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http://www.zengardner.com/sisyphus-hundredth-monkey/
Last evening, in an exchange with a dear friend (a former Silicon Valley bulb, now a dedicated schoolteacher by choice), I lamented the seeming futility of what I do in my spare time: sending out these ‘informational’ emails. When he commented on the incorrigibility of the Sheeple mindset, and the reluctance/inability of these people — many, highly educated — to see through the fog of disinformation, I responded thus:
Such is the state of our world, alas. When I hear from folk who’ve thrown in the towel and feel sympathy for me for banging my head against a brick wall with my missives, I simply respond that, to me, giving up is not an option. I’m a firm believer in the ‘hundredth monkey’ theory; we’re a smidgeon away from reaching critical mass. If we all simply gave up, that 100th monkey shall never awaken — and ‘they’ would surely have won.
He offered the following observation, and encouragement:
Mate, my hope lives through the opportunity of turning-on the courage in the younger ones to question what they see happening around them. Just the simple idea of inquiry below the surface of what you see, hear, and read every day is a monumental task akin to Sisyphus pushing that boulder up the hill.
The culture within which one enters life has profound consequences on personal development across the board. The educational process shapes the personality of kids to ‘play-by-the-rules;’ it is pretty much still a ‘reward and punishment’ system. The end result firmly establishes a herd mentality that the majority live with for the rest of their life.
You, too, are a Sisyphus. Hence, your readers see you as ‘banging your head against a brick wall.’ Many of those who criticize what you do as a ‘waste of time’ deceive themselves thinking they are just ‘playing the game’ and therefore smarter for it. You know the types; they have bumper stickers with the mindless sayings such as, ‘He who dies with the most toys wins,’ or ‘My dog is bigger than yours.’
You see, I too, work the ‘hundredth monkey’ theory and I too am Sisyphus. When they are pushing back, you are waking them up. Resistance is a good thing.
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ZenGardner.com
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