On September 28, 2022, Yannick Verdyck—an outspoken critic of corona measures and the government—was shot dead by a special police unit in his home in Antwerp (Belgium).
The informant who had infiltrated Yannick's organisation/group and who tipped the security services is directly responsible for the armed intervention and therefore has blood on his/her hands. That person must be prosecuted (but probably won't be given the anarcho-tyranny that our society has become).
"Instead of feverishly hunting the malicious elite, the focus of awakening then lies in confronting and working through our own shadow sides."
I am glad that you are beginning to understand, Mattias, that the human SHADOW is involved here. I have been putting forth that idea for many years. In general, it has bounced off.
We are talking about Shadow Possession in the modern Western world.
The SHADOW concept derives from Freudian and Jungian Psychology, which some branches of modern Psychology will not touch. Their loss.
"How exactly did this bureaucratic Leviathan rise during modernity? "
Nathan Levine/N.S. Lyons (Substack Upheaval) writes on this topic in a recent article for the NYT.....which is usually a very leftwing media outlet, so his contribution was unexpected.
From what I have heard since, Nathan Levine, known by the pen name N.S. Lyons, has joined the US State Department in a senior policy role.
When citizens grant government the "right" to threaten and initiate physical force against honest, peaceful people, they grant government the "right" to act criminally:
Yes, if most people took responsibility to look inward, we could expect far less wars. In the meantime, we need to get true narratives into mainstream media, because the average person is a follower. Currently legacy media is leading people astray. How can we get liberal podcasts to host the likes of Dr. Nass, or Dr. Malone, or Dr. Lyons-Weiler? We need these types of people talking to the public on the left news sites and radio channels. The information is simply not being disseminated widely.
On reading some of the comments below - I would like to add that the environment is a reflection of the human-heart or our collective/individual life-state. In the West we have come far from the point of alignment and this is being reflected back. The Elite are Actors carrying out what we are not prepared to Own within ourselves (our own Psyche /Inner System). When we take responsibility for our own inner world (interestingly that is what is missing in our external world) and own what is in there it will no longer be reflected back. We are, in reality, all connected and when we clean-up our own inner world the environment will reflect that back. Blaming others is seductive as we feel so justified - as I did when killing the wood wasp. It is not worthy behaviour of a human-being and will only create more suffering. I therefore invite you to take responsibility for what you are experiencing and see what happens. You may need some assistance though. I practice Nichiren Buddhism with the SGI.UK and chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo daily as well as study Nichiren Daishonin's Teachings or Writing that are collectively known as 'The Gosho'. We do this to align our life with Life and do our Human Revolution (an inner revolution). What we are experiencing at this time in human history was prophesied by Shakyamuni Buddha 3000 years ago in the Lotus Sutra. It is called the "Evil Day of the Latter Day of the Law". He sent us Nam Myoho Renge Kyo so that we are able to align our life with Life and transform the current state of affairs - and usher is a Golden period of Peace and Harmony for All Living Beings (including the Earth of which we are intrinsically part of). I am happy to discuss with anyone for whom this resonates - you can find me on LinkedIn.
Dear Mattias, after reading this article I had an experience that I would like to share - as I feel it is relevant and may help others see this dynamic within themselves. I was in the garden with my husband - we were watering some plants from a water butt. In the water butt there was a large hornet-like insect that had drowned. Looking back it looked rather regal. My husband said it could be an Asian Hornet - and that they kill bees. The next thing I did was fish out the large hornet-like insect (it had a large sting coming out of it's rear) - and then stood on it and completely pulverized it (it was already dead - yet there was a fear someone may still get stung/ a part of me wanted to destroy it - after all it destroyed bees and deserved to be destroyed. Then within a minute a large hornet-like insect flew at my husband - he flapped it away and it ended up on the ground. He stamped on it with his foot yet the earth underneath was soft (it was compost) - I grabbed some wood and stepped it and bashed it continuously until it was dead - and also pulverized. I find regaling this story nauseating - yet am grateful to have learned such an important lesson.
