We always see what we want to see, from inside who we think we are … until we don’t
I’ve been following the Lance Armstrong debacle since it began … in 2004. That’s when the sponsor of the Tour de France offered a $5 million dollar bonus to the winner, and immediately demanded that Lance Armstrong be charged with doping and forfeit the prize when he won the race. It’s a joke …
Not just the demand in 2004, but the entire fiasco of pursuing and charging Lance Armstrong with doping. Not because he didn’t do it … I don’t know for sure … and neither do you … but because it doesn’t matter!
Let me begin at the beginning for you … early morning today. I’m going to assume that you woke up, at some point went into your bathroom, or toilet, and looked into a mirror. Who looked back? Who did you see in the mirror? That’s the beginning … knowing who you are.
“I’m not afraid.” …
Of course this is ludicrous because almost no one knows who they are, not because they can’t …. because they won’t. This is the most terrifying thing you can possibly do, i.e.: confront the truth of who you are, experience the “real” you.
Think of Luke Skywalker and Yoda asking him if he was afraid to go into the tunnel to confront what was down there, and after Luke assures him he’s not telling him, “You will be … you will be” … that’s the reality of looking into the mirror and seeing who’s really looking back.
Don’t be afraid though, you’re unlikely to ever confront that reality. Society has organized it to make sure it’s so unlikely that the vast majority of people on the planet, we’re talking 99+% will never even consider it.
You’ve been conditioned to accept “reality” as society has framed it for you, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Despite that fact that you are confronted daily by the insanity that the consensus reality you live in presents to you … war, famine, genocide, environmental decimation … the list could on, but that should suffice for my example … you continue to believe that what you’ve been told is “how it is” … and you go on believing
“Listen to your parents … be a good boy or girl … get a good education … listen to your teachers … be a good student … graduate from a good school … get a good job …be a good worker … find a good person … be a good partner … have a family … raise your family … be a good parent … take good care of your family and yourself … be a good wage earner … put money away for the future … be a good citizen … pay your taxes … be good … be good … fit in … fit in … fit in.
From “State of Perfection, Your Hidden Code to Unleashing Personal Mastery” by Joseph Riggio, I.M. Press 2011
I’ve been on about this idea for years, i.e.: you are conditioned to “see” the world through a set of beliefs that have nothing to do with what’s real. The beliefs you have are just that, i.e.: beliefs, NOT a representation of what’s real.
The beliefs you hold for the most part were inculcated into you before you ever began doing anything like “thinking for yourself” … and by the time you could “think for yourself” … it was too late.
Instead of thinking you simply repeat the patterned responses installed into you by others … first at home – parents, siblings, family … and then more at school – teachers, administrators, coaches, friends … and that continued with your “normal socializing” – news programming, conversational dialogue … and deepened when you entered the working world and were told by employers and coworkers how things worked … and you believed. You had no choice.
From your point of view the world as it was represented to you was/is more “real” than any evidence your senses present to you. For instance many of you “believe you have political views that are your own” … WHAT A F*$KING JOKE!!!
If you believe you are a Democrat, Republican, Liberatarian, Social Christian … whatever … you are just another puppet in the system, and you don’t even know the puppet master pulling the strings … BUT YOU BELIEVE DAMN IT … YOU BELIEVE!
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“This time we’re going to see some real change!”
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“This time my guy/gal is going to change things.”
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“This time we’re going to take back government and restore … equality, peace, fairness … whatever …. to the people!”
You’re going to pull the levers you’ve been trained and inculcated to believe you should. You’ll do this because you think you have an opinion, and that your guy/gal represents what you believe.
This time it’s going to be differnt … right? BULLSHIT!!! This time it’s going to be just the same … only more so. Until you wake up it’s always going to be someone else pulling the strings, and you’ll dutifully believe, because it’s all you know … despite that niggling sensation that something else is going on.
