Over the course of my young career here I’ve amassed a very eclectic group of readers from all across the political spectrum, which I quite enjoy. Sometimes I read the comments sections just to watch what happens when you bring people together from wildly different worldviews who wouldn’t normally interact with each other very much and see how those reality tunnels dance together in a conversation or debate.

I can’t rightly call my whole audience left-wing or right-wing, conspiracy theorists or anarchists, activists or intellectuals, or almost any other label I can think of. There’s only one attribute that comes to mind which unites pretty much all of my readers and social media followers, and that’s a drive to know what’s really going on in the world. Their curiosity about what’s going on in what specific field may differ from person to person, as do the conclusions they reach, but basically I think we’re all united by a desire, perhaps often an obsessive one, to come to some understanding of what’s really happening in the world.

If schools, news media and politicians told people what’s really going on in the world, this curiosity wouldn’t exist. There’d be no need to do deep investigations into what’s really happening, because it would be public knowledge, right there in our faces every day, and I’d be out of a job. The only reason people like me get to make a living trying to expose what’s really happening in the world to as many people as possible is because the teachers, news reporters and politicians don’t do that job for us, and instead dedicate themselves to the craft of filling public consciousness with power-authorized lies. So people gather in little fringe communities like this one in an attempt to help each other slice through the fog of propaganda and disinfo.

We are truth seekers. We seek in different ways and we find different answers, but we are united by a burning desire for truth. By the question, “What the hell is going on here, anyway?”

And this is why I don’t make any distinction between the quest to punch through the veil of establishment narrative management and the quest to come to a deep understanding of our own true nature. Some readers complain about the way I’ll be writing about Russiagate or Venezuela one minute and then suddenly pivot to the illusory nature of the ego or processing early childhood trauma the next, but to me they’re all exactly the same thing: it’s all an attempt to describe the truth about what’s really going on.

I made a conscious resolution long ago to always try to tell the truth as I see it rather than to say what people want me to say, and sometimes talking about human consciousness and the importance of inner work is the most truthful way I know to speak about what’s going on. So I’m sorry if I don’t always stick to writing about what you want to see me write about, but the alternative would be just seeking popularity and clicks, which would quickly lead to support for mainstream partisan narratives since that’s where the most clicks are, at which point I might as well whore myself out to MSM. So I just stick with telling the truth as honestly as possible based on how it looks from behind these eyes, which sometimes looks like a discussion about inner exploration.

Because here’s the thing: the investigation into what’s really going on goes two ways. It extends outward into discovering the truth about events and power structures underneath the fog of propaganda, and it extends inward to discovering how we really operate underneath all our fundamental assumptions and beliefs.

Both directions of investigation are equally important, because the truth about what’s going on in each direction is equally obscured. In exactly the same way that world events aren’t happening the way most people believe they’re happening because of what they were taught at school and in the news media, internal phenomena like thought, self, consciousness and perception aren’t happening anywhere remotely like the way most people assume they’re happening. Sincere inner work leads to a clear perception of the way one’s internal dynamics are occurring that makes it possible to live wisely and joyously, in the same way that sincere research into what’s going on in the outer world makes it possible to skillfully address the dilemmas that our species faces on this planet.

Most of us prefer the outer stuff. It’s fun to make fun of shitlibs and war whores and expose the corruption and lies of our rulers for everyone to see. It gets us plenty of accolades on social media, which give us highly addictive neurochemical rewards. It’s egoically pleasing.

Much less fun, and much less egoically pleasing, is honoring the fact that one’s own ego is actually part of the problem, and setting to work unburdening the world of our own inner bullshit. But it’s so important, because it happens that you can’t effectively investigate what’s going on in the outer world when your eyes are clouded by your own inner illusions, and you can’t help the world when your own actions are being ruled by your own unconscious conditioning. If you don’t resolve the sources of your own suffering, your attempts to help the world are like a child covered in mud trying to help his mother clean the house; you’re just spreading your suffering around.

(As an aside, there are also lots of people who much prefer inner exploration to outer exploration, and they’re just as useless and deluded as those who neglect inner exploration in favor of outer exploration. Many spiritual types will happily sit in meditation for hours on end, go on spiritual retreats and immerse themselves in contemplation while compartmentalizing away from their political responsibilities to the world using spiritual-sounding arguments. I’m not addressing these types here because they don’t read writers like me, but it’s worth noting that the delusion can go either way, and in both cases it’s ultimately about running from aspects of reality that one finds uncomfortable instead of courageously facing the truth, come what may.)

I’m not interested in recommending any particular path to inner investigation here, and you don’t need me to. Everyone’s journey to self-realization is different, and you already have what you need to guide you to all the necessary tools: your burning desire to be free from illusions and know the truth about what’s really going on. All you need to do is turn that burning desire to know what’s true onto your own inner processes, and you can be confident that you’ll discover the truth there in the same way you’ve discovered so much truth about what’s going on in the world. There are plenty of teachings, pointers and tips available online to show you how to do this. Your burning curiosity will guide you to the best ones for you.

