Hive Minds
The Coordinated Unit of Collective Thought
Being a derivative of the later part of the post-World War II baby boom, I was greatly influenced by the anti-authoritarian movements and the counterculture of the 1960s. Participants of this alternative culture generation were able to move beyond the quantifiable necessities of life that had preoccupied their Depression Era parents.
The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that developed in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It is recognized with cultural liberalism and with the various social changes of the decade.
As the era unfolded, what emerged were new cultural forms and a dynamic subculture that celebrated experimentation, individuality, modern incarnations and the rise of alternative lifestyles. This embrace of experimentation is exceptionally notable in the works of popular music of the time. Perhaps this is why the era produced the greatest music of all time. Censorship became less restricted across many different avenues as creative artists, authors, and thinkers helped define the counterculture movement.
This was one of the most unbridled decades in American history, characterized by a radical, rebellious spirit to fight injustice of all kinds, accompanied with an unflinching faith in change. Change was fetched in many forms: identity, social structure, family unit, sexuality and much more.
This era followed the nuclear family model that banished the unmarried and the changes in social, economic and cultural conditions. An alternative offbeat formed in the ’60s counterculture that was about the decentralization of family and an utter embrace of individualism, personal identity and self-expression.
In today's mainstream culture the disintegration of our social fabric has once again been marked with censorship and the rampant shunning of individualism. We have become overburdened with hypothetical responsibilities that further stretch our self-perpetuated competing priorities and extracurricular activities. This is all done in the name of personal fulfillment.
We are living in the void of allegiance with a very small amount of residue of faith in institutions, such as big businesses, the media, justice systems, public schools and the federal government. As they erode, we become lost, lonely and alienated.
Today, Big Tech overwhelmingly categorizes, organizes and controls our lives. As long as we live within the digital ecosystem of Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, it’s virtually impossible not to be under their control if you want to have excess to what is believed to be a functional life.
While the counterculture of the past was to “be real” and more expressive of our self-identities, we mold our behaviors today according to a new platform. The “Hive Minds,” which is the coordinated unit of collective thoughts, ideas, and opinions of a group of people functioning together as a single mind. This manifesto of controlled compliance insists on suppressing our individual expression, forcing us to express as a group. If you want the world to know you exist as an individual, be real to yourself and others.
In this age of social media, the freedom of thought and personal expression is the most valuable form of exchange there is. What predominant influence is there to possibly be upended when the Internet, which has become all encompassing in our lives, is a massively profitable space of capitalization that cashes in on every magnification of emotions, user interaction and data cultivation?
The world of now, fills me with dismay. Some other types of unknown people are winning as we comply with its germination of degradation. This world is not conducive to the freethinking mind, but rather suited for zealots obsessed with the idea of gain and progress. Our world is so muddled with useless objects where we, in order to be exploited and degraded, we have been taught to regard them as useful.
Our social fabric has grown frayed and threadbare. It has been manipulated and replaced by the digital and the artificial, a discounted bogus throwaway that leaves us more secluded and lonely than ever before. Now, pool this with the financial stress and general over-competitiveness in the corporate and professional world of today. Which results in a discontented society that is extremely burnt out, exhausted and just overall dissatisfied.
The true counterculture of today is becoming more difficult to see, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. It is not torn from who we are. You can find it when you stop mistaking a screen for a window. There is no society online, it is only a facade. Outside, in the true world where the wanderers, troubadours and freethinkers play, a ragtag society is pulsating. This is where there is no loss of the real for the fake. This is where the truth lies and the deeper and closer connections grow.
The dreamers and freethinking individuals, whose ways of being are non-utilitarian, have no place in this false world. A biosphere that does not lend itself to being bought and sold, whether in the realm of things, ideas, principles and dreams, are exorcised. In that world, the poet is the scandal, the thinker the fool, the artist distracting and the man of vision a criminal.
Perhaps, because of my time of birth where I was given the freedom to be free, I have been deceived and have become a bit disillusioned. My freedom gave me the fortune to find choice. With choice, I then discovered nourishment from the dreams and visions of great visionaries, poets, profits and soothsayers.
Manley P. Hall (1901-1990), a Canadian author of the landmark work, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, was widely regarded as one of the leading esoteric scholars of the twentieth century, wrote.
“When the mob governs, man is ruled by ignorance; when the church governs, he is ruled by superstations; when the state governs, he is ruled by fear. Before men can live together in harmony and understanding, ignorance must be transmitted into wisdom, superstition into an illuminated faith and fear into love.”
I believe I have almost come full circle. I simply want to live my life slowly and deliberately as I calmly lie down in a bed of moss and allow it to totally consume me. I want to freely enjoy the rest of my existence free of conflict and filled with reading books, writing words, creating art and loving all the magnificent people that are in my life. - dbA
You can find more of the unfiltered insight and the Art of Dan Abernathy at www.contributechaos.com