Dreaming of Escape, Mesmerized by Entertainment
Locked up. Caged. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. Literally or metaphorically, prison is what many of us feel like we're in.
On some level many of us feel trapped. Maybe not by a physical prison with cages we are locked into, but from our everyday lives. We feel trapped by society, by our jobs, by the routine that keeps repeating in cycles.
We dream about leaving a dead end job. We yearn to break free from the routines that we feel bind us and keep us down. At some level we want excitement and wonder to take us away from the boredom of our predicable lives. We want new things. We want to be entertained.
We want moments of intrigue, of mystery, of not knowing what will happen next. We feel alive by being on the cusp of something new emerging into our field of experience. Grasping us tightly before we even experience it, with breath abated, holding on to see what comes next.
Then pop, it happens. That's the magic. The suspense is replaced with an inspiring awe and appreciation that fills us to the brim. We overflow with elation at being entertained.
Delighting in new experiences can have this effect, but so can magic entertainment or other entertainment we immerse ourselves in daily. Reading something, listening to music, or watching movies or TV can bring us new data input that bedazzles us. We can be charmed, amused, titillated, mesmerized, infatuated, hypnotized and influenced by various forms of stimulus coming into our consciousness.
Much is a con. A con-man (or woman), a "sorcerer", can make you experience something that "feels-right" through a convincing false reality, where you judge your experience to be real, "feeling-right" or "feeling-good", even though it is false. Deceptions can feel "good" and "right" but be wrong and false.
Politicians do this with their sophistry and rhetoric to lie and manipulate people’s consciousness into certain behaviors. The entertainment industry, television, "gurus", politicians, priests, and more, can all (in varying degrees) amaze, mesmerize, hypnotize, induce, summon and invoke beliefs and altered states of consciousness to entrain us into specific modalities of living.
Images and words can cast "spells" on consciousness and influence what we think, how we feel, and what we do. And unfortunately for many of us, we want to be fooled and buy into the falsity. It makes us feel good to feel that way. As a result, we don't necessarily notice that we are being steered in a certain direction.
As a society, we can be led by misdirection, just like an entertaining magician leads us through misdirection into accepting an unreality. Entertainment serves as misdirection to keep us going in a certain direction, as an escape from the trapping of our boring routines and prison-like state of our modern mainstreamed corporate existence.
Many of us are locked up, caged, with nowhere to go, and no where to run, except towards the open and welcoming arms of various forms of entertainment. We run from one prison to the other, from a prison of routine boredom to a prison of entertainment that many get bored of.
We are caught, moving between two cages, going nowhere yet thinking we are going somewhere meaningful because one feel better than the other. It traps us by giving us something new to experience, it gives us some magic and excitement, and we like that escape into another cage.
To be free from trappings, we must free out minds from the desire or need to be entertained by trivial stimulus. Quality knowledge can free us from our cages. Learning how to think is the most important tool we can develop. There is no freedom otherwise.
Pick up a book on an interesting topic. Watch some informational videos. Listen to some podcasts. Learn about information that the mainstream doesn't talk about. See what other people can't see or refuse to see. Fly out of the cage of dead mindless entertainment that keeps your mind trapped; that doesn't help you get anywhere in life or change the world for the better.
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Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
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I find that my life is a battle between purpose and entertainment. I want to live a life that is meaningful, where I make the most of every minute to achieve my purpose. But it's so much easier to pick up a book, turn on the TV, or watch videos on YouTube. That struggle depresses me, and holds me back.
But what about those people (most of them) who have no real purpose beyond making enough money to support themselves so that they can live the easiest life possible while being entertained? What is the point of that? They are born, they are entertained (and screwed over), and then they die. What a waste!
yes, cyclical living without higher meaning or purpose and nothing goes forward in the long term, just for of the same crap... :/
Great article. It's so easy to get trapped inside the cage over and over. Not sure that we entirely leave that cage given that every level of our existence is carefully choreographed so that we're forced to engage to some degree. Even our need for truth can be a trap ;) There's much to learn - almost too much. The more truth you learn, the more aware, the more you need to research and think about, too. BUT since I joined Steemit, I feel myself pulling back into a more 'self aware' version of myself. Of course, it's not Steemit entirely, but being around other people that are creative and inspiring. I think to a large degree, this will be our means of leaving the cage. We require it....otherwise, we're no better than a robot.
Yup, it's a never ending journey it seems ;) Learning is life.
It truly is!
very good article @krnel .. Sometimes we are locked in a vicious circle of boredom where entertainment does not help because we lock ourselves in the same daily routine ... and do not try to find a solution to the problem.
the problem for me is that in my country, if you think by yourself you are screwed....most people don't say what they think....they don't even think what they think....they don't dare to think with the frontal parts of the brain what they think with the anterior parts of it......we are a semi-socialist country and that is a crap
Yeah, political socialism is death to freedom everywhere it gets increased.
So powerful and so true.
I love what you said that quality knowledge is our freedom and learning how to think is the only true freedom we can ever have.
Thanks @krnel
Let's really live and free our minds from deception, or at least create our own deception, the mind is powerful, more than outside influence could ever be, great article, and resteemed sir ;-)
Yes, every day we do the same thing, that means stuck with the routine.
But it all depends on us in doing the routine, would be very boring if there is no variation.
Simply, Enjoy life while still alive.
What does it mean if life is Like a living bird, always confined,
Although in a cage made of gold.
I disagree about simply "enjoying" life. Greater meaning and value can be had through purposeful change for the better, even when it's tough, hard work, or involves suffering and alienation. Enjoyment isn't the highest goal for a person to have.
Yes brother @krnel
I really appreciate it.
I also work hard, although the results I get sometimes do not match expectations, I'm still grateful for what I got.
Sorry if my English is still lacking. Hopefully there is no misunderstanding.
I guess we are all trapped in our own way. Look at us, we are trapped searching for the truth and for ourself. I guess it is better than being trapped in a died en life but as ours a end or do we make it acceptable for ourself ?
Great post by the way. A long time I hadn't heard the expression ''dead end job''
Sometimes we just get carried away by what happens around us and maybe we can believe that what is common is right. Greetings from Venezuela friend!
Indeed - choose freedom! There is a way