I thought no more of it until my husband reported he had spoken to a friend nearby with a honey farm who had told him it was unlikely to have been an Asian Hornet as they were not known to be in our area. He said it was more likely to have been Wood Wasps. Wood Wasps look similar and are very big. They are also not really wasps and are completely harmless to humans. I have copied in some information from https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/bees-and-wasps/giant-horntailI "The giant horntail is a massive sawfly that is also known as the 'giant woodwasp' or 'greater horntail wasp'. A relative of the wasps, the female is black and yellow and has a long, stinger-like tail that is actually her ovipositor, which she uses to lay her eggs into wood, particularly pine. The larvae live in the wood of pine trees, where they spend up to five years developing. Found near pine woods, or places where pine timbers are used. (My husband had bought a trailer-load of pine woodchips from a local sawmill - so they had probably come with that.)
I then realised that the process I had been through was the same as you had described. It was the Existential Fear (from destruction of bees equals human extinction) that caused a primal reaction to take me over. My amygdala kicked in - overriding my front brain - and I acted from this animalistic and inhumane aspect of the human condition. I did not stop and consider that it may not be an Asian Hornet and use the drowned insect to verify - no I acted on what was told to me.
Nothing about what was said about Yannick was verified - just acted upon as if it were true and his death the result. The fear of terrorism being one of a list of many existential fears.
I will do my best to remember this - out of respect for all living beings. Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
"In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one can argue, to whom one can present grievances, on whom the pressures of power can be exerted. Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and where all are equally powerless, we have a tyranny without a tyrant.” (Arendt, 1970, On Violence)
This reminds me of The Castle, by Kafka.
It also reminds me of Ikiru, a Japanese movie from 1952, where a dying bureaucrat tries to find meaning in the last months of his life.
Regarding this topic of conspiracy theory, I wrote you an email at the beginning of 2023, which contained the initial few pages of a book I am writing, preliminary title Psychology of Conspiracy Theory. I later also (accidentally) sent you messages describing to you aspects of the problem.
On one matter you and I have ended up on same page, that conspiracy theories require significant attention of psychological thinking. I agree with you that boiling down everything to a conspiracy theory, is very simplistic, and limits understanding of so many beautiful and bizarre phenomenon which can appear on the culture-person plane of existence. Yet, I think you have, despite being as thoughtful and intelligent you are, have not grasped the sheer depth of this topic, and how conspiracy theory is a natural product of modernity in more ways than one.
No, it has not been published, and hopes of it being published anytime soon are slim.
As for elaboration, I can give you this metaphor. Think of a long chain of electricity wires. You are someone who wants to predict if there will be power at home at 6 AM in the morning.
You are aware in your mind that wires are tightened loosely, and you do not know people at the electricity company. Each loose end represents faults where information is loosely verified, for example, electronic voting machines. The more removed are you from the source of electricity, the longer the line, the more loose ends.
The more flimsy the wiring the less confidence in your prediction whether or not the bulb will light up.
Here the lighting of the bulb is true information being received. For example, a vaccine working how it is supposed to.
All sorts of ideas come in your mind. Could the engineers at the company be corrupt? Is the wire company reliable? Is the statement of "electricity for all" a marketing gimmick? You need that bulb at 6 AM. Your fragile life depends on it, yet you are in the dark, relying on information, you know has been copied callously. Relying on a very large system, properties of which you do not know, which is so large and complicated, let us say the power sector (to continue the absurd metaphor), that it is almost like, no one knows anymore, that these social systems have become too large to be understood and too large to be relied upon. Yet, even on being plagued by this subconscious anxiety, one must rely of the them. Conspiracy theory, in a way, is an attempt to deal with this never seen before monster of complexity.
We have two options, here either tighten the wires somehow, or shorten the line. Either verify information at each step meticulously or shorten the supply chains. However, large number of people benefit from the cover of darkness this level of complication provides. They make fortunes, big and small out of the confusion, ignorance and chaos.
It is a long story, but I hope this helps you understand an aspect of it.
Advocaat Arno van Kessel Stichting Recht Oprecht gearresteerd.
