Myths of Exceptionalism, Perception Management, and the Alchemy of Darkness [Pt.2]
In my previous post, I briefly discussed the controlled (and planned) transition to a “multipolar world order” and how both the new and old orders are, ultimately, being run by the same network of scumbags—this is a continuation of that rant. Plus, a sprinkle of metaphysics, alchemy of darkness, and the importance of introspection. Cheers.
There is a reason for the popular and prevailing narrative that “trust in traditional western institutions is eroding and people are demanding a transition to a multipolar order that respects the sovereignty of other nations” and the frustrations that led to this moment are definitely based on legitimate criticisms of the how “western powers” have conducted themselves throughout history. I don’t say this from a western supremacist perspective and hopefully it’s obvious that I don’t worship American hegemony. I certainly care about the people in America, but I also equally care about the people of any country.
Anyway, I’d like to begin by discussing the American Revolution of 1776—which was partly funded by French, Dutch, and Spanish elements of Europe (who had much to gain by positioning themselves against the British commonwealth). There are academic scholars who consider the 18th-century fight for independence within “a larger international conflict that involved Great Britain, France, Spain, the Dutch Republic, Jamaica, Gibraltar and even India.” As this article from Smithsonian Magazine (which, of course, will also have its own skewed framing) proceeds to spell out, to the French, Spanish and Dutch governments:
This was not a war about liberty: It was all about power and profit. If American colonists won their independence, that would cause harm to British interests and open new trade opportunities in North America and elsewhere for those who allied themselves with the colonists.
Spain is reported to have been involved in the American Revolution as soon as the rebellions began because, at the time, the British controlled Minorca and Gibraltar (two locations that were crucial to Spain’s defense apparatus). They chose to side with France in the hopes of gaining back control of those territories.
I mention these elements of American history because I hear journalists and commentators who love to expose the “George Soros- funded color revolutions” around the world (which have and do occur); however, some of these self-proclaimed patriots never discuss that the the “1776 revolution” (in their own backyard) was also funded by outside entities. Somehow, all revolutions are oligarch funded, except for the 1776 American Revolution because that one was totally organic—it was the tea, didn’t you know?! I apologize if I come off hateful, that’s not my intention; I’m just pointing out some inconsistencies.
The same stuff I was just saying about the American Revolution can also be said about where I was born, Eritrea, and the Eritrean-Ethiopian War (that ended in 1991 after thirty-years)—there were elements in the west that stood to benefit from Eritrea defeating Ethiopia because of how cozy Ethiopia was with some of the “non-aligned” rival nations (like the Soviet Union). I want to note that, in addition to Russia, Israel was also providing Ethiopia with military assistance during the conflict with Eritrea—one avenue was through the Nebelba (Flame) Division (which is described as some elite Israeli military unit involved in counterinsurgency and training local populations for combat scenarios). Interestingly, in 1984, the IDF started bringing Ethiopian Jews to Israel in several airlift operations and the final one was in 1991—called Operation Solomon. A detailed essay titled Israel and Ethiopia: From a Special to a Pragmatic Relationship can be found here.
All that being said, does that mean the sentiments of the Eritreans who resisted Ethiopia were not authentic or real because some outside players could benefit from the war ending in Eritrea’s favor? Absolutely not. Of course their sentiments were real, most “revolutions” are rooted in genuine dismay and frustration. Same goes for the American Revolution, I’m sure regular people who participated and supported the efforts were genuine in their resistance against the Commonwealth — but that doesn’t mean there weren’t factions of Europe that stood to gain from the American colonies defeating the British. That distinction is critical when discussing “color revolutions” and psychological operations.
Don’t mistake what I’m saying as “everything is fake and all of the people who participated are psyops” — because it’s never that simple. And anyone who says “it is that simple” is either grossly misinformed, being lazy, or straight up lying.
