Our foremost mission as invisibles, beyond the commitment to our own practice, is to guide as many others as possible to an invisible but very real place within themselves where they can find fulfillment more natural, more lasting and more consoling than anything they will ever find in the outside world of econoculture’s things and thrills. By doing so we lend our support to Dr. Martin Luther King’s radical revolution of values transforming America from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.
The first step on this journey is the break from econoculture described in Dr. Jules Tranquillo’s How to Go Invisible podcasts soon to be available in transcript. Econoculture is not compatible with the realm of Being for which we invisibles are bound. Instruction in intermediate and advanced invisibility practices becomes available to those who complete a successful apprenticeship. The following is an overview of subjects studied and skills acquired during the apprentice phase of going invisible:
Required at the initial prospect of going invisible is a heartfelt desire to discover a better way of life. A critical first step is deployment of an “All Lies” defense and deflection of as much econoculture white noise as possible – our power of cynical thinking. Then comes liberation from the snares of competition, no longer caring who wins or loses. Not standing out – blending in – becomes a must. Choosing an unobtrusive, unspectacular, ordinary life as a common person among other common ordinary people with no need to be special – there’s the heart of the matter.
Experiencing relief from self-consciousness. Relishing being ignored. Merging with that immense bland realm of the in-between, the average, the mediocre. Practicing deep modesty. Seeking attention no longer and taking diligent measures to avoid attracting it.
Disappearing into other people’s blurred background memories. Practicing invisibility in public, at parties, at work, always aiming for the great middle. Distrusting appeals to excellence. Understanding the dreaded world of the common-ordinary-everyday to be nonexistent, no such place, just lots of other folks like ourselves trying to get by as best they can, hoping and praying for more good luck than bad. Insisting on not being special.
Finding overlooked peace in the common everyday world of taking out the trash and walking the dog. Shunning awards. Erecting a fallout shelter against econoculture radiation. Establishing attentional peripheries to deflect raids on your precious attention.
Living a cloistered life without cloisters, your portable attentional refuge. Resisting the hard work hook and the infinite lures of consumption. Insisting on your right to mediocrity. Exploring the vast terrain of the unknown and the unheard-of as well as the vast middle and the in-between and off-the-beaten econoculture market paths where who knows what might turn up.
Willfully forging the necessary attitude to defend your precious attention. Fine-tuning your instruments of self-defense: sustained disgust/contempt for econoculture values, acceptance of and empathy for the ordinary everyday, collective effort and fraternal sympathy, modesty and humility. Creating for yourself a safe, protective psychological and spiritual enclosure – your dive suit, JetPlane, spinning sphere, fallout shelter, sorcerer’s spell, whatever works. Be severely pragmatic in this. Of endless possibilities, pick the one that suits you best.
Let your choice confer upon you the immense power to selectively and intentionally ignore, to withhold and redirect your attention as you see fit, not as manipulated by others. Change econoculture by cultivating disenchantment from within. Withdraw your consent. Put your precious attention to better use. Go invisible.
Any apprentice who has absorbed these daunting invisibility basics, whether through the podcasts of Doc Jules’ guide or by any other means, who has given them serious consideration and still remains on board, still game, still open to more of the same, is a friend and comrade of ours. We’ve much more to discuss of an intermediate nature. The adventure has only begun.