Politics & Family – Cognitive Dissonance, The Stockholm Syndrome, and the Challenge to Cultural Evolution

If we're ever going to resolve to face the problems of our increasingly divided planet, we'll have to get busy right away. The biggest problem we face isn't just with wealth inequity and the "one percent" we rarely see, it's with the twenty-seven percent of our fellow citizens we know quite well. In fact, some may be friends or family members we must constantly interact with, and it's a real challenge to confront deep pathological divisions with those we ought to love the most.

It's pretty clear that the obstacles preventing cultural equanimity and responsible stewardship of our country and our planet are generated by multinational corporations, whose financial power is based on perpetuating destructively anachronistic systems of resource management and social division. That's quite a mouthful, isn't it? Toppling the entrenched power structure would be a lot to bite off all at once, and couldn't be done quickly without making a real mess, so what's the most expedient way to go about it?

Saying that it starts with you and me may sound silly, since we probably all started changing a long time ago. The real problem we have is in convincing all those beautiful people that don't agree with us. People who for some crazy reason seem to think fascism and environmental destruction are good ideas. Let's start with some awareness about what we're up against, namely certain difficulties that are part of human nature.

Cognitive Dissonance is the official name given to that sad tendency of people to join in efforts and opinions that are actually harmful to their own circumstances, usually to allow them to dissociate from uncomfortable truths. It's kind of a volatile [and dependable] character glitch, and as such is often exploited. Patriotism, religion, racism, xenophobia, financial and sexual insecurities are all activators of Cognitive Dissonance. So you see Washington think-tanks and Wall Street corporate advertisers using them aggressively, and very effectively.

"Ignoring one's...self-interest may seem a suicidal move to you and me, but viewed in a different way it is...a sacrifice to a holier cause."

Thomas Frank, What's Wrong With Kansas?

At it's worst, in terms of the political divisions in our country, Cognitive Dissonance can engender "The Stockholm Syndrome" – the pathological identification of a victim with their tormentors. A 2007 FBI Hostage Barricade Database study indicated that in 73% of abduction and kidnap cases the victims did not develop Stockholm Syndrome, which leaves a very substantial 27% subject to the irrational, self-destructive tendency to side with their exploiters. Not coincidentally, that's quite close to the number of people who identify themselves as Republicans. If you don't, you are part of the substantial 73% majority. (See: FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 7/2007, Vol.76, #7)

But what can we do we do to change those minds? You know that when you try to convince someone they're wrong about something obvious, their Cognitive Dissonance kicks in, their warped defenses arise, and there's little chance of moving them an inch. In fact, they feel even more strongly that they are right, and though you may be sincerely trying to help, they become even more convinced that your intentions are subversive and threatening. Unfortunately, a lot of human beings operate from that fearful dynamic, that "partisan pathology." It's a destructive mental illness we haven't quite figured how to cure yet, but the original designers of Fox News, and generations of Republican operatives to follow, have perfected how to manipulate it through ever more media outlets.

So we've got to take a careful, even therapeutic approach – a healing approach; and as healing is a spiritual activity, when we talk about "cultural evolution" we're really talking about our mutual spiritual evolution, which is the source of all the solutions to our deepest challenges. That's where it does start – with just you and me. In short, we use Love, and Time – Compassion, Honesty, Forgiveness...all that good stuff.

Even though a friend or family member has identified with destructive, irrational influences, we do still share mostly common ground with them. Kindly, calmly maintain sane boundaries – stand your ground – but never engage in the energy of confrontation. Let them be right if they need to be, and often in that quiet moment of irrational "victory," the folly of their delusion resonates uncomfortably and gives them a chance to realize the power of your point – that the fault really comes from a manipulative third party that they don't have nearly as much in common with as they have with you. But it all takes time – we can't rush it.

Practice restraint and let things go; but be reliable – Show up for family commitments, remember special occasions, be available to help – expecting nothing in return. Sincerely be there for them (without ever being patronizing), as though it were for a person you were helping recover from a painful injury. Make your arguments subtly, by personally demonstrating that your point of view reflects good character in every other facet of your life, aside from your politics or philosophy.