People in the United States (and outside the U.S.) give too much credence to the power that they believe America possesses over other nations. I think it’s partly because that’s how the U.S. was marketed to domestic (and international) populations. The social engineering worked so well that some people can’t wrap their minds around the fact that, perhaps, America was never as uniquely powerful as they’ve been told. And that maybe the United States was simply chosen to be the face of a beast that has always existed in order to shield other sinister forces from being exposed.
Some people cannot fathom (or at least entertain) that we are merely witnessing the marketing of the fall of the west and transition to (what is being advertised as) a multipolar paradise. Keyword here is marketing (or branding) — this is perception management (it doesn’t necessarily reflect the actual reality because “actual reality” is going to be perceived differently by every individual). The perception the general public has of reality is always (and has always been) of critical importance to the entities in the business of mass manipulation and influence peddling.
Here’s how I see it, legacy institutions and the international central banking mafia are attempting to make it seem as though the recent changes in the economy and the banking structure are happening because “the 99% became fed up with the powerful elite and took matters into their own hands” — rather than what it really seems to be: a controlled demolition of the old world which will then (covertly) rise from the ashes, rebrand itself, and operate as a new actor within the new decentralized ecosystem . This isn’t a new tactic, either, the methods are old as time.
The people many refer to as the “elite” are now marketing themselves as the “opposition” to the “old world order” (that they created)—and while that’s happening, I see a number of journalists and reporters label this insidious transformation as “radical left wokeness” and make the conversation about the decline of the neoliberal establishment—instead of digging deeper. This type of lazy and childish rhetoric is often used to shield corrupt people in power. Why? Because slapping silly labels on multi-layered problems ends up protecting the agenda in question from any queries about the ethics—it gives them an out.
It’s vital to take a step back and observe all interactions and entanglements from a lens grounded in principles authentic to you and with clarity that readjusts as new information is introduced (that’s the closest thing to objectivity, in my opinion). Of course, perception is based on experiences; however, how one discerns those experiences is more important than the experiences themselves.
Furthermore, what we traditionally understand as “militarism” is and has been replaced by private security firms and logistics companies (less need for boots on the ground) all to serve the transition to a fully privatized warfare ecosystem. For instance, is the war in Afghanistan really ending? I don’t think so, it seems like national troops are being replaced by private mercenaries (rebranded as logistics companies) because the war on terror migrated to the cyber-realm and is being monitored, digitally. Raul Diego’s article here covers this topic—he wrote about how intelligence agencies use concepts like feminism to empower women to code and utilize blockchain technology that (in my opinion) will, ultimately, be used to build and maintain a digital surveillance apparatus that tracks the Afghan population (for their safety, of course). Which, in turn, reduces the need for “boots on the ground” national troops.
In addition, this article here (from 2014) explicitly spells out that the troops leaving Afghanistan would be relocated to African countries. In summary, there is a scaling down of national troops because of the scaling up of private mercenaries (private security firms). Also, the private military contractors replacing national troops will still be operating on behalf of corrupt interests. Check out my video here to get more information on this topic. It is a discussion about an Erik Prince interview, but it’s focused on the network and ecosystem (of toxic ideas) that Mr. Prince represents than it is about any one man.
That’s the lens through which I make sense of the world. I, simultaneously, examine the individuals involved and the ecosystems in which certain patterns of behavior or phenomena occur. I find this to be more useful than chasing some mythical head of a snake.
Newsflash, the creature has multiple heads and it has permeated every corner of what we have come to understand as society — this is so because, whether people realize it or not, the thing that most people are (rightfully) outraged about is a thing that exists in every single one of us. Let me take a moment to credit James and Jordan of The Yellow Brick Road when talking about this because I have heard them both put it as simply as “you’re dealing with people” and as annoying as it was to hear that in moments when it was more satisfying to just be lazy and group everyone and everything I don’t like into one category and set it on fire — they were right.
“You’re dealing with people” may sound basic and rudimentary, but it does seem as though that fundamental concept (interacting with other humans in the most optimal way) get’s tossed aside by many people who criticize the powerful elite. I am including myself in that category, by the way, because my people skills have been under construction since when I learned to speak. There is nothing wrong with criticizing the “elite” by the way, I’m just highlighting how some of the criticisms themselves are not grounded in logical foundations.
