I think the 'Toxic Woo' types are symptomatic of a particular form of new age thinking - the idea that your thoughts create reality. They take this concept too literally and as a result they are terrified of bad or negative thoughts, they fear they will be manifested instantly in their reality.
"If we all just think happy thoughts, all bad things will disappear"
I don't want to throw shade on the concept that your thought manifest reality, I believe it is very evident that they do. However, they quite obviously do not manifest in the literal 'wish based' sense that some of the woo woo new age types think. It takes a great deal of real world effort to transform thoughts into reality and that is a good thing. Sometimes transforming thoughts into reality does require an acknowledgement of the realities of violence and evil.
I was saying to Deb Nance in a separate Note that even if we stipulate to the possibility of such manifestation, it is clearly not easy to do. If you work really hard, you can use affirmation and positive neurolinguistic programming to make better things happen in your life. But it is much harder to manifest away cancer, or evil, or to make the planet Jupiter wink out of existence with a mere thought.
It's almost as if they take it to a neurodivergent level of literal and then I truly think there's an inner turmoil with them. I am of the mind please don't make me defend myself bc it could kill us both.
I love all of this and had to fight the urge to restack it more than once. I will share something that I find wonderfully dope. This is coming from Anthony De Mello's book, The Way To Love, where he addresses what you have said here: "At times you will be gentle and yielding, at others hard, uncompromising, assertive, even violent. For the love that is born of sensitivity takes many unexpected forms and it responds not to prefabricated guidelines and principles, but to present, concrete reality."
Niiiiiice. Yep. My wife and I had to be firm in order to help someone we love turn his life around. He had to choose to do it, but without our firmness—if we had just "lovingly" enabled everything he was doing—he might never have made that choice. It broke our hearts every day to be "hard, uncompromising, and assertive." But we had to.
I often ask myself if I need some authority or entity or person telling me what my rights are. Certainly, no thing or no one living on this planet can dictate rights other than in the process of interacting in the real world (for practical purposes) verses interacting from within myself for cosmic purposes.
Humans are naturally violent because they operate from their false self for many reasons. When you become aware of your inner world, you will see that peace, love and harmony are all there is. It's got nothing to do with religion per se, but an understanding that all your rantings and ravings serve no purpose because the only thing you can control is your inner being.
This is how many humans become psychotic as they seek to control the outer world which is mind-numbingly impossible. You will go nutz trying to placate your ego and arrogance as well as everyone else. And when you don't get your way, you might turn to violence. The outside world is never static, buy your inner world always can be as you live from what is true.
"When you become aware of your inner world, you will see that peace, love and harmony are all there is."
I may be splitting hairs here, but as Solzhenitsyn puts it, "the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts." Still, properly read, your words "when you become aware of your inner world" can be understood as dissolving away the power of the evil side of one's heart, which at least to a great degree IS possible.
"Note that property rights are absolutely essential for human harmony and flourishing and you are manifesting greed and separateness. Never mind that property rights are a clear and non-negotiable emanation of natural law. Never mind that anti-propertarian attitudes have preceded most of the worst genocides in history. Nope, by acknowledging the basic facts of reality, human nature, logic, natural law, and history, you are defecating on the beautiful vision of sharing and harmony that lives inside their heads"-
Excellent piece. There is indeed an epidemic of 'Head-Buried-In-Sand' going on. A refusal to accept the cold, hard reality of ugly truths in favour of living under idealist and beautiful lies.
I do have a feeling we're swiftly running out of sand, though.
Jesus didn't always turn the other cheek. He chased the money changers out of the temple with a whip. Jesus battled Satan in the desert for 40 days. It's necessary to fight evil, and we're up to our eyeballs in it.
Well, for example trans rights. It sounds fair and right. But it keeps us at each other's throats because it was never about rights, it's about making the other side look like monsters so you can destroy them without a second thought. Civil war and an excuse to let government and it's thugs fix those mean people. And of course most dance to the tune and get very emotional about the issue, one way or another.
It's the devil in a Tinkerbell costume. If they actually cared about trans persons, they wouldn't make them fit in categories. They could be their own persons with their own bathrooms and sports, etc. Alas, that might solve problems and we can't have that. Because we really need the parasites....
The peace movement was born out of the Soviet Union to keep people from revolt against government. So naturally it's been part of our "school" reeducation camp agenda. Like all the other shiny garbage that is eating the people alive.
One side does things, the other side is indignant and a grand ping pong game goes on and on. I do believe this is the reason wars exist, the temptation to pick a side is indeed seductive. Politics= War
"But sometimes, we must look at the dark corners of reality. We cannot pretend that bad things don’t exist (either out in the world or in ourselves). We can improve our own lives, and the world, with a positive focus, but we cannot manifest away all human evil simply by retreating to a mental meadow filled with buzzing bees and frolicking unicorns."
