If there’s one first principle of Alt-Epistemology, it is to keep the mind open to the universe. Rather than walking around with a heavy cement conceptual helmet on my head, I have dissolved that helmet, first, in my mid-20s through releasing my childhood Roman Catholic conditioning, and from then on, by continuously working to notice how one by one, things I have taken for granted as “obviously true” — for example, feminism and left-wing politics — have also dissolved over time.

At this point in my nearly 76 years of life, I do my utmost to stay OPEN-minded, and not come to definitive conclusions on just about anything. But it never fails that I discover my own prejudices, especially through “news” that either decisively confirms in a huge way what I be-LIE-ve to be true, or contradicts what I be-LIE-ve to be true. In both cases, I often don’t even realize that I be-LIE-ve the way I do until confirmation or contradiction shows me. Let’s take the latter, first.

CONTRADICTION

A recent contradiction of what I be-LIE-ve to be true, involves the infamous Cardinal Pell, third in line at the Vatican, who has been tried, and last Tuesday found guilty of, five counts of pedophilia with two altar boys in the 1990s in his native Australia.

I tend to assume that any Catholic priest who is accused of this crime, is probably guilty. I also assume that pedophilia (and satanism, ritual murder, etc.) is endemic in not just the Catholic church, but in other religions, in politics, business, entertainment, sports, and so on. But I do need to understand the context, of any charge. And of course I don’t. Furthermore, who decides what the context should be, how large the frame, how detailed, and so on? It’s important for me to remember that there really are no bald “facts,” without interpretation, and that interpretation does include context.

So, case in point. This article, from a year ago, re: Cardinal Pell:

Is Cardinal Pell A Fall Guy? How His Attempts to Reform the Corrupt Vatican Bank Met Fierce Resistance

If Pell is a fall guy, that does not mean that the pedophilia charge and crime is bullshit. But it does mean that there is a huge reason he was the one caught, and caught NOW. And remember, with so much of the pedophilia underworld, the perps are blackmailed, so that they can be controlled, and besides, whatever in the future comes up that the Deep State wants to take them down for, they can.

Now to an example of the former, namely confirmation:

CONFIRMATION

This morning I came across a BREAKING NEWS tweet from Lionel Nation that said Hillary had been arrested, and furthermore that she had surrendered her passport. Of course I was instantly thrilled. Like many people, I tend to view Hillary as the epitome of what’s wrong with this world, given her self-serving attitude and superiority complex.

Indeed, I feel so strongly about HIllary, that I must look at myself. What is my shadow here? Am I projecting onto her qualities that I hide within myself? Is this why I hate her so much? Ok. Me: “self-serving.” Well, maybe so! Even though I veil this attitude under a plethora of “serving others” actions. Maybe I just see “service to others” as THE way for me, my ego, to get ahead. True?

“Superiority complex”: Yes, definitely. I, that is, my ego, suffers from this attitude, and I do realize it once in a while; especially whenever I surreptitiously in my mind, (while pretending the opposite), judge someone as somehow “less than” me. YUCK! I do keep noticing this attitude in myself, and partly it stems from the fact that I’ve undergone such a radical and continuous transformation for nearly 50 years! Ever since I was 26, and began to practice, thanks to Gurdjieff, “self-remembering.” Noticing. That still, calm, serene awareness that lies underneath, or within, whatever monkey mind is consciously thinking about, or, if I’m lucky, and more “aware” than usual, what monkey mind is unconsciously thinking about!

So anyway, I do need to realize that my intense animus towards Hillary is in part an animus towards qualities in myself that I see in her and drive me crazy. Especially on days like this morning, when I came across that Lionel Nation tweet which, of course, instantly inspired heaps of commentary, mostly from people like me, either thrilled or anxious, for it to be true. Unfortunately, that tweet seems to have been removed now, a few hours later. I just find traces, of others commentary on that tweet.

I do have a feeling now that Lionel was trolling all of us who are desperate to see HIllary, especially, behind bars.

But back to the overall topic of this post: how my biases tend to get revealed through both confirmation and contradiction, IF, and it’s a big IF, I pay close attention.

Alt-Epistemology is not for the faint-hearted. It requires us to continuously surf, not only what’s going on in the world, but what’s going on inside the self, how the two are connected, and how things continuously change.