Very nice Mark. When we think about the oceans of deception around us and wander how we got so deep in, I think that we have to put a lot of the blame on moral relativism. This is where your 'model Casino' shines but also where it fails, because so many have no idea what a 'true' or 'fair' casino would be. Without an absolute standard how can you tell that Fauci is a fraud? And those of us who have been living under absolute truth sit there like dummies going, 'What else could he be?'
I was feeding the trolls on Notes yesterday and a Dude in Skirt(DiS) jumped in and started in with the usual DiS nonsense, I am still a little grouchy cause I came up with a gem and was hoping to use it but Norma(n) Bates' kid brother blocked me before I had a chance, so here it is, 'If you need a biologist to tell you whether or not someone is a woman, who can you trust to identify biologists for you?' Ultimately the whole thing is just a sand castle made in a dirty litter box, none of it has any foundation. Almost the whole human race is completely unanchored though, unable to find anything stable so they latch onto anything that has any suggestion of stability, hence the obsession with safety. Almost like the whole of modernity was built by unstable spirits of the air while ethical absolutism is built by the tranquil spirits of the upper heavens, or even the Lord from the Heaven of Heavens.
Amazingly well done! Very deep and insightful, and a great job synthesizing so many seemingly loose threads! And the thought experiment you describe is extraordinarily useful.
Also, you are prophetic to warn of the next round in this insane game they are playing with us. So far, the stakes have been escalating steadily, and the ruling elite have lost control of the game, which has taken on a life and nightmarish logic of its own. Indeed, as you noted in your recent piece about our "Puppet Empire," our ruling elites were likely never in control of the game: they were themselves merely the pawns in a larger battle being fought in realms we can sense only indirectly, but which are increasingly having a very real impact on our world.
Great "casino" concept, Mark, although from my perspective, *living life fully* is the biggest gamble! But I guess that's what your ultimate point is!
Also, in my humble opinion, that "unseen partner observing the game from outside of it" is our Divine consciousness, the higher self. I have known this partner since a very young age. My parents said they saw me working with the partner even as a newborn: "Always observing," my mother said. "We knew you were very bright." No, Mom, it's the Divine Creator in me that is bright; I am the unique being that you and Dad created to let that light shine (at least when I pay attention and act on it)!
I was in a family game of poker once and dealt pocket aces. I should confess that I love the game of Texas Hold'em and I suck. No poker face... at all. Anyway, I was dealt pocket aces and after the river realized I had the nuts. There was one other player in the pot. Remember - family game. I pushed all in and warned my opponent that he couldn't win. He smiled and pushed all in.
"There’s a counterbalance to the badness. It’s called goodness. And you see it in people.
"So, for every 10 people who are putting he and him in their electronic JP Morgan email signatures, there’s one person who’s like, “No, I’m not doing that. Sorry. I don’t want to fight, but I’m not doing that. It’s a betrayal of what I think is true. It’s a betrayal of my conscience, of my faith, of my sense of myself, of my dignity as a human being, of my autonomy. I am not a slave. I am a free citizen, and I’m not doing that. And there’s nothing you can do to me to make me do it.”
"And I hope it won’t come to that, but if it does come to that, here I am. Here I am. It’s [the apostle] Paul on trial. Here I am. And you see that in people, and it’s a completely unexpected assortment of people.
"And I’m really interested in cause and effect. And as I noted at the outset of my remarks and my ability to predict the future, working on that, but because I’m paid to predict things, I try and think a lot about what connects certain outcomes that I should have seen before they occurred.
"And in this case, there is no thread that I can find that connects all of the people who’ve popped up in my life to be that lone, brave person in the crowd who says, “No, thank you.”
"You could not have known who these people are. They don’t fit a common profile. Some are people like me. Some of them don’t look like me at all. Some of them are people I despised on political grounds just a few years ago. "
These are the people who fold and walk away from that shit. I can't figure out what it is they (we?) have in common, either. But I've been toying recently with the idea that *purity* might have something to do with it.
Ante Scriptum. À propos the limber-up part antecedent to Grand Analogy.
--
To further narrow ‘the knowledge we actually possess’ 😉,
🗨 you cannot compare this present experience with a past experience. You can only compare it with a memory of the past, which is a part of the present experience. When you see clearly that memory is a form of present experience, it will be obvious that trying to separate yourself from this experience is as impossible as trying to make your teeth bite themselves.
🗨 Our perceptions/cognitions are what become memories, and a memory is simply a re-“perception” of a past experience.
Ackshoolly, the unleashed *was/is* ‘some massively deadly Captain Trips-style plague’—just afflicting not body but mind. Stuart Redmans were few and far between; mercifully it seems like they’ve grown in numbers since.
Very nice Mark. When we think about the oceans of deception around us and wander how we got so deep in, I think that we have to put a lot of the blame on moral relativism. This is where your 'model Casino' shines but also where it fails, because so many have no idea what a 'true' or 'fair' casino would be. Without an absolute standard how can you tell that Fauci is a fraud? And those of us who have been living under absolute truth sit there like dummies going, 'What else could he be?'