There’s a lot of bullshit in this world, and it just so happens that we each own an acre of it over which we have total and complete control. Turn your attention toward eliminating your own acre of inner bullshit, and the world will be less one acre of bullshit. From there, your newfound clarity of vision will help you find and eliminate all the bullshit in the outer world as well.

____________________

The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitterthrowing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypalpurchasing some of my sweet merchandisebuying my new book Rogue Nation: Psychonautical Adventures With Caitlin Johnstone, or my previous book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish or use any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.

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64 responses to “What The Hell Is Going On Here, Anyway?”

  1. Helen Camakaris Avatar
    Helen Camakaris

    The problem is indeed within ourselves. Evolution does not equip organisms/ people for the future but is contingent upon the environment and genetic precursor available at the time. In our case most of our evolution occurred before or during the Stone Age, so our intuitive reasoning is unsuited to civilisation, and the challenges that face us. Our reasoning and its biases are not up to the task so the challenge is to make the most of social evolution, using collaborative learning and new political institutions, incentives, taxes etc to guide us. Here’s some more ideas: https://theconversation.com/dont-trust-your-stone-age-brain-its-unsustainable-9075

  2. Ms. Johnstone’s texts bear light. But the cave dives too dark, too coiled and twisted. https://dissidentvoice.org/2019/08/inside-the-submissive-void-propaganda-censorship-power-and-control/

  3. Yep, I agree wholeheartedly not only with what you say but the unique gift you bring to the way of expressing what is said. I long ago ‘corrected’ the Thothian expression: “as above, so below”. It totally resonates with your meaning Caitlin to have this become: “as within so without” at the same time revealing a little of what lies behind this entire head fuck.

  4. I enjoy the way you write. I have been studying propaganda for years and you are about the only author that understands how people’s biases and fallacies are manipulated 24×7. Keep it up please.

    1. You might also be familiar with another David who has also been paying attention to this kind of thing for a long time. That would be the justly famous David Icke. On topic here:

  5. […] So I’m sorry if I don’t always stick to writing about what you want to see me write about, but the alternative would be just seeking popularity and clicks, which would quickly lead to support for mainstream partisan narratives since that’s where the most clicks are, at which point I might as well whore myself out to MSM.[…]

    Hello, Caitlin Johnstone.

    From my point of view you don’t need to apologize for what you write! On the contrary, I wouldn’t be here more often and wouldn’t have subscribed to your feed if you weren’t the one you are, even if I don’t like everything you write. There are lots of bloggers who write for clicks, money and fame – nobody really needs people like that who only provide tittytainment for the masses – people just have to believe that the vips and prommies and all that around would be important for their lives, they are just false idols (tin gods) like almost everything from tinseltown.
    But there is one thing I would like to point out. For me, you would be far more credible if you weren’t also represented on the relevant social media platforms founded by C14[1], such as Facebook (Lif3L0g). It would be nice to see you using alternatives and gradually withdrawing from mainstream platforms. You are writing against the censorship at social media and you are writing about the own illusion e.g. “And it’s certainly a lot more comfortable than believing you could be next.” (at your “the just world fallacy” article) – so maybe you have to work a bit more on your own self-delusions.
    But that’s all up to you and your decision alone – I just wanted to mention it and know also that you have more reach through these mainstream social media – which is also financially not insignificant if you want to make a living from your writing.

    Best regards and take care!

    [1]

  6. Dear Caitlin Johnstone:

    I admire your work, insights, stamina and the good will you can have for people. In the meantime, in reading this particular article, I am beginning to wonder if you are studying a certain great body of knowledge and are trying to protect it by not making it a target?

  7. If you don’t stop lying to yourself, or don’t know if you are lying to yourself, then you have no valid point of view on what others are doing. Try this:

    https://lyingsweetly.blogspot.com/2017/05/lying-sweetly-i-am-going-to-tell-you_3.html

  8. I believe we are all “in it”; a desire to change the world for the better. Both fanatics and idealists have this goal. Fanatics, being inverted idealists, unfortunately attempt to change the world in their own image. Truth, being the goal of both fanatics and idealists, is therefore a very “dicey” concept. Personal choice (of thoughts, actions, or inaction), is the only place I know to begin. Calling others to particular personal/collective thought(s)/action(s), usually with ringing rhetoric, is one hallmark of the fanatic. Another is attempting to take one giant step towards one’s ideals rather than recognizing small steps eventually get us to our ideals. Our personal thoughts, words and actions do matter. Let idealism and not fanaticism be our chosen path.

