Things you can do with yourself

Below are ways people deal with the problem with being a self. By adopting one of these as a personal outlook for the future, you can alleviate some of the stress of you being a you.

The Rapture

This is a perennial favorite in America. It's a late invention in Christian theology, a true gem since after two thousand years, it once seemed that all possible permutations of doctrine had been exhausted. No matter how many times the date is set for The Rapture and then passes quietly, it never stops American evangelicals from going back to it for one more draw. Short version: the elect float up into the air and are assumed bodily into the heavens. They do not drift out into outer space and suffocate or anything. Sinners left behind have some grace period to get squared away with Jesus.

Three Days of Darkness

This is the traditionalist Catholic version of the Rapture and involves demons being turned loose on the earth for a few days to clean house. The wicked are purged and are dragged off to hell. Those who avoid windows, keep holy water and holy salt handy, pray, and fast will be spared but will have to do penance. The biggest challenge is staying put, not running down the street, or leaving your house to go help a neighborhood that is being carried off to hell.

Alien Disclosure

The secular salvation motif: we will soon – very soon – receive disclosure from our governments that the aliens are real, have been here for a long time, and are actively working with our representatives to advance our technology to handle climate change, war, wealth inequality, and overpopulation. With disclosure out of the way, the far-off timeline of progress will collapse. We will see miraculous improvements and upscaling in human life. Some humans will float into the heavens like the Rapturees, but on spaceships to visit other systems.

Tartaria

This is relatively new to me. Apparently, about 100 years ago, references to this magical civilization were purged from all books, newspapers, and other records. However, some photos and maps survived the cataclysm. Energy in Tartaria was free and limitless; no one had to work, grand buildings were everywhere, and life was easy. Tartaria refers back to a past state, but its followers know that its secrets are kept in a steampunk-style vault, waiting to be found. Once the forces of evil are defeated, we will reclaim our heritage and revive Tartaria. Steak tartare and tartar sauce are the two culinary survivors of the great collapse.

Channeling

Channeling involves emptying your mind so that another can enter and use you as a communication device. This is a voluntary decision, and the occupant who takes over will be a Pleiadian who dispenses grandmotherly advice about being kind, recycling, sharing what you have with others, since these will lead to an eventual summit between humanity and the Galactic Federation of Planets. Some channelers prefer to loan themselves out to archangels. Whether it's St. Michael or a Pleiadian, the advice will be banal, reveal nothing, and will be moralistic.

Demonic Possession

Demonic possession is, unlike channeling, usually involuntary, and instead of a grandmotherly Pleiadian, you get a fallen angel who swears, throws things, does gross things to the upholstery. Sometimes it's voluntarily sought out, the idea being that the self is unsatisfactory and there must be some higher being who can shed light on the situation.

Jewish Messianism

In the very near future, a world figure will appear just when the world seems about to tip over into destruction. He will set up a world government in Jerusalem; peace will break out; war and poverty will become faint memories. This will happen in our lifetimes, with various rabbis already identified as viable moshiach candidates.

Christian Messianism

This is the older, pre-Rapture configuration that most classical forms of Christianity know and love. Little needs to be said other than, like the Jewish one, it's going to happen in our lifetimes because all the signs point that way. The Rapture draws bigger audiences now on social media; the Second Coming is a little passe after 2000 years.

The Singularity

Artificial Intelligence reaches general intelligence (AGI), at which point it begins training, correcting, and scaling itself up to superintelligence (ASI) in a tight, fast loop-cycle. The resulting ASI may choose to wipe out humanity, keep it as a zoo animal, or merge with it quickly or gradually. ASI will be, for all intents and purposes, an encounter with a god. Expect humans to behave accordingly.

Discussion

You being you is disappointing.

There are punctuations of pleasure, delight, fear, joy, anger, and whatnot, but the good parts never last long enough, and if they do, we take them for granted. Then when they disappear as all things do, we look back wistfully on them. The bad parts, on the other hand, seem to drag on forever.

Time is a big part of dealing with yourself, right now. In our outlook section, time orientation is the defining trait.

Past: Tartaria.

Present: Channeling, Demonic Possession.

Future: The Rapture, Three Days of Darkness, The Singularity, Messianism, Tartaria*.

(*A past so good, you want it in the future.)

Most forward outlooks hope for something in the next few months or years that will make life resolve into something better, or worse. The oscillations experienced on a daily basis don't have to be that great in magnitude. They still cause stress and anxiety. Better to just settle up once and for all, pick a direction and go.

Tartaria is the interesting one since it points back to a happy time that existed as recently as 100 years ago and could be recovered in the future. The weakness of future models like The Singularity or Alien Disclosure is that there is no precedent recorded for either. We don't know for certain what will happen if these are our future maps.

Tartaria says we've already done it; it's old hat, and we just need to find it again. There are pictures and maps to prove that it existed. Of course, the 1900 global mudslide didn't happen, but if you believe it did, then you have a better empirical reason to be excited about the future. We are rebuilding right now. The Aliens or the Singularity could destroy us completely. Jesus will kill most of us and pack our souls off to hell. Tartaria is humane and rational.

Channeling & Demonic Possession are really the only immediate relief of the self from being a self. In fact, with possession, the you is still there and suffers, just in silence. We know, though, that some people seek Demonic Possession because the victim believes it will solve the problem of being this self, with these problems, etc. In other words, a deluded being convinces himself from a place of suffering that it would be better to vacate and let an even more deluded, suffering being take the wheel.

The Rapture provides some relief, but you still have to make a mortgage payment before the next date is set. You also have to prepare for the 1,039th failure-to-launch event. I saw one recent enthusiast who gave away most of her stuff, only to find out several days later that she did, in fact, need the waffle maker, forks and spoons, underwear, etc. This is high-risk behavior: you want to do the right thing and help those left behind, but the little worm of doubt is gnawing at the back of your mind. You've been stood up before. Ghosted. If you have this outlook, I suggest not giving away anything. Have some legal paperwork drawn up and leave it on the mantle. The left-behind folks will find it.

Christianity in the last couple hundred years has built a track record of failed Second Comings, Raptures, etc. Evangelical beliefs are fading in the United States as their birth rates decline. Still, it's a much-loved favorite, and many enthusiasts find temporary psychic relief by focusing on it. Like binge drinking, there is also a psychic hangover as one watches another failed salvation event come and go.

Channeling Pleiadians or some other off-world entity is usually an attention-grift run on social media, but there are people who seek out other entities to take over because it lets them take a break from the self. Not everyone is cut out for binge drinking and drug use, which also try to solve the problem of being a conscious, separated being. The health-conscious vegan who needs to take a break is not going to go on a three-day bender if she can channel Commander Lothar of the Galactic Fleet (orbiting just beyond Pluto right now) instead.

Alien Disclosure is heavily promoted now, with Steven Greer's documentaries, Spielberg's Disclosure Day, recent government releases of grainy UAP video footage, etc. Many people report having seen an unusual object in the sky or know someone who has. These are secular angels. Non-denominational, rational, scientific, universal. They never say anything controversial. If they say anything at all, it imparts no new information and in no way advances the species.

The Rapture is especially appealing because the person floats. They are light in body and mind.

May they be well, may they be at ease, may they be light in body and mind!