The F*$KING Joke Is On Us …
I don’t know if Lance Armstrong doped, but I know he’s the scapegoat for the system, for the society this time around. Hell, somebody’s got to take the rap … somebody’s got to be held accountable right?
There you are in your comfortable chair reading this thinking, “Well he’s a cheater, he doesn’t deserve that fame, money, praise!” Well here’s what I say to anyone who’s thinking that, “You self-righteous prick!” You’ll cheat on your taxes, maybe cheat on your wife or husband, take a little “extra time” off of work now and then, surf the Internet on company time (heck, maybe your surfing right now) … and you have the audacity to get all high and mighty with Lance???
Well as your throwing stones from the porch of your glass house let me share one more thing with you.
We live in an age which demands that we destroy our heroes.
And, like just about everything else that’s going on we’re doing it “legally” … letting the lawyers, judges and courts replace our sense of personal ethics and morality
The general rule is that if it’s not illegal it’s not wrong … you can do what you want as long as you aren’t breaking the law or getting caught. AND … if you happen to be wealthy enough or connected enough, nothing is against the law or wrong … you’ll walk. There are a thousand and one examples of this, if you’re really interested you don’t need to look too far, but start with the bankers … try a search for Jon Corrizine, former NJ Governor and before that Goldman Sacks guy.
In the meantime let’s get back to Lance Armstrong. He’s guilty as charged right? A doper, a cheat … and he deserves all that’s coming to him, right???
Well here’s a bit more from the record of the sport of cycling …
“His ultimate legacy most likely is out of our hands. Fans who may not yet be alive will decide who he was. To us, today, Eddy Merckx is the greatest cyclist who ever lived, not a fraud who tested positive for a stimulant while leading the 1969 Giro d’Italia and had his 1973 Giro di Lombardia win stripped for the same. Joop Zoetemelk is the hardman who started and finished 16 Tours—a record—and won one. He’s not a reprobate who was caught doping at the 1979 Tour, received a paltry penalty of a 10-minute time addition, and maintained his second-place podium spot. Jacques Anquetil is the five-time Tour winner who in 1961 took the yellow jersey on Stage 1 and wore it all the way to Paris, not a boastful cheater who said, during a French television interview, “Leave me in peace—everybody takes dope.” And Fausto Coppi is il campionissimo, the champion of champions, not an admitted doper who said on Italian television that he only took drugs when necessary—”which is nearly always.”
We live in a different age, one that may not allow the forgiveness of Lance Armstrong, that may hold him to be the creator rather than the product of the era he reigned over. We might even judge this champion’s cheating and lying too vile to permit the remembrance of the part of him that, even now, convinced that he doped to win the Tour, I can’t stop being a fan of: the plain fact that he was, as even his bitter enemy Floyd Landis told me when we spoke last year, “a badass on a bike.”
Excerpt from: “Lance Armstrong’s Endgame” Bill Strickland, Bicycling Magazine
Like I said, “We live in an age which demands we destroy our heroes.”
We can’t allow anyone to rise above the mediocrity that we’ve been trained to become a part of ourselves. It won’t work if some folks are allowed to be “better than others” … even if by dint of hard, relentless work and talent. The corporate hegemony won’t stand for it … if you haven’t seen it yet watch, “Rollerball” … the original with James Caan and John Houseman, I was sixteen when I first saw it, and I got “IT.”
Well, I’m tired of looking the other way.
Lance Armstrong, was a “badass on a bicycle” … he’s still one of my “heroes” … and that’s that … THE END.
Joseph Riggio, Princeton
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Tim O'Keefe says
Great stuff. Regarding Lance and destroying heroes, is that not what the Kardashians are all about, or any other “reality TV” program. We are led to I am not even sure like them, but at least be interested in them, and then we get to judge them. Its an animated National Enquirer.
So in sports in the land of fan-atics, fans judge. They adhere to a color a team, a flag, a hero, and whilst the enemy fan or pundit on ESPN slays said hero. We pick our hero and get represented by our pundit in sports and in politics as you go into above. CCN,MSNBC, Fox News. Pick your poison/or your representative to slay your enemy.
