FireShadow
Jedi Master
My husband came across this video "Smile or Die" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo&feature=player_embedded) and I thought it would go well in this category of "Our Orwellian World" in the sense that I see this push for "positive thinking" to be a control device. This video examines and explains this quite well, I think, and the illustrations accompanying the talk are pretty good as well.
Background: Many years ago, I had been trying so hard to change myself and my life. I came across this philosophy (if you can call it that) of "you create your own reality (ycyor)". It was so pervasive and everywhere I turned, people would imply or outright tell me that I was creating my own misery by my attitude and that I must be doing something wrong if life was not turning out how I wanted it. Oh, how I tried that "positive attitude" thing, but it did not work for me. When I tried to report my results to others, no one wanted to hear that - all I got was that I must be doing it wrong and to stop complaining. Nothing made sense to me. I heard what people told me, tried their methods (for years) but reality did not comply with their theory. Meaning was lost. I felt that either I was a spiritual idiot or it was all a lie. In the end, it drove me into the "Void".
When I came across Laura's work, one of the first (and most important to me) things that jumped out at me was what she had to say on the topic. I was especially struck by her idea that this trying to create reality by "visualizing" what you wanted was actually a creator of more chaos as the "vision" contradicted how the universe saw itself. (I don't remember for sure where I read that, it was a few years ago, but I think it was in "Secret History of the World"). I look at all the chaos we have now after so many decades of this "philosophy". And, I look at how this philosophy tells people to deny reality. No wonder so many have gone insane!
In Laura's work, I felt I had finally found someone who was sane and could see clearly (or was at least trying and making headway). It was a theory that actually matched the evidence I was seeing. It was one of the primary ideas that got me reading the rest of her work.
Thank you, Laura.
Finding this video was heartening - someone else also sees this.
Background: Many years ago, I had been trying so hard to change myself and my life. I came across this philosophy (if you can call it that) of "you create your own reality (ycyor)". It was so pervasive and everywhere I turned, people would imply or outright tell me that I was creating my own misery by my attitude and that I must be doing something wrong if life was not turning out how I wanted it. Oh, how I tried that "positive attitude" thing, but it did not work for me. When I tried to report my results to others, no one wanted to hear that - all I got was that I must be doing it wrong and to stop complaining. Nothing made sense to me. I heard what people told me, tried their methods (for years) but reality did not comply with their theory. Meaning was lost. I felt that either I was a spiritual idiot or it was all a lie. In the end, it drove me into the "Void".
When I came across Laura's work, one of the first (and most important to me) things that jumped out at me was what she had to say on the topic. I was especially struck by her idea that this trying to create reality by "visualizing" what you wanted was actually a creator of more chaos as the "vision" contradicted how the universe saw itself. (I don't remember for sure where I read that, it was a few years ago, but I think it was in "Secret History of the World"). I look at all the chaos we have now after so many decades of this "philosophy". And, I look at how this philosophy tells people to deny reality. No wonder so many have gone insane!
In Laura's work, I felt I had finally found someone who was sane and could see clearly (or was at least trying and making headway). It was a theory that actually matched the evidence I was seeing. It was one of the primary ideas that got me reading the rest of her work.
Thank you, Laura.
Finding this video was heartening - someone else also sees this.