Arno van Kessel is woensdagochtend 11 juni om 05:00 uur van zijn bed gelicht. Bij binnenkomst zijn hij en zijn vrouw en kinderen onder schot gehouden. Acht uur lang zijn ze in zijn woning geweest met 15 man sterk, het hele huis is binnenste buiten gekeerd. Arno is geblinddoekt afgevoerd.
Gisteren was het moment waarop de papieren voor de volgende ronde in de Leeuwarder rechtszaak tegen Rutte, de Jonge, Marion Koopmans, Bill Gates, Albert Bourla en de Staat der Nederlanden door hem ingediend zou worden.
Het gaat goed met de Vrijheid en Democratie in Nederland.
Reminds me of a German lawyer who is imprisoned for 3,5 years - who might be innocent or not so- but was also subjected to pretty rough and harsh approach. I won't make their trial but I do wish that these kind of interventions would be on trial.
Thank you Mathias. I too appreciate that you bring challenging topics and facilitate reflection and discussion. A few thoughts:
On the “banality of evil” : « evil (…) is committed by people who are strangely ordinary and everyday, people who believe they are doing good ». And previously in another post you wrote : "The elite, ultimately, is a reflection of the population."
I do not beleive this is totally true. Certainly anybody can be evil without fully knowing it or realizing it. But… I think that the "masses" are now being captured by the elite and its Machiavellian plans. Although we all undoubtedly have a share of responsibility for the evolution of the world, no one can blame the ordinary man for the horrors perpetrated by others, even if his greatest fault is not protesting enough.
For example: being white, am I guilty of the mistreatment of people of colour or First Nations people by my ancestors? I did not choose these horrors and I would have fiercely opposed them. Or, are all the unvaccinated guilty of the damage caused to the vaccinated? I believe that this "responsibility" varies greatly depending on the state of mind and heart of the unvaccinated person in question...
And coming back again to your past essay : "the entire geopolitical game being strictly directed by a small group of people seems unlikely to me when you consider the complex and dynamic nature of humans and reality. The tendency to misunderstand this complexity and reduce all evil to one 'organization' or group of people seems historically inaccurate, tactically harmful (it creates the illusion that eliminating that small group would solve the problem), and ethically problematic." True in a way but...
Yes, I think that the political world is largely a great staging mainly led by an elite. But it is not a question of "one small, malevolent group". The demons of this world are numerous, omnipresent and yes they all share to varying degrees the same desire: to acquire the maximum wealth and power, and to completely dominate humans, if not all forms of life, in this world.
So all of them are "pushing" in the same direction, but with varying means. They will work together as long as it is to their advantage to achieve their goals.
Their greatest weakness, the one we should take advantage of, is their tendency to fight among themselves, in their struggles for power and place at the top.
And the demons of this world have every advantage in our being demoralized and hopeless.
AND they want us to believe that they don't exist, which increases their power and room for maneuver.
So I think that "the universal struggle between good and evil in their hearts" is not present in all hearts: there are many good people. But there are also many who have chosen darkness, to a greater or lesser extent, for their own benefit.
Weer een indrukwekkende en verhelderende analyse. Heel goed om hier nu op terug te komen. Dit is dè manier om deze vreselijke episode te verwerken en afstandelijk genoeg om beide ‘fronten’ te bereiken.
Zou u voor verwijzingen niet meer de ‘besmette’ media willen gebruiken (FB etc. ). Die kan ik niet meer openen…
Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.
So far I am with you, the shooting of Yannick doesn't need a conspiracy, just regular incompetence, and stupidity, everything I expect from the Belgian justice system.
The conspiracy starts after the facts, the cover-up story, the defamation.
I suspect that everyone involved, from the individual in state security up to the Minister of Justice know what happened, but they just cover it up. To protect themselves. That's a conspiracy.
The informant who had infiltrated Yannick's organisation/group and who tipped the security services is directly responsible for the armed intervention and therefore has blood on his/her hands. That person must be prosecuted (but probably won't be given the anarcho-tyranny that our society has become).
"Instead of feverishly hunting the malicious elite, the focus of awakening then lies in confronting and working through our own shadow sides."