What is disturbing is that we treat all of the above as the same. Nothing but entertainment.
During the last debate it dawned on me that we are watching two simultaneous infomercials going on. Each candidate speaking to a demographic that they just might get to vote for them. While the fans already were in the bag. Each side claims victory. Yet they were not the main audience or target of the message.
Joseph says
Tim …
Thanks for the comment.
My quick reply … YES.
However, more to the point, the “Kardashians” or “Jersey Shore” … or any “reality” based television, is designed to put you literally into the driver’s seat. First, you say hey “I recognize that stuff, i.e.: ‘that’s me'” … then you get to see them do something really stupid, and you get to say, “Hey I’m better than that!” and you feel good.
In other words, “Reality” TV is designed to make you feel good for no g-d damned reason whatsoever … like giving kids awards for “participating” when they play sports. “HECK, you don’t have to win at anything … just participate!”
To your point about the infomercials in the form of “Presidential Debate” the intended audience isn’t just “out there” … it was craftily created over a half century or more by the politicos and their pals in power: THE INTENDED AUDIENCE HAS BEEN TAUGHT THEY NEED THE GOVERNMENT TO TAKE CARE OF THEM … AND THAT THEY’RE ‘ENTITLED’ TO IT!
This ploy not only works, it’s frackin’ brilliant! Not only does the intended audience like it after being conditioned to receive it from birth, but since they’ve been conditioned it’s become true … they do need the government to “assist” them. Most folks can no longer make it on their own, in a country built by people who left behind all creature comforts, went into an unknown wilderness, carved out a place for themselves, endured the harshest possible conditions … drought, blizzards, scorching heat … and prospered. FRACKIN’ AMAZING!!!
So the “trick” in the cake that’s being promised is not only “We’ll take care of you, don’t worry, you’re safe in our hands.” … is also, that as you eat you fall deeper and deeper into the sleep of the lotus eaters, and time passes you by without you so much as whimpering about the life you’ve given away so you can be comfortable, safe and numb.
Mark Schwimmer says
Joseph,
I frequent a cigar shop here in the SoHo section in NYC. The last two times I went down to the basement, where all the problems of the world are solved amidst clouds of quality tobacco the subject of doping was being batted about. From Lance Armstrong to Arod and on and on. The conversation got pushed in the direction of how much athletes are paid, and how that is laughable/enviable.
Not having much interest in sports, I told the guys, that to me watching sports has about as much relevance to my life as soap operas……..silence……then I said basically, “who gives a F@*K about what the athletes are putting in their bodies, and what it means”………then I said, “how about the s**t you put in your body, and I’m not even talking about all the smoke. I’m talking about the food you eat, and the GMO’s, and pesticides, that your government doesn’t even want you to know is present in just about everything YOU eat, unless your growing your own food.”
I throw in with the wisdom of Joseph Campbell….”The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives.”
You can’t do any of that unless you wake up, and stay awake. Which means as you say, “Take a look in the mirror….and confront the truth of what’s really their.” The fear, the awe, the wonder, and the truth that it could all end in a nanosecond leaving no trace behind, like the life of the mosquito I swatted out of the air a couple of nights ago. Live with that reality, and it gives you a different perspective.
All the best,
Mark
Joseph says
Mark …
Nice … thanks.
I agree with the comments about GMOs and such. Amazing that what an athlete uses with the supervision of a doctor is more significant than a nation, or the world, being fed “doctored” food!
BUT … of course if you don’t want folks paying too much attention to what’s really going on, give them something to pay attention to instead.