Unless we are operating from a premise that the bad guys are lizard creatures from another planet with a sinister agenda to destroy all life forms on earth, then I don’t think the unethical and immoral people only exist within the “predator class” (or whatever you want to call them). Anyway, the way I see it, unsavory behaviors exhibited by humans exist in every corner of society because they are innately just that, human. The capability to be good or bad exists within every single person and how a person’s life transpires will be a result of the decisions they’ve made (and continue to make).
Of course, there is plenty to be said about socioeconomic constraints and those factors are also considered when analyzing anyone or any particular situation. However, it’s wrong to sum things up as “we just need to expose the powerful elite and give power back to the working class people”—because that assumes only the powerful are capable of making unethical decisions. Again, I am not “shielding the oligarchs from criticism” — I’m simply noting that continuing to look “up there” as the reason for “the world’s woes” is a problem itself because then you miss the rot that might be right underneath your nose.
Understanding yourself and then understanding humans and their behavior is crucial. Easier said than done, to say the least. Again, the gentlemen on The Yellow Brick Road relentlessly and tirelessly discuss this concept. And by understanding I mean confronting the ugliness that comes your way and fighting the natural inclination to turn away from it (I’m very familiar with this tactic because I am the escape queen). To put it plainly, I agree with their assessment that this crucial step is constantly skipped over by most people — including me (or rather, especially by me) because when I am enraged, I tend to only see red; I’m working on it, trial and error, ya know. Ultimately, though, we are all capable of contributing positively and negatively to every situation (depending on the choices we make); thus, it’s important to take responsibility for all of it—the good and bad (or the light and the dark).
The Alchemy of Darkness
I stumbled upon a book titled The Black Sun: The Alchemy and Art of Darkness written by Stanton Marlan—a psychoanalyst who took interest in alchemy and esotericism. In the book, Marlan explores the positive hidden within negative psychological experiences by using darkness as a symbol for an internal endeavor that is necessary to face head on (by avoiding our natural instinct to escape pain). The word symbol is Greek in origin (from the word symballein) and it means to unite, put together, or to recollect. Symbols can act as bridges to higher realms that are not accessible through ordinary means. Symbols can also be bridges to lower realities in order to illustrate the difference between horizontal and vertical existence (spiritually speaking, of course). In certain theological interpretations, in order to live the divine life, man has to participate as a mediator between the physical and metaphysical because:
Man cannot find real meaning, or real life, if he chooses to live solely in the earthly or immanent realm. In doing so, man ceases to be a bridge, or a symbol, between meaning and matter, and therefore immanence ceases to support and to reflect transcendence. In such a scenario, instead of participating in the divine life, all man can do is to imitate the divine life, by forging a material world full of artificial lights, technology, and empty promises of immanent happiness. When man is not a bridge between Heaven and Earth, all that remains is matter without meaning, and all man can do is to cover himself up, in Biblical terms, with garments of skin.
Marlan’s work extracted from a wide range of sources; such as, Jung, literature, art, archetypal psychology, poetry, mysticism, and philosophy. Several chapters discuss the importance of descending into darkness and how the light actually lives within darkness itself. Chapter two stresses that staying with darkness allows:
Something to happen that escapes us if we are hasty. If we resist our natural tendency to take flight before painful experiences, we can descend into the dark aspects of the unconscious, which is necessary if we are to make contact with…infinite nature. Turning toward such darkness requires a willingness to stay with suffering and to make a descent into the unconscious.
Not rushing away from uncomfortable situations and staying with the suffering by taking a moment to investigate the negative feeling is easier said than done, but vital because “looking into blackness requires a period of adjustment. The reward for staying is available to those who have faith enough to withstand infinite duration.” As someone who lives in a huff and a hurry, this isn’t something I’ve mastered because I absolutely despise the anguish of waiting (especially for decisions on matters I deem important).