Caring, consistent, and compassionate action will support any point you want to make much more effectively than a documented factoid or a raised voice. If you can be an example of reason and sanity, then the 99% of what you have in common will solidify in their experience. When we're not trying to win, the calm understanding and honest, fact-based considerations we occupy carry the profound power of a more truthful engagement in life, on every level. The real insanity becomes much more obvious, in comparison to the sanity grounded in spiritual principles.

Ultimately we are dealing with the pathology of trauma and dissociation which is such a profound part of every persons personal karma, which cannot be changed from outside the troubled soul, but only from within – through that person's awareness. Only by applying your own awareness of these complex issues with compassionate identification (life is hard for everyone), soon you may be surprised to find that generosity of spirit can enter the heart and mind of the very person who was at one time so vehemently set against you. With that we might "occupy" the Red States, the less fortunate, the middle class, the upper middle class, the Independents, the "moderate" Re-publicans (are there any left out there?) We might even occupy "The Right" and the 1%... After all – we are all the same thing: the large 73% majority of heart-based "Radical Left-Wingers." 

In the meantime, VOTE like all Life depends upon it!

"Spiritual power moulds physical and material conditions, but spiritual power is never in a hurry.

White Eagle, The Quiet Mind

Here's an excellent article on Cognitive Dissonance and the Stockholm Syndrome by Dr. Joseph Carver



The latest book: How to Get to Heaven (Without Really Dying), Wisdom From a Near-Death Survivor from Llewellyn Worldwide can be ordered direct on this page or online; and the first book: How to Survive Life (and Death), A Guide To Happiness In This World and Beyond is available the same ways – but ask for them it at your local bookstore!

How to Occupy the Tea Party – Cognitive Dissonance, The Stockholm Syndrome, and the Challenge to Cultural Evolution

Well, it's 2012 already, and if everyone's going to be looking for a big unveiling by Christmastime, we have to get busy right away. The biggest problem we face isn't just with the one percent we rarely see, it's with the twenty-seven percent we often know quite well. In fact, some may be family members we get to spend the holidays with.

It's pretty clear that the obstacles preventing cultural equanimity and responsible stewardship of our country and our planet are generated by multinational corporations, whose financial power is based on perpetuating destructively anachronistic systems of resource management and social division. That's quite a mouthful, isn't it? Toppling the entrenched power structure would be a lot to bite off all at once, and couldn't be done quickly without making a real mess, so what's the most expedient way to go about it?

Saying that it starts with you and me may sound silly, since we probably all started changing a long time ago. The real problem we have is in convincing all those people that don't agree with us. People who for some crazy reason seem to think fascism and environmental destruction are good ideas. Let's start with some awareness about what we're up against, namely certain difficulties that are part of human nature.

Cognitive Dissonance is the official name given to that sad tendency of people to join in efforts and opinions that are actually harmful to their own circumstances, usually to allow them to avoid uncomfortable truths. It's kind of a volatile [and dependable] character glitch, and as such is often exploited. Patriotism, religion, racism, xenophobia, financial and sexual insecurities are all activators of Cognitive Dissonance. So you see Washington think-tanks and Wall Street ad agencies using them aggressively, and very effectively.

"Ignoring one's...self-interest may seem a suicidal move to you and me, but viewed in a different way it is...a sacrifice to a holier cause."

Thomas Frank, What's Wrong With Kansas?

At it's worst, in terms of the political divisions in our country, Cognitive Dissonance can engender "The Stockholm Syndrome" – the pathological identification of a victim with their tormentors. A 2007 FBI database study indicated that in 73% of abduction and kidnap cases the victims did not develop Stockholm Syndrome, which leaves a very substantial 27% subject to the irrational, self-destructive tendency to side with those who would use and abuse them. Not coincidentally, that's quite close to the number of people who identify themselves as Republicans. If you don't, you are part of the substantial 73% majority. 

