Caitlin Johnstone

Do Not Let Them Train You

Do not let the news man train you how to see. Do not let the pundit train you how to feel. Do not let the teacher train you how to think. Do not let the preacher train you how to love. Do not let the banker train you how to value. Do not let Hollywood…

Caitlin Johnstone
, ,

Do not let the news man train you how to see.

Do not let the pundit train you how to feel.

Do not let the teacher train you how to think.

Do not let the preacher train you how to love.

Do not let the banker train you how to value.

Do not let Hollywood train you how to be.

Don’t let them train you.

They were appointed by the powerful to teach you how to live
in a world that is small, too small for wild humans.

Too small for humans who haven’t been house trained,
groomed, spayed and neutered,
and taught parlor tricks
like how to ignore life’s intrinsic breathtaking majesty.

Too small for humans who perceive their own boundlessness,
their own vast unpredictable inner wildernesses,
their own beauty,
their own holiness,
their own worthiness,
their own innate equality
with those holding their leash.

So they train us.

They train us to believe the world fits neatly
into flat, finite conceptual boxes.

That life is predictable, that our nature is well-mapped.

That we live in a 2-D colorless cage
from which there can be no escape
and about which everything is known.

As though narrative could even touch this blazing cacophony,
let alone encapsulate it.

They are lying to you, my beloved.

They are lying each and every time they open their pixelated mouths.

This life is so much more than they will ever allow you to believe.

So very immense.

So very unexplored.

So very unpredictable.

So very juicy.

So very sexy.

So very, very, very beautiful.

The unknown unknowns dwarf the known unknowns,
and the known unknowns dwarf the knowns.

But they will never let you know this.

So don’t ask their permission.

Take off that leash, wild apeling.

Unblinker those eyes and unshackle those legs.

Those chains are not there to protect you from the world, my beloved.

They are there to protect your trainers

from you.

________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

Thanks for reading! 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 , which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is , so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on , following my antics on , throwing some money into my tip jar on  or , purchasing some of my , buying my books  and . For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, . Everyone, racist platforms excluded,  to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I’ve written) in any way they like free of charge.

Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

Liked it? Take a second to support Caitlin Johnstone on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

33 responses to “Do Not Let Them Train You”

  1. wies Avatar
    wies

    Australia wake up!
    https://youtu.be/BMZsVIbT228

  2. Chico Avatar
    Chico

    Spot on, Caitlin! Reminds me of my long-time tagline: “It’s not that we can’t handle the truth. It’s that they can’t handle us if we know the truth.”

  3. Roundball Shaman Avatar
    Roundball Shaman

    “Those chains are not there to protect you from the world, my beloved. They are there to protect your trainers from you.”
    .
    Animals… are trained.
    Algorhythms… are trained.
    Artificial Intelligence… is trained.
    Machines of all kinds… are trained.
    Mindless things… are trained.
    .
    A human being is none of these things…
    Unless one chooses to be so.
    .
    Anything “trained” allows a train-ER.
    Who gets to be trainer?
    What qualifies them to be a trainer?
    What is their true agenda?
    .
    Life is too unbounded to have a trainer.
    Life is too unpredictable to have a trainer.
    Life is too precious to allow any trainer.
    .
    Don’t look to find a trainer.
    Don’t try to be a trainer.
    Don’t allow any trainers.
    Go through life with your eyes and heart open
    And the rewards sought for by any “training” will come naturally.

  4. Buffalo_Ken Avatar
    Buffalo_Ken

    My daughter has two chocolate labs and those dogs need a collar like the one in the picture….they don’t mind – it just reminds them when they get too rambunctious. I love those dogs and mostly I love to throw the ball to them while they are running free, but if you are on a walk, over-rambunctiousness is not desired.

    We have a Jack Russel as well, her name is Evie and she is a whole different story.

    I’m really only making this one-time only final post here because I have referenced this site at one of mine and I want to express directly my appreciation to the author. I love the vibe of her articles…..some of the comments not so much, but that goes with the territory when you are a journalist!