I am glad that you are beginning to understand, Mattias, that the human SHADOW is involved here. I have been putting forth that idea for many years. In general, it has bounced off.
We are talking about Shadow Possession in the modern Western world.
The SHADOW concept derives from Freudian and Jungian Psychology, which some branches of modern Psychology will not touch. Their loss.
"How exactly did this bureaucratic Leviathan rise during modernity? "
Nathan Levine/N.S. Lyons (Substack Upheaval) writes on this topic in a recent article for the NYT.....which is usually a very leftwing media outlet, so his contribution was unexpected.
From what I have heard since, Nathan Levine, known by the pen name N.S. Lyons, has joined the US State Department in a senior policy role.
When citizens grant government the "right" to threaten and initiate physical force against honest, peaceful people, they grant government the "right" to act criminally:
https://teddy21btc.substack.com/p/the-constitutional-flaw-enabling
Yes, if most people took responsibility to look inward, we could expect far less wars. In the meantime, we need to get true narratives into mainstream media, because the average person is a follower. Currently legacy media is leading people astray. How can we get liberal podcasts to host the likes of Dr. Nass, or Dr. Malone, or Dr. Lyons-Weiler? We need these types of people talking to the public on the left news sites and radio channels. The information is simply not being disseminated widely.
Such wonderful, moving, and interesting ideas: thank you so much.
On reading some of the comments below - I would like to add that the environment is a reflection of the human-heart or our collective/individual life-state. In the West we have come far from the point of alignment and this is being reflected back. The Elite are Actors carrying out what we are not prepared to Own within ourselves (our own Psyche /Inner System). When we take responsibility for our own inner world (interestingly that is what is missing in our external world) and own what is in there it will no longer be reflected back. We are, in reality, all connected and when we clean-up our own inner world the environment will reflect that back. Blaming others is seductive as we feel so justified - as I did when killing the wood wasp. It is not worthy behaviour of a human-being and will only create more suffering. I therefore invite you to take responsibility for what you are experiencing and see what happens. You may need some assistance though. I practice Nichiren Buddhism with the SGI.UK and chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo daily as well as study Nichiren Daishonin's Teachings or Writing that are collectively known as 'The Gosho'. We do this to align our life with Life and do our Human Revolution (an inner revolution). What we are experiencing at this time in human history was prophesied by Shakyamuni Buddha 3000 years ago in the Lotus Sutra. It is called the "Evil Day of the Latter Day of the Law". He sent us Nam Myoho Renge Kyo so that we are able to align our life with Life and transform the current state of affairs - and usher is a Golden period of Peace and Harmony for All Living Beings (including the Earth of which we are intrinsically part of). I am happy to discuss with anyone for whom this resonates - you can find me on LinkedIn.
Dear Mattias, after reading this article I had an experience that I would like to share - as I feel it is relevant and may help others see this dynamic within themselves. I was in the garden with my husband - we were watering some plants from a water butt. In the water butt there was a large hornet-like insect that had drowned. Looking back it looked rather regal. My husband said it could be an Asian Hornet - and that they kill bees. The next thing I did was fish out the large hornet-like insect (it had a large sting coming out of it's rear) - and then stood on it and completely pulverized it (it was already dead - yet there was a fear someone may still get stung/ a part of me wanted to destroy it - after all it destroyed bees and deserved to be destroyed. Then within a minute a large hornet-like insect flew at my husband - he flapped it away and it ended up on the ground. He stamped on it with his foot yet the earth underneath was soft (it was compost) - I grabbed some wood and stepped it and bashed it continuously until it was dead - and also pulverized. I find regaling this story nauseating - yet am grateful to have learned such an important lesson.
I thought no more of it until my husband reported he had spoken to a friend nearby with a honey farm who had told him it was unlikely to have been an Asian Hornet as they were not known to be in our area. He said it was more likely to have been Wood Wasps. Wood Wasps look similar and are very big. They are also not really wasps and are completely harmless to humans. I have copied in some information from https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/bees-and-wasps/giant-horntailI "The giant horntail is a massive sawfly that is also known as the 'giant woodwasp' or 'greater horntail wasp'. A relative of the wasps, the female is black and yellow and has a long, stinger-like tail that is actually her ovipositor, which she uses to lay her eggs into wood, particularly pine. The larvae live in the wood of pine trees, where they spend up to five years developing. Found near pine woods, or places where pine timbers are used. (My husband had bought a trailer-load of pine woodchips from a local sawmill - so they had probably come with that.)