But what can we do we do to change those minds? You know that when you try to convince someone they're wrong about something obvious, their Cognitive Dissonance kicks in, they git their back up, and there's little chance of moving them an inch. In fact, they feel even more strongly that they are right, and though you may be sincerely trying to help, they become even more convinced that your intentions are subversive and threatening. Unfortunately, a lot of human beings operate from that fearful dynamic. It's a glitch we haven't quite figured out yet...(but Roger Ailes, head of Fox News, certainly has.)

So we've got to take a careful, even therapeutic approach – a healing approach; and as healing is a spiritual activity, when we talk about "cultural evolution" we're really talking about our mutual spiritual evolution, which is the source of all the solutions to our deepest challenges. That's where it does start – with just you and me. In short, we use Love, and Time.

Even though a friend or family member has identified with destructive, irrational influences, we do still share mostly common ground with them. Kindly, calmly stand your ground – but never engage in the energy of confrontation. Let them be right if they need to be, and often in that quiet moment of hollow "victory," the folly of their delusion resonates uncomfortably, and gives them a chance to realize the power of your point – that the fault really comes from a manipulative third party that they don't have nearly as much in common with as they have with you. But it all takes time – we can't rush it.

Practice restraint and let things go; but be reliable – Show up for family commitments, remember special occasions, be available to help – expecting nothing in return. Sincerely be there for them (without ever being patronizing), as though it were for a person you were helping recover from a painful injury. Make your arguments subtly, by personally demonstrating that your point of view reflects good character in every other facet of your life, aside from your politics or philosophy.

Caring, consistent, and compassionate action will support any point you want to make much more effectively than a documented factoid or a raised voice. If you can be an example of reason and sanity, then the 99% of what you have in common will solidify in their experience. When we're not trying to win, the calm understanding and honest, fact-based considerations we occupy carry the profound power of a more truthful engagement in life, on every level. The real insanity becomes much more obvious, in comparison to the sanity grounded in spiritual principles.

"Occupy" life, so to speak, and soon you may be surprised to find that generosity of spirit has occupied the heart and mind of the very person who was at one time so vehemently set against you. With that we might occupy the Red States, the less fortunate, the middle class, the upper middle class, the Independents, the "moderate" Re-publicans (are there any out there?) We might even occupy the Tea Party and the 1%... After all – we are all the same thing.

"Spiritual power moulds physical and material conditions, but spiritual power is never in a hurry.

White Eagle, The Quiet Mind

Here's an excellent article on Cognitive Dissonance and the Stockholm Syndrome by Dr. Joseph Carver

Tales: 2012...The Stockholm Syndrome and the Era of Ethics

Happy 2011! Just that much closer to 2012, and the culmination of so many misunderstandings regarding the Mayan calendar, and the "End of Time" that it suggests to some. As is often the case, the truth is hiding in plain sight, in much the same fashion as the suggestion that December 21 next year will mark the Apocalypse. It's the same because while many people believe that the Apocalypse has to do with Armageddon, it really is more about the true translation of the word apocalypse, which means "lifting a veil," or "revelation."

It isn't the destruction of the world, but the revelation of a profound truth. The ending of a kind of delusion. A threshold, or singularity – a moment when an aging system of belief and perception finally gives way to an underlying reality. So it is the end of a certain world – a world as it has been misperceived. A destructive, delusional world.

This delusional fear of a fiery conflagration – a "Day of Reckoning" – is propagated by those who seek to manipulate people with fear. Take a closer look, and you'll see the truth is much much nicer...

"The Kingdom...is spread out over the whole earth,

and people do not have eyes to see it."

The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 113

If you've never explored the story of our world as described by the Mayan calendar, the diagram below (from Peter Russell's forward to the anthology, The Mystery of 2012, Sounds True) does a good job of boiling it down to a simple visual.

