Brian Jones
Moderator
- Joined
- Jan 17, 1999
- Messages
- 7,560
Just a stream of consciousness thang...posted in Ron's forum too. Thoughts?
###
I've been thinking hard about how to articulate something many of us instinctively understand: How do tactical training and survival and other extreme activities all fit together? What is the psychological crossover in the eyes of consumers?
Why the renewed interest in wilderness skills? Why the renewed interest in tactical and martial arts training? What are the psychological links that tie us all together? Is it the just the adrenaline rush? The thrill that comes from risking and winning? Is it the quest for the elusive enlightenment that Eastern philosophers and mystics have written about for millennia? What are the social factors that have caused such a resurgence of interest in these subjects? What is the impact on society? Why is the show Survivor such a national obsession?
All of this, I believe, traces back to these instinctive human needs:
Self-preservation, and self-fulfillment, accomplished by self-reliance.
Most people today have everything they need for survival. They have food, clothing, and shelter. They are coddled and cuddled and taken care of, by service providers, grocery stores, servants, and corporate employers (who end up spitting them out when they are no longer useful more on that in a bit). They have been busy over the last half-century distracting and indulging themselves with their material wants and desires. A better car, a bigger house, a promotion at a job, fancy restaurants, spas the list is vastly expansive. But as wide as the list goes, it never runs very deep. And the lack of fulfillment from these shallow pursuits now creates cracks in this material veneer. People get angry when the slightest inconveniences hit them -- when bird droppings hit their cars, when they sue each other for all sorts of minor insults, when things just dont go exactly their way. Some of us now see through these cracks, awakened to the lack of reality in todays real world. We see that what has been happening is not necessarily a Good Thing. So, we have put our hands on the edges of the cracks, and pulled them wider to get a better view of a better way:
Self-reliance.
When America began over 200 years ago, we had a largely agrarian society, and 95% of people were self-employed. They lived close to the land, made their living off the land, and relied on the land for social status (just look at all the huge plantation mansions still standing). They personally made clothing, shelter, and got their food directly from the resources of the land. They forged weapons from the land. There were no organized police forces to protect them; there were no convenience stores on the corner in those days to buy cereal or cold cuts. They took nothing for granted. They did it all themselves:
Self-reliance.
Where has this self-reliance gone? Today, 95% of people in America are employed by someone else mostly large corporations. Theyve become dependent on these corporations. Many (not all) have been increasingly complacent and lazy because of it, but some of us have become consciously disturbed by the complacency.
Weve seen an increase in tensions in society today an ever-present sub-text of anger that often boils over into violence. Many feel betrayed by what theyve been told while being brought up. Get a job, and youll have security. The almighty dollar has poisoned us against each other. It went from being a means to being the very end itself. Money is meant for getting other things accomplished. Now other things are accomplished just to get money. And they arent always pretty things. For example, business has devolved to the point where big corporations will lay off long-time, loyal employees to just to avoid paying a few dollars in retirement benefits. It has become more important than people and their lives. Money is an artificial representation invented by man. It represents dependence, not independence. Yes, it is necessary to function in todays society, but lets put it in its proper place.
As more and more people feel betrayed by the 1950s mentality of dependence, we are seeing certain directions develop. Entrepreneurism is the new term for self-reliance. More and more small businesses are born everyday, often from the minds and hearts of laid-off executives and workers. Big corporations are downsizing. We see employee ownership everywhere: profit-sharing and stock options are required if companies want the best employees. Empowerment is the buzzword of the new century, and it is not a mere trend: it is the result of this reawakening. Americans, and others around the world, are taking back the reins to their lives, and we're cracking the whip! There is an instinctive desire, a new need, to return to self-reliance, and business is where it has started. However, it is even becoming deeper than that. How? One way some of us gain perspective on all this is to train or participate in activities that nurture self-reliance:
The arts and sciences of self-preservation.
Wilderness skills. Martial arts training. Firearms training. Extreme sports. They all are means of self-fulfillment, and self-preservation, via self-reliance. Not crossover activities really: just parts of a whole. Thats why we see so many people interested in all of them, or many of them. With this training, no longer do we have to depend upon others stay alive, and thrive. Knowing we can overcome anything thrown at us by using only our wits and ingenuity -- THAT is true personal power, and self-control. These activities scare the establishment, because it means the masses no longer look to politicians and others as their saviors, or as their overseers -- and most certainly not their keepers.
The sheep have exited the corral!
The average person is revitalizing and reinventing him and/or herself through these activities. Training in the arts of self-preservation bolsters the confidence, and renews the spirit. It reinvigorates the zest for life that has been missing since the formative days of our country. It is a return to the way it was, when most were self-employed and self-reliant. It is a brand new kind of pioneer mentality, adapted to modern times. Were seeing a wonderful desire to return to that way of thinking and living: embracing the challenge, and feeling the growth and confidence that naturally result. And so, the now the list of "life priorities" finally deepens, rather than remaining shallow. A sense of personal, individual responsibility increases: to ones family, friends, society, and ones self. So, personal responsibility leads to preservation of society and civility -- of each other -- because the anonymous mob mentality that fosters violence and other problems and a return to taking nothing and nobody for granted.
