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"Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it." |
This essay examines how Truth conquers perfidy 1 and ignorance in the modern world. We begin by exposing the Truth about the ways in which a criminal capitalist cabal has taken almost total control of the world and has destroyed the minds of most Americans, turning Americans into lemmings. 2 This truth is presented in a straightforward manner below so that lies and deception cannot hide behind subterfuge and obfuscation.
Some persons may erroneously believe that the current perfidy and ignorance demonstrated by the Trump and Corporate Democrat true-believers is winning, because their forces rule over the political-economic-social world. As we have examined in earlier essays, Truth operates on the supersensible level in a higher realm.
An American fascist dictatorship is devastating the world:
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Be certain you understand the nature of this essay before proceeding. Thus far we've examined how most Americans allow themselves to become incapable of thinking for themselves or understanding what's happening in the world today.
In the remainder of this essay you'll have the opportunity to discover how these factors have affected you personally: precisely how you've allowed yourself to become possessed by propaganda, resulting in your now being ignorant of certain facts and embracing false ideas and beliefs.
Ignorance is not merely the lack of knowledge, but self-destructive turning away from truth in all areas of life. Persons develop a taste for ignorance, the predisposition to embrace erroneous beliefs based on presumption or mere authority. The ignorant person believes he knows what he actually doesn't know; he becomes delusional. He is deranged. You may find it difficult to acknowledge that in some ways you have deliberately refused to look at what's happening in the world, believing the lies and distortions your leaders tell you. With a straight face, political, economic, religious, and media figures tell you that black is white, war is the spreading of democracy, lies about weapons of mass destruction are truths, joblessness is economic recovery, ignorance is intelligence.
Genuine seekers of wisdom possess a deep, sincere love of Truth, relentlessly striving for it. This dedication to Truth means that they do not accept any conventional belief or custom without examining it and determining if it has a legitimate form of verification or value. They do not presume to have apprehended fully-formed "final truth," but are always "reaching forth unto those things which are before." Along with the love of Truth, a true philosopher such as Socrates wages an unending struggle against error and ignorance wherever it's found.
To undeveloped persons, assistance in becoming aware of their own ignorance--as in this essay--doesn't seem to be help, but ridicule. Such assistance in recognizing their incorrect appraisal of themselves and the world seems to them a repudiation of their very being and consequently feels like they're being demeaned by someone who wishes them ill. If this is your feeling, you should discontinue reading this essay at this point. Go no farther.
Are you interested in exploring your areas of incorrect opinion and ignorance?
No
Plato distinguished clearly between "simple ignorance," the mere lack of information, and "double ignorance," the absence of knowledge coupled with the delusion of having genuine knowledge.
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"But by far the worst feature of this 'double ignorance' is that, on the one hand, it stands in the way of its own cure, and on the other, if unchecked, it is constantly aggravating itself. For if we look at things with a distorted view, these things will present themselves to us in a distorted manner too; and thus, instead of reaping from our experiences new impressions which might help us in restoring a healthy spirit within ourselves, we shall only add nourishment to the ulcer within our mind. And on the other side, if we should try to cure our ignorance, we see that for so doing it is required that we look away from ourselves and from our habitual ways of thinking, which seems to us tantamount to a flat repudiation of our very selves and consequently impossible."
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Ignorance leads to death; the ignorant become like dead persons. This is no mere metaphor, as you discover by carefully observing how you personally have committed yourself to ignorance and falsehood at variouss times during your life. Embracing ignorance kills that element in you that motivates you to seek the Truth and take pleasure in knowledge and learning.
Having gained the understanding of the current world sistuaion, and realizing that intelligent, unified action initiatives are necessary, you should now follow up on:
Do you believe President Donald Trump is an honest leader who is for the common
people?
Yes
No
Did you first answer Yes above and then come back to answer No?
Yes
No
The reason we begin the essay's interchange with a question about President Trump is that anyone who's incapable of discerning the corrupt, depraved character of this person suffers from irremediable ignorance. It would be impossible to try to work with such a person. And it might well be dangerous for a person with that mind-state to read this essay.