  9. Pamela M Mitchell Avatar
    Pamela M Mitchell

    I made a conscious resolution long ago to always try to tell the truth as I see it……………. Here is my problem with you…. the truth is not about how you see it… the truth is backed up by facts not your viewpoint. I have seen some of your articles posted to MeWe and I am just taken aback that people bye into your viewpoint which is not about the facts but about how you see it. Much too much conspiracy theory that has no real back up except for the dramatic ideas that you have some insight and all the real information is being kept hidden from everyone but you. I think you do a disservice in your short career by leading people on instead of leading them to the truth of matters

    1. “facts” are not “truth” automatically. “facts” can only produce a meaningful understanding of your world when analyzed from a perspective. beads don’t make a neckless until you sting them up with a thread. puzzle pieces have to be put together by you before they make a big picture.

    2. A “fact” is a “finding” that some mind derives from that mind’s perception that certain events constitute “evidence” from which that mind believes it can derive a “finding” of a “fact.”

      Karl Popper believed the solution was “falsification” — the endeavor of attempting to disprove a “finding” of “fact” or an hypothesis.

      If a “fact-finding” or hypothesis withstands, or withstands substantially, a relentless, rigorous endeavor of proving the “fact-finding” or hypothesis false, then the “fact-finding” may be “true” or the hypothesis maintainable — at least pending any further falsification.

      But “true” or maintainable in what context or for what purpose or to what extent? And what determines the context, purpose, or extent? And what determines the existence, truth, or content of the context, purpose, or extent? And what determines the “what” that does, or determines, the determination?

      And was the falsification submitted to falsification; and, if so, was the falsification’s falsification submitted to falsification; and, if so,………..?

      But in the case of your criticism of Ms. Johnstone’s writing, such seemingly searching, putative sophistication is unnecessary. For, you do not present ANYTHING that even YOU might claim a “fact” that supports your assertion that Ms. Johnstone blathers fact-deprived opinions.

      This much IS true (unless I am deluding myself to believe I am not merely a dreamed character of some Olympic creature’s nightmare):

      (1) For its entire existence, the United States has committed mass-murder, daily, just for greed (wealth-greed, power-greed, ego-greed, resource-greed, land-greed……….) — and I mean not just murder of humans, but of virtually every other kind of living, feeling thing.

      (2) The United States will continue to commit such daily mass murder unless and until some other power (e.g., a Russia/China or Russia/China/India alliance) presses back. And then, near-certainly, the pushing back will merely magnify the mass-murder.

      If Ms. Johnstone deserves criticisms, the causes are: (a) Ms. Johnstone seems truly to believe that “The People” can curtail, perhaps even defeat, the United State’s grotesquely manifest imperial greed. (b) Ms. Johnstone transmutes, occasionally, into an unintentionally dangerous Polyanna, as where she buys the fraud that homosexuality is not a symptom of character-neurosis or that opening borders will render good.

      1. Sorry: “Pollyanna,” NOT “Polyanna.”

      2. Ugh! A bad typing day: the United States’ NOT the United State’s.

  10. Michael L Gardner, Ph.D (for what the fuck that's worth) Avatar
    Michael L Gardner, Ph.D (for what the fuck that’s worth)

    Dear C,
    Since the day several years ago when I stumbled across one of your articles, I have followed you on a regular basis. While I can’t stand some of your far-left wingnut political views (i consider myself a libertarian-small l–anarchist, anarco-capitalist or whatever you want to call them) I greatly admire your quest for the truth and your honesty in your own political views. I hope someday you will be without a job. The mark of a true thinker is the unrelenting search for reality and you may have even convinced me to get back on Patreon. Facebook and Google, etc, never–but perhaps Patreon. It’s been a pleasure–RIP Jason Raimondo.
    Mike

      1. Michael L Gardner, Ph.D (for what the fuck that's worth) Avatar
        Michael L Gardner, Ph.D (for what the fuck that’s worth)

        Thanks for the excellent article–one I missed. While we glorify deductive reasoning (and experimentation) as the path to scientific knowledge we, as everyday humans, base most of our daily conclusions on inductive reasoning. Why then is it so hard for us to induce the true nature of the narrative we are fed every day? Perhaps, as Hitler understood, we were gotten to too young. Long live the writings of Lysander Spooner and Fredrick Bastiat!

        1. (1) In your main comment, you wrote: “RIP Jason Raimondo.” Did you mean Justin Raimondo? If you meant “Jason,” please post a link that opens that person’s biography.

          (2) Frédéric Bastiat argues well for a libertarian system — government limited to protecting the individual’s life, liberty, and property (where “property” means what John Locke argued, not just legal interests held in tangible things or intangible products of enterprise or invention, but also the integrity of one’s being and personal freedom of controlling or determining one’s being).

          Bastiat’s arguments resist logical deconstruction. But his arguments disregard the problem that humans suffer differences of start-up advantage (or start-up disadvantage). So, his arguments disregard the question of whether charity is a necessity, hence the question eleemosynary efficiency.