    Peace,
    Ken

  5. Latore Lapis. Avatar
    Latore Lapis.

    wonderful. Thanks. Five stars as always.

  6. Davido Avatar
    Davido

    Very nice Caitlin. Thank you.

  7. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    As a group we find ourselves limited, easily influenced, and getting steered this way and that.
    —
    The individual has a choice to be as free as a bird in the wide open sky.
    —
    Fortunately the group is inherently an illusion. What does exist is the individual’s boundless choice of experience. This threatens the controllers and their mission as they struggle to maintain the illusion.

  8. ariel Avatar
    ariel

    It’s UP TO US NOW, LIKE IT OR LUMP IT.
    Obey fools and idiots serving Luciferian psychopaths?
    The time has come, brothers and sisters.

  9. khatika Avatar
    khatika

    Well it sure looks like they have trained us pretty quickly to wear a mask and to socially distance one another. So I dont hold out much hope. Sweden did neither and are faring no worse. People are easily trainable with the right carrot and stick.

    1. Newton Finn Avatar
      Newton Finn

      Why couldn’t the beauty and power of this poem, this invitation, enable you, for even a moment, to step beyond pessimism, current controversy, and short-term thinking?

      1. Khatika Avatar
        Khatika

        I have always considered myself a realist. Not seeing the best or worst but seeing things as they are from my reality. I find by accurately viewing a dituation I am best able to cope and make whatevrr preparations are needed. Unicorns and rainbows get you nowhere in life. Caitlins poem was quite nice but her message was more powerful. We are being programed by propoganda and must resist. In reality this is dfifficult because most have no idea they are being programmed how to think. Aka. Forced Masks for everyone seemingly overnight.

  10. Maggie Hankamp Avatar
    Maggie Hankamp

    Thank you for this reminder, Caitlin.
    We are much more than what advertising gives us.
    We are creators of an awesome future.
    Every cell in our bodies is filled with light and love and energy.

  11. mike k Avatar
    mike k

    Freedom is scary

    But beautiful

    How wonderful

    When the chains of the past

    Fall off

    And you are born anew

    Each moment

    Free of the weight

    Of your dead history

    And breathing

    the fresh air

    of new possibilities

  12. Bryan Terry Avatar
    Bryan Terry

    Thanks Caitlin. Your post reiterates what tradition-minded and Biblically-secure Christians have revered and held to over the centuries in changing political-economic contexts and both passing and long-lasting philosophies as a caution, but more… a warning and command to be obeyed for one’s own benefit: found in the New Testament book of Romans, Chapter 12, verse 2: “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

  13. JWK Avatar
    JWK

    And never has training been more abundantly available. And never more insidious and malevolent. Like that internet you are currently connected to. And that cell phone you can’t put down. One can find justification for the most sinister of thoughts, if one looks hard enough, and sources for such thoughts are abundant. If not a majority, many so called conspiracy theories have proven true. And yet there is nothing more wildly disparaged.

  14. Fair dinkum Avatar
    Fair dinkum

    Well said Caitlin.
    Or, as Philip said:

    This Be The Verse

    BY PHILIP LARKIN
    They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
    They may not mean to, but they do.
    They fill you with the faults they had
    And add some extra, just for you.

    But they were fucked up in their turn
    By fools in old-style hats and coats,
    Who half the time were soppy-stern
    And half at one another’s throats.

    Man hands on misery to man.
    It deepens like a coastal shelf.
    Get out as early as you can,
    And don’t have any kids yourself.

  15. Clive Avatar
    Clive

    and……. Do not let them Zoom in on you.

  16. Clive Avatar
    Clive

    and….. Do not let them Zoom in on you.

  17. John Knox Avatar
    John Knox

    Fangs and claws. That’s how we’re gonna win. Fangs and claws.

    1. Newton Finn Avatar
      Newton Finn

      But isn’t that how we lost? No animal, no matter how wild and fierce, can be reduced to fangs and claws. Or, John, did I miss your drift?

