I’ve been wanting to write this particular essay for a while but haven't quite figured out how to write it. I still haven't figured out how to write what’s rolling around in my head but I figured that I’d just start typing and let whatever happens happens. I mean, this is free and as Elwood Blues would say… “whadya want for nuthin?’”
So imma start the same as I always seem to start, by going in one direction with my thoughts and then looping around to the main point that I’m trying to get at. What immediately follows may not seem related to the entire essay but just stay with me and I’ll eventually get to my point.
So… part of my continual training for the industry in which I work is called HUET. It’s an acronym for Helicopter Underway Egress Training and it’s something that I have to do every 4 years. The purpose of this training is to teach and remind me how to get out of a helicopter in the unlikely event that it crashes into the sea and I survive the crash (which is even more unlikely than the helo crashing in the first place).
In order to train for this, we go through a class that gives us the steps of how to get out of the helicopter when it’s upside down and underwater. Then we go to a pool with a simulator and we actually perform the steps.
You’re strapped into a chair and then the simulator gets lowered into the pool and then you get turned upside down while still being strapped to the chair. Then you have to get out of the seat belt and then exit out of the emergency exits and windows of the simulator.
So the steps to getting out a helo after a crash go something like this, provided that you’re not all jacked up from the crash…
Brace for impact. This a preparatory thing where you are leaning forward against the harness so that you’re in the most secure position available when the helicopter hits the water. The helo lands in the water and then starts to roll over.
Index yourself to a known position. With this step you place your arm on the lower window frame of the window that you’re sitting next too. At this point the helo is rolling over.
Wait for the helo to stop rolling over. At this point you do not move your arm from the window frame. You just wait until the motion has stopped while being strapped into your seat with a four point harness. You’re now upside down and underwater.
Release your harness with your free hand and pull yourself out of the window. When you release your seat belt, you will start to float and will become disoriented unless you maintain your hold on the window’s frame.
If you let go of the window frame or release your seat harness before or during the roll over part, you will have no sense of which way is up or down once you are underwater. You won’t know what’s going on and will likely just flail about and panic.
When you indexed yourself by placing you arm on the lower side of the window frame, you now know which way is up and which way is down. The bottom of the window’s frame is now pointing you up when you’re upside down, and you also know where the exit is. Indexing yourself shows you which direction is which and shows you where the opening is located so that you know how to get out of the helicopter and get to safety.
Indexing provides context to a turbulent and confusing situation. Without context, you lose your way and just react emotionally to whatever is around you.
Context provides meaning and direction. Context forms the frame of reference for discourse, reason, and our lives and without it, we just flail about and react to whatever is going on.
Context is what is missing from our media and from where we get the information that guides our thoughts and our lives. Without context we can believe anything, no matter how silly the thought or information.
Americans have traditionally been well read people. At the founding of the country, the male population was over 90% literate and the female population was 60% literate. People read a lot, they read everything they could get their hands on.
The founding fathers were themselves intellectuals as were the preachers and theologians of our churches who provided deep and powerful perspectives and understanding on incredibly complex subjects. The people who followed and listened to them understood what was being said because they themselves were well read and capable of deep thought.
We are no longer those people.
We, the Americans of this Post Modern world, are a gullible people who’s opinions sway with whatever is trending on our particular ideologically driven media outlets and algorithmically driven social media platforms. We are spoon fed a constant stream of semi/non-factual nonsense and images at a rate that is far too quick for us to think about. This happens because feeding us semi/non-factual nonsense and images makes lots of money for the people who feed us their bullcrap and sell us their garbage products. It is also a convenient method of influencing the electorate and for spreading the harmful propaganda that keeps “We the People” separated and side lookin’ each other with suspicion instead of seeing what’s going on in the world in an objective way.
We can blame the media for putting out useless information and we can blame the education system for not teaching us the important lessons of life and of course we can, and should, blame the antisocial media companies for producing that algorithms that feed our emotions instead of our intellect, but where we don’t dare place the greatest measure of blame is on the spot where it actually belongs; with ourselves.
Because if we were honest with ourselves about how we spend our considerable amount of leisure time with the media that we “consume”, then we would have to make a hard decision to either keep going in the same direction with how we spend our time or change and do something different and more constructive, relevant, and productive. And we Americans do not want to make hard decisions for ourselves, we want to “click here for fast results” or “ask Siri” or “vote for the right candidate”.