I then realised that the process I had been through was the same as you had described. It was the Existential Fear (from destruction of bees equals human extinction) that caused a primal reaction to take me over. My amygdala kicked in - overriding my front brain - and I acted from this animalistic and inhumane aspect of the human condition. I did not stop and consider that it may not be an Asian Hornet and use the drowned insect to verify - no I acted on what was told to me.
Nothing about what was said about Yannick was verified - just acted upon as if it were true and his death the result. The fear of terrorism being one of a list of many existential fears.
I will do my best to remember this - out of respect for all living beings. Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Hannah Arendt's comment:
"In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one can argue, to whom one can present grievances, on whom the pressures of power can be exerted. Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and where all are equally powerless, we have a tyranny without a tyrant.” (Arendt, 1970, On Violence)
This reminds me of The Castle, by Kafka.
It also reminds me of Ikiru, a Japanese movie from 1952, where a dying bureaucrat tries to find meaning in the last months of his life.
Regarding this topic of conspiracy theory, I wrote you an email at the beginning of 2023, which contained the initial few pages of a book I am writing, preliminary title Psychology of Conspiracy Theory. I later also (accidentally) sent you messages describing to you aspects of the problem.
On one matter you and I have ended up on same page, that conspiracy theories require significant attention of psychological thinking. I agree with you that boiling down everything to a conspiracy theory, is very simplistic, and limits understanding of so many beautiful and bizarre phenomenon which can appear on the culture-person plane of existence. Yet, I think you have, despite being as thoughtful and intelligent you are, have not grasped the sheer depth of this topic, and how conspiracy theory is a natural product of modernity in more ways than one.
I am intrigued. Would you care to elaborate or has your book been published yet?
No, it has not been published, and hopes of it being published anytime soon are slim.
As for elaboration, I can give you this metaphor. Think of a long chain of electricity wires. You are someone who wants to predict if there will be power at home at 6 AM in the morning.
You are aware in your mind that wires are tightened loosely, and you do not know people at the electricity company. Each loose end represents faults where information is loosely verified, for example, electronic voting machines. The more removed are you from the source of electricity, the longer the line, the more loose ends.
The more flimsy the wiring the less confidence in your prediction whether or not the bulb will light up.
Here the lighting of the bulb is true information being received. For example, a vaccine working how it is supposed to.
All sorts of ideas come in your mind. Could the engineers at the company be corrupt? Is the wire company reliable? Is the statement of "electricity for all" a marketing gimmick? You need that bulb at 6 AM. Your fragile life depends on it, yet you are in the dark, relying on information, you know has been copied callously. Relying on a very large system, properties of which you do not know, which is so large and complicated, let us say the power sector (to continue the absurd metaphor), that it is almost like, no one knows anymore, that these social systems have become too large to be understood and too large to be relied upon. Yet, even on being plagued by this subconscious anxiety, one must rely of the them. Conspiracy theory, in a way, is an attempt to deal with this never seen before monster of complexity.
We have two options, here either tighten the wires somehow, or shorten the line. Either verify information at each step meticulously or shorten the supply chains. However, large number of people benefit from the cover of darkness this level of complication provides. They make fortunes, big and small out of the confusion, ignorance and chaos.
It is a long story, but I hope this helps you understand an aspect of it.
Accidentally, this week as well:
Advocaat Arno van Kessel Stichting Recht Oprecht gearresteerd.
Arno van Kessel is woensdagochtend 11 juni om 05:00 uur van zijn bed gelicht. Bij binnenkomst zijn hij en zijn vrouw en kinderen onder schot gehouden. Acht uur lang zijn ze in zijn woning geweest met 15 man sterk, het hele huis is binnenste buiten gekeerd. Arno is geblinddoekt afgevoerd.
