I appreciate this clarification. I challenged, then blocked what I believed to be a highjacked profile of yours on Meta. It wasn't only because it was pro-trump, but ugly when questioned. Name calling & telling people to go to hell isn't something I have seen from you. While I feel you are entitled to strong feelings, it did not seem to fit.
I respect how important it is that we not be manipulated by polarity, but I am also wary of being encouraged to centrist at this time. I am glad you continue to point us toward honest inquiry & listening closely to our own discernment.
Yep, a wonderful post. I love how you dissected your writings to demonstrate clearly how they reflected where you were -- engaged in a "cognitive script" (not my term, but a term I learned from reading a fabulous book by a neuroscientist, Anne-Laure Le Cunff) and inhabiting it because it made you feel comfortable and "right" in the world.
The things that you suggest are things I've naturally stumbled upon through the years, even as early as my late 20's, simply because I was SO curious about how people thought, why they expressed themselves in the way that they did, and what made them talk about something at any given point. I felt, in my 20's, post-college, that having already been mostly marginal (not visually, but in my mindset) I had nothing to lose in feeling as if I were a "zoologist," only I was studying my fellow human beings, not animals. This was mostly to understand myself better and see what might be wrong with me, that I wasn't seen as "acceptable" etc. etc.
I learned SO much from this mindset and way of discourse! Using simple non-verbal clues such as setting aside my "judgment" function temporarily, (which can indeed cause some discomfort) and simply sitting, listening intently, and asking questions as if I were an alien visitor from another reality, I got SO MUCH out of people, including those I'd never expected would even share! Establishing a temporary "Trust Zone" is critical, in short.
Sadly, as you've noted, normal and respectful discourse, especially in a moderate safe-space for everyone to air their concerns, has been denigrated, devalued, and cast aside as irrelevant. Mostly, because humans react strongly and emotionally/psychologically to clarion call information: loud, exciting, aggressive speech or action, sex, violence, etc. etc. etc. -- in short, whatever drags the human brain into the "high arousal/unpleasant valence" or the "high arousal/pleasant valence" territory. Again, not my terminology, but those of the 'constructed emotions' theory studies in neuroscience.*
Money is to be made when people are in these two states of "being" in their minds. I won't go into details, more details are available in books out there. *
I've gone on long enough, sorry... just wanted to say that I so appreciate you celebrating, highlighting, lifting up and shining a light on the need for good, solid, respectful discourse, and even offering examples and steps to take!
When your book is ready, it will be coming to my home.. excited for that as well.
Lisa
* --- "How Emotions Are Made; The Secret Life of the Brain" by Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph.D., Harper Collins, 2017
Jeff Brown just said what half of us feel and the other half refuse to admit: most political opinions today are just spiritual bypassing in drag, cosplaying as moral clarity.
It’s not about what we think—it’s why we think it. And if your internal monologue sounds suspiciously like your favorite pundit, you might not be thinking at all. You might just be channeling your algorithm.
Brown’s admission of bias isn’t weakness—it’s repentance. And not the performative kind your favorite candidate pretends to do after getting caught. It’s the kind that makes you dangerous to propaganda because you can’t be herded.
Want to become unpolarizable? Stop asking, “Am I right?” and start asking, “How did I get here?” Because if you’ve never doubted your political tribe, you’re in a cult with better branding.
Jesus didn’t say, “Blessed are the ideologically consistent.” He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” and that requires a detox from confirmation bias—one post, one thought, one tear at a time.
I appreciate this clarification. I challenged, then blocked what I believed to be a highjacked profile of yours on Meta. It wasn't only because it was pro-trump, but ugly when questioned. Name calling & telling people to go to hell isn't something I have seen from you. While I feel you are entitled to strong feelings, it did not seem to fit.
I respect how important it is that we not be manipulated by polarity, but I am also wary of being encouraged to centrist at this time. I am glad you continue to point us toward honest inquiry & listening closely to our own discernment.
Oh Jeff.
Oh Jeff.
*******
Yep, a wonderful post. I love how you dissected your writings to demonstrate clearly how they reflected where you were -- engaged in a "cognitive script" (not my term, but a term I learned from reading a fabulous book by a neuroscientist, Anne-Laure Le Cunff) and inhabiting it because it made you feel comfortable and "right" in the world.
The things that you suggest are things I've naturally stumbled upon through the years, even as early as my late 20's, simply because I was SO curious about how people thought, why they expressed themselves in the way that they did, and what made them talk about something at any given point. I felt, in my 20's, post-college, that having already been mostly marginal (not visually, but in my mindset) I had nothing to lose in feeling as if I were a "zoologist," only I was studying my fellow human beings, not animals. This was mostly to understand myself better and see what might be wrong with me, that I wasn't seen as "acceptable" etc. etc.
I learned SO much from this mindset and way of discourse! Using simple non-verbal clues such as setting aside my "judgment" function temporarily, (which can indeed cause some discomfort) and simply sitting, listening intently, and asking questions as if I were an alien visitor from another reality, I got SO MUCH out of people, including those I'd never expected would even share! Establishing a temporary "Trust Zone" is critical, in short.
Sadly, as you've noted, normal and respectful discourse, especially in a moderate safe-space for everyone to air their concerns, has been denigrated, devalued, and cast aside as irrelevant. Mostly, because humans react strongly and emotionally/psychologically to clarion call information: loud, exciting, aggressive speech or action, sex, violence, etc. etc. etc. -- in short, whatever drags the human brain into the "high arousal/unpleasant valence" or the "high arousal/pleasant valence" territory. Again, not my terminology, but those of the 'constructed emotions' theory studies in neuroscience.*
Money is to be made when people are in these two states of "being" in their minds. I won't go into details, more details are available in books out there. *
I've gone on long enough, sorry... just wanted to say that I so appreciate you celebrating, highlighting, lifting up and shining a light on the need for good, solid, respectful discourse, and even offering examples and steps to take!
When your book is ready, it will be coming to my home.. excited for that as well.
Lisa
* --- "How Emotions Are Made; The Secret Life of the Brain" by Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph.D., Harper Collins, 2017
Jeff Brown just said what half of us feel and the other half refuse to admit: most political opinions today are just spiritual bypassing in drag, cosplaying as moral clarity.
It’s not about what we think—it’s why we think it. And if your internal monologue sounds suspiciously like your favorite pundit, you might not be thinking at all. You might just be channeling your algorithm.
Brown’s admission of bias isn’t weakness—it’s repentance. And not the performative kind your favorite candidate pretends to do after getting caught. It’s the kind that makes you dangerous to propaganda because you can’t be herded.
Want to become unpolarizable? Stop asking, “Am I right?” and start asking, “How did I get here?” Because if you’ve never doubted your political tribe, you’re in a cult with better branding.
Jesus didn’t say, “Blessed are the ideologically consistent.” He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” and that requires a detox from confirmation bias—one post, one thought, one tear at a time.
Stay bewildered. Stay dangerous.