truth, and being consistent.
Sharing stories with friends on interactions with normies, is a great way to learn how to navigate their unreality, and tap into subsets of narratives that they are beginning to question. My friends and I will often share which pieces of information we have had the most success with, in awakening interest within the blue pill consumers.
Talking to friends about this type of thing helps to alleviate the mental strain.
Being in nature
When people live inside their phones for 18 hours a day, how can we reach them? We can choose to be present when we are in public, aware and attuned to our surroundings. The visibility of such a rare phenomenon as seeing someone without a device in their hands, or headphones on, may give those in the grips of nomophobia pause for thought - if they catch you during the exceedingly rare event of them looking up.
Device addiction is so prevalent in Bangkok, that I seldom see people in parks who are present. I find myself moving location multiple times when trying to find a quiet spot to meditate, as someone nearby begins watching something on their device on loudspeaker.
Being in nature without distraction, provides welcome sanctuary for the mind to rest. Nature lends itself to being conducive for peaceful meditation.
Joost Merloo wrote in The Rape of the Mind:
Quiet and solitude no longer exist. There is no time for meditation, for pondering, for reminiscing. The mind is caught in a web of official thinking and planning. Even the delights of self-chosen silence are forbidden. Every citizen of Totalitaria must join in the singing and the slogan shouting. And he becomes so caught in the constant activity that he loses the capacity to realize what is happening to him.
It does take real active effort in the information age, to seek out quiet and solitude. Making time for reflection and thinking can help protect our minds against menticide.
Merloo observed how technology exacerbates our passivity. Bear in mind that this book was published in 1956:
Modern technology teaches man to take for granted the world he is looking at; he takes no time to retreat and reflect. Technology lures him on, dropping him into its wheels and movements. No rest, no meditation, no reflection, no conversation – the senses are continually overloaded with stimuli. The child doesn’t learn to question his world anymore; the screen offers him answers readymade.
Now multiply that statement one hundred fold with the advent of the portable screens we carry around. Merloo often juxtaposes references to mentally damaging technology and stimuli, with a lack of meditation, that is sorely needed to redress balance in the mind.
I believe that most people are borderline incapable of allowing themselves to rest and reflect. People are addicted to distraction and stimuli, usually in the form of the infinite social media scroll. They become conduits for propaganda and docility.
Perhaps in trying to reach the most propagandised in society, whom are vehemently opposed to any suggestion on counternarratives, we might lead them to embrace quiet and solitude. Then their minds might be able to take the first steps in thinking and reflecting for themselves, and by themselves.
How do you cope with the mental strain of living in an abnormal society?
What have you observed in those around you suffering from perpetual menticide having reshaped their beliefs?
How much do you value solitude and reflection for peace of mind?
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Thanks, Nicholas, for sharing your vulnerability, it shows your strength. The rare and difficult independence of the genuine individual is a most worthy achievement as we are born to obey Authority and conform to the Collective starting with the Family. To get free and then become responsible for it should be the first and last task we ask of ourselves and then others. Quotes I retreat to for consolation, repair and courage:
“Vulnerability is not weakness, and the uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure we face every day are not optional. Our only choice is a question of engagement. Our willingness to own and engage with our vulnerability determines the depth of our courage and the clarity of our purpose; the level to which we protect ourselves from being vulnerable is a measure of our fear and disconnection.” Brene Brown
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” Rudyard Kipling
“This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew. As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore it if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“All the problems of the man who fears for his humanity come down to the same question: how to remain free?” Stefan Zweig
A fine essay on the extraordinary psychological pressure facing the world.