          Suppose John’s genetic structure causes him to suffer multiple sclerosis. Jane’s genetic structure threatens no disease, and Jane is perfectly healthy. John’s native intelligence is average, but he was born to indigent parents, whose very spare intelligence and very poor education impair, gravely, their rising from poverty. Jane’s native intelligence is “genius”-level, and she was born to wealthy, well-educated, intelligent parents.

          A medical advance proved able to ameliorate substantially the symptoms of multiple sclerosis — so that a multiple sclerosis sufferer’s life can be essentially normal. But the medial measure costs $50,000 initially, then $20,000 per year. John’s parents cannot pay the cast. They could not purchase adequate medical insurance. John is, now, a young adult. His childhood’s educational and economic ingredients, his disability, and his intelligence-level prevented John’s being able to pay for the medical advance or buy adequate medical insurance.

          Jane’s parents could buy the medical advance’s benefit with their liquid capital. Also they bought the best medical insurance. When Jane became a young adult, she was very wealthy because of her parents’ wealth, and, because of her intelligence and educational and economic advantages, she, too, could buy the medical advance’s with her liquid capital and bought the best medical insurance.

          Either empathy will move society to buy the medical advance’s benefit for John, or John will die horribly and very young. Either society will bear a tax that will fund a tax-funded/state-operated medical welfare system that will provide EVERY John the medical benefits he needs, or EVERY John will die horribly and very young. If provided the necessary medical benefit, every John could (likely would) be a productive member of society.

          For John’s case’s reasons AND OTHERS, a tax-funded/state-operated medical welfare system would be an efficiency. See also https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-conservative-case-for-universal-healthcare/

          Frédéric Bastiat’s libertarianism suffers another essential problem. It must depend on an astronomically rapid-acting and monumentally huge judicial or quasi-judicial system that acts with pristine fairness and abundant but rational empathy.

          Human greed and psychopathy (or sociopathy, if you prefer) promise endless, wide- spread wrongdoing that causes endless, wide- spread physical, psychic, and economic harm of myriad individual humans (and myriad individual specimens of all other sentient living species). To minimize the harms, a libertarian system would need to be able to adjudicate, very, very quickly, and remedy, or prevent (by enforced injunction) all or most such harms.

          If such judicial or quasi-judicial system could be — and were — devised and it actually worked, it would be enormously expensive and require very hefty, universal taxation (of all those who could afford to pay the fitting tax).

          See also, e.g., https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1749&context=hlr

  11. “…what the hell’s really happening in the world”.

    That’s it ! That is exactyl it ! That is the burning need that brings me here and to Voltairenet.org

    Thank you again Caitlin Johnstone.

  12. Some believe in making things better; more believe in whatever lies get them the biggest power rush, and the most useless stuff.

    Some of us believe in patiently making things more beautiful, more fertile, kinder to all; others believe that the first kind are suckers fit only for self-serving lies, fraud, and abuse.

    To me Humanity is an act of imagination that requires a good heart and a kind hand to make progress fruitful. Imagination is the reason why the arts are so important, even though they ‘merely’ build compassion, community, and a greater understanding of humanity.

    This is why hate, bigotry, and sociopaths are so damaging. People with these characteristics lack the means to imagine anything let alone other people’s lives, or a kinder, more beautiful future. So they brutally impose their nightmares on the rest of us.

    As an example, watch any foolish auto ad. I’ve noticed they often feature a ‘white’ family fleeing nature portrayed as a frightening monster. Fools buy this crap and wonder why they don’t feel like heroes behind the wheel. Instead they get stuck in suburban traffic jams without even the pretence of nature at home, and wonder where the money went, and why they are so powerless, so angry. They sold their humanity for worthless toys and a life of cynical ease instead of reaching for a life of beauty, meaning, and consequence.

    This is the problem with human ‘civilization’ these days: our choices are limited to various flavours of self-serving stupidity manufactured by corporate sociopaths for coprophiliacs. What we need is a nutritious diet of honesty and all the flavours of a diverse, healthy environment.

    We are in an age where it is necessary to FIGHT for the truth so that we might build lasting beautiful communities. Or pack our bags for the concentration camps.

  13. Caitlin,
    Thank you for everything you do.

  14. It isn’t only living things that evolve. One cannot make sense of whatever you want to call the present arrangement or Matrix without a careful study of the history of its evolution, as best as it can be ascertained, anyway. I like to use the end of the last Ice Age as a convenient place to start that evolutionary study.
    ..
    After such study, one can see how the “fundamentals” of the present arrangement are really not that much different than those of the ancient arrangment — for example, the existence of a relatively small number of non-productive, parasitic “Elite” human beings and their henchmen who, for most times ridiculous, illogical reasons, claim to “own” the land, means of production, etc. and “make their living” by stealing from the people who actually produce things on that land and use those tools (today, “capital” equipment).