I was feeding the trolls on Notes yesterday and a Dude in Skirt(DiS) jumped in and started in with the usual DiS nonsense, I am still a little grouchy cause I came up with a gem and was hoping to use it but Norma(n) Bates' kid brother blocked me before I had a chance, so here it is, 'If you need a biologist to tell you whether or not someone is a woman, who can you trust to identify biologists for you?' Ultimately the whole thing is just a sand castle made in a dirty litter box, none of it has any foundation. Almost the whole human race is completely unanchored though, unable to find anything stable so they latch onto anything that has any suggestion of stability, hence the obsession with safety. Almost like the whole of modernity was built by unstable spirits of the air while ethical absolutism is built by the tranquil spirits of the upper heavens, or even the Lord from the Heaven of Heavens.
Amazingly well done! Very deep and insightful, and a great job synthesizing so many seemingly loose threads! And the thought experiment you describe is extraordinarily useful.
Also, you are prophetic to warn of the next round in this insane game they are playing with us. So far, the stakes have been escalating steadily, and the ruling elite have lost control of the game, which has taken on a life and nightmarish logic of its own. Indeed, as you noted in your recent piece about our "Puppet Empire," our ruling elites were likely never in control of the game: they were themselves merely the pawns in a larger battle being fought in realms we can sense only indirectly, but which are increasingly having a very real impact on our world.
Great "casino" concept, Mark, although from my perspective, *living life fully* is the biggest gamble! But I guess that's what your ultimate point is!
Also, in my humble opinion, that "unseen partner observing the game from outside of it" is our Divine consciousness, the higher self. I have known this partner since a very young age. My parents said they saw me working with the partner even as a newborn: "Always observing," my mother said. "We knew you were very bright." No, Mom, it's the Divine Creator in me that is bright; I am the unique being that you and Dad created to let that light shine (at least when I pay attention and act on it)!
So good!
I was in a family game of poker once and dealt pocket aces. I should confess that I love the game of Texas Hold'em and I suck. No poker face... at all. Anyway, I was dealt pocket aces and after the river realized I had the nuts. There was one other player in the pot. Remember - family game. I pushed all in and warned my opponent that he couldn't win. He smiled and pushed all in.
He had the other two aces in the deck.
Brilliant! I only wish it had been longer! Characters were so well sketched, especially the first, in my view. Love it!
This reminded me of something Tucker Carlson said in his pre-defenestration Heritage Foundation speech, to quote from the transcript at https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/04/24/include-country-your-prayers-tucker-carlson-reminds-heritage-foundation-50th-anniversary-gala/
"There’s a counterbalance to the badness. It’s called goodness. And you see it in people.
"So, for every 10 people who are putting he and him in their electronic JP Morgan email signatures, there’s one person who’s like, “No, I’m not doing that. Sorry. I don’t want to fight, but I’m not doing that. It’s a betrayal of what I think is true. It’s a betrayal of my conscience, of my faith, of my sense of myself, of my dignity as a human being, of my autonomy. I am not a slave. I am a free citizen, and I’m not doing that. And there’s nothing you can do to me to make me do it.”
"And I hope it won’t come to that, but if it does come to that, here I am. Here I am. It’s [the apostle] Paul on trial. Here I am. And you see that in people, and it’s a completely unexpected assortment of people.
"And I’m really interested in cause and effect. And as I noted at the outset of my remarks and my ability to predict the future, working on that, but because I’m paid to predict things, I try and think a lot about what connects certain outcomes that I should have seen before they occurred.
"And in this case, there is no thread that I can find that connects all of the people who’ve popped up in my life to be that lone, brave person in the crowd who says, “No, thank you.”
"You could not have known who these people are. They don’t fit a common profile. Some are people like me. Some of them don’t look like me at all. Some of them are people I despised on political grounds just a few years ago. "
These are the people who fold and walk away from that shit. I can't figure out what it is they (we?) have in common, either. But I've been toying recently with the idea that *purity* might have something to do with it.
Ante Scriptum. À propos the limber-up part antecedent to Grand Analogy.
--
To further narrow ‘the knowledge we actually possess’ 😉,
🗨 you cannot compare this present experience with a past experience. You can only compare it with a memory of the past, which is a part of the present experience. When you see clearly that memory is a form of present experience, it will be obvious that trying to separate yourself from this experience is as impossible as trying to make your teeth bite themselves.
🗨 Our perceptions/cognitions are what become memories, and a memory is simply a re-“perception” of a past experience.
😔 i0.wp.com/www.themarginalian.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/openhouseforbutterflies18.jpg
Ackshoolly, the unleashed *was/is* ‘some massively deadly Captain Trips-style plague’—just afflicting not body but mind. Stuart Redmans were few and far between; mercifully it seems like they’ve grown in numbers since.
Brilliant analogy, Mark. And your conclusion follows perfectly.