By Martha Ireland

A recent article, “Happiness Consultants Won’t Stop A Depression” by Chris Hedges really hit home for me.

I live with a man who wants to believe that if you put a “positive” spin on something, that something will magically become truly positive.

This sort of crazy culturally induced wishful, magical, narcissistic, childish, cowardly thinking and intellectual, psychological & spiritual laziness makes me absolutely insane.

Hey – it’s self-benefiting reciprocity all over again – meaning that I won’t call you on your lies if you won’t call me on mine. I address this dangerous thinking in my 4 part, 3 ½ hour presentation, as well as the causal factors of this death dealing mindset. I’m not kidding. Check it out and please, watch the presentation. I promise you that you won’t be sorry – or maybe you will, but at least you won’t be quite so asleep anymore.

Whom do you think this sort of lying-dog craziness benefits?

When I was doing some research on depression in the US recently, I noticed at the right side of the Google results page (where they put links to stuff people want to sell you), all sorts of links to “happiness” sites. Wow. It’s everywhere. And if you want to investigate something truly relevant, you will be bombarded with stuff that will try to talk you into going into a different direction altogether.

I was reminded of the shockingly awful “The Secret” that was all the rage a while back. What terrible narcissism – and a cunning effort to keep our populace brain dead and deluded.

There are many well intentioned but misguided people who think that they are going to live in some nirvana with lush gardens and glorious community. We can and must work and pray that future generations will inhabit such places, but that way of being is far, far off into the future, if at all. Our culture has no earthly idea how to live in true community.

This is due, in part, to the fact that our society is founded upon a Puritanical mindset, which is hierarchical, controlling, and ultimately pathological. James Morone, in his book, Hellfire Nation suggested that opposing trends within Puritanism such as the desire to create a just society, opposed by its moral zeal in attempting to bring about that just society, often created and continues to create paranoia and intolerance of other viewpoints. This is at the core of America’s current political and social realities.

Continued at Thomas Paine's Corner