I totally agree Chris. I know someone with a toxic woo attitude and it's turned me off of hanging out with her.
Back in the sixties I started building a contention that perhaps we could move away from war and fight the good and bad fights, , settle differences in the corporate boardrooms rather than the battlefields. Alas it took me a while to realize most of our battle plans of late as well as on previous dates are made and executed from such boardrooms.
Peaceful warrior yep, lot of them, probably including me. I'm willing to walk five blocks out of my way to avoid trouble (OK I've been known to walk three out of my way the other way just to see way would happen but hey, we've all our little foibles.), but just 'cause something don't affect me none doesn't mean such can't result in grievous harm to you and yours. The converse is also true.
So we need, peaceful squads, platoons, brigades . Nice neighborhood patrols, courtly county corps, local legions, polite and peaceful but ready willing and able to deflect the fit before it hits the shan.
Problem as I see it, as long as they're working for you or me, fine, but if, as by Libertarian Anarcho-capitalism hope and dreams they're mercenaries working for the buck, what's to keep someone else from buying them? I don't like the state but I don't see another workable way unless everybody is THE well regulated militia! Any group that has the might, others don't have makes right.
Skimmed chapt. 12 and seems to me the armed arm of the profit-loss insurers (A necessity, as I read him.), working for money, can be bought by the highest paying warlord. I still don't see a workable way unless everybody is THE well regulated militia with which if I read him right he concurred in section IX. So it looks like me, thee and longwinded he aren't to far off agreement.
Yes, Hoppe does see the likelihood of strong incentives for everyone to be able to protect themselves. It saves money and resources, both through the discounts that protection agencies/aggression insurers would likely offer, and in the fact that well-trained people would have to use such services less.
Plus, in an anarchic scenario, your land is TRULY your own. Not fee simple, but ALLODIAL. Defending it suddenly takes on a whole new meaning. It speaks not only to your allodial claim to your property, but to your descendants', and to the ancestors who defended it before you.
I entirely believe that an anarchic scenario would produce a FAR greater percentage of total badasses.
But there are other reasons to believe that market agencies would not so easily be taken over by warlords. A market economy is an ecosystem, and would be far more so in a market-anarchic condition. The interdependence…the need to maintain a good reputation…the need to get insurance…the need to be able to use the private court system…the competition…the need to maintain good relations with vendors…all of these, and more, provide incentives to market security agencies NOT to become pariahs. If one agency does, all the other agencies, and the customers and vendors, will likely resist and reject said agency. It's just not good business.
So yeah, I think we are on the same page. And, knowing what we know about the moral impermissibility of involuntary government, we owe it to ourselves and our posterity to at least try it!
"Yet some of the most ready dudes I know are also among the most peaceful and gentle."
This is the key. The people who are likely to commit unprovoked violence are the ones who are NOT ready, who have not gone through the necessary steps of self-reflection to understand the many facets of their own brains, light and dark. They attempt to wall off the dark, where it festers, always on the edge of erupting, accompanied by some feat of rationalization where the most transparent evil becomes "good".
To know oneself, to acquire both broad and focused skills: this is the path to being peaceful and gentle. And ready.
Thanks as always, Christopher, for such deep writing and simmering. I am still far too negative and I do get irritated by the "toxic woo" and "toxic positivity". Reality is seldom pleasant in so many ways. Studying history, one can see empires that become strong and powerful and prosperous, do begin to decay, ours included. The inner work of faith in God and deep self-reflection is desperately needed. It comes down to "me, myself and I" in the darkness and alone with ourselves. We cast the whole mess on the One Who created us and ask for HELP HELP HELP (one of my favorite prayers!!). Thanks also for reminding us that the Native tribes of North America were human beings, with both good and not so good in them, just like the rest of us rowdy hordes. We are all on the trail of transformation. Wendy
I think the 'Toxic Woo' types are symptomatic of a particular form of new age thinking - the idea that your thoughts create reality. They take this concept too literally and as a result they are terrified of bad or negative thoughts, they fear they will be manifested instantly in their reality.
"If we all just think happy thoughts, all bad things will disappear"
I don't want to throw shade on the concept that your thought manifest reality, I believe it is very evident that they do. However, they quite obviously do not manifest in the literal 'wish based' sense that some of the woo woo new age types think. It takes a great deal of real world effort to transform thoughts into reality and that is a good thing. Sometimes transforming thoughts into reality does require an acknowledgement of the realities of violence and evil.
All of that is quite well said. 💯
I was saying to Deb Nance in a separate Note that even if we stipulate to the possibility of such manifestation, it is clearly not easy to do. If you work really hard, you can use affirmation and positive neurolinguistic programming to make better things happen in your life. But it is much harder to manifest away cancer, or evil, or to make the planet Jupiter wink out of existence with a mere thought.
