Gladwellian Cointreau

 Gladwellian Cointreau

 9:08

(An hour challenge. Streams of consciousness)

What is the big deal if a certain few control the media? It becomes Disneyfied. You can claim this is what the market dictates. Not sure it is the market, as much as this is what the consumer culture is fed. There are not that many varying examples on reality. And this is a problem when you want to elect a leader, if you can only agree on one variation of reality.
This has been referred to as the Establishment this election year. So, let us settle for that being the definition of normalcy. I would like to establish (pun intended) different names to reference the Establishment as I move forward.
The first is conventional.
I work with youth, ages 17-24, that are on parole or probation. Late adolescence is the stage in our lives in which we challenge convention. We are coming from a pre-conventional stage. This stage is defined by progressions of egocentricity. We are born without a concept of other. There is no ego, or I. We have no separation from this Kosmos. But an ego eventually emerges. This helps "us" to understand the formula: hand + burner = pain. Now, the formula becomes: hand (oh wait this thing belongs to me) + burner (this thing ain't cool) = pain (I have a choice in which actions I do create more pain).
Why this is important for this election year is that we are faced with a very real ethical dilemma as to who to choose for the leader of the United States of America. Let me make this clear, in dreams this leader would be our king or queen. There is a psychological effect that permeates the collective consciousness of a group. These leaders become our identity-at least, a true King should be our highest Self. The part of our Self, that is not just self, but recognizes that there is a self and a Self, and they are one.
The preconventional stages are the stages in which the ego is opening itself to caring for something other than itself: trusted family are the first mirrors for our budding self. We then accept friends into our circle. We merge into an agreed conventional set of rules that dictates social order amongst others.
I work the group which challenges the social normalcy at a rate much higher than their peers. I would estimate 80% of the crime is commited by a small percentage of the population. Social normacy is the conventional stage. When I tell them at their age you have to learn to jump through hoops-the hoops you jump through is the conventional stage of life. It's just the way it is.
We all have to accept hoop-jumping as a certain level of life. The conventional slogan for this election year is: Hoop-jumping is all there is. Accept it.
Hoop-jumping is necessary. My slogan is this: Reaching for the stars the reason we jump.

I need to have a work ethic to support the style of life I want for myself so my family and I can flourish. And in turn my flourishing helps the community flourish.
There is a stage beyond conventionality. Let's call is post-conventional thinking. It is not a denying of this ego. It is not an ego denier. I am still not trying to get burned, but I still recognize that my hand is separate from the environment. The conventional stage doesn't like people reaching out beyond their own thinking. You would think you help others step up, but the group does try to hold you down.
That is my fact.
As a whole we are holding our breath desperate for some injection of life. We are at an empty well in the story.
We think we know everything, but do we admit that to our self. Truly admit how powerless we all are in this grand scheme of things. We have no idea and yet, we walk around proudly displaying our peacock feathers. We are in the desert with no water and leaders that are trying to steal the camp.
It is what it is and always will be. But there is more.
Still, our priority to the group is the foundation to reach the next stage: post-conventionality. We think of the health of the group. We should, at the least.
I am not sure we are very good at looking at collective self in the mirror. These be blamed on the media or the entertainment industry. That is the tool for the collective culture. It is the image they sell. And it is hegemonous. That is the nature of a collective identity. There is a drive, for evolutionary purpose, to work together.
This formula is written: if we both obey these traffic lights it greatens our chance to be alive (which is good [existenitalist would say: to be alive (which is good, right? Is it?]).
Try to convince someone tomorrow there is another stage that is above this and they will look at you like Neo fell down the rabbit hole and is wonderland.

An argument I heard counter to there being a social hierarchy of consciousness that are based on stages individuals go through in life is that it is an example of elitist thinking. But there would be no arguments that individuals that break the law are acting against the rules of a group. What we might not agree on is the equality of this group, or stage.
That is really the great divide of groups, specifically Democrats and Republicans.
We are all equal in the sense we are all human, but after that?
We deny the vertical existence of our humanity. We are kept in the dark about the knowledge that there are levels in which there are stages of consciousness in which an individual transcends the ego and embraces, in order: ego, friends + family, society, nature, universe, etc. We are all at different stages. Some of us never gets past, friends and family. Understand, this is not a good thing, overall, especially if your friends and family exclude the acceptance of others based on being at a lower level of acceptance.
People will say it is a free country and people can do what they want. What we have lost sight of this order: God, country.
There is a pre-conventional God.
A conventional God.
and a post-conventional God. All the same god just different faces for the Self.
The King, or Queen, in dreams, is one of the highest symbols for the psyche.
We are at a crisis point in our country. Crisis points bubble or occur when we can't communicate what is going on.
We are describing an accident from all different perspectives and claiming our view is the only right way.
The perspectives of this crisis is being witnessed from whatever stage we are at in our lives. But they are not all equal. That is my point. It is not elitist thinking if you can demonstrate that if can clearly demonstrate there exists a hierarchy.
That word word creates a fear for Americans. We are all equal. We believe simple statements of truth simply can't be built on. We like short exchanges. We prefer twitter rants than conversation. "We are all equal" is a philosophy and a very simple philosophy. And also very wrong when reduced to radical fundementalism that disguises wrong-doing as equal to doing-the-right-thing. These are not equal, but we are being forced to believe they are.
It is a call to our individual self to decide the drama of our collective self in our next collective chapter.
My moral dimemma is the candidate that deserves my vote. More specifically, is which canidate is more evil: Trump or Clinton.
Most importantly, there needs to be a criteria in which we can answer this question as group. And I suggest we do using these three stages: pre conventional, conventional, and post conventional.
Next, I will try to answer this question.