  15. Mathematicians will sometimes try to change the form of a problem in order to solve it. Something similar may be found in some Agatha Christie mysteries where Miss Marple is involved. Her method is to transpose an apparently mysterious situation into memories of similar events in the village she grew up in, which in Miss Marple’s case helps clarify what is going on. After all, both scenes involve human beings, and human nature doesn’t change much, at least according to Agatha Christie. Just so, when the great leaders are carrying on, one can find parallels for their behavior in settings one knows well: the family, the schoolyard, the neighborhood. The scope of local bullies and saints is reduced, but their principles and methods may be very similar. And if something is unbelievable down the block, it’s probably just as dubious on the front page of the _Times_.

  16. “Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=133&v=ePodNjrVSsk

    What indeed is going on here? If I say we exist to entertain the Elohim and that the Elohim manifest as human from time to time – would that be regarded as a “mission” or could we simply call it a journey to the “wild side”. Where would we be without drama and comedy?

    Did you ever get the feeling that in seeking to understand “all things” it is not so much trying to learn something new as it is to remember that which you have forgotten? Does that concept make things any easier? Probably not… forget I said anything.

    Namaste

  17. I have to admit that it appears to me that the United States government is totally corrupt from top to bottom. Thankfully there are Internet websites with the courage to post some of the most despicable traits of my government for all to see. This is way beyond disgusting:
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51999.htm

  18. Interesting approach to the problem. Have been struggling with a manifestation of this locally for some time now and will give some deep thought to the paradigm as you express it. My community is seen as a liberal/progressive one. The school district being seen the same with many people moving here for our schools that receive high academic ratings. However, over the years I have watched this district hire autocrats one after the other, people who rule in direct opposition to the alleged humanistic values of much of the community. it took 20 yrs of active work to even get the word racism on the table much less get any action to deal with it. Our oh-so-nice teachers would never be racist! However, all our children of color have suffered under the ‘nice’ tutelage of these teachers and administration. We now get lip service but hardly any action.

    I have raised this question about the contradiction between stated values and actual behavior many times and even the most progressive of my cohorts will not pick up this flag as an approach to speaking with people in order to deal with this problem But it is not just the schools. I see this with all the ‘nice’ liberals who are typically very white, very middle-class and who feel so entitled that they think they can chose who can be in the movement for change. And I must say that we also have some middle-class people of color who identify with this power structure act the same.

    What I see is a lot of fear around confronting the power structure. There is more concern for being accepted than for calling out the problem. But you will never get these people to talk about their fear and ncehow it limits their actions. Instead they cause divisiveness with their active intolerance of real progressives as it frightens the heck out of them. One lesson in classism that I learned from a very upper middle-class customer is their value in never being wrong or anxious. They may ‘worry’ about something but anxiety is a state of deficiency while worry is a matter of controlled concern. And being liked and acceptable is actually the most important value they hold. Change will never come from this kind of thinking/feeling/behavior. It totally tows the line no matter what misery is causes.

    So thank you for this column. I think your expression of the dichotomy between inner cellular learning & belief systems vs the mental exercise of alleged analysis is core tot he problem that I have been struggling for a way to talk about it.

  19. What indeed is going on ?
    Everyone has an opinion, just like witnesses at a traffic accident.
    Drives me nuts.
    Could we please have the video from the camera over the intersection ?

    Egos, childhood traumas, the fog of propaganda.
    The huge sums of money ( is huge big enough to describe the amount ? ) being generated along the US/Mexico border. Easily enough to corrupt reasonable political discourse about border security, and if that doesn’t work to pay the assassins.

    And the CIA. And the Dulles brothers. And John Kennedy. And the ” Hillary Kill List “. And what the hell is ” Spirit Cooking ” anyway ?

    Excuse me while I adjourn to the bunker.

    Appreciate your writing. Often disagree but provokes me to re-examine. Thank you.

  20. The inner world becomes the outer world, and the outer world becomes the inner world – this is mutual causation, the dance of the Universe. Is the Divine Reality inner or outer? Both – and also something beyond both, which can be pointed to, but not meaningfully talked about.

    I love your direct, clear, honest way of cutting through the bullshit to pierce the heart of the Truth, Caitlin.

