Originally published at: https://integrallife.com/inhabit-your-truth/
Ryan and Corey devote an episode to the theme of fully inhabiting, embodying, and enacting truth — how to find it, how to wield it, and how to avoid the false certainties fed to us by both mainstream and fringe media. They don’t try to tell you what to believe, but rather try to help you avoid overly identifying with the contents of our views and to liberate yourself from your beliefs, whatever they happen to be.
“… [E]nfoldment, the process whereby multiple partial and even contradictory truths can be assembled into a more complex and coherent understanding of reality.”
What makes you think, about anything sufficiently complex, that there is “a” reality than can universally be shared, if we only try hard enough?
“[W]e can talk about hundreds of other conspiracy theories that are just plain silly.”
No, we can talk about hundreds of other conspiracy theories that are just plain silly to us. Are we [the] gods of information? Seriously. Is anyone? If you think there is, IMHO you really haven’t read or thought enough.
Unfortunately, on one level (the one that is very relevant today) we must recognize that is there is no such thing as knowledge (as constructed from “facts” and logic). It’s all belief. All of it. To be more specific: It is never possible to know that one possesses definitive, incontestable knowledge.
To take our current core event: Whether you heard about SARS-CoV-2 from your work buddy down the hall, or you read about it The New York Times, or you read a scientific paper describing it, or you saw one of damn things right through an electron microscope yourself – if it’s about the external world, it’s all evidence and perception. Which is not truth. To actually “possess truth”, you need to be one with the thing being examined. So the virus may not be what you think it is, whatever that entire mental model you hold in your head is.
What were formerly philosophy class mental gymnastics are now at the core of our current epistemological crisis, because, for many of us, “the experts” have clearly lost their ethos. IMO, it’s because they only work for some of us. It’s no longer a question of how to shepherd the (relatively few) laggard idiots and ignorant to our side with more clever tools.
Instead, it’s now back to the question we once knew (but apparently lost in the last 30-35 years or so, as I’ve been an adult well before that) of how do we live, once again, with non-reduceable, multiple perceptions of truth, which are foundations for many of our institutions. They support the practice of science, where hundreds or thousands work in parallel as peers, where all too often many ideas will never converge to universally accepted theories. They support the basis of democracy, where each person’s vote counts, both for facts and for morals. Humans are fallible, and unavoidably so, so one cannot give dictatorial power to anyone or any subgroup. We risk abandoning this relativism at great peril.
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Thank you for the talk. Both of you brought up some good points and I appreciate both of you talking such a charged and complex topic.
Unfortunately I was disappointed once again on how shallow this conversation was about conspiracy analysis. How would an integral thinker discern and integrate the multiple perspectives there are on conspiracies in general or one topic in particular? Saying some conspiracies are just ridiculous and throwing the theory out because it doesn’t fit with my worldview is not any kind of integral analysis, in my opinion.
Take the alleged global satanic network that supposedly practices pedophilia, child sacrifice and human trafficking, among other crimes, for example. I cannot say for certain that it exists or not (although I do have some personal experience that suggests its existence), at least in the way that it is often portrayed. But there has been lots of evidence that has been released over the decades that point to this possibility, like insider testimonies, court cases, and other statistics (like where do so many missing children go every year?). There is not enough evidence that says it is definitely happening but there is not enough evidence to the contrary either that says it is NOT happening.
Another example: QAnon could be easily dismissed as some right wing conspiracy that has no basis in facts. But why are QAnon posts hosted on the Department of Defenses own server? These are facts that require greater investigation to begin the discernment processes.
Or 911 for example. Why did the towers fall at freewill speed (they could not have done that according to the laws of physics if they just naturally collapsed) or how did burning jetful and office fires melt structural steel (when office fires or even jet fuel fires burns at too low of a temperature to melt steel)? Again these are facts, not opinions, that deserve further investigation and discernment around.
When it comes to conspiracy analysis, great discernment is needed to not only investigate whether something is true or not (like finding evidence, etc.) but also to investigate how one is perceiving the issue in the first place. Investigating mind control, counter intelligence, and disinformation tactics are critical to even begin to investigate this topic, with any hope of coming to greater truth.
As integral thinkers, we have a greater ability to think critically and discern information. A deeper investigation of this topic would really serve the integral community and the world because there are obvious inconsistencies that point to something much larger and perhaps more sinister going on in the world that is very much affecting the evolution of humanity and life on this planet.
In the area of conspiracy analysis, especially around ET life, the Integral Community is way behind and the world needs more integral perspectives on these topics. Because there will come a time, and it is already beginning, when humanity will be blindsided with this information and we need to learn how to discern, how to constructively react and how to evolve with it. And unfortunately I don’t see the Integral Life community prepared in any significant way, at least judging by the content in these areas.
Perhaps that is part of the blind spot: consensus reality may need to be questioned, investigated, and transcended to some degree. And I have found these topics really are rabbit holes and it requires significant worldview, emotional and spiritual shifts to integrate and understand. They definitely are catalyst for growth in very deep and profound ways.
Justin Dechamps (stillnessinthestorm.com) and Tom Montalk (montalk.net) are some integral thinkers, who have done deep investigation into conspiracy analysis. They have a very sharp, complex, integrated and balanced perspective on these topics, in my opinion. I would recommend interviewing them to cross pollinate and catalyze greater perspectives.
Anyway, keep up the good work. I love being part of this Integral Life community. I just am encouraging more depth and breath.
Addendum:
Here is an example of “how to think” when it comes to conspiracy analysis: https://stillnessinthestorm.com/2018/10/4-key-steps-of-discernment-advanced-truth-seeking-tools/
Here is an example of “how to think” when it comes to the alien phenomena, for example: https://montalk.net/alien/145/discerning-alien-disinformation-part-1