I am noticing that many people seem to be holding very bizarre and irrational ideas these days.

For example, I was on a job ther other day and there was one guy who was telling me that the government is releasing chemicals into the atmosphere from the engines of unmarked jets, "Chemtrails", (those things you see in the sky from jets!).

He was telling me the US Gov't is building concentration camps all over the US, and is doing practice raids on towns, and taking away people guns, etc, etc, etc.

He also said that his computer was hacked into, and "someone" deleted his "conspiracy" info database. (Maybe his wife did it?) :D
He told me many other things as well like this.

Another guy told me that the planes that hit the World Trader Center were actually American Gov't cruise missiles, using a 3-D holographic technology from the aliens captured at Roswell, that made them LOOK like airplanes. (I am NOT kidding).

Another chic told me i need to "clear" my aura from my negative thoughts, and learn to "heal" my mind from being so critical of everthing, and to "get out of my head", and "get more into my body". (She belongs to the SGI cult!)

Now these are "normal" people, who own homes, and work at jobs, and are married, etc.
Its as if we are entering a new Dark Age, where every absurd superstition is believed.
This is a ripe area for cults of every sort. I am certain there must be Doomsday Cults out there now, focussing on the US Gov't, and black helicopters, the UN World Govt cabal, etc etc.

What this world needs are the critical thinking skills to sort through this madness.
But please don't tell me i need to heal my negative aura by joining the new-age fake buddhist cult de jour! :D

aarrrrggggggg!!!! Stop the world, i want to get off.

Coz

I think everyone has their own ways of trying to cope with total insanity that is around us. So they develope bizarre ideas to create some semblance of order for themselves. Otherwise, maybe they'd go insane. It seems perfectly natural to me that this would happen. We're existing in chaos and we need something to hang on to.

I agree that we could all use more critical thinking.

It pisses me off to no end that I fell for that whole "the thinking mind is ego/delusion" crap. What a line.

Yes, good point.
The randomness and impersonality of Nature cry out for an explanation. In primitive times, people thought lightning was sent from angry Gods.
So people tend to project their needs/fears onto the canvass of impersonal Nature.

One could even make an argument that all of our mainstream religions have some similar weird aspects to them.

So no question, us humans still have Paleolithic minds...

As far as the "thinking mind is Ego/delusion" that is truly one of the worst tactics/ideas in the Cosmos.
Any group that is trying to supress your Critical Mind is very dangerous.

But some people just try to crush the Autonomous Mind as they seem to be afraid of it. Some folks i know, who are not into cults or anything, are not into Critical Thinking at all, and find it very uncomfortable. For instance, they want to believe in "Astrology", and if one shows them how Astrology probably works, they get very upset.
[skepdic.com]
[skepdic.com]
They might even say, "Coz, you are too critical, you have to learn to BELIEVE, and go with the flow, etc".
But in that case, the effects are fairly mild.

But then you get the ruthless cultists, who CONSCIOUSLY set out to disable your thinking mind. They do this as this is your ONLY defense against them.
It is as if you are hiking through the bush, and a psychopath (think Deliverance) comes up to you and pulls a knife on you. But, he gets a surprise. You pull out your knife as well, and show you can defend yourself rather nicely. So the robber smiles, puts his knife away, puts on a Saphron robe, and tells you, "knives are about your Ego, and Fear of life. Release your knife, let it go, give it to me".
So you give the Guru your knife, and then he pulls out 2 knives, and takes whatever he wants, your money, your body, your very life.

Whenever i meet these Jokers these days in life, they are in for a very rude awakening. If they try to make an assault on my Critical Mind, what they will find is something similar to anyone who has tried to wrestle a professional wrestler. (Not WWF!).
They will be mentally flat on their back, and pinned to the ground, unable to move, in about 3 seconds.

Like Victor Frankl said in "Mans Search For Meaning", the LAST freedom we have is our freedom to think, and to assign meaning to events.
[logotherapy.univie.ac.at]

Once you have Self-Reliance in your own Mind and Critical Faculties, and are confident enough to think and reason for yourself, then you can experience true freedom and sanity, and be relatively unaffected by the childish tricks of 99% of the cultists. (yet we all have our blindspots we need to watch out for..)

I call Critical Thinking, PsychoSocial Self-Defense.

Coz

Quote
Leopardgirl
I think everyone has their own ways of trying to cope with total insanity that is around us. So they develope bizarre ideas to create some semblance of order for themselves. Otherwise, maybe they'd go insane. It seems perfectly natural to me that this would happen. We're existing in chaos and we need something to hang on to.

I agree that we could all use more critical thinking.

It pisses me off to no end that I fell for that whole "the thinking mind is ego/delusion" crap. What a line.