Trapped In A Box

I try to explain to people all the time how we are "trapped in a box." It's hard for me to verbalize it. Even some of my seasoned environmentalist colleagues don't understand. The best way to understand is to read the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, which is the best book I ever read.

I've also become a big fan of movie producer Peter Joseph, who has become my new hero. I don't agree with everything he says, but the dude definitely "gets it."

Here is a fascinating quote that he gave during an interview:

Anyone who chooses to challenge establishment orthodoxy; traditional world views, not to mention the system we live in, sets themselves up for venomous attacks. I am well aware of this.

If you look back at the history of anyone who has chosen to challenge the establishment it’s a very dark history. There are a great number of people out there that know something is wrong. But, they do not understand the source of that wrongness because they are “in the box” of indoctrination.

Socrates never speculated on the slavery that was existing during his time; that was normality to him. This goes with every type of political philosopher that’s ever existed, whether it is Karl Marx, whether it’s Plato; they’re all locked into an established paradigm and their thought processes can only go so far; and this probably includes myself.

People are locked into a box. They see the box around them; they see the leaks, the holes, and the cracks. And they go up to the cracks and try to fix them; they try to patch the holes. But they don’t stop to think that maybe there’s something wrong with the box itself. Maybe the integrity of the box that they exist, live in, is inherently invalid, it’s inherently void.

The economic system that we live in is a parasitic paradigm that is only going to lead to self destruction, but people don’t see that. So, if you attack the economic system for what it actually is, everyone’s feathers go up.

Everyone says, “Well, wait a minute. This is the world we all live. We live in a profit based, labor for income world, cyclical consumption; this is what we’re used to. We understand we have division of classes.” They throw in human nature, they throw in everything that will try and make it seem like it’s a part of the natural order of reality, when in fact it is not.

Wow! I have regularly advertised his Zeitgeist movies, and I strongly recommend that them to everyone. Below is an excerpt from Zeitgeist: Addendum, which discusses religious thinking. It has really been on my mind today.