We don’t take our own personal education and development seriously and we thus become victim to the information-media complex. Because of generations of doing this, we can no longer discern what is important and useful from what is just senseless noise that isn’t worthy of our attention or worth the investment of our time or, what’s even more worser than the above, we can’t distinguish correct information from the disinformation that is being deliberately fed to us and is intended to influence our thoughts and actions towards cultural harm on a national level.
Americans on both sides of the political isle are constantly bombarded with useless information and disinformation that benefits no one except the politician or the outside influencers who aim to sway public opinion in their direction.
All of this takes time away from our lives, time that we should be devoting to other pursuits. Time that we should be devoting to other people. Time that is better spent by using your God given talents in the service of others. Time that we can’t get back.
The emotionally driven information stream does nothing for your life except rob you of the unknown quantity of time that have on this planet. We want to know the truth about something going on in the world so we turn to our trusted source for immediate gratification and feel like we’re an expert after watching a couple of videos but fail to realize that the videos we just watched were crafted to our particular way of thinking, to our ideologically driven point of view, and was sent to us by a math formula and computer code, which knows more about you than you know about you. That’s hardly truth, that’s propaganda.
OK so… Rant Over…
We each need to be on a search for objective truth these days, as best as we can understand it. Truth here being defined as a statement or condition that accurately represents reality and is the same now as it always has been and will always be. Truth is not subjective, it is not relative. It can only be based on facts and not based on emotion. Your feelings don’t influence truth, though truth will influence your feelings depending on how you allow it do so. Truth is not changeable just because we don’t like the conclusion that truth brings us too.
To find truth requires context. Context gives the foundation that we need to build our knowledge on, context establishes the framework of our understanding, and context shows how information is relevant to out world. Truth requires a scientific context, a historical context, a philosophical context, and a theological context. Without these, whatever we are trying to understand as truth will be warped and distorted, sometimes intentionally so.
But context doesn’t matter if you’re not able to discern what information is good from what information is garbage.
Finding truth requires skill, patience, and determination because the world does not want you believing in the concept of objective truth. The world wants you to believe in subjective truth, that truth is relative to whatever you feel it is.
Those who want you to believe in relative or subjective truth want you to do so because that is their way of manipulating your feelings and getting you to bend to their will and do whatever it is that they want you to do. People who believe in subjective truth are capable of unimaginable evils because their conscience has been bypassed and their moral ideas of what is right and what is wrong are warped.
We have to be looking for truth to the best of our ability and that requires mental effort which is developed through constant questioning, reading, and studying.
Whether you want to believe it or not, words have meaning and that meaning is important. Reading books does this. Reading books develops the thought process needed to discern what you are trying to learn. Reading will provide the context because when reading a book, then author has to establish the context in order for you to understand what they are writing about, it doesn’t work otherwise. Reading from a book provides context that you don’t get from tick-tock, Facebook, Substack “notes” section, YouTube, news channels, X/ twitter, or television programs.
So the whole idea behind this essay is that we need to be reading books more as the world gets more and more nutty. We have to do this so that we have an idea of what is going on instead of just running about and following the crowd, not because the information contained in the books that we read will help us, but rather because the process of reading helps to develop the ability to think critically, especially when reading from people with differing points of view. We have to get back to the place where we’re able to think deeply and critically about the world so that we can navigate the turmoil that is unfolding around us and so that we don’t fall victim to manipulations of those who seek power and control over us.
True enough, not everything written is true or honest, but when you read a book about a topic versus being shown a brief, out of context, image or given some useless facts about a topic, which is actually irrelevant to you, but is shown in a way that makes it feel relevant, you’ll be able to see and understand the truth in what the author is trying to convey, especially when you read two opposing sides of the same issue. When you read, you will understand the point that the author is trying to convey and when you read something else that counters the view of the previous author, then you will start to find balance in the view points. As you read more, you will start to see the world differently, you will start to process the information that you absorb around you through a more thoughtful and critical lens. It’s just the way our mind works.
This is even more true for the church. The church, in my opinion, here in the US has become more of a form of entertainment than a place where we go to learn about God and to learn about how we are to live our lives in accordance with scripture. We can get a rock concert or choir performance as well as an empty feel good message about how God wants you to be rich and live an easy life. Not only that, but American efficiency in entertainment gives us this all in the span of about and hour and we can watch it from the comfort of our homes while still dressed in our jammies.