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
Martin says
Jesus Christ. He took drugs so he cheated. He’s a hero to you cause you don’t want to let go of what he meant to you. Don’t you always say if you want to know what’s really going on follow the money. That’s all Lance Armstrong was about. I don’t care much about sport but the greatest 100 metres before the present Usain Bolt era was Ben Johnson. Now it seems at least 4 others in that race where taking drugs. It can’t take away the memory or the feeling I had at the time which I can still recall. The awe that he broke the world record by so much and with such insolent ease. I also do remember afterwards thinking, it doesn’t matter that he took drugs. Now he’s been superseded by someone straight it’s been cast in a completely different light (for me)
Thomas says
so what your saying is, it’s acceptable in some areas but not in others. Look at the inventor of the so called energy drink monster which is nothing more than poison for the body in a can. Or even Bill gates who wrote out all his competition when he created the windows platform. Completely acceptable right ? like hell it is
I don’t know anything about lance but I have watched a few tours and all I can say is drugs or not that takes more courage and determination than most people will ever have in this instant gratis culture.
lets not forget the political system in america either. they never bothered to ask my permission before assuming I in any way agree with how they handle anything. america should be called a nation of enablers and control freaks.
Joseph says
Martin …
What makes you assume Lance Armstrong “meant” anything to me???
You’ve missed the point … he’s a hero to me iconically … categorically, not personally, AND THAT’S NOT THE POINT!
The point is how we treat anyone who rises above the fold … like targets to be taken down.
FWIW that fact that he used drugs, if he did, doesn’t matter to me either … frankly, I don’t give a damn. Everyone in cycling uses drugs if you read/listen to the interviews with folks from the sport … and always have as long as they’ve been available, and continue to … making use of the latest and greatest “cocktails” to come along. BUT SO WHAT???? That’s not my point … as I’ve stated.
I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that Floyd Landis knows better than you or I do if Lance Armstrong used drugs, and he knew it when he called him a “badass on a bike” … and he hated Armstrong! That’s what makes him a “hero” … he was a “badass on a bike” on or off drugs … AND HE DID WHAT IT TAKES TO ENDURE THE TRIALS OF ACHIEVING HIS INTENTION, DESPITE THE DRUGS. Believe me it wasn’t the drugs that got him over the Pyrenees, even if they did help him do it faster.
Hey, just like you Armstrong has to look in the mirror in the morning too … and he either does or doesn’t know who looks back. Either way he knows if the person looking back cheated or not, and he has to live with that … that’s karma, not the stuff that happens as a result of our actions, e.g.: the debacle of the USADA prosecution of him.
Hell, we’re all guilty Martin … the only question is when will we have to courage to admit it … then we’re on the road to freedom. When was the last time you looked in the mirror and really were honest enough to see who looked back???
Shyaam says
Dr.Joseph, So true!!! Agreed!!!
The only thing that I observe is I am too afraid to get IT. In order to get IT, a lot of letting go should happen!
Caren says
Lance Armstrong raised lots of money to research juvenile diabetes and cheer up kids in stuck in a City of Hope hospital room. That makes me feel great.
T-dog says
Hi,
I like pay attention to the Man behind the curtain…I know you didn’t say that and that you do. By extension I would say I’m paying attention to the Me/I that’s behind my curtain and extending out into the life I’m creating.
Can you speak to the art of paying attention to the Man behind the curtain and the Me/I behind my curtain, other’s curtains and that we create the curtain?
Be fully well,
T-curtaindog
Hamzie says
Teams are super important. I wkroed in a department where the manager had all of his employees tested with the Meyers-Brigg’s personality test. He respected every member of the department and whenever there was a problem that needed solving, he would pull members of the department that had the different strengths into a meeting. He’d give them the problem and then, working together, they were able to see it from many different sides to come up with the best solution to the problem and all felt a sense of ownership to the resolution. The team won.
Al says
“You self-righteous prick!” – Methinks he doth project too much.
Chauncey says
Great post Joseph! Last Wednesday’s (10/31) South Park episode parodies the Lance Armstrong incident. Damn good episode!
Chauncey
Joseph says
Chauncey,
Thanks.
It’s amazing to me how the “self-righteous pricks” come out of the woodwork when they get the chance to take somebody who’s actually done something down.
The mediocre are always uplifted when the great fall.
Joseph