If you’ve read a self-help book, been to therapy, or attended a motivational seminar, you may be familiar with the locus of control concept. Someone with an internal locus of control is self-directed, whereas someone with an external locus of control sees himself as being at the mercy of outside forces. Folks with external loci of control are perpetually tossed hither and yon by the whims of their peer group, corporations and the government, or society as a whole.
In light of those definitions, you might expect control freaks to have internal loci of control. The reality is that having an external locus of control tends to make someone a micromanaging meddler.
This dynamic may seem counterintuitive, but it makes sense when you consider that people with external loci of control tend to lack self-discipline since they don’t think regulating their own behavior is possible. Their lack of self-control unleashes chaos in their lives, and the only way they can conceive of to mitigate the damage is to control everyone and everything around them.
Our ruling class provides us with an orgy of prime examples. Western elites lack any discernible iota of self-control. Their intemperance explains why they feel the need to impose ever more draconian dictates on us, even when those impositions prove futile or counterproductive.
We can draw two main conclusions from our rulers’ manifest spiritual deficiencies: One, they have no concern for our safety or wellbeing; two, they will never come to their senses and stop imposing humiliation rituals on their subjects. Because their actions are controlled by outside stimuli, only external factors will alter their course.
Another important consequence of our elites’ intemperance is the marked brain drain within their ranks. Human appetites are designed to be used under the guidance of the intellect. Look at anyone suffering from alcoholism or morbid obesity for proof. Every diet book and addiction treatment boils down to: “Put your intellect back in charge of your appetites.”
When the human soul is working as intended, no movement of the appetites will occur without the prior assent of the intellect. Indulging the appetite prior to or without the operation of the intellect inverts the natural process by subordinating reason in service to a lower faculty. Like shifting gears before depressing the clutch risks damage to your transmission, indulging passions before reason can render judgment risks damaging the intellect.
In other words, sin makes you stupid.
We are witnessing the fallout from generations of government and corporate leaders aggressively eroding their intellects. Clown World is not about to get less clownish anytime soon. Prepare accordingly.
Affiliate offer: My friend and client Adam Lane Smith has developed a proven method of generating income streams that leverages the skills you already have. Stay two moves ahead of anarcho-tyranny, woke corporatism, and cancel culture. Let Adam teach you how to start your home business now.
Note that the lockdown measures have been sold in terms of an external locus of control. You might wear a cloth mask like a good citizen, but unless everyone else does so as well there is nothing you can do except panic and beg the government to do something. Currently vaccines are being sold the same way: even if you have received “the vaccine” you are told that you still need to panic until everyone else also receives it.
Getting outside of health issues I still see people getting mocked as paranoid lunatics for making sure to have stocks of supplies for several months…. even after everyone experienced a run on grocery stores that led to some items being unavailable for weeks at minimum. Same thing with keeping a lot of money in investments or savings as protection against a job loss. The “sane” thing to do is to trust that if you lose your job you will have unemployment benefits, stimulus checks and that the eviction moratorium will be reinstated.
I realize that this sounds a little like a boomercon “proud individual vs. shameful collectivist” rant, but that’s not how I mean it. What I mean is that in the last year we have been witness to the failure of certain specific social institutions, and the success of the people who made their own preparations against such failures. At this point debating whether those preparations are worthwhile is like wondering whether you really need a fire extinguisher even though your house is in the process of burning down.
80% of people are NPCs who know only what the television tells them.
Taking that fact to heart will do wonders for your stress levels.
If PCs have to depress the mental clutch of reason, does that mean that NPCs have automatic passions? Would the NPCs who can control the intensities of their passions have mental CVTs?
Intellectually I know that. I’ve seen multiple examples of people panicking due to the news, and then acting as if that panic was irrational the second the news says the opposite. So I cannot deny that for most people the news is reality.
But it is hard for my heart to accept it. I guess it will probably happen over time; it was also hard for my heart to accept that many students are just flat out unwilling or unable to learn, but eventually I internalized that truth.
Brian,
Does detachment play a role in developing intrinsic locus of control?
I’m presuming that detaching from worldly affairs the and engaging in one of the various forms of prayer: the Liturgy of the hours/office, etc or simply withdrawing temporarily give us a sense of perspective. They cultivate a recognition while God is sovereign of all, we have a responsibility to exercise our free will in accordance with right reason. Thus, we worship him.
xavier
It’s a virtuous cycle in which detachment is a fruit of self-mastery.
If you’ve got your own house in order, nothing anyone else says can shake you.
Brian
Thanks.
xavier