Communist Rules For Revolution

Well, I suppose I could drum up a fancy-schmany definition for superficiality, but to me right now it means spending most of one's time thinking or talking about stuff that "doesn't matter."  ...Okay, I guess I now have to define the stuff that doesn't matter.  Ummm...the stuff that doesn't matter--to me, right now--is the stuff that, if it were removed from our lives, wouldn't profoundly affect our lives. 

For instance, not to knock the TV show "Sex and the City," but I have literally listened to a group of people talk about "Sex and the City" for over an hour before.  Now, I'm going out on a branch here...I would bet if I asked those people if they felt that their lives would be less complete had there never been a "Sex and the City" TV show, they would say, "No."  And, probably, were it removed from their lives they would be reasonably fine with it.  If, however, their oldest friendship were removed from their life, they would probably be shaken.  So I'm defining a TV show here as superficial--in terms of being extremely concerned with it--and a friendship as not-superficial. 

How often have you listened to others talk excitedly about, and at length about things which, if they were taken from them, wouldn't really affect them?  That is, to me, superficiality--concern with something that means very little to your survival /emotional vitality/personal growth...

You can't cut through it ... the opposite of superficiality is not "genuineness," it is depth of personality ... depth of thought and reason.  You either have it, by virtue of having chosen to live a certain way, or you don't ... you're just another one of the interchangeable braindead idiots who TPTB have created via their brainwashing campaigns in public education, mass media, etc. 

There is nothing inherently "wrong" with Sex and the City or any other entertainment.  The problem we are facing in today's societies is that there is SO MUCH entertainment available that most people are taking fatal doses of it.   Fun, games, TV, movies, popcorn and amusement parks are all nothing more than distractions, wonderful and colorful diversions which keep the human mind occupied and not thinking about what exactly TPTB have been up to lately, anyway.

So the point is that if you've got a brain, you'll use your time wisely by reading, thinking, educating yourself, nourishing your spirit, and surrounding yourself with other quality human beings with whom you can share in your development.  Then, if once in awhile you happen to watch an hour of your favorite TV show, that's fine; there's no harm in relaxing too.  Just don't get confused and think that that's what life is all about, otherwise the laws of nature -- the laws of the jungle -- are going to catch up with you.   Even as we speak, the lions are in their packs and the hunt is well underway. So do your best to make sure that the scent they're following doesn't turn out to be yours.

Hi dreamosis,

This list reminds me of a shortened, condensed version of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." 

As I was reading it I was curious as to the authenticity of the document.  It seems so weird to me that somebody would have written down an actual "outline" of sorts on how to overturn a society...then conveniently leave it lying around to get snatched up by the Allied Forces, who in turn can flaunt it around to prove their case for why it was a "good" thing to conquer the Communists.  You see what I'm gettin' at here?     The outline itself no doubt is an accurate way to turn a society upside down....but again, I'm just wondering about the authenticity of the document, and even the story itself.

But no matter, on to you questions....

Well, I just try to always monitor what I'm talking about.   Superficiality as I define it would be anything centering on movies, TV, entertainment, celebrities / gossip..........and now I've even thrown mainstream "news" into the bunch (!)  because it's gotten to be such a crazy bunch of lies that for me, to talk about it is to engage the illusion and be TOTALLY asleep.    But yeah, I just try to pay attention to what I'm talking about.   I love humorous discussion though, and there's always a need for lighthearted fun.   A lack of humor is a sure sign of insanity.     So really it's just how one personally defines "superficial" I guess, and for me it's the topics I listed above.   I do find those topics creeping into conversations of course, but I'm just mindful of how far I go with it.    For instance, I wouldn't be one of those people talking about "Sex and the City" for like, an HOUR, like somebody mentioned overhearing. (I couldn't anyway......I don't own a TV!  )   But discussions involving movies or celebrity gossip last about 2 minutes max for me, then I'm mindful to "snap out of it" and change the subject.    Eventually, I won't think to talk about that stuff at all.  That's what I'm striving for.    Even with mainstream "news' items....something will get my interest, or provoke a reaction of some sort in me....there have been quite a few times that I've restrained myself from just turning from the computer and immediately talking to my sig. other about it.   Because I realize it's not real anyway.  It's superficial, why bother, you know?

