Thoughts

A Commodity

~ MKW Publishing ~ 7 Comments

Viewed as a product, a commercial commodity of value in the scheme of society. And we always sort of knew that really, as we are told to contribute, pay into the pot, don’t be a ‘burden to society’. That’s changed up a bit, with handouts galore to the people running the show and the gate crashers. Not so much for the people who booked in advance, paid for the ticket, waited in line, and played the game as it was set. Initially though, the conditioning was clear, be part of the system or be excluded and left behind. Turns out it’s a bit more complicated and sinister than that, but doesn’t change the commodity part.

And if you start to view yourself as ‘they’ appear to, people are walking skills and talent, and potential profits. Only for that it would seem, and many are used along the way, for purpose, propaganda, and profit. Within all sorts of industries. But as soon as you are registered as a legal entity, I believe that is where it starts, you being given a number and essentially a barcode to follow you through life, keeping tabs on your contributions. Now it is levelling up a bit, with them wanting your full profit and loss essentially, with carbon credits and social credit scores seemingly more like analysing the bottom line. How much are you bringing in? How much are you costing? Already discussed from a certain angle in What Are We Worth? and the overall monitoring system for it in The Ministry of Monitoring. It’s all rather sinister, how it is, how it has been, and how ‘they’ portray it is going to be.

My article The Mark of the Beast also looked at the idea of us now being a product, put to a different service that we were originally conditioned for. But I missed the point, that we were already tied in, already having a barcode placed upon us – that social security number linking you to taxes, earnings, benefits, and ultimately ‘the system’. One that has been scanning us in a manual way for generations, using, analysing and inputting our data to where it was needed, and now it is being computerised as with everything else. And it’s now all about energy – they’ve spent years harvesting our time, money, talents and experiences with very little control over the input we have towards ourselves. Only limiting and restricting output, having gatekeepers to decide access, and levels to work through to get ‘up there’ or be considered successful. With the new systems that are being proposed, it sounds as if you will need to be monitored 24/7. While you sleep to make sure you don’t waste energy, once you wake, how many times you breath for your Co2 monitor, how many times you blink so they know how many adverts they can expose you to without missing your attention. How many calories you will be allowed, and what those will be from, how much liquid you can consume, and all other aspects of your life. Who you meet, what you are allowed to say, where you are allowed to travel, if you are allowed to breed, and so on.

There are quite invasive and sinister plans being discussed and proposed by corporations and institutions, of a certain future they would like, and work towards. Like a business having a remodel, getting rid of some old systems, some old staff that won’t adapt or aren’t what they want anymore, and bringing in new policies and changes. I can see why there might be confusion though, because for decades now many have just done as they were told, and played the game as they were meant to, knowing no different and seeing no different. But now we do know different, and can see there is a very dark and unyielding plan afoot, we must we wary and alert, it seems change is coming…

(c) MKW Publishing

Aphantasia, Imagine That!

~ MKW Publishing ~ 3 Comments

A concept that most people (apparently 98%) may find quite far removed from their ordinary thought process. How many times have you heard a sentence start with or have said yourself ‘now imagine’… Well, some people can’t. Literally.

A difference in ability only ‘discovered’ or noticed in 1880, by academic all-rounder Sir Francis Galton, but not named or studied further in much detail until 2015 when it became Aphantasia. A literal translation from the Greek meaning, lack of fantasy. (A = lack of, Phantasia = Fantasy).

Which in itself it’s a bit of a misnomer, it is not a lack of fantasy or imagination, but a lack of visual imagery.

I personally had not heard of this until a number of years ago, when discovered my ex-husband had it. Before this, we had what I thought were general communication issues, despite spending most of our time together and talking frequently about a range of subjects. I couldn’t work out where the differences in opinions and thought processes were coming from as they seemed quite illogical to me, and he is not illogical, so I knew there was something else. At first, I thought it was me, I questioned myself and my brain about what and why, and I couldn’t see it. I am fascinated by thought processes and how they impact our lives and actions and make us who we are, so wouldn’t leave this one alone.

The main point of issue was the fact that I read and write fiction and him not thinking it had any relevant place in society. I wanted to know why, really know how someone could think this of something I felt was so fundamentally necessary. It took many hours over a number of days for me to finally ask the right questions (trying not to make him feel like a test subject), coming to the conclusion of what was going on. I put forward the concept he had not considered or realised. I explained that when I read a book, my brain makes pictures up to accompany the words. Or that I can replay movies I have seen mostly if seen enough times.