Perhaps, I need to reframe the way I look at those situations by asking myself why I’m in such a rush in the first place. Would the world really come crashing down if I had to be inconvenienced? It sucks, but no, it’s almost never that big of a deal. I don’t like it when people make others wait after they are asked specific questions—that doesn’t make those people monsters, by the way, I just think it’s inconsiderate and annoying, but I also understand that people process things differently at varying speeds. Although it may not be explicitly obvious, I do accept that interacting and coexisting (in some capacity) with the things that annoy the hell out of me are unavoidable parts of the human experience and I’ve slowly come to cherish this fact (even though I can come off like a complete asshole—a lot). What can I say, toughen up, betas! I’m joking, but seriously though, as a fellow individual of the sensitive variety, myself, I think some folks need tough love, ASAP.
According to The Black Sun: The Alchemy and Art of Darkness, Jung describes the light of nature (or lumen naturae)as the light of darkness—which shines its own darkness, and becomes the light the darkness understands and turns “blackness into brightness, burns away all superfluities and leaves behind nothing but…the rejected earth.” He believed this to be critical if one is attempting to find the hidden light within nature (because this light is not separate from darkness). Let’s, metaphorically, review one more quote from The Black Sun (related to Max Planck’s Theory of Heat Radiation)—about the alchemical process that transforms the nigredo to the albedo:
As noted, alchemical texts have traditionally spoken of this kind of renewal as a transition from the blackness of the nigredo to the whiteness of the albedo, but I believe we have to be careful not to interpret this white outcome of the alchemical process in terms of literal color since there is a tendency in modern culture to see white and black as opposites. The whiteness of the albedo is simultaneously a developmental step in a series of alchemical processes and the illuminating quality intrinsic in the blackness of the nigredo process. The whiteness that the alchemists speak of is not a whiteness separate from blackness. On the contrary, to understand the “renewal” that “follows” the nigredo, one must go beyond simple dichotomies and see into the complexity of the blackness itself.
What I understood from the quote (symbolically speaking) is that the blackness of the nigredo and the whiteness of the albedo are merely stages in an ongoing cycle of transformation (or developmental steps in a series of alchemical processes) and both are key to understanding the complexity of any phenomenon.
To Close:
This essay was originally part of my last post about Ukraine’s digital (tax haven) city and the start-up network state, but that piece was running long, so I made it into two separate parts. As I stated in the beginning, in the previous post, I briefly mentioned the controlled transition to the “multipolar world order” and how each side (the new and the old) are controlled by the same network of dumbasses and psychopaths. I started by discussing the 1776 American Revolution and how it had funding from the French, Dutch, and Spanish, who found it more beneficial to align with the American colonies against the British. I opened with that because I wanted to point out the inconsistencies in coverage by the journalists who enjoy exposing color revolutions funded by George Soros, but never mention that the American Revolution was also aided by entities abroad.
I also wanted to toy with the alchemy of darkness and viewing light as a counterpart of darkness rather than an opposite (which is a rigid dichotomy, if you really think about it). Lastly, I wanted to explore why symbols seem to be so universally important to almost every culture around the world—and try to understand them as higher forms of communication used to describe ideas that cannot be formulated into words as we conventionally utilize them. Of course, words are symbols and even this sentence is a symbol of whatever idea I’m trying to communicate and not necessarily the idea itself.
Most of everything we do can be perceived as a symbol of how we perceive and engage with the world around us—I suppose what I’m trying to say is that it’s not only about communicating with symbols or recognizing them, but rather, how we utilize the constant stream of patterns (or symbols) that enter our ether, as a lens through which we look at our own experiences in order to get a deeper understanding (going into the darkness). There are universal patterns, of course, because many of the things that have happened to me have probably happened to many others; the difference is how we discern those patterns because that is not something to take lightly or to engage with in a lazy manner. I’ve been guilty of this myself, but I try to be more conscious of it when I recognize the signs (it’s not easy); however, nothing that’s truly worth it is ever easy.
That’s all for now. Peace and blessings.
-Sebs