  21. “Most of us prefer the outer stuff. It’s fun to make fun of shitlibs and war whores and expose the corruption and lies of our rulers for everyone to see. It gets us plenty of accolades on social media, which give us highly addictive neurochemical rewards. It’s egoically pleasing.
    “Much less fun, and much less egoically pleasing, is honoring the fact that one’s own ego is actually part of the problem, and setting to work unburdening the world of our own inner bullshit. But it’s so important, because it happens that you can’t effectively investigate what’s going on in the outer world when your eyes are clouded by your own inner illusions, and you can’t help the world when your own actions are being ruled by your own unconscious conditioning. If you don’t resolve the sources of your own suffering, your attempts to help the world are like a child covered in mud trying to help his mother clean the house; you’re just spreading your suffering around.”
    .
    — Caitlin Johnstone: What The Hell Is Going On Here, Anyway?
    .
    “What is one’s relationship with this whole business of what is called living? And what is living, as it is? One can, of course, readily see what it actually is: an everlasting struggle, a battlefield which we call living, conflict – not only with another but also within ourselves – pain, fleeting moments of great joy, fear, despair and a series of frustrations; the contradictions in ourselves both at the conscious and the deeper levels; a state of non-relationship; great sorrow – which is generally self-pity – loneliness and boredom. Then the escape from all this into religious beliefs: your God and my God. That is our life as it actually is. Going to the office for forty years – you know, so proud about all this; aggressive, competitive, brutal. That is our life and we call that living. And we don’t know how to change it. We are eager to change the superficial structure of society – a new bureaucracy instead of the old one, and so on. However, the outward change has meaning only when there is deep inward revolution: then the outer and the inner are the same movement not two separate movements.”
    .
    — Jiddu Krishnamurti: You Are the World, public talk at Stanford University, 1969
    .
    http://jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en/you-are-the-world/1969-02-13-jiddu-krishnamurti-you-are-the-world-3rd-public-talk

  22. There have been many great teachers.
    Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi, Meher Baba, Barry Long, Douglas Harding, Peter Kropotkin, William Shakespeare, JS Bach, Simone Weil and my Mum and Dad, to name a few.
    Oh! And Caitlin.

  23. As usual, excellent article. I was particularly struck by the mention of teachers and what was supposed to be their job. My experience with the education system in my home state of W.A. gives me no confidence at all, that they are doing what they are supposed to, for our kids. Lucky for me, I woke up to what was going on early enough to nip it in the bud for my kids, but sadly, it still went on, and is still ongoing today.
    Last week I watched a segment on Current Affairs, channel nine, where there were FOUR teachers claiming they could no longer work because of the threats and assaults made against them over the years, and their claims, the authorities were turning a blind eye to their grievances. I immediately recalled my case with my kids. Where they were told by the High school teacher that they had rights, and if their parents did not respect those rights, they should report them. Straight away I could see what was being done here, and shortly later, it was verified by the authorities passing laws to disallow parents to disicpline their kids, making doing so ILLEGAL, and if the kids reported those events the authorities would remove them from their parents control, BUT the parents were still liable for damages caused by their kids that had been removed. Very few people saw the danger in this, and quietly simply accepted what was done. Thus kids could now run amuck with the Government’s blessing, and the parents held accountable. Now we come to today, where these kids are now young adults and we can see in the MSM every day, the results of that legislation, by the hospital admissions from aggressive acts, (and far worse )committed by these people. It appears the students have also picked up the mantle, that the teachers themselves spread wide and far, now coming back to haunt them. They didn’t think twice about following the instructions to them from their authorities, simply did as they were told, now they discover what they have sown, and are unable to deal with it. Sorry people. No sympathy here for you. You deserve everything dealt out to you.

  24. “I made a conscious resolution long ago to always try to tell the truth as I see it rather than to say what people want me to say …”

    I made a somewhat similar decision after following Watergate and the Nixon resignation, and have worked at ever since. The point as I saw it then was that truth requires nothing from me, but lie requires my constant support and defense. Over time, I found the most insidious lies, the hardest for me to detect and reject, are the lies I tell myself about myself.

    I now view the truth orientation as a direction, not a destination. In other words, I do not expect expect to ever know the truth but always to seek it (and I to approach closer to it).

  25. Ms Cait, you are WAY too good for this wonderful backwater you have created. Thank you, thank you.

  26. psychohistorian Avatar
    psychohistorian

    I am writing in response to your question in my normal fashion, relating to global finance.

    The West is being forced by China, Russia, and all those other aligned countries to return to a money system that has intrinsic value in its specie.

    The West since 1971, when President Nixon went off the “gold standard”, has been operating with what is called fiat money…..worthless except for the FAITH all have in it.

    And the West global financial system is private so returning to a money system with intrinsic value and associated controls is going to cause lots of folks to freak when they realize that money in their pockets and bank accounts is not as fungible as it used to be, to be polite.

    An adjustment period will be interesting, to say the least, as all the private folk claim ownership of everything through their derivative positions and then they realize that they need to settle this fiction through a Socialist committee set up to figure all this centuries of private finance perfidy out.

    We do live in interesting times indeed.

  27. I love, love, love your turns of phrase – “…like a child covered in mud trying to help his mother clean the house; you’re just spreading your suffering around.” Another fave is your, “…trying to dry your hair with rainwater.” Your clever use of frequent fun and playful thoughts interspersed with important and thought-provoking messaging compels me to follow your work and, occasionally, send something your way. Onya, Caitlin!