“You see pictures in your head! That sounds like witchcraft to me. I can’t think of anything more alien”

And we had it. We had found the difference that explained why he thought fiction was pointless. But that was the tip of iceberg really of what was meant to be a simple explanation of why he didn’t see things the way I did. With a little bit of internet research I found the name. Aphantasia. That didn’t make it easier it turned out. I felt guilt at finding this out, of having to explain to someone why they were different, how they were different and try and support how they were feeling, when I couldn’t possibly understand. But it started to make sense. Enjoyment from fictional books that required you to imagine and picture the scene, are completely lost on him.

We did see the world differently, not just from a personal perspective, but with separate realities too. That might sound a bit dramatic, but it was and still is. Mine possibly not even entirely reality when I gave it more thought. I had always been so sure of my way of thinking, it bought into question for me, the reliability of a brain that can conjure images, pretend at will and change visual memories. Could non-aphantasiac people be trusted at all? My husband asked me one question when I confirmed it is believed most people ‘see images’ in their head. “So when people are driving, sometimes they aren’t thinking about driving and are imagining other stuff? That’s terrifying”.

And it is really.

But changing the way I think about things has helped, I didn’t expect him to as he isn’t wrong in the way he thinks, but neither am I. But I can imagine what it’s like to not imagine – it’s as close as I can get but I see the irony. What I previously saw as difficult behaviour by my standard, wasn’t when I saw it from his standard. That’s where our realities will always be different, and always were, but with a new twist now.

He is better at directions and orientation, his memory is more accurate than mine, he learns quickly, he is focused. But on the downside, he gets frustrated easily, he can’t ‘picture’ me if I am not in the room. There are pros and cons to each thought process, as there usually is with any situation or way of being to a person trying to navigate their way through life.

But while we as a species continue to study memory, thought, ideas and who we are as people, it was inevitable to me we would find variations.  I just didn’t realise what societal implications those variations would have, on both sides. There is a much broader issue here compared to what I first believed.

(c) K Wicks

Timing

~ MKW Publishing ~ 2 Comments

As a modern society, we seem rather obsessed with time, and I’m not quite sure if it’s because it has been conditioned into us, or is a natural thing for us to have past, present and future. Is it partly the concept of time that ruins us, by giving us a sense of mortality, and something to allocate time to that which is overwhelmingly important. Life. But perhaps we do not think that way about it at all, as it slips by quite unnoticed often and is treated as a never-ending commodity in some cases. But as I have said before, it’s something you can’t buy more of and you can’t get it back, so use it wisely.

And that was always the thread of the moral in tales and stories, about dreams and regret as well as hopes and a new perspective on something that didn’t essentially change, just your view on it did. Time marches on they say, it takes no prisoners and holds no favourites.

Quantum leap – A great TV series about jumping into and out of different times, people’s lives and experiences, trying to right some wrongs that occurred. I can’t recall if it was known why he had to do that, or who got to be the ‘viewer of history’ and pick the candidates to have life altering moments intercepted by an alternate being to possess you and steer them where they were ‘meant to go’.

The Butterfly Effect – A film about experience, regret and time. As the title suggests, it is shown that actions have consequences and outcomes you couldn’t have foreseen, but with hindsight and an ability to do something about it. An object is necessary in this to manifest it, a diary in his case (and video recordings for his late father). A dark and complex storyline that wasn’t light-hearted in any way, and if anything showed the extreme sadness and regret that can linger on in people.

Somewhere in time – another film, but this one with a dreamy, hazy overtone to it. But this one using the idea that you can mentally time travel by hypnotising yourself – which is rather interesting as I had wondered about it anyway through learning about Chronesthesia and Tulpaism. So, if you can ‘think’ yourself into a different time and manifest reality – is it really that outrageous an option?

Dark (TV Series) – a very strange series, and one of time and it looping back on itself in a repetitive cycle. Quite complex, and not cheery in any way, shape or form. But serious and interesting.

Dr Who – I guess the ultimate in this breakdown being a Time Lord, so one who is not bounds by the same rules and limit as others, recycled as necessary and not mortal. Changes the game a bit when it comes to possibilities if you are not doomed to such a short existence, or at least that is how they always paint it.

Back to the Future – a great set of films and iconic to many who were of that era. But going back and forth through time as needed to again fix the mistakes, or create them as was sometimes the case. I wondered about the method too in that film, the lightning strike, the exact speed and conditions needed for it to work.

They say luck befalls people who are ‘in the right place at the right time’, and equally the reverse can be said too, being ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’, knowing it was a series of moments that led to that one. So, which moment was the right one, or indeed the wrong one, in time? Hard to know I guess until after, when retrospective thought can be applied to make sense of the event if it is at first not clear. And if you factor into that Chronesthsia and all the other mental processes, it’s a wonder we know where we are at all, let alone when we are…

(c) K Wicks