It's almost as if they take it to a neurodivergent level of literal and then I truly think there's an inner turmoil with them. I am of the mind please don't make me defend myself bc it could kill us both.
I love all of this and had to fight the urge to restack it more than once. I will share something that I find wonderfully dope. This is coming from Anthony De Mello's book, The Way To Love, where he addresses what you have said here: "At times you will be gentle and yielding, at others hard, uncompromising, assertive, even violent. For the love that is born of sensitivity takes many unexpected forms and it responds not to prefabricated guidelines and principles, but to present, concrete reality."
Niiiiiice. Yep. My wife and I had to be firm in order to help someone we love turn his life around. He had to choose to do it, but without our firmness—if we had just "lovingly" enabled everything he was doing—he might never have made that choice. It broke our hearts every day to be "hard, uncompromising, and assertive." But we had to.
Thank you, Tess.
I am very familiar with that situation and it’s the best thing you can do for someone. I’ve seen both approaches taken. Well done.
🤎💜💙🖤🤍
I often ask myself if I need some authority or entity or person telling me what my rights are. Certainly, no thing or no one living on this planet can dictate rights other than in the process of interacting in the real world (for practical purposes) verses interacting from within myself for cosmic purposes.
Humans are naturally violent because they operate from their false self for many reasons. When you become aware of your inner world, you will see that peace, love and harmony are all there is. It's got nothing to do with religion per se, but an understanding that all your rantings and ravings serve no purpose because the only thing you can control is your inner being.
This is how many humans become psychotic as they seek to control the outer world which is mind-numbingly impossible. You will go nutz trying to placate your ego and arrogance as well as everyone else. And when you don't get your way, you might turn to violence. The outside world is never static, buy your inner world always can be as you live from what is true.
That truth comes from a place not of this earth.
That all seems pretty reasonable to me.
My main point was that even if a person believes and manifests that, there are still other people out there who will rob him at gunpoint.
"When you become aware of your inner world, you will see that peace, love and harmony are all there is."
I may be splitting hairs here, but as Solzhenitsyn puts it, "the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts." Still, properly read, your words "when you become aware of your inner world" can be understood as dissolving away the power of the evil side of one's heart, which at least to a great degree IS possible.
Sure. I believe we can push Solzhenitsyn's line well to one side!
"Note that property rights are absolutely essential for human harmony and flourishing and you are manifesting greed and separateness. Never mind that property rights are a clear and non-negotiable emanation of natural law. Never mind that anti-propertarian attitudes have preceded most of the worst genocides in history. Nope, by acknowledging the basic facts of reality, human nature, logic, natural law, and history, you are defecating on the beautiful vision of sharing and harmony that lives inside their heads"-
Absolute banger! 👏
🤎
Excellent piece. There is indeed an epidemic of 'Head-Buried-In-Sand' going on. A refusal to accept the cold, hard reality of ugly truths in favour of living under idealist and beautiful lies.
I do have a feeling we're swiftly running out of sand, though.
It's fine to dream of a better way. But to completely ignore actual reality is madness.
Jesus didn't always turn the other cheek. He chased the money changers out of the temple with a whip. Jesus battled Satan in the desert for 40 days. It's necessary to fight evil, and we're up to our eyeballs in it.
Yep!
Well written.
Thanks!
Barbara Ehrenreich used the term 'Bright-sided' in her 2010 book discussing this. see:
Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America
I took a look. Interesting aspect!
Great balance. Unrestrained passively and non resistance only invites slaughter.
Thanks. Balance is key here!
So True!
All that gliiters is naught but shite. All the “brilliant” ideas that have captivated the west have innoculated us from the threat of liberty.
Ooh, please do elaborate.
Well, for example trans rights. It sounds fair and right. But it keeps us at each other's throats because it was never about rights, it's about making the other side look like monsters so you can destroy them without a second thought. Civil war and an excuse to let government and it's thugs fix those mean people. And of course most dance to the tune and get very emotional about the issue, one way or another.
It's the devil in a Tinkerbell costume. If they actually cared about trans persons, they wouldn't make them fit in categories. They could be their own persons with their own bathrooms and sports, etc. Alas, that might solve problems and we can't have that. Because we really need the parasites....
The peace movement was born out of the Soviet Union to keep people from revolt against government. So naturally it's been part of our "school" reeducation camp agenda. Like all the other shiny garbage that is eating the people alive.
One side does things, the other side is indignant and a grand ping pong game goes on and on. I do believe this is the reason wars exist, the temptation to pick a side is indeed seductive. Politics= War
Very fascinating analysis. Thank you!!
