Once a person is born into this world a program is set in place to create a certain reality in the mind that reinforces what you are supposed to believe - the religion you are raised in, the history and science as taught in schools, the laws of the government you should obey, etc. You are further expected to confirm to social norms particular to the community you were raised in. By the time you reach adulthood your view of life has been neatly boxed up in predefined dimensions that limit what you are able to grasp mentally or emotionally. Regardless of what a person considers freedom to be they fail to realize that they all suffer from the worst kind of bondage that has enslaved mankind for thousands of years - the prison of their mind! Trouble is for most people hardly a thought passes their minds to actually question what they believe and whether or not their thinking is based on factual truth.
The human mind's tendency is to always accept what they have been taught from childhood up as fact. For instance the person raised in a particular religion by devout parents tends to stay associated with that religion. Especially in the Western world where Christianity has had a firm hold, a teaching of human history starts out with two humans, Adam and Eve directly created by God a little over 6000 years ago and the flood about 4000 years ago as calculated from Bible scriptures. Even when science presents information that give strong evidence of the flood occurring further back in time (10 to 12 thousand years ago) the typical Christian believer will steadfastly adhere to his or her belief and despite the proof to the contrary will conclude that the Bible is right and science is wrong. Other religious teachings further locks down the mind in regards to the nature of God, the nature of the human soul and an eventual reward or punishment for whether or not you followed the steps outlined in the Bible to receive your eventual salvation. Even with the wide variation of Biblical interpretations that the different denominations make, each person holds on to their perceived version of reality of what Bible texts are actually saying.
Another human weakness is given in to peer pressure to conform to the group of people they most frequently associate with. If the members of the group have all been subjected to controlled thinking patterns as mentioned earlier, there is pressure on the person who may wish to think differently but is overwhelmed by the majority. The person would rather change their thinking to conform to the group than to face being ridiculed for thinking independently. A good example of this would be a group of people who frequent the same bar at night for social interaction. Depending on the conversation of the day let's say "how bad the economy is doing" the tone already has negative connotations. There is a well-know saying "Misery loves company!" and by sharing in this kind of conversation the negative energy of the group is further reinforced talking about the economy.
Due to the conditioning of this lifetime of mental control our ability to think independently about anything is diminished greatly. Being used to having someone tell us the answer all the time we automatically seek for and become co-dependent on persons considered authorities on various matters. Whether it is a preacher in a church, a school teacher, doctor or lawyer we automatically assume that they will take care of us and furnish us with the right answers. There is also an incredible dependance on governmental infrastructures to take care of our needs - always assuming they have our best interests at heart and have all the answers when problems arise.
One more example of mental conditioning that I know is completely false. How often do you hear the saying "You can't get ahead in life unless you get a formal education!". This implies that you as a human are completely incapable of learning on your own without the assistance of an institution. Perhaps it is from the standpoint that prospective employers will not hire you for your ability to be self-taught and even experienced in a particular skill set. (Sidebar note - I should mention that I am an example of a self-taught person that learned various technologies without the aid of a higher learning institution (aside from books) and went from working as a janitor in a dirty factory environment to becoming a Vice-President of IT for a major internet marketing company).
I could go on in describing more examples of how humans are mentally controlled but I believe I have made the main point of this discussion. Maybe in times past this control of the human mind was fairly successful but fortunately due to various factors people are starting to break free from all of this. People are now starting to question their lives and reevaluating what the true meaning of life is all about. What has caused this change and only recently?
First off for many years earlier in the last century despite two world wars the structure of society stayed fairly rigid and expectations of how one should behave was likewise just as strict. Very few people questioned authority and any that did faced severe consequences.
However as World War II was near it's end - the atomic bombs were dropped in Japan killing thousands of people instantly and affecting an even greater number of people to the damaging effects of radiation. This is what is considered the starting point of a change in the human condition. As time passed a prosperous decade followed in the 1950's and 1960's. The United States became involved in the Vietnam War in the mid-1960's but though there were wars beforehand, people started waking up to realizing that something was very wrong with this and the world in general.
Hence the start of the Hippie generation - youthful people with ideals that rebelled against the "establishment" of that time. They began to question authority, question what they were taught and began to search for an alternative to the life that had previously suppressed them mentally. Not having any experience with any other kind of life pattern they experimented with different lifestyles including taking mind-altering drugs that would further enlighten their experience. Sad to say as the 70's and 80's wore on a lot of these same folks traded their bell-bottomed jeans and sandals for business suits and became the foundation for the jet-setters in the corporate world. The enticement of a lifestyle earning large incomes and "living the life" as they call it certainly distracted many from staying on the course of "human change". Now the new dimension was added to this mental prison by placing an inordinate importance on material wealth, a prestigious career and a lifestyle to match.
The good times of economic prosperity would not last forever and signs began to show especially in the 1990's that the "establishment" was really on shaky ground. Now enter the internet in the mid 1990's. A temporary reprieve of the economy caused a boom in the internet industry of dot.com companies coming into existence and we were now graced with what was called the "Information Age". This was very significant in that now there was an increasing exchange of ideas between people from all over the world. This once again began to foster some thinking "outside the box" on many different life matters. However for the majority of people (especially in the US) it was still business as usual and nothing significant was really causing a major change in people's lives or way of thinking about life.
(to be continued...)
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