This, I believe, fuels the new interest in survival of all sorts.
Peace,
Brian.
###
I've been thinking hard about how to articulate something many of us instinctively understand: How do tactical training and survival and other extreme activities all fit together? What is the psychological crossover in the eyes of consumers?
Why the renewed interest in wilderness skills? Why the renewed interest in tactical and martial arts training? What are the psychological links that tie us all together? Is it the just the adrenaline rush? The thrill that comes from risking and winning? Is it the quest for the elusive enlightenment that Eastern philosophers and mystics have written about for millennia? What are the social factors that have caused such a resurgence of interest in these subjects? What is the impact on society? Why is the show Survivor such a national obsession?
All of this, I believe, traces back to these instinctive human needs:
Self-preservation, and self-fulfillment, accomplished by self-reliance.
Most people today have everything they need for survival. They have food, clothing, and shelter. They are coddled and cuddled and taken care of, by service providers, grocery stores, servants, and corporate employers (who end up spitting them out when they are no longer useful more on that in a bit). They have been busy over the last half-century distracting and indulging themselves with their material wants and desires. A better car, a bigger house, a promotion at a job, fancy restaurants, spas the list is vastly expansive. But as wide as the list goes, it never runs very deep. And the lack of fulfillment from these shallow pursuits now creates cracks in this material veneer. People get angry when the slightest inconveniences hit them -- when bird droppings hit their cars, when they sue each other for all sorts of minor insults, when things just dont go exactly their way. Some of us now see through these cracks, awakened to the lack of reality in todays real world. We see that what has been happening is not necessarily a Good Thing. So, we have put our hands on the edges of the cracks, and pulled them wider to get a better view of a better way:
Self-reliance.
When America began over 200 years ago, we had a largely agrarian society, and 95% of people were self-employed. They lived close to the land, made their living off the land, and relied on the land for social status (just look at all the huge plantation mansions still standing). They personally made clothing, shelter, and got their food directly from the resources of the land. They forged weapons from the land. There were no organized police forces to protect them; there were no convenience stores on the corner in those days to buy cereal or cold cuts. They took nothing for granted. They did it all themselves:
Self-reliance.
Where has this self-reliance gone? Today, 95% of people in America are employed by someone else mostly large corporations. Theyve become dependent on these corporations. Many (not all) have been increasingly complacent and lazy because of it, but some of us have become consciously disturbed by the complacency.
Weve seen an increase in tensions in society today an ever-present sub-text of anger that often boils over into violence. Many feel betrayed by what theyve been told while being brought up. Get a job, and youll have security. The almighty dollar has poisoned us against each other. It went from being a means to being the very end itself. Money is meant for getting other things accomplished. Now other things are accomplished just to get money. And they arent always pretty things. For example, business has devolved to the point where big corporations will lay off long-time, loyal employees to just to avoid paying a few dollars in retirement benefits. It has become more important than people and their lives. Money is an artificial representation invented by man. It represents dependence, not independence. Yes, it is necessary to function in todays society, but lets put it in its proper place.
As more and more people feel betrayed by the 1950s mentality of dependence, we are seeing certain directions develop. Entrepreneurism is the new term for self-reliance. More and more small businesses are born everyday, often from the minds and hearts of laid-off executives and workers. Big corporations are downsizing. We see employee ownership everywhere: profit-sharing and stock options are required if companies want the best employees. Empowerment is the buzzword of the new century, and it is not a mere trend: it is the result of this reawakening. Americans, and others around the world, are taking back the reins to their lives, and we're cracking the whip! There is an instinctive desire, a new need, to return to self-reliance, and business is where it has started. However, it is even becoming deeper than that. How? One way some of us gain perspective on all this is to train or participate in activities that nurture self-reliance:
The arts and sciences of self-preservation.
Wilderness skills. Martial arts training. Firearms training. Extreme sports. They all are means of self-fulfillment, and self-preservation, via self-reliance. Not crossover activities really: just parts of a whole. Thats why we see so many people interested in all of them, or many of them. With this training, no longer do we have to depend upon others stay alive, and thrive. Knowing we can overcome anything thrown at us by using only our wits and ingenuity -- THAT is true personal power, and self-control. These activities scare the establishment, because it means the masses no longer look to politicians and others as their saviors, or as their overseers -- and most certainly not their keepers.
The sheep have exited the corral!
The average person is revitalizing and reinventing him and/or herself through these activities. Training in the arts of self-preservation bolsters the confidence, and renews the spirit. It reinvigorates the zest for life that has been missing since the formative days of our country. It is a return to the way it was, when most were self-employed and self-reliant. It is a brand new kind of pioneer mentality, adapted to modern times. Were seeing a wonderful desire to return to that way of thinking and living: embracing the challenge, and feeling the growth and confidence that naturally result. And so, the now the list of "life priorities" finally deepens, rather than remaining shallow. A sense of personal, individual responsibility increases: to ones family, friends, society, and ones self. So, personal responsibility leads to preservation of society and civility -- of each other -- because the anonymous mob mentality that fosters violence and other problems and a return to taking nothing and nobody for granted.
This, I believe, fuels the new interest in survival of all sorts.
Peace,
Brian.
