from whence comes the tiller man?
***
AND WHY DO WE CLING TO THINGS WE KNOW ARE PROBABLY UNTRUE?
When you are in a war or battle or fight for survival, it’s not so much important for observers to know who the bad guys are, as much as for you to know who the bad guys are. History, like explanations, can always follow later … after crushing your opponent. That said, conflict should always be a regrettable last resort. --- Ken Haskell
In case some non-friends got here by mistake or out of an unhealthy curiosity, I'll put this behind a cut. It's very benign but don't read it if you are an irrational or close-minded person. Some people unfortunately think everything I say is about them:
Ever been in a “cult” or known someone who has? Knowingly or not? There are degrees of cults, some extremely small, some actually well-intentioned, some diabolical. The word cultivate has similar roots and, I’m sure, accurately describes what cults do in the tilling and sowing of the soil and reaping of their harvest.
Generally, as I have had some first-hand experience observing such matters, people who are lonely, displaced, unloved, dispirited, approaching rock bottom unfortunately, are most easily drawn in. While outsiders may look upon such groups with suspicion, the starving sometimes seeking individual who is often lacking in some thing (or everything) is drawn into this environment for two basic reasons.
One, the people SEEM extraordinarily different, have a kind of glow, a magnetism … often their eyes appear to see into your soul and they know everything about you. That’s not very difficult actually because the same hurts and disappointments affect us all. You see a sad face and the amount of pain that person has felt is written all over it.
Two, in the beginning, everything is so simple and there is so much attention and there is so much love. It is so easy to get drawn into that kind of seemingly loving embrace. The lonely hours which were spent in loneliness and despair suddenly seem to be overflowing with activity, attention, people and support … people who seem actually interested in you for the first time in a long time - or ever. You think. It is, however, what they do ... make you feel special and wanted and needed. Even the ones who have no evil purpose are compelled to do what they do because THEIR own emptiness requires constant refilling by new people who serve to validate their beliefs.
It gets more complicated after that. After the physical and mental stress. After the teaching, first in baby steps, then more and more revealing what sets "the group" apart from the rest of the world. Not anything so special or verifiable but often exclusive and sometimes unorthodox or "cool". All other opinions and objections are to be avoided ... the dust at their doorsteps wiped from your feet.
It’s a complex and delicate process and, by that time, many are too far entrenched in their comfort or too afraid to ask or honestly consider questions that may come to the mind of an objective observer. Just repeat the "pat" answers. You must. It’s either stay in the comfort and structure of “the system”, especially after establishing ties in the social network, enjoying what benefit you have reaped, and bring in new recruits to share your vision, or they think, go back to the uncertainty of a lonely existence where they will not only be on their own but probably shunned again. Is it any wonder fanaticism and close-mindedness is so prevalent? That there is so much “Us against the world” mentality?
Anyone with similar experiences? I have seen so much of this in so many forms. I think it must be very common to human nature and have some center in an innate or learned desire to belong to something. I have my theories but I’d hate to offend anyone at this point.
Cut-down day is in 2 days.
***
-Hi, Nancy!
-Hi, Helen!
What's the story, morning glory?
What's tale, nightingale?
-Tell me quick about Hugo and Kim!
-Hi, Margie!
-Hi, Alice!
What's the story, morning glory?
-What's the word, humming bird?
-Have you heard about Hugo and Kim?
Did they really get pinned?
Did she kiss him and cry?
Did he pin the pin on?
Or was he too shy?
***
AND WHY DO WE CLING TO THINGS WE KNOW ARE PROBABLY UNTRUE?
When you are in a war or battle or fight for survival, it’s not so much important for observers to know who the bad guys are, as much as for you to know who the bad guys are. History, like explanations, can always follow later … after crushing your opponent. That said, conflict should always be a regrettable last resort. --- Ken Haskell
In case some non-friends got here by mistake or out of an unhealthy curiosity, I'll put this behind a cut. It's very benign but don't read it if you are an irrational or close-minded person. Some people unfortunately think everything I say is about them:
Ever been in a “cult” or known someone who has? Knowingly or not? There are degrees of cults, some extremely small, some actually well-intentioned, some diabolical. The word cultivate has similar roots and, I’m sure, accurately describes what cults do in the tilling and sowing of the soil and reaping of their harvest.
Generally, as I have had some first-hand experience observing such matters, people who are lonely, displaced, unloved, dispirited, approaching rock bottom unfortunately, are most easily drawn in. While outsiders may look upon such groups with suspicion, the starving sometimes seeking individual who is often lacking in some thing (or everything) is drawn into this environment for two basic reasons.
One, the people SEEM extraordinarily different, have a kind of glow, a magnetism … often their eyes appear to see into your soul and they know everything about you. That’s not very difficult actually because the same hurts and disappointments affect us all. You see a sad face and the amount of pain that person has felt is written all over it.
Two, in the beginning, everything is so simple and there is so much attention and there is so much love. It is so easy to get drawn into that kind of seemingly loving embrace. The lonely hours which were spent in loneliness and despair suddenly seem to be overflowing with activity, attention, people and support … people who seem actually interested in you for the first time in a long time - or ever. You think. It is, however, what they do ... make you feel special and wanted and needed. Even the ones who have no evil purpose are compelled to do what they do because THEIR own emptiness requires constant refilling by new people who serve to validate their beliefs.
It gets more complicated after that. After the physical and mental stress. After the teaching, first in baby steps, then more and more revealing what sets "the group" apart from the rest of the world. Not anything so special or verifiable but often exclusive and sometimes unorthodox or "cool". All other opinions and objections are to be avoided ... the dust at their doorsteps wiped from your feet.
It’s a complex and delicate process and, by that time, many are too far entrenched in their comfort or too afraid to ask or honestly consider questions that may come to the mind of an objective observer. Just repeat the "pat" answers. You must. It’s either stay in the comfort and structure of “the system”, especially after establishing ties in the social network, enjoying what benefit you have reaped, and bring in new recruits to share your vision, or they think, go back to the uncertainty of a lonely existence where they will not only be on their own but probably shunned again. Is it any wonder fanaticism and close-mindedness is so prevalent? That there is so much “Us against the world” mentality?
Anyone with similar experiences? I have seen so much of this in so many forms. I think it must be very common to human nature and have some center in an innate or learned desire to belong to something. I have my theories but I’d hate to offend anyone at this point.
Cut-down day is in 2 days.
***
-Hi, Nancy!
-Hi, Helen!
What's the story, morning glory?
What's tale, nightingale?
-Tell me quick about Hugo and Kim!
-Hi, Margie!
-Hi, Alice!
What's the story, morning glory?
-What's the word, humming bird?
-Have you heard about Hugo and Kim?
Did they really get pinned?
Did she kiss him and cry?
Did he pin the pin on?
Or was he too shy?
***