I'm disappointed in Tom's approach to the whole area of UFOs and conspiracies. I don't think the approach of not paying attention to what is going on in these areas is an effective one.

So many spiritual teachings respond to the reality of negativity and suffering in the world in one or more of the following ways:

Ignore it, don't put your attention on it and it will go away and/or not effect you
It's not really negative and it's not really suffering, it only appears that way from your limited awareness so just work on your own awareness
Negativity and suffering are essential to growth so don't try to remove it or you will be removing learning opportunities
Everything that is happening is perfect
Everything that is happening is planned by your higher self
It's all just an illusion or a game
Don't worry it will all go away soon because of the arrival of an external saviour
Don't worry it will all go away soon because of the arrival of a new age
Any talk of negativity and suffering will just make you fearful

Any teaching or theory that does not admit that you have to fearlessly investigate negativity and wrong doing and become knowledgeable about it and then do something about it and pro-actively strive for justice and fairness, is, as Marx said, an opiate of the masses that encourages apathy and prolongs the negativity and suffering.

This is not about generating fear or hopelessness in people who are not aware of what is really going on, a fearful response to negativity and suffering is to ignore it or pretend it isn't really a bad thing or pretend it will go away without having to directly address it.

To ignore the truth behind the unpleasant conspiracies that are being perpetrated on humanity is akin to ignoring and suppressing your own internal negativity and maintaining a superficial level of happiness. To transform your own negativity you have to go into it and explore it fearlessly and become aware of it and only then can you transmute it and integrate it and become whole. The same is true for the negativity that is very real now in the external world. We need to bring it out of the shadows, expose it and deal with it if we are to become a whole and healthy society.

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AA

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"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them"
George Orwell

the conspiracy theory mindset is an excellent example of ego architecture/engineering, ...a key principle being blaming "other" for your pain and frustration with life.

as well, an essential part of PMR-level entropy (material ineffectiveness) is the distraction with problems above your pay grade when you should be focused on why you cannot focus on your education or career, or focused on improving the key relationships in your life, family, neighbour, boss, collegues, which is where the action is as far as starting to move forward.

once you figure out the basics, have effective relations within your local space, are not carrying credit card debt, can manage a respectful conversation with your mother...then you can maybe start to begin to understand and act on issues in your neighbourhood and actually get involved and be constructive.

Marxism itself is a effective interpretation of economics from the imbalanced POV of the heart, while at the same time ignoring the data on experiments in this regard. I suggest living in a cooperative/communistic environment, or getting involved in any organization organized on marxist principles, to gather your own data in this regard. Marxism might work if everyone was zero entropy, but that is not the nature of this reality. Few are aware that America was first founded on Marxist principles - everyone starved - so they adopted private property rights.

Its part of the process - dudes who do not go through a Marxist phase have a tepid commitment to freedom and initiative later in life. Welcome to the path. I suggest acquiring hiking boots for the part coming up around the corner.

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Does this PMR make my butt look big?

I agree it can definitely be used in this way. But it isn't inevitably so. I can approach it from a point of view of collective responsibility and from a desire to do what I can according to my current capacity to increase awareness and lower the entropy of the system. Ignoring those who are increasing the entropy and trying to keep their activities a secret, doesn't strike me as the most effective way to help lower entropy of the system as it helps to prolong their activities. Being aware of what is happening and having a desire to make others aware doesn't necessitate a culture of blame. One can be very matter of fact about it and use it as an impetus to do all that one can to lower entropy.

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"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them"
George Orwell

Balancing negative emotions, with positive ones, that is the feedback that is natural to PMR. This data we are getting comes with rule-sets and feed back, this is how we grow ,we choose from the available flow of data in our awareness. I will say, that all of this pain and suffering that is generated here, is mostly here buy our freewill chooses. We can learn without all of the negativity, it is up to us change, (lower entropy) this is why we are here, to experience and to change, for the better. It is our freewill to choose which way to go. only way it can be. As far as Tom choosing what to do, and share with other people, well that is his freewill choosing. Sabby

I agree we can learn without so much negativity and I agree that it is up to us and our free will choices to change that. I think that the free will choices we will need to make in order to change it include being aware of what is causing the negativity and addressing it directly, both internally and externally.

