Why "Crazy" is the New Normal
Of course you find this out by doing it on your own. Some explanations or data just keep coming up.
Let's take some "freak-o-nomic" data.
We've known for years that there's some number breaks:
Pareto Principle: (80/20 rule) That 80 percent of your income comes from 20 percent of your clients. 80% of your problems in a business come from 20% of your employees.
Worse, this compounds itself. 20% of 20% gives about 4% - and looking for these types of statistics finds a range of breaks between 95 and 99, with the minority (5-1%) being the most active and the most creative (or as well, the worst dupes - on the other end of the scale. Spamming works because 1% will respond to anything you send them.) And then there is the "1%" which the Occupy movement railed against - who actually control most of the money worldwide. (Nothing new, actually.)
I've worked out (and you can check this math) that it's about .03^5 (.03 to the 5th power - or .03x.03.x.03x.03x.03) who will actually ever get something out of a given self-help program. (Which works out that it's about 1 in 20 billion who will get enlightened on this planet. Because its:
- 3 percent who accept the opportunity (open the email)
- 3 percent who buy the opportunity
- 3 percent who actually apply what they get
- 3 percent of those who will get their money back by applying it
- 3 percent of those who will become outrageously rich from it.
(This was worked out from watching a scammer organization work - and it's their figures I'm working with, after finding this number sequence out in a disrelated field.) But you can see that it's also widely applicable.
Now, when you look broader, you find that any and all of our "conventional wisdom" is broken down by these same reverse percentages. It breaks a bit differently, since you can't have people dying off from stupidity - politicians would be out of a job. Speaking of which - our best voter turnout is in these highly-publicized Presidential election years. According to the 2010 Census, only around 45% vote out of all the population (not everyone is eligible). Now, out of that you can take both Mitt Romney's "mis-statement" that had a 47% number as people who will simply vote straight party line. And further back to other elections will find that number (and 51-53%) keep coming up. What this means is that about 24% of the people are electing their government. (Close to that Pareto Principle, eh?)
The problem gets worse
It has to do with our cities. When you pack people up into tiny spaces, you have a recipe for various disasters. In fact, when rural areas are hit with the same natural disasters, you can have very few or little casualties. There are many tornadoes which are simply un-reported in the news as they hit in unpopulated areas. When a hurricane hits Katrina or Long Island, then you have "news" for months. (But you can't call it "olds" for some reason...)
Big cities have developed various systems to keep them supported with food, and take their garbage away. (Used to be that we'd recycle just about everything on a farm. Plastic made this less possible. And does NYC still dump their garbage in the ocean? Tsk, tsk.)
Our modern system of fast foods and convenience marketing is killing us off slowly - highly processed food being responsible for all sorts of modern illness such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. And the proof of this are diets such as the Paleo diet and any raw-food diet, which are known to improve health remarkably. Raw milk solves teeth cavities by many reports.
Pasteurization and anti-biotics work against natural bacteria which work in conjunction with the body's natural defenses to reduce illness.
But the other point is what are all these "FDA-approved" additives doing as they accumulate in our bodies? Like the formaldehyde-treated FEMA trailers for Katrina. Oops. Should have seen that coming.
It may be that the chemicals we are digesting are having an adverse mental effect as well.
However, most people can't move off their support systems for one reason or another. So that Wonder Bread may be rotting your brain with additives (or reversely, what they took out of that wheat to make it white and fluffy) - but if that is all you can get to eat, then...
2% of the U.S. population is actively engaged in raising food for everyone else. Because it's labor-intensive to garden and preserve food, this wouldn't necessarily work for everyone - or would it? Turns out that you could actually fit the entire population of the world into an area about the size of Texas, living in 2-story/2-family houses with a sizable garden out back. Main problem to solve (especially in Texas) is water - but they did it for Los Angeles...
Unfortunately, since our modern society is based on "conventional wisdom," you can see it's not going to be solved anytime soon - more like a gradual trend where an enlightened few are tending to lead the herd away from that cliff edge.
The point
If you start telling people what's actually sensible, they'll say your crazy and quit listening to you. If you're adamant about their needing to change, they might lock you up as a societal hazard.
It really boils down to Levenson's statements that people's lives revolve around
- getting or escaping control
- earning or getting away from needing approval
- having or being overrun with security
- being required to join or stay out of a group
These then all derive from common fears, and the underlying one being a fear of death - or lacking any individuality.
But when you reverse these, you can then "market" your solution to these people. (Which is how I found this out and why I reference "Get Your Self Scam Free" above. Because marketers are using Cialdini's "Influence" to get their sales - even though he discovered this to get out from under marketer's pervasive influence. (Oh, there are plenty of free copies around if you need one. But support us authors, eh?)
If you are one in 20 billion, then:
Live your own life as best you can. Set a great example for those around you. Give in order to get - but open-handedly is best: pay it forward in advance and without expectancy of direct return.
Work out what actually makes you healthy and stick to this. It's slightly different for every person. Most can't live on Vegan diets, but many swear by them. To each their own - and criticizing or lobbying for more government laws or restrictions on people who don't live your way won't get you anywhere but exhausted.
Make your prime drive to live a great life, and enjoy every single moment of every day.
Surround yourself with motivational and inspirational books, materials, and references which make you feel good.
In short: live an enlightened life. Be, Do, and Have as any Master would.
With those simple steps, you can get out from under all the concerns and worries which are causing you stress and making you sick (plus destroying your relationships, and keeping you living from paycheck to paycheck - concerned about having a job next week to keep those paychecks coming.)
There are many, many ways to get out from under government and familial pressures and requirements - so you can live a life of freedom, surrounded by people who have enslaved themselves.
One other point - it doesn't happen overnight.
To get out of a cult, I've heard a psychologist say it takes about 12 years to reverse the effects completely. From personal experience, this worked out about right.
Figure that you've swallowed a bunch of bunk to get to where you are currently. And only by investigating your own beliefs on a regular basis will you be able to determine which ones actually work, and which ones are just holding you back.
But understand that most people are going to think you're crazy - so get over needing their approval. Just go ahead and get rich, being constantly happy, and having great relationships with everyone you meet. Let these others live their life as best they can. Meanwhile, keep listening, reading, and watching those materials which support this new "crazy" lifestyle.
And have a great, free life.
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Oh - by the way:
Just published "Winning Your Infinite Freedom" in as many places as possible. Now you can get all 5 years of this blog in a single book (or 5 separate ebooks) to read and study at your leisure. All the links were included. And yes, this has been out on Scribd for years as a free book, too - so have fun.