    1. caitlin is still too innocent to realize that much of the intellectual chaos is intentional while the rest is unintended. the borderless ruling class (the global 1%) thrives on chaos, intellectual, physical (induced by wars and state terrorism), and economica (sanctions etc). chaos is absolutely essential for the neo-liberal status quo.

  28. Digby Jackson Avatar
    Digby Jackson

    Both the exterior and the interior approaches to seeking the truth involve an encounter with a real and definitive darkness. The beginning of the spiritual journey almost always involves a painful tarrying with our own dark side or unconscious shadow, where the horror of admitting what we’ve really been doing to to justify our self-esteem brings healing awareness to those hidden parts of ourselves that we’ve spent our whole lives trying to deny… And in a similar way, the outer search for the truth about who really controls the world beneath all the lies and disinformation, sooner or later brings us to an encounter with unspeakable evil. We witnessed this recently with the arrest of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in a case that reveals the anatomy of a Zionist sexual blackmail operation, implicating an international clique of powerful Jewish billionaires in rape, pedophilia, organ harvesting, sex trafficking, and ritual Satanic child sacrifice. To become conscious of this subterranean depravity that seeks to destroy the most innocent among us is a psychologically shattering experience, and its something that cannot ever be fully understood. But by wrestling with this monstrous evil and the sobering realization that it cuts across every stratum of society, one is equiped with the most valuable kind of knowledge, and a newfound resilience that can no longer be shocked by anything that happens in this world…

  29. foster goodwill Avatar
    foster goodwill

    Inner b.s. is right,blocking our way. Unfortunately inner and outer foundamental change doesnt come easily.
    But we must do what we can!

  30. Ah, the Buddha Ms Caitlin speaks the truth! One of life’s realities is that most of humanity will not ” like you ” if they can not find ways to ” hit your buttons or pull your strings “. If your ” sense of right and wrong ” can not be bent then you are different from them and you will be disliked. Whatever your principles are if you ardently stick to them some folks develop a malice toward you. I find it very revealing exposing people to Ms Johnstone’s website. Their reactions and comments are like a litmus test of their true inner workings. Exposure to Ms Johnstone’s truthful writings either brings forth another ardent reader or it brings forth deeply held biases that people cling to, to enable their twisted views about life and enables them to just keep lying to themselves. As usual Ms Johnstone this article is great.

  31. Caitin, you cast a wide net, and I admire you for that. My mother who lived to the age of 98, and who I didn’t think was much of an intellect, did say one thing that I felt overshadowed everything else she said. “You have only one thing in this world which you own and of which you are totally responsibility. That is your word”. I think your word is as truthful and informed as you can deliver. Thank you. I often pass them on.

  32. caitlin, i think you are confusing psychology with philosophy. psychology as we know it has no philosophically-grounded answer to any of our social, historical, political, moral questions.

    1. Louis Althusser, the late French Structuralist philisopher, warned us against mixing three universes of scientific knowledge that NEVER cross (or mix with) one another: 1) the pure abstract and logical universe of theoretical mathmatics and theoretical physics, 2) the sensory universe of physical, biological, chemical, geological knowledge, and 3) the philosophical (or dialectical) world of social, historical, political understanding. he never counted psychology as a source of any scientific (= systematic and verifiable / gounded) knowledge.

      1. I think you gotta roll up your sleeves, wade right in and mix the sacrosanct domains the ego tries to protect itself by maintaining separateness of right up. I think that’s what Caitlin is talking about. Our natural state, what we truly are, knows that imbibing this cocktail and facing the consequences is the only way through. The ego wants ground, orderly certainty. There is no ground.

        1. This. Great comment!
          Nothing is as it seems. Nor is it otherwise.

        2. the philosophical ground has nothing to do with anyone’s ego. the fact that you and many others don’t understand what the philosophical ground is and thus can’t find it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. but alas, in democracy where the majority determines the “truth” by voting, whatever you say passes as “truth”. so Socrates drank the poison.

    2. Great comment, The little I have know about psychology is that there are different ‘theories’ and they all come from such varied different perspective. It is really a disjointed, unfocused free for all.. Personally I have come to see the world as a collection of self-serving/self-comforting delusions. That being said I believe this focus on individual introspection as vital is misplaced. Good advice, but really of no consequence in the scheme of things.

      Hence why I constantly promote what I see as a ‘collective intelligence’. It is all about the conclusions we reach and the process we followed in getting there. I believe we are more intelligent, truthful and honest and will reach stronger conclusions as a ‘collective’, when our individual failings are unable to corrupt the outcome.

      This is what Caitlin seems to want. I just see a collective intelligence as a more realistic way of getting there. That is what I ‘think’ anyway. But hey I could be wrong and someone here could correct me and that is actually what I would want.

      https://medium.com/@whmilk/what-is-a-real-solution-696608f98b78

    3. There is no philosophically-grounded version of truth. The psychological component of our individual difficulties of self-awareness is the “Original Sin” of rationalization.