Now to be sure, not all churches are this way, but a good many of the most popular are and those are the ones that world sees and judges Christians by. At one point in history, the Christian church led the world in scientific understanding and actually started the modern scientific methods but we have surrendered that position in history and have taken up the position of knowing the most sports stats, republican talking points, and where all the Chic-Fil-As are located. We can no longer support our theologies with solid arguments but instead share out of context Bible quotes, and we fall victim to false teachings because we are no longer able to understand the more complex nuances of theology and we no longer have the attention span to study the great Christian thinkers of today or of the past. We just want to click the “like” icon and go on feeling like we have done something good for the Almighty.
What’s it matter?
Ok… so let's say, just for the sake of argument, that you agree with the premise here, you see what I’m rambling about, and want to start being part of the solution and not part of the “kick the can down the road” crowd… what can you do?
Well it’s simple, but not easy.
Go to a used book bookstore or a library and find a book about whatever subject you have an interest in or questions about or curiosity of. Doesn’t matter if it is fiction or nonfiction, just get something that you will read. Buy or check the book out. Then read it. Get a note pad and whatever you prefer to write with. Take notes as you read. When ever you have a question, write it down for later or ponder the question if it relates to what you’re reading. Keep a dictionary and thesaurus nearby and look up words you don’t understand. It doesn’t matter what you start with, just start reading. One thing or idea will become another, which will lead to yet more.
The reason that I say it doesn’t matter what subject or topic you start with is because the thought processes generated through reading are the same no matter what you read. One thought will lead to another and on it goes. You won’t view social media, television, or movies the same. Your mind will process information differently and you will see the world differently.
But it takes work. Reading is a perishable skill and is one that can take a while to develop, especially when you haven’t been reading for a while and also when there are so many distractions from the so many outlets which have been designed specifically to attract our attention and hold it ransom while we’re fed whatever it is that the ransom holders are wanting to feed us.
Conclusion
Well let’s tie all this stuff together…
Western society has had a good run but we’re almost done as a society and a culture. The enlightenment period looked to explain the reality of the world, through philosophical arguments and rational thinking, which placed man at the top of the world and it looked to explain this point of view without God. This resulted in two -isms, capitalism and Marxism, that have been in competition with one another ever since. Both seek freedom, but only as man sees freedom and not freedom as from a Biblical perspective.
Though they are in competition with each other, neither will win because they’re man’s ideas and not God’s. Well we’ve finally reached the final battle of the contest, a contest that has been fought to place man at the pinnacle of existence and remove God from His rightful place.
In a way, this has been the more recent version of the Tower of Babel and just like the previous attempts of man trying to be equal with God, western culture is on the verge of being smashed and scattered.
So at this moment, we’re on the helo of time, flying high and we’ve been doing just fine but we’ve forgotten who we are, where we came from, and how we got here. Pretty soon, we’re going to crash into the sea and it’s going to be epic.
If we’re not properly indexed to truth, you’re going to be disoriented in the wreckage and you’re not going to know what to do in order to get out. We don’t really have much else that we can do. When the time comes, we will have to know who to follow and who to listen too or we will end up following the crowd of lost and confused people. There is no prepping that will get you out of the trouble that is coming. You will not be able to make it out of this on your own. You will need to be with others and who you and your family follows will be the most important decision that you can make. We are headed for trouble and without truth, you will be lost.
There will be a rescuer but He won’t get you if your stuck in the wreckage of this world, you have to know how to get out and it’s not a complicated thing to do, you just have to decide that it’s more important to survive than it is to perish when you don’t have to.
Right now is the time to be training your mind for that eventuality. It will happen and if you’re not reading, asking real questions, studying, and looking for the truth then no one will be able to save you when the end comes. Our culture doesn’t want you to survive, they want you to sink with them.
Ok so that’s it for this one. Feel free to comment, share, or subscribe if you’d like or don’t… whatever… As always, thank you for reading and for your time. I hope that you have a blessed day.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:6 (NASB)
Fair Winds and Following Seas,
Nate
Hey yep, exactly. Hence why I started writing both fiction and non-fiction. I can share my tiny nuggets of info, but also writing things down helps me remember and challenge myself. It's also where I put all my concerns and try to rationally walk through them with achievable methods to an outcome of hopefully survival.
Writing a newbie prepper book was one of the most scary things I ever did, but the feedback's been good. I think everyone should be challenged to write, and read. I think if everyone challenged themself to write one thing down with the intent of sharing the knowledge, and then were able to digest the feedback into categories of either "this person's being contrary" or "this person's offering constructive feedback" or "this person's offering alternative solutions" , we'd all be way more educated and practiced at both communication and conflict resolution.