Overcoming the Tyranny of the Dull Mind
A path to presence and purpose in a world that's lost its mind.
📍 Coordinates: Parker, Colorado.
📖 Reading Time: ~6 minutes.
🧉 Vibecheck: Day 26 of the Warrior100. We’ve kicked out the first few who were KIA and went MIA (unresponsive and removed from the program). This work is not for everyone, and we’re setting serious standards this round. That excites me. A society built on standards is worthwhile. I’m a little in the mud right now, deep emotional turmoil is surfacing, and fatigue setting in. The process is kneading into me. Onward.
“The enemy of the black is not the white. The enemy of capitalist is not communist, the enemy of homosexual is not heterosexual, the enemy of Jew is not Arab, the enemy of youth is not the old, the enemy of hip is not redneck, the enemy of Chicano is not gringo and the enemy of women is not men. We all have the same enemy. The enemy is the tyranny of the dull mind. The enemy is every expert who practices technocratic manipulation, the enemy is every proponent of standardization and the enemy is every victim who is so dull and lazy and weak as to allow himself to be manipulated and standardized.” — Tom Robbins
A powerful reminder was thrust upon me last week…
After 3 weeks of Warrior training, a sacred fire burned inside of me.
I posted an article “The Most Disturbing Thing…” channelling some of this.
Honestly—unfortunately—I hesitated when publishing it.
Thoughts of editing it, pulling it back, and watering it down torrented through my mind. What will people think? Will they be offended? Is this too uncontrolled?
It disappoints me that these thoughts occurred.
Identity narratives rattled around the caverns of consciousness. I should be better than this. I teach people how to overcome self-doubt. I’m more evolved than this.
I was still hesitant when I hit publish. This publication isn’t huge, just over 400 people. But when you imagine 400 people in an auditorium in front of you, as you spout off about the decay and dishonour flowing through modern society… your heart rate increases a bit.
And yet it was one of the most engaging pieces I’ve had recently.
It was a powerful reminder to TAKE A STAND. PICK A SIDE. Don’t water it down. Don’t hold back. Don’t stop. Don’t fall victim to keeping everything safe and in line.
Sometimes the boat needs to be rocked before it pulls a Titanic and sinks itself. When someone is sleepwalking towards Armageddon, sometimes they need to be thrust awake.
It inspired me and gave me a metaphorical pat on the back to keep going. To speak the Truth, my Truth, and call it exactly like I see it.
And the way I see it is that the real battle we’re up against these days is the tyranny of the dull mind.
An entire global population is hell-bent on numbing themselves because they’re too overstimulated to handle anything of serious importance. This is so pervasive it’s contributed to the rise of lo-fi and chill music — generations of humans so overexerted and underinspired that they can’t handle emotionally provocative music anymore. It’s all Pokemon trading cards, animated Pixar movies, and faster delivery techniques for trash food.
People are dying to be anywhere other than RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.
They defibrillate themselves into action with a coffee addiction, take the edge off with Xanax, wind down with alcohol, distract themselves with social media, and establish chronic busyness as a core identity — all to avoid the reality of their lives and their world as it’s happening in front of them.
I’m not claiming anything conspiratorial, but it’s a fact that sleepwalkers don’t resist as their freedoms are stripped away from under them.
It didn’t take many straws to break the proverbial camel’s back with mandatory vaccinations – just threaten to take away access to pubs and bars and you’re in the clear. “No, not my alcohol!” That’s my crutch to help me tolerate the morass of my waking existence.
A part of me wishes there really was a global cabal of satanic elites dedicated to vulgar displays of power and manipulating the world population. I don’t believe that to be true, but to me, it’s better than the alternative.
The alternative is simply that no one cares.
The alternative is that people are actually OKAY with the direction society is going. That this is something they desire.
If you’ve ever been in a relationship, having someone angry at you is nearly always better than having someone completely ignore your existence. There is something existentially offensive about being completely ignored.
And yet, this is the norm. Massive, relentless indifference. Dullness a la carte. Apathy and cynicism as the dominant emotional bass notes of modern culture.
Nothing boils my blood more deeply than giving up hope. Checking out. Not caring writ large.
Perhaps it’s because I suffered through this growing up. Waves of deep depression, pharmaceutical numbness, zombie-like apathy. Maybe I’m just rejecting a shadow of my own. This could be true.
You were born at the best, and most critical time in human history. Your ancestors suffered and survived for countless millennia just so that you could check out and watch cake-baking shows on Netflix to decompress from the job that you hate sitting in a small box in the sky at the height of human luxury.
Your forefathers instigated revolutions over 3% tax rates on tea, while you serve your duty as a keyboard warrior supporting the nanny state when they throttle global movement freedoms entirely.
How far we have come, and how far we have fallen.
But the tyranny of the dull mind is not something OUT THERE in the world. Some unknown foreign enemy lurking in the shadows of faraway shores.
The tyranny of the dull mind is a battle IN HERE.
It is in your heart, in every waking moment of your life. It’s an orientation to your own life. Presence is cultivated. Caring is a muscle that you train.
You were born in a living, organic Wonderland and you are being summoned to rise up at the most crucial moment in humanity’s history to protect it. The future and beauty of existence depend on your ability to overcome the tyranny of the dull mind.
To overcome the dull mind, a Warrior trains. They train their strength, their presence, their conviction, their skills. Every moment is lived in its entirety. Each breath is taken with the imminent reality of Death present. This knowing is what gives the Warrior the presence of mind and dedication of spirit they need.
No moment is guaranteed. The beautiful future is not guaranteed. Freedoms require sacrifice. Rights require responsibility. Presence requires purpose.
How can you bored at a time like this!?
“The world is a wonderfully weird place, consensual reality is significantly flawed, no institution can be trusted, certainty is a mirage, security a delusion, and the tyranny of the dull mind forever threatens — but our lives are not as limited as we think they are, all things are possible, laughter is holier than piety, freedom is sweeter than fame, and in the end it’s love and love alone that really matters.” — Tom Robbins
In love and presence, EB. ⛩️
WOW!
This "article" is beyond.
Eric brother you are a LIGHT <3<3
You just lit me up big time. And I'll pass it on.
Love brother
I care, and I feel confident in saying about others that it’s not that we don’t care, it’s that we don’t know what to do with our caring. We are all troubled by the state of the world, but we need to be in communion with others about these woes if we are to feel we can do anything to improve things. When we feel alone with these concerns, it is easy to feel quickly disempowered.
I think what seems like apathy is actually just acute and chronic overwhelm. The problems we face! They seem too big and too far beyond our sphere of influence. We have been divided, atomised, and this leaves us feeling disempowered. I don’t believe in a secret kabal either, but I know it seems the power to make change lies outside the reach of us individuals observing with sadness as the world goes to the dogs.
It only seems that way, and I for one would like to challenge this misperception and start organising people to make changes to culture as a collective. Do you have ideas for how we can do this? Or examples we can get involved with? I am starting some groups in my local community and would love for us all to make a living by providing progressive and sustainable services to our communities. Decentralised online communities have also been interesting me lately, bringing together like-minded folk over shared ideas for implementing cultural change at a community level.
I think you're right as well that this work of contributing positive culture starts with enlivening our dull minds ~ with the clarity and perception that results from a strong meditation practice, we can trust that our cultural endeavours will have benefit and be worthwhile. So long as that dullness remains, we will just be recreating new versions of old patterns.