Where Belief Meets Reality

by  Bobby Garner
March 3, 2005

What is it about a slogan that seems to make them desirable, even if not downright necessary? I can only speak for myself, and for me it was born out of the need to define my purpose, to better understand it in my own mind as well as to inform others. Attention spans are really short at times, so a few well chosen words right up front can have a powerful impact.

From the time I first began my in depth study of deception, I have thought of several short slogan like statements to define exactly what it is I am doing. Some of them might have been okay, but they all had one thing in common, they were just not quite right. Then a few days ago, I was digging around in some notes and found a title for an article I never wrote. I don't remember what happened to the story, but that title jumped right off the page, and I recognized immediately that it very well summarized what Congregator.net is all about.

"Where Belief Meets Reality" sounds rather ordinary at first glance, but a Google search turned up nothing. I tried entering the terms in different ways to five top rated search engines, and came up empty each time. At the present, Google produces five hits, all of them connected to Congregator.net. I don't know what kind of odds that represents, but I was quite favorably impressed to be sure, and felt driven to write a story about it.

Entering those search terms produces a lot of confrontations with reality in everything from home decor to science, but not belief. In all probability belief IS the reality in society generally. That not only explains why the Internet seems to have no record of a confrontation between the two, but also the problems associated with writing about belief as something detached from reality.

So what is belief, and why is it that it almost never represents the reality of anything? Why is it that people seem to be completely ignorant of the possibility that the two may not be one and the same thing? The short answer is that all beliefs are acquired through coercion, persuasion, or both, and on that basis, have been accepted as representative of reality itself.

Michael Shermer, in his book, "Why People Believe Weird Things, Pseudo science, superstition, and other confusions of our time", has five basic answers to the implied question in his title:

1. for consolation,
2. for immediate gratification,
3. for simplicity,
4. for moral meaning, and...
5. because hope springs eternal.

Emphasizing skepticism and the ability to "think for yourself", he writes, "Rationality tied to moral decency is the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known". Unfortunately, we seem to be addicted to the obedience of authority, and that in an atmosphere of political correctness which forms a close parallel with George Orwell's 1949 book, "1984". One reviewer of a recent book on mind control objected that there was not a shred of persuasion to be found anywhere in the book, and therefore, it was a waste of time! Such thinking is dominant throughout todays society.

Why do we look for and expect persuasion to be a central feature of any argument? It's because we want to believe. Somewhere deep inside, belief is the only thing which has the capacity to sooth and comfort us in an otherwise hostile, unfriendly environment. We are keenly aware at some level of our vulnerabilities, and the temporal nature of our existence. We know that when we are gone, we will soon be forgotten, so we seek comfort in the belief that somehow, after all is said and done, everything is going to be alright.

Belief feeds upon itself. We demand to be persuaded because we "believe" that knowledge is disseminated through persuasive argument.

• Is there no other means by which a belief can be established?
• Is there no other way to find our comfort zone except through belief?
• Is true knowledge of no account?
• Or is it a case of not being able to tell the difference between the two?

Belief in a variety of things tends to sooth our natural fears, and allows us to focus on the more pleasant things of life, and function more "normally" perhaps. But, how did we get to the point where belief takes precedence over nearly everything else, nearly always at the expense of reason and common sense? Why do we have the deep underlying fears in the first place?

Did we as individuals create this demand for persuasion within ourselves out of some basic human need? Or, are we coerced into it? What is coercion, and how does it work?

"Most people who brainwash...use methods similar to those of prison guards who recognize that physical control is never easily accomplished without the cooperation of the prisoner. The most effective way to gain that cooperation is through subversive manipulation of the mind and feelings of the victim, who then becomes a psychological, as well as a physical, prisoner." ~ from an Amnesty International publication, "Report on Torture", which depicts the brainwashing of prisoners of war. Biderman's Chart of Coercion

"Persuasive Technology" is the proper term which describes all marketing schemes regardless of whether the product is snake oil, religion, or feel good democratic politics. "The larger question, of course, is whether persuasive technology is a good idea at all when talking about turning a machine as soulless as a computer into what is essentially a propaganda engine." -- Denise Caruso, The New York Times. The same question should be asked concerning any other communications tool. This is true because communication is the only method available to a deceiver.

