Psychology

Are They Even Trying Anymore?

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After the Key Bridge Disaster and the April 8th 2024 eclipse, I listened to several podcasts on conspiracy theories. A strange consistency emerged that I had also witnessed – it seemed people weren’t really trying to craft conspiracy theories.

Oh there was the usual stuff. The rapture and chemtrails, cyberattacks and secret plots. But it was all things we’d heard before. Some of it, especially the eclipse conspiracy theories seemed laughable like some extremely predictable astronomical event was a magical/occult/divine arrangement that was important for some reason. It was lukewarm and recycled.

There was bigotry and biases, of course, especially in the Key Bridge Disaster. Plenty of racist crap was spewed online about various people and the city of Baltimore. It was no different than any of the racism and bigotry the day before, just shifted around a bit. It was racists being racists because of racism.

Finally, there was a lack of coherence to the conspiracy theories. There wasn’t any grand overarching plan or narrative – even “God” apparently didn’t have one. There was no chart with red string, no colorful complex graphic explaining it all circulating online. It was so low effort.

A lot of what I saw, and what the podcasts I followed saw, seemed to be people essentially tossing out old ideas and biases and calling it a day – or mentioning disconnected points and saying, essentially, “suspicious?” Maybe both if you got some really ambitious person with an online handle like “EagleFlightPatriotAlpha1776” and AN AI avatar with ten-pack abs and thirteen total fingers.

But man, the usual suspects and newcomers to stringing together bullshit weren’t trying. Maybe they were tired, maybe it was just the confluence of events and non-events, but I mean I had expectations. However I wonder.

Is conspiracy theory culture tapped out in America? I mean we’ve done it all, from space super-soldiers fighting reptoids (which are just anti-semetic tropes) to gigantic financial and political conspiracies (which are just anti-semetic tropes). Maybe people are out of ideas, maybe we’ve hit a kind of saturation.

Perhaps people are ALL trying to do the old trick of spewing random things and seeing what audiences want. Maybe everyone wants to get hits by low effort, give in to audience capture, and do whatever. Maybe we’re hitting even more widespread, but lazy grift.

Could it be that current news (Trump, Israel, and Ukraine as of this writing) has sucked all the oxygen out of the room? Has reality occupied too much time of people’s minds?

Were these events just too reality-based to get a good theory going?

Or maybe we’re all just worn out from continuous crap and it’s even hit people who are Too Online.

I mean I’d be glad if Conspiracy Culture is somehow worn out, winding down, and maybe falling apart. Maybe we can get some reality in there But I suppose I have to know what’s going on, just in case.

Which I guess makes me a bit like a Conspiracy Theorist.

– Xenofact

The Changes: People

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As I study the I Ching, cultivating a kind of mental “Ecosystem” of thought, I’ve found various changes in my mindset as hoped.  Last column I mentioned that the I Ching, the Book of Changes, helped me think of situations (portrayed as Hexagrams) as “Changes” – situations that arise and transform and depart.  This viewpoint has been informative, useful, and reduced stress since I feel both more empowered and less prone to worry.

But there are more insights I wanted to share, namely that I realized that it’s useful to think of situations, portrayed by Hexagrams, as “Changes,” but so are people.  People are Changes.

People are constantly shifting and changing – that’s kind of what we do.  Who we are right now is the result of various circumstances, we steer ourselves towards certain goals, and change to someone else.  A human is indeed a Change, a constant shifting dialogue with both ourselves and the universe.

When I had this insight, I suddenly saw how I viewed people as static and how wrong that was.  A person can be different between morning and night, hour to hour, or minute to minute.  Yes we may have reasonably solid traits, but those will change and evolve, and even their expression may alter when they’re solid. 

This made me see other people much differently.  I saw how my idea of a person as static meant I was judging them inappropriately and missing how they may grow and develop or just have a bad day.  It also reminded me that interacting with people is navigation, just as one navigates the Changes of the I Ching.

For some reason, seeing people as “more changeable” helped me appreciate them more as people.

But if other people are Changes, then so am I.  I am not solid, I am more a flow like water, shifting and moving, now deep now shallow, changing direction.  I am different day to day and moment to moment.  That also means that, seeing I am a Change, I can choose how I evolve and grow and respond.  I’m not a solid thing, I am far freeer than that.

I even saw this in my Secret of the Golden Flower style meditation, where I just follow a slow even breath.  Every moment of breathing and following is a moment that leads into the other, a constant changing stream.  If I get some distraction I merely flow back, realizing that I am, as noted, a dialogue.

We’re all changes, we’re all not solid.  It’s rather relaxing.

This work at building a mental “Ecosystem” using Taoist thought has helped me lead a richer, deeper, more connected life.  I’m curious to what insights I might have next – we’ll see what arises.