Oh I was thinking you might appreciate the book "Stalin's secret agents." By Evans and Romerstein
Probably! But see my post from today 🤣
"But sometimes, we must look at the dark corners of reality. We cannot pretend that bad things don’t exist (either out in the world or in ourselves). We can improve our own lives, and the world, with a positive focus, but we cannot manifest away all human evil simply by retreating to a mental meadow filled with buzzing bees and frolicking unicorns."
I totally agree Chris. I know someone with a toxic woo attitude and it's turned me off of hanging out with her.
Yeah, it's too bad. It's like—they were on the right track, but then they took the train too far.
Back in the sixties I started building a contention that perhaps we could move away from war and fight the good and bad fights, , settle differences in the corporate boardrooms rather than the battlefields. Alas it took me a while to realize most of our battle plans of late as well as on previous dates are made and executed from such boardrooms.
Peaceful warrior yep, lot of them, probably including me. I'm willing to walk five blocks out of my way to avoid trouble (OK I've been known to walk three out of my way the other way just to see way would happen but hey, we've all our little foibles.), but just 'cause something don't affect me none doesn't mean such can't result in grievous harm to you and yours. The converse is also true.
So we need, peaceful squads, platoons, brigades . Nice neighborhood patrols, courtly county corps, local legions, polite and peaceful but ready willing and able to deflect the fit before it hits the shan.
Problem as I see it, as long as they're working for you or me, fine, but if, as by Libertarian Anarcho-capitalism hope and dreams they're mercenaries working for the buck, what's to keep someone else from buying them? I don't like the state but I don't see another workable way unless everybody is THE well regulated militia! Any group that has the might, others don't have makes right.
My day is at an end—may I answer your question with some reading? Chapter 12 here: https://ia801508.us.archive.org/14/items/911-material/Pdfs/Democracy%20The%20God%20That%20Failed.pdf
If not, let me know and I can try to give you a summary tomorrow!
Skimmed chapt. 12 and seems to me the armed arm of the profit-loss insurers (A necessity, as I read him.), working for money, can be bought by the highest paying warlord. I still don't see a workable way unless everybody is THE well regulated militia with which if I read him right he concurred in section IX. So it looks like me, thee and longwinded he aren't to far off agreement.
Yes, Hoppe does see the likelihood of strong incentives for everyone to be able to protect themselves. It saves money and resources, both through the discounts that protection agencies/aggression insurers would likely offer, and in the fact that well-trained people would have to use such services less.
Plus, in an anarchic scenario, your land is TRULY your own. Not fee simple, but ALLODIAL. Defending it suddenly takes on a whole new meaning. It speaks not only to your allodial claim to your property, but to your descendants', and to the ancestors who defended it before you.
I entirely believe that an anarchic scenario would produce a FAR greater percentage of total badasses.
But there are other reasons to believe that market agencies would not so easily be taken over by warlords. A market economy is an ecosystem, and would be far more so in a market-anarchic condition. The interdependence…the need to maintain a good reputation…the need to get insurance…the need to be able to use the private court system…the competition…the need to maintain good relations with vendors…all of these, and more, provide incentives to market security agencies NOT to become pariahs. If one agency does, all the other agencies, and the customers and vendors, will likely resist and reject said agency. It's just not good business.
So yeah, I think we are on the same page. And, knowing what we know about the moral impermissibility of involuntary government, we owe it to ourselves and our posterity to at least try it!
Thank you for checking out Hoppe!
"Yet some of the most ready dudes I know are also among the most peaceful and gentle."
This is the key. The people who are likely to commit unprovoked violence are the ones who are NOT ready, who have not gone through the necessary steps of self-reflection to understand the many facets of their own brains, light and dark. They attempt to wall off the dark, where it festers, always on the edge of erupting, accompanied by some feat of rationalization where the most transparent evil becomes "good".
To know oneself, to acquire both broad and focused skills: this is the path to being peaceful and gentle. And ready.
Well said 💯
Too bad there's not a pill for negativity, or realism, or acquiescence. Like a black pill, or a red pill or... Oh wait.
Personally, I prefer the free pill!
https://christophercook.substack.com/t/freepill
Thanks as always, Christopher, for such deep writing and simmering. I am still far too negative and I do get irritated by the "toxic woo" and "toxic positivity". Reality is seldom pleasant in so many ways. Studying history, one can see empires that become strong and powerful and prosperous, do begin to decay, ours included. The inner work of faith in God and deep self-reflection is desperately needed. It comes down to "me, myself and I" in the darkness and alone with ourselves. We cast the whole mess on the One Who created us and ask for HELP HELP HELP (one of my favorite prayers!!). Thanks also for reminding us that the Native tribes of North America were human beings, with both good and not so good in them, just like the rest of us rowdy hordes. We are all on the trail of transformation. Wendy
the trail of transformation. Good way to put it.