Illustrating the cunning adaptability of advertising and marketing, which is what all communication boils down to, Douglas Ruskoff, in his book, "Coercion: Why We Listen To What They Say", comments "The dramatic action no longer occurs between the audience and the product, the brand, or the brand image, but between the audience and the brand marketer's. As audiences gain even more control over the media in which these interactive stories unfold, advertising evolves ever closer to a theater of the absurd."

He explains, an "...even more highly abstract plane on which advertising is now being communicated. Instead of creating and marketing a brand image, advertisers are creating marketing campaigns about the advertising itself. Silvertab's (Levi) target market is supposed to feel good about being understood, but even better about understanding the way they are being marketed to." It's true, we do demand that we be persuaded to believe, to buy, or otherwise accept whatever happens to be peddled to us.

The absurdity is that we keep responding to whatever happens to be the most persuasive. As the X-Generation distanced itself from such things as brand name recognition, they fell right in line with the new marketing strategy which involves them more directly in the advertising campaign. This is blatant, in your face complicity, and it is a situation which could exist only in a materialist, relativistic New Age society that has lost the last vestiges of the former generations which gave it birth.

Coercion and persuasion are equal partners with complicit individuals in deception within deceptions, within still larger deceptions, all of which are elements of the one grand deception which began in the Garden of Eden and continues to the present. The Bible book of Revelation, chapter 12, verse 9 indicates that at the time of the end, deception would be so widespread as to become the global norm. The reason it has become so, is not because someone decided that it was his duty to fulfill the prophecy by deceiving everyone, but as Shermer, quoted earlier alluded to, it's because this generation has lost it's "Rationality tied to moral decency". "The most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known", lies rusting in the trash heap of the 1960's Counter-Cultural revolution.

But, even the Counter-Cultural revolution of the sixties which laid waste to everything which preceded it, did not happen in a vacuum. Rather it was itself an outworking of a larger deception. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, who wrote Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine, inspired still other writers such as Alice A. Baily, who together summoned their hordes The True Believers, and issued their marching orders which in turn brought on the tumult of the entire 20th century, and is presently coming to it's intended completion in a "New Age" religion/New World Ordering of society into a single mass of community where individuality, the only place where rationality and moral decency can exist, is no longer tolerated. A measure of the moral decency of our society will reveal how close we are to the realization of their objective. By nearly all accounts, we are well past the point of no return. The point of no return is reached when we get to the place where a sufficiently large number of people no longer understand the word morality, revolt at the mere mention of it, or attempt to make it into something relative to their own experience (moral relativism).

Survival does not belong to a people who's lack of the requisite moral fitness drives them headlong over the precipice to a self inflicted doom intended only for the Devil and his demons. Survival will go to those who recognize their rightful position within the creation, and submit to the Universal Authority, the Creator of all Heaven and Earth, ultimately the only true reality. That cannot happen until his true identity is known.

But that is the subject matter of another series of articles I'm working on.

Further reading...

The Science of Communication and Architecture of Belief
The Deception of Positive Thinking
The Greatest Hoax
Booklist on Cult Mind Control These are the books on Cult Mind Control etc recommended by other critics and cult victims.

- Text revised and formated Sept. 30, 2006 - ED.

Bobby Garner is a researcher on the phenomenon of One-Worldism with an emphasis on the methods and techniques employed in it's attendant deception without which the New World Order cannot happen. He may be reached via E-mail at bobby@congregator.net. He welcomes your comments. Visit his website www.congregator.net This article my be posted in it's entirety on any website provided this statement remains attached.