disconnection

I recently came across these thoughts in fairly quick succession, as if they were meant to come together in my mind:

First, Robert Carpozzi on "Feelings" at The Free Liberal blog:

This is a nation built on feelings before facts. “We hold these Truths to be self-evident…” seems far more feelings-based than fact-based. Natural-law theory may well entail scrupulous philosophical inquiry, but, in the end, it’s a feeling, a sense, a belief. It’s not a scientific “fact.”

I buy U2 CDs, not country-and western, not because of facts, but feelings. Markets are made up of subjective demands aggregated, not facts about “needs.”

Facts may help us form feelings, but feelings are what make us go. Facts are marshaled by advocates to fit their feelings, for we all have biases that frame our worldview. Newton’s straight line was a “fact” until Einstein came along.

The second is from an
excerpt of Stuart Goldsmith's Seven Secrets of the Millionaires. I haven't read the whole book, or even agree with the the whole excerpt, but I liked this passage:

I would say that 100% of people - that's everyone - has moderate damage to their psyche, and about one in three have severe damage. I am talking about damage caused by a normal upbringing, not an abused upbringing. Thankfully abuse is not the norm, but more importantly, the psyche is damaged by numerous small incidents throughout your childhood where you didn't get exactly what you needed, exactly when you needed it.

Parents are, after all, people. They are neither omniscient nor telepathic. They do their absolute best, working from the basis of their own damaged psyches.

And so the cycle continues...

Now the point here is that because everyone is damaged, this means that everyone exhibits symptoms of "mental disturbance" during, and often throughout, their lives. I'm talking 100% of people here. Such symptoms include:

* Anxiety
* Depression
* Sleeplessness
* Irrational Fear / Panic Attacks
* Feelings of Worthlessness, Insecurity, Pointlessness
* Suicidal Thoughts
* Substance Abuse (particularly alcohol which is a wonderful anesthetic for the harshness of life)
* Irrational Anger / Impatience / Irritation
* Worry

Because everyone experiences some or all of these on a scale of mild to severe, everyone pretends that they don't experience these things and we all play this ridiculous game in which we pretend it's just other people who have problems, not us.

I have talked to hundreds of people from paupers to billionaires. Scratch the surface and what do you get? The same old human-being we all are. The damaged psyche resulting in some or all of the negative symptoms I have listed.

I find this immensely comforting. The real problem about feeling down on life is when you think it's only you who feels like this, and that everyone else is having a great time counting their loot. If you can really take on board what I am telling you here, that everyone is a seething mass of insecurity, angst, unfinished business and emotional turmoil, then I think that helps a great deal.

It's called "the human condition" and comes about as a result of us all having such an immensely delicate psychology. We are about as equipped psychologically to handle the "slings and arrows" of life as a butterfly is to handle a force ten storm.

Every human on the planet is brave beyond measure. Forget "bravery in the face of enemy fire." That's just one sort of bravery and anyway, most soldiers didn't have a choice about going over the top. I'm talking real bravery of the sort you show every morning. You get up and face the world again.

And finally from Shelley Yates's Fire the Grid, which has an interesting story to tell. Again, it's up to you how much you believe or endorse what Yates says, but I really like this:

The light beings have explained to me that we are all connected by Source energy. This connection has a grid-type configuration, so to make things simple, I’m just calling it "the Grid." There are small grids connected to the large grid. For instance, each species of animal has its own grid. This allows easy communication between animals. I’m sure you’ve wondered how salmon know when to travel upriver to spawn, or how monarch butterflies all know to fly to Mexico, or geese to fly in perfect formations. Their connection to their grid allows them to know where to go and when to go. In the Asian tsunami very few animals died. That is because they were informed through their grids that danger was coming.

Human beings chose many thousands of years ago to disconnect themselves from a collective grid, so that they could have free will. This severance has allowed us to make our own decisions and be independent. But it has also allowed us to make many mistakes which have adversely affected this planet. And it has made our direct communication with The Source more difficult. We are now at a turning point when our disconnection could mean the end of the earth as it now exists.

This is how I would briefly tie these passages together. The disconnection from the "collective grid" seems to explain a lot about our delicate psyches. We live in a world of coercion and competition; not to put words in Yates's mouth, but the "grid" looks to me like a world of cooperation and companionship. I bet for most of us the pursuit of happiness is really the pursuit of love, the yearning to re-connect to the human grid and to the larger grid. Which is why we are motivated by our feelings, not by our rational thoughts. We want Love more than we want Truth. And perhaps the pursuit of love will also get us closer to the truth, more so than pursuing truth will get us closer to love.