Reading Others and Being Misread

The Good Book says, “Judge not, lest ye be judged”; and, “Let ye without sin cast the first stone.” These two sayings are attributed to Jesus Christ and they are essential lessons from the New Testament.

 

It is sad for one’s intentions to be misread and then to be unfairly judged, especially by one you admire and respect. This recently happened to me. And when you are a red-pilled fellow like me, and the other is too, it is a doubly lonesome feeling because we belong to a kind of fellowship. So the betrayal hurts all the more.

 

Those fighting against The Matrix by standing up for the discernment of Truth should not be torn by internecine squabbling. Lord knows there is enough resistance out there without tearing each other down. However, there is a paranoia that comes with the territory. Thus, how are we to know who is a troll-in-disguise, i.e., “controlled opposition,” a seeming friend who is really a wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing? I don’t know the answer to that. I guess it just boils down to trust. But trust is not always an easy bargain with another, especially in these days with deceivers everywhere. Considering the intel psy-ops that has inundated so many aspects of our society, trust can only develop over time; like a fine wine or an aged cheese.

 

In the meantime we must carry on, move forward, “fight the good fight,” as St. Paul exhorts.

 

I remember getting kicked out of Mr. Smith’s, a piano bar in Georgetown. I had been playing there and my mentor, Big Chief Ellis, was there to show his support for me in my early days as a blues musician. (He had been the piano player for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee back in the ‘40s and ‘50s.) As we left and walked down M Street I was downcast and felt bad. Big Chief just turned to me and said the following: “Jack, if they don’t dig you, fuck ‘em.” The thing was, I don’t think they kicked me out for my playing. Instead, I think it was the harp player that joined in and played some screeching high notes in what I believe is called “third position” on the harmonica. Was he an agent sent in by an envious piano player who coveted the seat at the same piano bar? (In this case, no, he was a friend of mine whose limitations were not pre-designed to harm me, even though they likely had.)

 

That’s a good analogy to the present situation alluded to above. Those doing their art, their music, need to be wary of interlopers who barge in and sort of muck up the works. It might even be a well-intentioned friend who’s just not that good—or at least not as accomplished as you are. I suppose it can also be a stranger intent upon making you look and sound bad. Whatever the case may be, we live and learn.

 

Big Chief Ellis was a gentle giant of a piano player—a tall black man with a gray Afro-bush and blue eyes. He was a gentleman and generous to a fault. Such real human beings who help others coming up are a blessing to us all. And just as blues is a kind of fraternity, there are other commonalities that link people into informal fellowships.

When things go sideways I often think of Big Chief's admonishment to me. And while "shit happens," and we must learn to take things in stride, it's always disheartening to be misunderstood (as in that old '60s hit by the Animals, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood): "I'm just a soul whose intentions are good/ please don't let me be understood"—as in standing at the door of another like a sparrow with a broken wing and being snubbed. No fun at all. (Maybe another Animals tune is more apropos: It's My Life—maybe not.)

 

I recall that another friend, the late Don Croft, was similarly cocksure certain about a few things. As a fellow red-piller I never understood this. To me, his inability to revise or at least moderate some hard-stance views of his, at least long enough to flesh out a deeper truth, seemed to be as blinding as that which he sought to transcend. That truth may be that a fellow traveler just may not be as educated to what another already knows thoroughly—or, it may be that there is a gem to discern by exploring, e.g., an old psy-op such as Theosophy (or even neo-anthroposophy) that may otherwise be a contagion to contain or to expose as a hoax. I'm defending neither; only saying it does little or no good to demonize the paths of others who may be well-intentioned in spite of themselves and what they choose to get involved in. We can also learn from deceivers or deceiving paths, just as we learn from watching a bad movie.

 

With such images in mind I can only ask that we always be open to learning and in the process be kind to one another. Don’t allow the four legs of the false self—intellect, ego, selfishness and self-righteousness—to come between you and what might become a beautiful, mutually beneficial friendship. Enough said.