Duping Yourself
“We denounce slavery rhetorically, failing to do so in our private affairs.”
Cheap dopamine is everywhere, and to talk about resisting it is at this point trite. But what is obvious isn’t always easy to practice. We know cheap dopamine (drugs, porn, junk food, entertainment) keep us trapped in a cycle of addictive tendencies. We are becoming decreasingly capable of exercising our own will, solving our own problems, and living a fulfilling, meaningful existence. In the coming decades, the most significant divide will be between not the rich and the poor, but those with agency and those without it.
Where did we go wrong? The self has been deified; everything I do, say, think, and desire is supposedly valid and no one is permitted to question that validity. Modern therapy, identity politics, and new age spiritualism are all about affirming the self. We are literally paying so-called “experts” to tell us we’re right about every choice we make. “It isn’t your fault,” they say, “it’s your parents, your genetics, your socioeconomic context.”
The new age spiritualists in particular have arisen out of psychedelic delusion to proclaim that “I’m God, you’re God, we’re all God.” But then why are we struggling to do the dishes? If you’re God, why are you struggling to get out of bed on time? If you’re God, then you’re also the most condemnable apostate.
The truth is, everyone is subconsciously aware of how condemnable they are, but they repress this fact within themselves. To acknowledge this would be catastrophic to the ego. As a result, moral relativism is the defensive, default position of the modern individual. The Truth has been replaced by “my truth.” No positive claims can be made (except the claim that no positive claims should be made, which is itself ironic, performative, and self-refuting).
They want you to know that nothing bad about your situation is your fault; you’re awesome, you’re a rockstar, you’re perfect the way you are, your eating habits totally aren’t killing you slowly, you are worthy of higher wages, you are valid, so, so valid.
Reject it. Reject all of it.
We aren’t God, but there is a God. I am responsible– not only for the development of my own character, but also the character of those around me. I will do what is in my power to not distort my soul. If I am enslaved, I must ask what I did to contribute to that state. Did I give in to the wrong desires? Should I have resisted that slow descent? Should I have required more from myself?
Sure, this might seem harsh. But it’s quite literally the only choice you have. As soon as you make the choice to allow yourself and your surroundings to atrophy, you’ve lost even the possibility of a choice.
No corporation or ideology cares enough to save you, and even if they did, they don’t have the answer. So when they come and they tell you they have the answer– that political utopia is imminent if only you’ll join them in scapegoating the right people– you say no. The only way out is to self-persecute, self-accuse, and gradually starve the part of you that keeps making things worse.
You can either say “there is nothing I can do” or “there is something I can do.” Either way, you’re correct.