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"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them"
George Orwell

you don't lower entropy by outing evil doers - you lower entropy by setting an example with your other-centered decision making and actions...the most power you actually have in life is the tone of voice you use when ordering fast food, for example.

I think its safe to say that its no big secret that the scientific community, most churches, The City, political parties, are all in the business of getting ahead, getting as much as they can, for as little effort as they can get away with, paying their mortgages....its no big mystery, and many of these actors collude, conspire, organize, cooperate and on and on. The white hats conspire in secrecy as well. All groups work behind a barrier of confidence and privacy in order to be effective.

the core guidance here is that you change the world by profoundly and distinctly changing your behavior - Tom has very specific words on this in the North Carolina "tape".

indeed there are largely good kings and dark kings in various spheres of activity, and it is a good thing to try to be with the white hats and cause discomfort to the black hats, fight for justice, though sometimes it is difficult to tell who is who. If you are the sort of fellow who thinks apartment buildings grow on trees, you might suffer the delusion that Donald Trump is an evil doer and you may prefer the hateful rantings of your political science professor who has the luxury on government payroll of being detached from reality.

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Does this PMR make my butt look big?

Agreed, changing our everyday behaviour is a good thing. But it isn't a choice between doing that or arresting criminals. We can do both. Why should spirituality be used to deflect people from arresting criminals? Why choose to live in an anarchic state where criminals are free to do whatever they like and good people are advised to look the other way as getting involved isn't spiritual? Why not arrest the criminals with dignity, responsibility and with other-centred motives and a thoughtful tone of voice? Why not help the criminals begin their journey of transformation by assisting them in coming to terms with the consequences of their actions? Investigating conspiracies and enacting justice can be a very spiritual thing. There is no reason at all why it should have any less potential for lowering the entropy of those involved than ordering fast food, and potentially can do a whole lot more.
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"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them"
George Orwell

Nobody here is doing this "Ignoring those who are increasing the entropy and trying to keep their activities a secret", by the way.
Love
Bette

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All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

Good :-) But Tom does advise not paying attention to conspiracies.
But then again he also says he isn't a pacifist and protecting others free will is perfectly legitimate.

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"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them"
George Orwell

Exactly so. That is what I say also.

Ted

yes, it is not an either or thing, but when this sort of thing has been raised, Tom has focused on the aspect I attempted to describe above. Any mental or emotional bandwidth you devote to the flaws of "other", crowds out attention from how you are secretive and conspiratorial and selfish with your affairs.

it is possible you have healthy intent in this regard, but this would be rare. This is part of the generic syndrome which could be called "my guru will not behave according to how I want things"..."bad guru!"

then there is the separate dimension of effectiveness. Perhaps we could discuss a specific "conspiracy", which you mention in the same breath as "UFOs" and marxism.

I don't know if you noticed, but marxism has run its course and we are now starting to see how that plays out - monarchy or dictatorship ends with revolution and marxism ends with system collapse when you run out of other peoples money - free markets are the only model that is sustainable as firms through warring with each other keep each other sharp and relatively honest, as they must ultimately find someone to fork over cash for their product. Microsoft kills IBM, Google kills Microsoft, Facebook kills Google...and so on. Not so with marxist structures where there is no competition and customers are forced to take whatever the government agency provides them.

the scariest thing on the planet is a congressman beholden to a teacher's or firefighters union

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Does this PMR make my butt look big?

Not nearly so scary as a Congressman beholden to Grover Norquist or to the Koch brothers and others funding SuperPACs as so many (almost all) of them are. You should read up on the history of labor unionism and what they once were needed for the protection of workers from. And those times are coming back again.

Ted

Removing unions and collective bargaining rights has hit the fan as Wisconsin showed. I'm surviving on both "entitlements" and part of a big union and I now know I'm screwed and need to get out on my own with ability to provide sustenance to my family. This coming election is going to be so interesting...
Love
Bette

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All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.

yes, that was indeed the case one hundred years ago...now taxpayers need protection from the public unions.

unionization of public employees is an economic abomination

the terms of employment should be fair, benchmarked to private sector practises, stated up front on a take it or leave it basis

public unions holding students and taxpayers hostage makes no sense, has no justification, is not sustainable, undermines innovation, creates employee centric organizations rather than client centric organizations.

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Does this PMR make my butt look big?

The AFSCME is my union...
Love
Bette

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All That Is
what is?
Consciousness.