      1. you’re a product of the post-this-and-that pseudo philosophies that have taken over and ruled the academia since the 80s.

  33. You are a truth seeker, hence you attract the same kind. If truth can be compared to a sugar crystal, we are all ants.
    Truth transcends race, religion, gender, age, beliefs, goals etc. in fact Truth transcends Time, Space and everything in Time and Space (outer, inner, past, present and future). Truth has to be You, only you are aware of the Time, Space and everything in Time and Space.
    You are a gifted and inspiring teacher because your words are like laser beams cutting through the bullshit/darkness of ignorance in the mind.

  34. Leonard Michael Ross Avatar
    Leonard Michael Ross

    Perfect!!!

  35. It’s hard to find truth more densely packed in one place than in this article you have just graced us with, Caitlin. Beautiful work, well done, and thank you for sharing your thoughtful insight.

  36. This post reminds me of the funniest book I ever read –the Quixote– when I was in grad school. His premiss being that having read too many Romances (I hesitate to use that word since we are talking about books about knights and damsels, not modern romances) that the author, (who claims not to be the author) went crazy and decided to sally forth on a broken down horse with a pig farmer as his squire to right the wrongs of society in the days of the Spanish Inquisition. The point being that the theme is self-delusion and the chapters all end in disaster for some segment of the characters because of his efforts. I take solace in the fact that the human capacity for complete and total self-delusion has been documented more than half a millenium ago and shows no sign of diminishing yet.

  37. Charles Robinson Avatar
    Charles Robinson

    Why did Jeffery Epstein rush down to the department store? Because he heard that little girls skirts were half off.
    https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1002021411921059840

    1. you ask a valid question in the video. either the comedians that you seem to deem as talented and smart are not so smart or insightful after all (and they are very successful for some other reason), or they just do not have conscience. i can’t think of any other convincing explanations…

  38. “but basically I think we’re all united by a desire, perhaps often an obsessive one, to come to some understanding of what’s really happening in the world.”
    I think that is an excellent description of why I studied nuclear physics back in my misspent youth. When I first encountered that in high school physics, it felt like I was learning the secrets of the universe. It was exciting and I wanted to learn more. The disappointing part is that as they go deeper and deeper and learn more about subatomic particles it really feels like that they are now completely disconnected from the world. But it was an exciting trip back when I was young.
    And sometimes it made an interesting juxtaposition, as my studying for physics finals in the university morphed into a summer vacation following the Grateful Dead and some interesting combinations of thoughts as the two crossed over. 🙂 And looking back, I suppose that always did feel like continuing the journey further after physics lead to a dead end of weird subatomic particles.
    Thanks Caitlin! The happy trails of thoughts that led from reading that one sentence of yours has made me smile and write! 🙂

  39. Caitlin – Brilliant, necessary, inspiring, thank you.

    ps – I think I’m down to .96 acre.

    1. LOL! I went from nuclear physics to land surveying! So, if you want someone to examine the deeds and take a few measurements to find out where that 0.04 acres disappeared to, I’d be glad to help! 🙂 😉

      1. So, help me out: is it true that BS is finite, but it takes an all infinite amount of energy to get beyond it?

  40. “Much less fun, and much less egoically pleasing, is honoring the fact that one’s own ego is actually part of the problem, and setting to work unburdening the world of our own inner bullshit” Yeah, it one hell of a lot less fun, but thanks for an important reminder! Spot ON.

  41. Right now, you’re one of my favorite sources of writing. I love all you say. The varied forms of your writing are part of the awe I experience in receiving your emails, and part of the balance I like to entertain in my awareness. It’s refreshing for me to have someone say what I experience as truth in a world so devoid of it.

  42. Curiosity and Enthusiasm.

    June 4, 2019: The interview was near closing, and he asked me, what are the most important qualities of your life. I was hesitant to answer due to the phase, “most important”. Frequently an interviewer’s modest attempt at the sensational. The ‘most’ of anything, yet alone ‘important’ in ones’ ‘life’. That is a lot to ask, and to respond in several seconds. Despite my hesitancy, I offered, curiosity and enthusiasm. The interviewer started to ask me to explain, but he stopped to allow for the final commercial. I was relieved to hear the Budweiser advertisement.

    Yes, I do believe that curiosity and enthusiasm are enriching qualities. Both behaviors allow for commitment, involvement and hence growth. Growth intellectually, emotionally and socially.

  43. Steve Rauworth Avatar
    Steve Rauworth

    You are right, Caitlin, the outer and inner are totally connected, and cannot exist, in whatever form, without one another, hopefully in some degree of harmony. Keep thinking and writing about each. Your insights are valuable. I know you will.

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