Cognitive Dissonance: Writing Contest

Cognitive dissonance is defined by Merriam-Webster as “psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously.” It is defined in our daily lives as the decision to wake up to an alarm, brush our teeth with fluoridated water while being fully aware of the toxicity of fluoride, then head off to our jobs which are more than often entirely dependent on a thoroughly corrupt economical system which we are also fully aware of. It can also be noted in our decision not to smile at people while we walk down the street to and from the cafe while knowing that a smile is a powerful expression of compassion that we can share at no cost to ourselves, and while also knowing that the cafe we are approaching 1) has few vegetarian options 2) has unknown quantities of genetically modified organisms in every option 3) is run by management that offers minimum wage to employees because of their perceived value as a corporate entity and not a human being. It might be remembered again as we retrieve our cellphones and return missed calls and text messages while we wait for our order to be prepared, knowing there is harmful radiation pulsing from the device in our hands.

Later in the day it will go unrealized by many as they return home to a spouse whom they have little in common with besides programmed political and religious beliefs, and dine with their family on the flesh of animals who were confined, tortured, and killed because they can’t defend themselves (hmm sounds familiar) though despite the fact that eating meat is well known by holistic medical experts to increase the risk of heart disease as well as dozens of other health ailments. But I am uncertain if cognitive dissonance ever crosses the minds of people living in such spiritual depravity.

Perhaps simply having an awareness of the extent to which the world lives in cognitive dissonance (or simple ignorance) is enough in itself to drive someone to thoughts of suicide – no history of abuse nor other trauma necessary. Of course, affected persons might also choose not to act on those thoughts and instead continue living in the distress caused through having awareness. So if you really think about it – in the objective of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health – many of us choose to live despite the seemingly more logical decision: to choose not to.

Helplessly, we may ask ourselves ‘why?’ and be met with an even darker realization. Do we suffer this reality only because we are afraid of experiencing death and the uncertain after life?

It all depends on perception. The reason we might have such a perception is because we chose to awaken; but should we hold ourselves any more accountable for not operating purely as sane intellectuals now than we would ourselves from the past? Regardless of whether we choose to believe that we are living in fear of death, in pursuit of purpose, or simply in love of life, our perceptions are invaluable possibilities and beyond comparison. With this realization we can have peace in every moment and give ourselves a new sense of purpose related to the creation of a sane and loving reality.

So how do we handle cognitive dissonance? If only the truly best of us were ‘in charge’ so that any situation which renders it does so humorously. Since this is obviously not the case, our best option is to rely on discernment. Discern as an intransitive verb is defined as ‘to see or understand the difference’ so discernment might be considered the act of seeing and understanding a difference. I have a personal appreciation for this word as it came to me through the Ascension Notes newsletter by Kara Demonet, a spiritual healer at soulsticerising.com. Kara mentioned recently in her notes that discernment is the better form of judgement – decision-making based on inner guidance/intuition rather than habits and past experiences. It requires focusing on good intentions – not concerning ourselves with mind games rooted in our ego.

In the time that has passed since my freshman year of college (and I can’t help but laugh remembering Icke stress that time is an illusion) I have had many learning experiences, as I anticipate having more still. The worst of it though would have to be the pervasive solitude I have endured – like many others – not because I want to but because I have grown more and more incompatible vibrationally with the society that I’ve grown up in, and less tolerable of the lifestyle impressed upon me by it.

Unfortunately because of this, right now my future is about as clear to me as the timeliness of a super-hero alien intervention which David has mentioned a couple times in his latest books and which is part of the reason why I would be extremely happy to get the chance to hear more from him in London. Or anywhere. This paragraph is relatively displaced.

Anyway, as I approach my closing statements I would like to briefly redirect the reader’s attention back to that flaky philosophical paragraph on perception, because now I would like expand on it my own perspective.

Personally my perception is such that life has no business being the way it is. Here on Earth it truly is a case of ‘the tail wagging the dog,’ only not just by the ratio in which the few rule the many, but in the sense that as a whole our interests and priorities are backwards. From a consumer perspective, let’s take sugar production as an example. Did you know that conventionally refined sugar is filtered through bone char (which is exactly what its name implies) solely for the purpose of changing its color? Who in their right mind would take sugar and ‘filter it’ through bones just to change its color!? And imagine how much more inconvenient and expensive it would be if we did not already have the animal bones made available to us by slaughterhouses! But even though most people would call that disgusting if they were to find out, they would still go on eating it. It’s insane, and somehow ignored… and honestly, I’m not sure how we can draw any resolution from that. I suppose it’s just another instance of.. well, you know. I can only type the words so many times before the whole essay starts to sound redundant.

God damn it, I’ve already gone over 1000 words. And I just told ‘God’ to ‘damn it’ even though she/he/it either does not exist or would likely never do such a thing. Where was I before the sugar tangent? Oh, perceptions. Another musing from my perception is that our healthiness is the degree to which we experience life, and life is the essence of creation, and creation is the essence of possibility. Therefore, if we want to experience healthiness, then possibility is on our side. That certainly must have something to do with how our hearts – our life force organ – can guide us into new realities through what we call intuition, as they are linked to the power of creation. Wow. I should put this stuff into better context and write my own book. Then it would be ME at the Wembley Arena this October, only not a chance because I don’t have the discipline required to go on world tour. Besides, it wouldn’t be the place to start for a midwest suburbanite who can’t seem to find a good home anywhere else, even when there are easily 15,000km of warm, sandy, inhabitable coastline throughout the US alone. Wait, where am I going with this? Oh, 1,500 words.

I guess you could say I ‘really let myself go’ if I was supposed to be maintaining any sense of professionalism through the last sentence of my essay, but to paraphrase page one of Remember Who You Are ‘there comes a certain point in our evolution as conscious members of society where we must stop relying on political correctness as filters for what’s really going on in our heads’, and I am proudly overriding that filter today! This is not supposed to sound tongue-in-cheek-y.

So I’m glad that hundreds of people got a chance to read this and cringe while chuckling uncontrollably like I am right now. It’s so liberating! Illuuuuuuuuusion! Lol! I love you David.