"Knowledge is the life of the heart, which delivers it from the death of ignorance."
Thaqafi
(Perennialist adept)
If you honestly want to understand yourself and assiduously examine your erroneous beliefs and those areas where you are ignorant (lacking in knowledge), you may be able to bring yourself back from the dead by discovering your fatal maladies which led you to embrace falsehood and deliberately turn away from truth. This essay encourages you to begin investigating your fatal disorders and overcome them.
Do you believe that there are areas of ignorance and self-delusion within your belief system and personality?
Yes
No
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
The very act of acknowledging your ignorance is the beginning of the recovery of a true life, recognizing that ignorance is a form of death. You learn how exciting and rewarding the discovery of Truth can be and how enabling knowledge is. Only when you begin to recover, are you able to appreciate how ill you were.
"Give me more of this medicine because it has cured my malady, and my hope and desire to answer my problem is now intensified. And save me by your kindly treatment and your gentle wisdom from the confusion which you know so well to be hidden in my secret soul, 
from those deadly disorders concealed within me. In the past up till now there was concealed from me those hidden things within me which I denied. You have revealed them to me by your excellent description of them. . . .
"And with the limited knowledge at my disposal I realize how very much more there is to be known which I have not attained. There are recondite and hidden mysteries which I have neither seen nor known. So, O wise man, reveal to me my present spiritual state which you know better than I do. For surely the physician knows more about the ailment of the sick man than the sick man himself, and is in a better position to diagnose the cause of the illness and prescribe the treatment to cure him."
It is only if we understand ignorance in this light that we can feel its deadly force. Ignorance is not some harmless lack of the opportunity to gain information. It is, as Plato says, a fundamental corruption in which "all evils are rooted." In today's world, as has happened throughout man's past, we have the misfortune to see our culture being steadily destroyed by persons who are not only ignorant but whose ignorance has steadily corrupted them to the point of evil.
The perfidious, destructive nature of ignorance is such that the beginning of a cure can only be administered through a very powerful psychic shock: the stopping of one's world.
This can sometimes come about through dialectic, as with Socrates working with Plato, when the person is confronted with his own delusions. He is made to see that what he believes he knows he does not actually know; that what he believes are truths are in fact delusions.
This can sometimes produce sufficient psychic upheaval that it will stop his usual world of self-justification and presumptuousness.
Certainly, this kind of psychic shock from Socrates appears to have been what turned Plato's life upside down, leading him from a public life as an artist and a politician to a dedicated philosopher (seeker of wisdom). Socrates' single act of stopping Plato's world--providing him with the requisite psychic upheaval--is one of the most important accomplishments of this esteemed Perennialist teacher.
"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again,--
The eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes with pain,
And dies among his worshippers."
In the very process of searching for wisdom, seekers vanquish ignorance, learning how to respond to the challenges of their lives. The shock of recognizing their own ignorance awakens them to an awareness of the deeper realities of human existence.
But very often the only psychic shock that produces a stopping of the delusory world is catastrophe or crisis. As Benjamin Franklin reminded us, "Experience is a dear teacher, and only fools will learn from no other."
The demonic cabal believes you're so stupid that they can fool you into believing that Trump is for the betterment of American workers.
True
False
Trump isn't really obligated to follow the law because we're now in a war against terrorism.
True
False
The Modern Ignorance Called Relativism
Truth is relative to individual feelings, so that what is true for one person is not true for another.
True
False
If truth is relative, then truth must be determined by the strongest person's opinions defeating all other opinions. Which would mean that you really are as stupid as the cabal and Trump think you are.
True
False
All Republicans and Progressives are stupid Neanderthals.
True
False
The only way to overcome the cabal and take back our country is to join with others in intelligent, unified action.
True
False
If you honestly know that the only way to take back our country is to join in intelligent, unified action, then you now need to:
Assist in forming such an action group
Deny that you're not intelligent enough to do what you know you should do.
"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side . . ."
