I'd Rather Be Wrong (article) by Regis Auffray on AuthorsDen

[thoughts from a   ~burning woman~   Sha’Tara]

Now that I’ve broached the subject of ‘consensus reality’ I realize it’s not only an interesting subject, but endless as well.

What is consensus reality?

It is the result of every thought, word, or deed we engage that is borrowed from the collective mind, or consensus.
It is everything we believe in.
It is everything we accept that does not resonate with our own mind or heart.
It is worship, adulation, praise of that which is outside ourselves and does not share its power.
It is that which looks for fallen crumbs under the rich man’s table and thanks him for caring.
It is every dance step taken to reach the carrot and avoid the whip.

Every collective move we make; every personal contribution to any collective enhances and empowers consensus reality and disempowers individual reality. It’s that simple.

When looked at it from this point of view, and I credit my teachers for this insight, a lot of things that are terribly wrong; that repeatedly remain wrong, begin to be understandable. As long as individuals do not possess their own reality; as long as they are forced to find their answers to personal problems from the trough of public offerings, they cannot break free of their problems.

The reasoning here is simple: to tap into the collective ‘fix’ costs. Nothing about collectives is ever free because they are sponges that inflate themselves forever until they are so bloated they implode, or get pricked from the outside and explode. If we understood history we would know this intuitively. Look at any ‘great’ collective, say the empire forged by Alexander the Great, or Rome and what do we see? They were built on exploitation, oppression, bloodshed and slavery. Look at the Christian Church and its crusades and inquisitions, the burning of millions of innocents to promote its agenda through fear and extortion. Look at the great European empires and the same pattern is quite evident. Look at the world powers of yesterday and today: the USSR, the USA, Communist China and the same pattern emerges. Look at the mighty financial empires of global corporations, the oil giants, manufacturers and importers/retailers. The proliferation of the fast food ‘industry’. The globalization of agriculture. All of these contribute to the poisoning and destruction of the natural environment and the human body. All are dependent on growing militarization of the planet as well as individual control, either through fear, as exemplified by the US Patriot Act, or through brainwashing by advertising.

Think of any collective you are a part of and do an honest analysis of what is in it for you individually versus what you put into it. Then ask yourself what is your motivation for putting into it. Yes, that’s it – the personal motivation behind the willingness to be in it, or acquiesce to its demands. Is it fear? Greed? Pleasure or ‘fun’? Need to belong or be accepted as part of a recognizable or power group; to be ‘in the loop’ and not on the outside looking in?

Individually people feel powerless. Collectively they feel empowered, for when the collected sheeple bray, it sounds so much more impressive than when only one does it. That’s why you have ‘sports’ events, isn’t it? Where collective yelling, put-downs, swearing and various mindless or violent acts are permitted. That’s why you have church gatherings, where sing-songs and ‘prayers’ make you feel a part of something meaningful. Just don’t ask what that meaningfulness is – there is no need for that. That it is meaningful is implied by the event itself. Having participated is what matters. If they tell you it’s good, and you get the feel-good, even for a couple of hours, that’s all good. It makes up for the rest of the time when you struggle individually, personally, to make sense of life’s vagaries. Don’t ask why the sports jocks and their pimps aren’t helping you to cope with a disintegrating marriage or a sick child – they made you feel good for an hour and that’s what they do. Don’t ask why God isn’t there either. Just pretend that He is and don’t ask whether you are being tested, hated or loved when shit happens. God said He’d be there for you and you better believe it because if you stop believing or paying for it all that time and money you put into the collective heavenly insurance scheme will be null and void. Worse, you’ll end up in hell for eternity. Ain’t divine love grand! You gotta love it!

But there is one thing for sure about being part of any collective. You can’t be wrong ‘cause if you are, so is everybody else, and there’s a great wash of feel good knowing that can’t be. So, whether you have a clue or not as to why your are in it, you know that you are as right as the rest.   Which brings up the image of the turkeys rounded up in a pen a week before Thanksgiving. The head gobbler gobbles for attention and when he has it he states: “Now that we’re organized, what do we do?” But does it matter what they do? The result has to be the same for all. And since they can’t all be wrong, none are. They are experiencing collective empowerment in consensus reality.

Here’s the news flash: planet Earth is the turkey pen. Those who aren’t in the pen yet are being chased and hunted down. Either they will be killed, or they will be captured, made to pay for not believing, and be thrown in the pen to share the fate of the others.

And that explains my title.

Yes, I’d rather be wrong about everything than belong to any collective by choice. There are extenuating circumstances that force an incarnate being to be part of groups, of course but as long as I know it’s only a physical connection and my mind is free from collective tentacles – belief systems – then that does not matter.

Yes, I’d rather lose everything than bow to these tottering idols of religion, state and commerce. I know what they are made of because despite the heavy boots supporting the steel torsos and the golden heads, I’ve seen their feet of clay and I have a hammer hidden in my heart that can smash them, bringing the entire construct down.

Yes, I’d rather die if I’m caught in non-conformity. As long as I am innocent of causing harm to others because I refuse to submit or worship, let the system do its worst. I’ve been there before and I can be there again. For real freedom, the freedom of heart and mind, always demands the ultimate price.

I had a dream last night. I was on a battlefield and a truce had been called as the opposing forces were too equal to engage a meaningful fight. Incidentally, the ‘enemy’ were orcs of the Uruk-Hai variety, tall, vicious and deadly. It came down to individual combat between one from the Uruk-Hai and myself. (It seems that I was the entire ‘force’ that opposed the orcs: there was no one else on ‘my’ side.) I was wearing a coat of chain mail which in the Tolkien books is called ‘mithril’ – a light-weight silvery substance so hard that it cannot be cut with ordinary steel. I had created a new weapon, a long-handled battle-axe with an unbreakable flexible handle. It had a curved, razor sharp double blade at one end and a serrated spear head at the other. With this I walked calmly towards the waiting Uruk-Hai. When he charged, bellowing, I swung the axe at waist level, describing a low horizontal arc. It passed beneath the orc’s block and cut through its steel coat, slicing it in half. End of the dream. But there were still tens of thousands of orcs waiting their turn.

The symbolism was quite simple: the orcs represent consensus reality. In numbers they feel strong and they believe they are right because of might and conformity. My stand was that of the individual. The battle was drawn a long time ago and I know this now: that eventually one individual, without a face, without a name, without any reputation for good or ill, will crush the collective and it will never rise again.

Now that’s positive thinking. Or does that frighten you to know that one day you’ll have to stand alone and take responsibility for your own life and for everything else going on around you? That someday you will have to shape your own future and when it doesn’t work out, there’ll be no one to blame? By the same token if it does work out there’ll be no one to pay and praise.