Gisteren was het moment waarop de papieren voor de volgende ronde in de Leeuwarder rechtszaak tegen Rutte, de Jonge, Marion Koopmans, Bill Gates, Albert Bourla en de Staat der Nederlanden door hem ingediend zou worden.
Het gaat goed met de Vrijheid en Democratie in Nederland.
Bronnen:
https://t.me/devrijeomroep/18008
https://lc.nl/friesland/sudwest-fryslan/Politie-houdt-acht-verdachten-aan-in-onderzoek-naar-crimineel-netwerk-inval-in-woning-in-Easterein-46569433.html
Reminds me of a German lawyer who is imprisoned for 3,5 years - who might be innocent or not so- but was also subjected to pretty rough and harsh approach. I won't make their trial but I do wish that these kind of interventions would be on trial.
Thank you Mathias. I too appreciate that you bring challenging topics and facilitate reflection and discussion. A few thoughts:
On the “banality of evil” : « evil (…) is committed by people who are strangely ordinary and everyday, people who believe they are doing good ». And previously in another post you wrote : "The elite, ultimately, is a reflection of the population."
I do not beleive this is totally true. Certainly anybody can be evil without fully knowing it or realizing it. But… I think that the "masses" are now being captured by the elite and its Machiavellian plans. Although we all undoubtedly have a share of responsibility for the evolution of the world, no one can blame the ordinary man for the horrors perpetrated by others, even if his greatest fault is not protesting enough.
For example: being white, am I guilty of the mistreatment of people of colour or First Nations people by my ancestors? I did not choose these horrors and I would have fiercely opposed them. Or, are all the unvaccinated guilty of the damage caused to the vaccinated? I believe that this "responsibility" varies greatly depending on the state of mind and heart of the unvaccinated person in question...
And coming back again to your past essay : "the entire geopolitical game being strictly directed by a small group of people seems unlikely to me when you consider the complex and dynamic nature of humans and reality. The tendency to misunderstand this complexity and reduce all evil to one 'organization' or group of people seems historically inaccurate, tactically harmful (it creates the illusion that eliminating that small group would solve the problem), and ethically problematic." True in a way but...
Yes, I think that the political world is largely a great staging mainly led by an elite. But it is not a question of "one small, malevolent group". The demons of this world are numerous, omnipresent and yes they all share to varying degrees the same desire: to acquire the maximum wealth and power, and to completely dominate humans, if not all forms of life, in this world.
So all of them are "pushing" in the same direction, but with varying means. They will work together as long as it is to their advantage to achieve their goals.
Their greatest weakness, the one we should take advantage of, is their tendency to fight among themselves, in their struggles for power and place at the top.
And the demons of this world have every advantage in our being demoralized and hopeless.
AND they want us to believe that they don't exist, which increases their power and room for maneuver.
So I think that "the universal struggle between good and evil in their hearts" is not present in all hearts: there are many good people. But there are also many who have chosen darkness, to a greater or lesser extent, for their own benefit.
I like your comment. My like button will not work.
Sla twee keien tegen elkaar en daar is vuur! Economie/geschiedenis Yannick dank voor je podcast!
Mattias :-|) met H dankjewel .
Shocking on more than one level.
Reminds me of Six Degrees of Separation - in this case, how far are any of us from being labelled as Public Enemy No. 1?
Weer een indrukwekkende en verhelderende analyse. Heel goed om hier nu op terug te komen. Dit is dè manier om deze vreselijke episode te verwerken en afstandelijk genoeg om beide ‘fronten’ te bereiken.
Zou u voor verwijzingen niet meer de ‘besmette’ media willen gebruiken (FB etc. ). Die kan ik niet meer openen…
Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.
So far I am with you, the shooting of Yannick doesn't need a conspiracy, just regular incompetence, and stupidity, everything I expect from the Belgian justice system.
The conspiracy starts after the facts, the cover-up story, the defamation.
I suspect that everyone involved, from the individual in state security up to the Minister of Justice know what happened, but they just cover it up. To protect themselves. That's a conspiracy.
Like this comment. My like button will not work.