What the Mayans were actually describing was the history of consciousness entering the world, and so creating different worlds, so to speak. The Mayan codice found at Coba arranges the growth of consciousness, the evolution of intelligence, into ages, or eras. This spiral simplifies it into the four ages depicted, each age a quicker turn. We are presently turning into a "Wisdom Age," by the diagram, which precedes the end of the spiral- the "end of the world."

A superior diagrammatical approach to understanding the earth's history (and "end" of history) according to the Mayans would be to think of it like a Mayan pyramid, with proportionally smaller levels stepping up to the top, each step representing an era of evolution, or amount of consciousness in the world. Each era up is progressively shorter in duration, and exponentially more packed with consciousness.

In this imagined architectural chart, the base would be the Cellular Era, when cellular life first appeared on Earth. The next level, the Mammalian Era, when creatures went from simple in the sea, to more complex onto the land. Consciousness begins to accumulate and expand. The next step, the Family Era, when primates acquire stereo color vision, leads into the Tribal Era, when increased consciousness discovers the uses of fire, tool-making, social benefits. The next level up the pyramid is the Cultural Era, the dawn of Reason and Art. Up the next step to the National Era, the era of nation-states, of law, and of what Huxley called The Perennial Philosophy, that is, the wisdom underlying religion- the teaching of Jesus and Buddha, for example. Next comes the Planetary Era, the era of global power, the Industrial Revolution, E=mc². This is the era we have known for most of our lives, but each successive era is significantly shorter than the era it follows as consciousness is flooding into our plane, change is accelerating, so we are rapidly moving into and through the Galactic Era, the era of ethics and interconnection (like we now have with the internet).

To many of us, it doesn't seem that we are occupying an era of ethics, but we are (quite appropriately) heading into the heart of it. The reason the world looks the opposite is a product of how we're looking at it. If we look at it through the prism of the self-des-tructing Power era, we see what the desperate materialists of the world want us to see – a world where the great majority of people surrender the Earth's resources to a tiny, delusional minority.

When observing the current state of Washington D.C., for example, watch occult "politicians," whose position comes from corrupt power, manipulating a vociferous, fearful minority by inducing The Stockholm Syndrome, a fear-based psychological state wherein the abused identifies with their abusers. According to an FBI database resource, this phenomenon occurs with about 27% of abductees and abuse victims, coincidentally the same number, according to polls, of Americans who identify themselves as Republicans.

The future scenario intended by the Power Era Materialists must result in the violent enslavement of the great majority of humans, and the irrevocable trashing of the planet. Since evolution is not actually survival of the strongest, but in fact survival of the most effectively cooperative, the majority will insist on the adoption of the Ethical Era. It will happen. Fear tactics, fascist media, and consolidation of resources are the last gasps of unethical and delusional people whose time has actually already passed. But most of us already know that, don't we?

Look at the bigger picture, and you'll see the genie is out of the bottle. We are entering into the Universal Era, when everything becomes possible. It is the era of conscious co-creation of our Earth, when interconnectedness, wisdom, ethics, and com-passion will lead us into Universal Citizenship, and allow us to steward our planet and it's resources effectively and humanely. At "the end of Earth's history," we become The Universe. Just look all around you, the great majority (at least 73%) has already started to gratefully welcome a new spiritual world, and the end of the delusional material one. We're just not as loud yet.

As the [Power] world ends, there will be chaos, possibly violence. Stay out of it's way. Take care of one another. Keep these truths strong in your heart. We know from the lessons of quantum reality that consciousness forms material reality, so expect a lot of material manifestations – dramatic environmental and human manifestations. But don't be afraid. Fill your heart with willingness, tolerance, kindness, and Love, and you will become part of the next great step of Intelligent Evolution, when the suffering of so many indigenous peoples, and animals, and our Earth itself, will finally end.

"...the wicked carry out the will of God in their own fashion."

Spinoza

Check out: Ian Lungold Lecture in the "Heart & Art Websites" tabs to the left for a great talk on the source material.