Playwright, satirist, and political commentator CJ Hopkins, creator of the website Consent Factory, joins me for a conversation on totalitarianism, safety, and the ideology of control. We go a little beyond his political writings on these topics to talk about the inner life of a dissident. Another major topic is the phenomenon of the cult, as a lens through which to understand our historical moment.

CJ Hopkins' writings can be found on Substack https://cjhopkins.substack.com/
and the Consent Factory https://consentfactory.org/.

A New and Ancient Story

CJ Hopkins: The New Totalitarianism (E60)

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"But deep inside the atom, hidden far beneath the outer electron cloud, is the nucleus composed chiefly of protons and neutrons. Atoms are very small. A hundred million of them, end to end, would be about so big and the nucleus is a hundred thousand times smaller still. Nevertheless, most of the mass in an atom is in the nucleus. The electrons are by comparison just bits of moving fluff. Atoms are mainly empty space. Matter is composed chiefly of nothing. When we consider cutting this apple pie, but down beyond a single atom, we confront an infinity of the very small. And when we look up at the night sky, we confront an infinity of the very large. These infinities are among the most awesome of human ideas. They represent an unending regress which goes on, not just very far, but forever."
Carl Sagan
Source: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh4F5BQ8hgw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh4F5BQ8hgw</a>

Carl Sagan on the Atom and Infinity

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"In any given culture... I mean let us face it, we are at once the beneficiaries and the victims of our culture, without our culture we just couldn't do anything at all, we should be baboons, apes. But any given culture is ambivalent. It permits one to be fully human, but at the same time it limits our humanity, I mean... it imposes certain kinds of prejudices, certain kinds of likes and dislikes upon us. But I think it's perfectly true to say that any self-actualising human being is one who, to some extent, breaks out of his culture. After all one sees that in fact all the great seers and religious prophets have always broken out of their culture. I mean... needless to say that "love thy neighbour as thyself" is breaking out of a narrow culture that insists that you should love only this person and that everybody else is not your neighbour. And I think we have too see that these people who have broken out of their culture, the seers and the prophets, are essentially right!"
Aldous Huxley
Source:
<a href="http://youtu.be/F-0I-hG5PEU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/F-0I-hG5PEU</a>

Aldous Huxley on Culture

Spirit of Tibet

Peace in the Humanity

Kindness as the Key

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Source:
http://youtu.be/XojNA0I36wo

Alan Moore on the search for the Self

Please support the artist 
- 1 Rise - John Dreamer
-2 Brotherhood - John Dreamer
-3True Strength - John Dreamer
-4 End of My Journey - John Dreamer 
-5 SineRider - Moments Alone (Need a Name Remix)

Eckhart Tolle Don't be disturbed by anything!

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Adult development and maturity theories include the purpose in life concept, in which maturity emphasizes a clear comprehension of life's purpose, directedness, and intentionality which, contributes to the feeling that life is meaningful.
http://goo.gl/bHQs6

Source:
http://youtu.be/aGx4IlppSgU

Joseph Campbell on Maturity

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Source:
http://youtu.be/IJesbSLqh8U

Michael Tsarion on Existence

words from "The Psychology of Pleasure" by Nathaniel Branden
from the book "The Virtue of Selfishness

music:
"Isle of View (Music for Helicopter Pilots)" by The Penguin Cafe Orchestra
"Fordlandia" by Johann Johannsson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UGJ5efn_kU&feature=related

Carl Sagan on the Atom and Infinity

Dreaming in the Void

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