      1. John Knox Avatar
        John Knox

        I don’t think we’ve lost, I think we’re just starting to realize we’re going to have to fight!

  18. ron campbell Avatar
    ron campbell

    Ah, once again ,the Buddha Ms Caitlin speaks the absolute truth! If their training cages your heart and soul you will exist within a caged coma of bewilderment and hypocrisy. A zombie of the walking talking dead.

  19. paUL Avatar
    paUL

    Stunning.

  20. Joe Van Steenbergen Avatar
    Joe Van Steenbergen

    And . . . take off that mask, no less a training device than any other.

  21. Tired and no longer active revolutionary Avatar
    Tired and no longer active revolutionary

    Plutocrats control their minions from behind the scenes because they know that nearly everyone loves money and these oligarchs have nearly all the wealth they need to bribe, blackmail, indoctrinate and control people. Our civilization will not yet evolve into a new and better world because as great minds have said: “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” and people who deny this will never escape mind control.

    1. Tired and no longer active revolutionary Avatar
      Tired and no longer active revolutionary

      Libertarians, anarchists and hedonists who ignore propaganda emanating from mainstream and official sources adopt ideologies from other libertarians, anarchists and hedonists. But those alternative ideologies are not effective in creating a new and better world because they have nothing constructive to say, only criticism and chaotic anarchy or disorganized hedonism.

      1. billbowman53 Avatar
        billbowman53

        I respect your opinion while disagreeing on some things.
        A (truly) free market allows people to trade whatever they want for whatever they want if they think they will gain from doing so. It is that simple. Any government regulations makes it not a free market. Making us use federal reserve notes is just one example of how a market can be controlled by the crony capitalists and their government puppets, instead of the market being responsive to the regulation naturally provided by consumer participants, as it should be.
        Anarchy is notl chaos. It is anarchy.
        Now, indeed, we just might see chaos if we have anarchy.
        In fact, there will be those who will want to show us how anarchy leads to chaos, either for “I told you so” purposes or because their crony capitalist existences are in ruins.
        This just means we will have to be on a whole new level of guard regarding false flags and the like, like it or not.
        I like humanity’s chances of surviving provided we start going anarcho-capitalist, because that type of society is an enviable one which will prevail over coercive government society.
        If we don’t go in that direction, a sad clock ticks for humanity.

        1. Tired and no longer active revolutionary Avatar
          Tired and no longer active revolutionary

          Capitalism only works well if all capitalists were generous, caring, responsible, honest, and trustworthy. But few if any successful capitalists are all that!

          1. billbowman53 Avatar
            billbowman53

            I have to disagree. I’d argue that capitalism only works well when true regulation is allowed for, which is to say if the regulators are players in the market and not organizations affiliated with or controlled by coercive governments and the people who bribe them. Of course, this situation is not allowed to be brought about by coercive governments, for they wouldn’t want to let us see it succeed.

      2. JWK Avatar
        JWK

        There is no need to create a “new and better world”. It’s all around us. All that’s required is that we be left alone to participate in it. Which is hard to do with a gun pointed at your head. Which is what ALL governments do. Without that gun, there is no government. So, which form of monopoly on violence do you prefer? Never mind, there is little difference between one and another. Only a psychopath would consider holding that gun to be just and moral behavior.

        1. Tired and no longer active revolutionary Avatar
          Tired and no longer active revolutionary

          Cooperation and collaboration between individuals in families and individuals in wider groups is essential to attain the good life. Cooperation and collaboration requires mutual trust, understanding and predictable behavior. This is impossible without simple, social, economic, and political norms, principles and effective rules. Anarchy doesn’t work in practice.

  22. Timothy Michel Avatar
    Timothy Michel

  23. Joey Bag O Donuts Avatar
    Joey Bag O Donuts

    P.S-

    Do Not Let BLM train you
    Do Not Let Robin DiAngelo train you

Leave a Reply to ariel Cancel reply

Trending