Does the world feel completely out of whack? Does every new news story just have you shaking your head wondering where is it all going? Or maybe you are joining the ranks of those that are tuning out because it's just getting too crazy out there to keep up?
I’m with you guys! I feel like I’m straddling these two opposite poles. When it's getting too crazy to look at, I feel the tug of my survival instincts pulling in two directions. One is to sharpen my eyes and stay on top of it, get my house in order for a coming storm which I still cannot really define; the other is stick my head in the sand and hope for the best, because trying to take it all in is driving me nuts.
Just a few moments ago, we seemed to be trundling along a path of relative stability and development. The same path we have been on more or less since WW2. We got used to all the mod cons that the modern free capitalistic world brought us. Of course I am talking about the golden Billion here. Us comfortable westerners.
Then we took a nasty turn with COVID. If I were talking about a disease that suddenly killed everyone around us, then nasty would have been the right word to use. What in fact was nasty, was what our political, economic and thought leaders did about it, how they treated us, and how a select few got super rich out of it! It suddenly became very easy to be cynical toward our leaders. Then just as the hot air started to leak from the balloon that levitated the fake terror of COVID, a hot war broke out on the borders of Russia and Europe. More fear porn to feed the panic.
All of this happened as a truly scary beast from the past crept out of its hole: price inflation. The monster from the 1970’s. We were told by the smartest economists that they had vanquished it once and for all. We were jawboned into trusting them blindly. They lied.
So as we try to tame the red numbers in our chequebooks and credit card bills, NATO rattles its nukes at Russia and China. And to fill in any peaceful corners you may have left in our worlds, we get generous dollops of fear porn about the climate and future pandemics, and, and, and - all turned up to 11 from the alphabet soup organisations: WHO, WEF, IMF, ECB, NBC, BBC, CNN, NSA, ABC, XYZ,… ad nauseam.
It's hard to hold back the feeling of dread for the future. When we used to be able to plan a wedding, education, house remodelling, business venture, you name it,… a few years out into the future, we ponder if we have any idea what the next few months hold for us! We pump the brakes on life as the road we are all on enters foggy treacherous conditions.
Do you feel it?
I feel it!
It's so easy to be pessimistic and dark about where we are and where it's all going. That darkness feeds on itself and we begin to cash in our chips and hunker down, even if it's only a little. The scope of things that can go wrong with your plans in life just keeps widened out into a yawning chasm.
So what's going on? Anyone who answers this with conviction is lying or gas-lighting you. But never before, that I can remember, are so many trying to answer this question. Obviously, how do we plan our lives if we have no idea what's going on now, let alone in a week or a month, or next year.
It's gotten so bad that it would almost be a relief to be told a meteor is about to crash into earth (or we face certain nuclear armageddon) that will end everything. At least we can plan for that! Go hog wild and have a party to end all parties! Max out your credit cards, kiss the girl or boy you have adored from afar, do something dangerous, live out your forbidden fantasy. Do it all before the end!
Could we really be so desperate for something tangible to cling onto that even oblivion has a kind of tangible comfort? Has collective cynicism gripped us all? I hope not. The period of time just a short century ago must have felt quite similar. Well, the earth kept on spinning and these people endured. They did more than endure, they prospered in the end! What they went through was a prelude to what we enjoy today. An unimaginable standard of living when compared to them. Just a short hundred years ago.
I guess what I wanted to express here was that life is full of ups and downs. It has to be! There are too many moving parts for any of it to remain stable for long. If it's up for too long, you forget what down is like, and maybe stick your neck out too far, then get a rude reminder of what down really is. It happens in our lives, and it happens in the grand span of human history as well. I think it's healthy to think of this as a cycle. Up and down. Over and over again. All good times have their moment in the sun, and all bad times eventually come to an end.
It reminds me of a book that’s still on my reading list: The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe. Its thesis seems quite timely today as it posits that we are coming to the dark part of a multi generational cycle of human history. The premise makes some sense. It seems obvious that the volatile trend change from good to bad is invisible when standing in the middle of it. It'll only be visible in the rear vision mirror. But this is cold comfort to those in trouble today.
About all I can offer are some words of advice. Head in the sand may be comforting in the moment, but it is no way to navigate a crisis. We need to find our own personal balance. Be aware, be critical, and think for yourself. Look around and question established narratives when they don't add up. Use our super brains and our memory to spot the liars and charlatans wherever they come from. You’d be surprised how easy they are to spot if you think of the shit they say. They expect us to have a very short attention and memory span.
This will already put you in the top 5% who will come out of this best, but a word of warning: keep a lid on this, lest it drives you mad. Too much of this is bad for your mental health. I am speaking from experience here. Do enough so that you can make a plan to survive the worst, while staying upbeat and hoping for the best. Figure out how you will keep yourself fed and hydrated and warm if the pipes and cables coming into your sanctuary are abruptly cut off. And speak to people around you about this without sounding crazed, write about what you are doing, share your story in whatever way you can.
We, the silent majority, can steer how this all plays out if we take an active role in it. We should dream and think of what world we want to have instead of running away from what we fear.
The Elites
Do not let the tiny fraction of humanity, the ultra wealthy and powerful fraction take over, because as sure as day follows night, they are planning how they want this to play out, and spoiler alert, we do not do well in their plans. If you open up your ears, they are already saying out aloud. We need to come up with our own plan to compete with theirs in the marketplace of ideas. They need all of us dumb, blind and fearful for their plan to work. As long as we can resist and opt out, their plan cannot work.
Some tangible steps you can take or think about:
The next step for them is to herd us into digital ID’s and CBDC’s (Central Bank Digital Currencies). If they succeed in this, the rest of their plans will be much much easier for them and much much harder for us to resist. Better to resist beforehand.
Banks are in trouble. All over the world, but they have a silver bullet to save themselves: YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS. Many western nations have quietly passed bank bail-in laws. Your bank savings will be converted into either stocks of the bank, or be paid back to you in CBDC’s (only after you get your digital ID).
Nostr is an interesting project that comes out of the crypto world to build a truly decentralized social media network. Still very new, but very interesting. Keep a close ear out for it and spread the world. All the social medias we use, and anything anyone can think of that may come next for social media can all be built on top of this unstoppable network.
Bitcoin (and possibly a hand full of other very decentralised cryptos) are a true way to squirrel some reserves that that cannot be confiscated by the state. Do not think of them as investments, but rather as potential ways to resist financial pressure to comply with unjust laws. (think of everyone who had to get vaccinated just to remain economically viable - note the pressure point they used) Think on how to become resilient to authority.
Gold and Silver are also great alternative vehicles to store some of your wealth. But make sure you hold them in your hands.
In general try to move a part of you wealth into things you control. i.e. no counterparty risk.
Finally, get some popcorn because it's going to be like “Game of Thrones” for while, but for real.