FROM ONE TO THE MANY: Reflections on How an Entire Society Goes Bonkers

Note: See yesterday’s post.

I keep circling back to the fact that my world view is now 180° from that of most of my siblings. I was always “out there” compared to them, but until now, our differences remained in the realm of the mind, imagination, and life style. My foundational metaphysical leanings simply went “over their heads.” But so what? No skin off my back, or theirs. We all have our different interests, skills, quirks; in fact, though born from the same dear, dedicated German parents, each of us inhabits an entirely other “universe of discourse.” That’s the way it should be. We grew up to be decidedly unique individuals.

I imagine the above is true for many families.

What the covid scam did was reduce each of us to the body. Me to my body. You, to yours.

Each of us, depending on our relationship to our own bodies, either did or did not fall for the scam.

If, at some point, we didn’t manage to separate out from the western, scientistic system into which we had been indoctrinated since birth, then we continued to consider our own body as separate from our mind. Identifying with the (left brain) mind, we had been taught to view the body as a machine, which, “when something goes wrong,” we look to outside experts to “fix.”

If, on the other hand, at some point we do manage to separate out from the western, scientistic indoctrination system, then we begin to sense ourselves as sovereign souls, centered (temporarily) within the mysterious body/mind ecosystem, and that ecosystem as one outgrowth of the larger, even more complex and mysterious ecosystem we call nature, i.e., the biosphere of planet Earth; and more: if we begin to sense this biosphere as centered within a larger ecosphere called the solar system, the solar system inside the galaxy, on and on, out to the infinite and infinitely mysterious multiverse, then . . .

. . . when something “goes wrong,” when we sense a disturbance in vitality, we identify where in the body it’s located.  We recognize the symbolism of different body parts, how they speak the language the soul utilizes to communicate with our minds. Instinctively, we look to nature for help in healing, for she will point us in the direction of our intent. This pointing may come in the form of synchronicity: someone just happens to mention the medicinal properties of a certain plant; that same day a randomly discovered website, or a startling dream, points us in the same direction. And if we don’t quite trust ourselves, then we may attract someone who mentions a natural healer who works with plant medicine. On and on, our own vibrational frequency attracts, in one way or another, the plant that will help the disturbed body heal.

Aboriginal cultures naturally know all this; they are in touch with nature’s ways. They don’t have the apparatus of western philosophy and western science sitting atop, indeed artificially crushing from above, their own direct experience. They are fortunate; we westerners need to remember, to re-member, to put ourselves back together again with our own bodies as extrusions of the natural world, so that we may begin to feel whole, complete, at one with all.

And, when an entire society loses the body/mind integration? Then what?

Well, that happened a long time ago, has been deepening since Descartes, his cogito, ergo sum. Therefore, only my thinking is me.

And this mind/body disassociation, this split, has been exacerbated by relentless “progress” in technology, especially by the introduction of ubiquitous screens, so that we now automatically prefer verisimilitude to living, pulsing nature — even to the point of taking a walk on a path through a meadow while staring at our phone rather than enjoying the colors, the patterns, the flowers, trees, the trilling birds, the rustling critters. No. We are blind to what we are actually immersed within. And we don’t care. We walk fast, head down, stuffing fast food for the mind.

Here are two approaches to understanding our bonkers cultural situation. The first is like a schoolbook lesson, which I’m sure many will appreciate and need. I wondered, when I listened to it, if Mattias Desmet had yet appeared on the scene. Because the video, published in October 2021, doesn’t mention him. Which surprised me, since Desmet took the awakening world by storm starting a few months earlier, in summer 2021. Thankfully, his concept of “mass formation” has become more and more mainstream, and his depth of thinking on this topic unparalleled.

How An Entire Population Becomes Mentally Ill

and

Finding Meaning Among Mass Formation with Mattias Desmet

For ways to break the spell of mass formation, cultural psychosis, see from minute 17 on in the first video.

I haven’t finished this particular video of Desmet yet, however, I did get to the part where he says that in order for society  to function without slipping into mass formation ending in totalitarianism, there needs to be an equal and balanced focus on both individual and community. Not one, or the other. Both. YES! And I’d add, in order to thrive, we need to allow a continuous balancing act between the two, in dynamic equilibrium, so that when the sway towards one pole becomes too great, the second pole is automatically invoked. In other words, rather than relying on structure to fix things in place, we need an equal focus on process. One more balancing act. All polarities can be viewed and experienced in this manner — as paradoxes, balancing acts, with us, in 5th dimension, playing with the opposites, rather than, as in 3D, tending to getting stuck in one or the  other.

Ann Kreilkamp
Ph.D. 81

Rogue philosopher, astrologer, published author, conference presenter, world traveler, founder & editor of Crone Chronicles: A Journal of Conscious Aging (1989-2001) , and founding visionary of Green Acres Permaculture Village (2010 to present).

current archives

Subscribe to Updates

Recent Comments

Scroll to Top