–Xenofact

The Changes: Situations

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As noted in previous writings, I’ve been working to cultivate an “Ecosystem” of thought, based around my Taoist influences. This includes reading bits of the Tao Te Ching each day, as well as studying at least one Hexagram from various translations of the I Ching. I’d like to focus on the latter, as it highlights the benefits of this “ecosystem” approach.

The I Ching’s name roughly translates as Book of Changes, which fits its origins and many, many modifications. It seems to have started as a divinatory guide, but includes philosophical commentary that has been added to over the years, and of course there are many “less official” takes. But at it’s core are 64 situations in life that one may be in, and advice (supernatural or otherwise) applied to it. And over the aeons, people have had plenty to say.

I suppose a book called “The Book of Changes” that . . . changes . . . kind of fits. I rather enjoy the additional commentary that others have added because it’s all about understanding situations in life and how to respond. In my readings something struck me about how this is all about the “Changes” in life – every situation is a change.

Whatever situation we’re in, it’s the result of a change, and in turn it will change into something else. It arose from something before it, and will pass into something after it. The advice in the I Ching and many a philosophical work is really “how do you deal with this and determine what will happen next.” I realized from this that whatever situation I might find myself in, it’s healthier to think of it as “A Change.”

Because I think of whatever arises as A Change, I don’t act like it’s permanent because it’s not. If it is good, it will pass or decay, or need maintenance, or need to be altered to continue. If it is bad it will pass, and it is up to me to navigate the time and how other things may result from it. The moment is a squirming, living, changing thing.

This helps me be less worried about the moment as it’s about steering towards something – or at least surviving the current Change. I’m living a snapshot of life, part of something greater, and I can see it as a chance to take control (or take my hands off the controls). I don’t see it as solid, I see where I am as mutable.

Viewing the current moment of life as a Change also helps me be responsible, and asks how do I deal with it and what may come next. Indeed the I Ching is often about “here’s this situation, here’s some advice of what may be an annoyingly general quality.” But it is about “how do I respond,” and it sort of helps that over the centuries quite a few people responded with “here’s my opinion.”

So this use of the I Ching, to switch my view to seeing life as Changes, has been quite helpful to me. It’s more responsible, less stressful, and honestly more engaging with life. I suppose I passed some point in my “mental ecosystem” where I’m seeing the world as far more of an ecosystem.

Also It’s more relaxing, and I appreciate that benefit as well.

The Changes: Situations

As noted in previous writings, I’ve been working to cultivate an “Ecosystem” of thought, based around my Taoist influences. This includes reading bits of the Tao Te Ching each day, as well as studying at least one Hexagram from various translations of the I Ching. I’d like to focus on the latter, as it highlights the benefits of this “ecosystem” approach.

The I Ching’s name roughly translates as Book of Changes, which fits its origins and many, many modifications. It seems to have started as a divinatory guide, but includes philosophical commentary that has been added to over the years, and of course there are many “less official” takes. But at it’s core are 64 situations in life that one may be in, and advice (supernatural or otherwise) applied to it. And over the aeons, people have had plenty to say.

I suppose a book called “The Book of Changes” that . . . changes . . . kind of fits. I rather enjoy the additional commentary that others have added because it’s all about understanding situations in life and how to respond. In my readings something struck me about how this is all about the “Changes” in life – every situation is a change.

Whatever situation we’re in, it’s the result of a change, and in turn it will change into something else. It arose from something before it, and will pass into something after it. The advice in the I Ching and many a philosophical work is really “how do you deal with this and determine what will happen next.” I realized from this that whatever situation I might find myself in, it’s healthier to think of it as “A Change.”

Because I think of whatever arises as A Change, I don’t act like it’s permanent because it’s not. If it is good, it will pass or decay, or need maintenance, or need to be altered to continue. If it is bad it will pass, and it is up to me to navigate the time and how other things may result from it. The moment is a squirming, living, changing thing.

This helps me be less worried about the moment as it’s about steering towards something – or at least surviving the current Change. I’m living a snapshot of life, part of something greater, and I can see it as a chance to take control (or take my hands off the controls). I don’t see it as solid, I see where I am as mutable.

Viewing the current moment of life as a Change also helps me be responsible, and asks how do I deal with it and what may come next. Indeed the I Ching is often about “here’s this situation, here’s some advice of what may be an annoyingly general quality.” But it is about “how do I respond,” and it sort of helps that over the centuries quite a few people responded with “here’s my opinion.”

So this use of the I Ching, to switch my view to seeing life as Changes, has been quite helpful to me. It’s more responsible, less stressful, and honestly more engaging with life. I suppose I passed some point in my “mental ecosystem” where I’m seeing the world as far more of an ecosystem.

Also, It’s more relaxing, and I appreciate that benefit as well.

–Xenofact