Observations
Observations on group beliefs
I learned today that Dr. Berg, a youtuber who is a chiropractic doctor, has a huge following and makes 8-10 minute videos with what seems like well researched nutrition advice, is also a member of a religious group. Does it matter? Do I care about this? Well, not really as I’m not for or against religious groups. I don’t know much about the one he is associated with. If I buy products from him, which I have at times and may in the future, my money, or the money that I send in exchange for the products - some of that will probably get donated to the things he supports - which may be okay, I just don’t know and need to do the research. This is true in many systems of purchase. For example when you buy car insurance, the money you give to the insurance company is re-invested, at least partially, in other things that earn money for the insurance company. Those things might include companies that you would not support directly, but you are indirectly supporting them with your choice of that particular insurance company. But that’s not the topic of this writing.
It does bring about a series of observations that could go in multiple directions. But I’m trying to focus-in on information streams, collections of information that form systems in which people relate to, invest time and often money in, and gain benefits from, and how that relates to the individual.
Why is this person so popular? He speaks with a level of confidence and authority. He summarizes his research and simplifies it to make it easier to understand quickly without much investment on the part of the viewer. There’s a fairly quick information payoff that seems to be free. He speaks with authority, with a level of calm, and assuredness, and he’s fairly articulate; he can express himself well. He speaks with what seems like definitive truth, unquestionable facts that have been researched and are reliable conclusions. The tone of his voice and the cadence and rhythm are a bit recognizable to me now as symbolic of an authority, no need to question, this is it! The sentence endings are often accentuated and stronger than the beginnings, and perhaps the words near the end of many sentences are more clearly pronounced and emphasized. I’m writing this as I recall how he speaks in his videos. There’s a very clear sense of reliability.
From his videos one can learn that he used to be in poor health and spent time figuring out what to do to fix it - much like I did in my early twenties, and perhaps many others have done. When you do that, it builds a certain confidence and a sense of knowing. When the things you do, the measures you take, clear up your problems, you become a 100 percent believer in the process or way of living that produced the success. This translates to a sense of confidence - a knowing of a collection of things, a body of information, that is generally beyond the typical human being’s daily experience. It is a collection of “knowing” that worked for you, and there is then a natural tendency for the notion to follow that this collection of knowledge will help others and is right for others. I never acted on those kinds of beliefs much, but I think inwardly I felt that I was ahead of others in terms of knowledge and esoteric wisdom.
What I’m getting to is: There are fields of belief systems, clouds or dimensions of gatherings of knowledge and information, that form collective identities, offering confidence, security, relief, explanation, solace, guidance, wisdom, education and even mental and physical health to the subscribers. Why? One of the reasons, I think, is because they relieve and temporarily cover over the underlying angst that is ever-present although unconscious, of the possibility of encountering the deep dark mysterious unknown that every human being faces. It’s the glassy but glassless pristine blackness, the incredible nothingness that renders one incapable of speech, movement, thought, but is absolutely exquisite and viscerally beautiful as known by every cell in the body, beyond knowing in human states of awareness but can be encountered accidentally or with the boost of a skilled guide, and can’t be properly remembered or re-told as far as I can determine. This is also the impossibly beautiful gold and white light, they are the same, but perhaps the beautiful light is a preferred and less terrifying experience for humans.
One can subscribe to any system of awareness and receive benefits and flourish from the experience - deepen and grow, exponentially. And proclaim to self and others “this is it!” But it isn’t, it’s it for that moment or collection of moments in time, for that being. It’s still an abstraction layer. It may explain things in a new way, a better way, perhaps, and offer relief, provide guidance. What even it says it’s not, it is that too. So don’t be swept off and carried away as you will still meet the deep sparkling dark and the brightest light at some point, and be terrified and amazed.
I value direct experience and joyful living, joyful communication with others in truth, where ever it leads. I think essentially it’s always joyful and humorous - profoundly funny in fact!!