Well, to be honest, and this could be a whole sidetopic in itself, but I don't have "close friends."   I've been kind of a loner in life, a solitary bird.   The main reason being - most people are asleep.   Most people want to *always* talk about stuff that doesn't matter, while being wrapped up in their little world, and their personal dramas, dragging all their friends into it, unable to see a bigger picture.   Ellie Crystal (www.crystalinks.com) talks about people always going in circles over their personal nevernending dramas.  I could relate to that when I read her talking about it on several occasions, because I've been witness to it.   I once ended a "friendship" with a girl I knew for years because I just could not DEAL with it anymore.   Her life revolved around boyfriend dramas.  It was her source of entertainment.   She even admitted that when she was bored she picked fights with her men and would create fights where they'd be going rounds, for HOURS.   Yuck.  See ya!    I mean, if I could find others like myself in my area, then that would be great!   But it hasn't happened.   And I'm not worried about it.   I just can't/won't compromise and hang out with girls who want to talk about silly stuff like shopping, fashion, TV shows, catty girl gossip, and neverending boyfriend drama.  I'd rather sit at home and read a good book, seriously!    Many "wanderers", for lack of a better term, compromise.  They grin and bear it.   They have their "woo woo!" weird world.....the people they interact with on the internet, the books and websites they read on their own time, and then they have their "normal" world.   The two never meet or overlap, and things get a bit schizo for them after awhile with all that effort to be compartmentalized.  "I can talk about this when I'm on the 'net and with one particular family member who's cool, but I can't talk about it when I'm hanging out with my friends, or at work, or with anybody else I know."   Schizo!    I can't do that.    So I don't.

Like at work, for instance.   I do my best to duck out of superficial silly conversations.  That's about all one can do I think.   I'm not going to try to change them to be on my level, so I just duck out.   At this one temp job I'm at right now, they have this thing at 10 a.m. everyday where everybody stops what they're doing and goes to the kitchen "cantina" for coffee, tea, and whatever snack food that somebody brought in, (cookies, pastries)   And then everybody has to stand around, sipping their drink and eating their cookie and have "forced social time" for 15 - 20 minutes.        While I understand that this can foster social interaction, or whatever the goal of it is, on the other hand, how awkward is that to have to stand around making "small talk" aka, superficial talk, with people?    It's not my cup of tea, no pun intended   so I just stay in my office.   I did try a couple of times, and it felt surreal!  Seriously, I almost feel dizzy or something when I go in the kitchen during those times, I'm not sure why that is.  I feel like when I walk in the room my presense is crashing into another realm, I feel self conscious.  One time I wound up standing next to some girl and a guy, as we ate our desert thingies, and the girl was talking to both of us about some brand of ice cream that she buys big tubs of.   I don't know.   It was like being in a dream, where people talk about nonsense and don't even realize it.   

Needless to say, I turned and just slipped out of the room.    

That's about all you can do.....

I can certainly see the truth in this, although I feel that I have encountered individuals who do have depth of personality but pretend most of the time because they don't wish to seem off or different.  There are people I have known for a few years, but we simply never connected on a deeper level because neither of us risked to make that connection. 

(There is a possibility that the people I have tried to "make a connection" with were OPs who only reflected back my own depth and passion, though.  ...That would explain many of my experiences in trying to forge deeper ties with people).

Superficiality, I think, to so-called awake persons, can become a game.  I know before I called it being overly concerned with things that, if they were removed from your life, wouldn't really affect you.  But superficiality, in a more specific sense, can be that thin stratum of behavior that has been labeled acceptable.  Not everyone participates in that behavior because they're a robot, but many people to do it just to get by.  The trouble is, I guess, is that even awake persons forget they're playing a game, or, become so acclimated to the game that they can occasionally forget to watch for others who might be pretending too (or might even, in the spirit of the game, dismiss the non-players as "crazy" or "weird"). 

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lyra...

Yeah, I questioned the authenticity of the document, too.  But, again, I was fascinated by the "Make them superficial" comment. 

I have always wondered to what extend superficiality is a more or less natural byproduct of the myriad distractions we have as a society, and to what extend that behavioral superficiality is encouraged by top-down conscious, control. 

I have wondered if the symptoms of what is called mental illness and, say, schizophrenia, just happen to mimic kundalini rising/the mystical path, etc., or if the telltale signs of spiritual awakening were purposely targeted for demonization in order to scare people into a narrow stratum of behavior.

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I think like all of you who responded, I have been weirded out by the seemingly pointless babble of co-workers/acquaintances/friends.  For me, the feeling of it is like being on a wide desert plain with everyone spread out half-a-mile from each other and trying to talk like that.  I can be at a packed block party and yet I will feel that distance.

...One "trick" I have learned is to (silently) say Hello to a person's inner self/Higher Self as I begin to talk to them--or I make it my intention to say Hello to that deepest aspect of them as I vocalize my Hello.  It's made a difference.  I notice that people, often consciously, realize that I'm greeting them and not their personality/persona and they open up to me more.   

I've also, occasionally, silently offered them energy to their grounding cord.  Doing that before I've seen people "come back."