Good call, Niall, on this thread. I have been watching my attitude to this world shift...my attitude to life. As for 'the work', these events are definitely a catalyst of a major sort.
Already I want to start snarking at my lefty friends about the immediate obvious EO's, instant lies and hypocrisy, and good old-fashioned stupidity. And it is only one day!
I stopped myself. (strong temptation though)
Next came up the holier-than-thou sort of shaming idea the left loves. They are so busy guffawing over Trump losing and patting themselves on the back and shouting "happy days are here again" with also the vindictive mindset. I thought of going the "Party of Love" tease and then actually exhorting them to rise above the petty divisiveness and negativity with some sort of secular sermon on the mount. Until I am clear, I am keeping my mouth shut in my social circles that include the left and the general public. In the final analysis, the universe will take care of them. They will take care of themselves by their own thoughts and actions. I don't have to do it. God will be the judge.
My attitude, I observe, is changing. Feeling detached. All bets are now off. Throw the rules out the window. No point in pretending or giving any benefit of the doubt any longer. Be observant. Wise as serpent; gentle as dove. The dove part is harder for me. I used to be very good at launching verbal and written psychic death rays into blind weak spots. (obviously still in touch with my extreme STS incarnations) But this is clearly not the way. I know it would only feel good for a few seconds to rub it in when it turns out the Left is the fascist regime they were so worried that Trump was going to be. It is not important or even good to say "I told you so". ("F-ing, MORONS!!") But if I don't acknowledge that temptation honestly, I may never resist it.
It is far better to be able to kick the dust of this 3D STS world off the sandals and walk on down the road. And just let it go. Walking away at peace.
I've observed much the same in myself.
A micro-nuke of emotion on the day which broke Trump's final bid, (with that horned Q Shaman senate party crash misadventure), followed by a couple days of feeling down and miffed, along with a few heat-waves of fear when the Leftist bloodthirsty headhunting rhetoric started up in earnest. And now...
Beh. It's not my problem.
-I think of my friends and family who refused to see all these many years, realized that despite all our arguments and discussions, gentle and hard conversations, their fundamental positions haven't shifted at all. Maybe a hair's breadth on a surprising good day now and again, but not nearly enough overall. It's like they
really want to live through the fallout of poor decisions wrt believing lies.
And who am I to take that away from them? That'd be like leaping to stop a child from trying to tie his own shoes when he doesn't know how.
Interestingly, I notice that gradually, over the course of years, I've left all those friends and family far away in big, dangerous cities while I'm off in much calmer climes. The choices I make based on knowledge naturally lead to distance and buffer zones between myself and dangerous scenes and reckless people.
The best you can do is stand far back as the uninitiated set off land mines, and be graceful in the, "I told you so's", -which are often useful, if not absolutely necessary in the post-lesson aftermath:
"Now, Billy, what did we learn from all this?"
"mumble..."
"What's that, Billy..? Speak up!"
"That totalitarianism is still bad even when I do it."