<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>6-peaceful-truth.txt</title>
  <script>
    (() => {
      let storedTheme = null;
      try {
        storedTheme = localStorage.getItem("theme");
      } catch (error) {}

      if (storedTheme === "dark") {
        document.documentElement.dataset.theme = "dark";
      }
    })();
  </script>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/%25latex/styles.css">
</head>
<body class="document-page">
  <button class="theme-toggle" type="button" aria-label="Switch to dark mode" title="Dark mode">
    <svg class="theme-icon theme-icon-moon" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-hidden="true">
      <path d="M20.4 14.5A8.2 8.2 0 0 1 9.5 3.6a8.7 8.7 0 1 0 10.9 10.9Z"></path>
    </svg>
    <svg class="theme-icon theme-icon-sun" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-hidden="true">
      <circle cx="12" cy="12" r="4"></circle>
      <path d="M12 2v2M12 20v2M4.9 4.9l1.4 1.4M17.7 17.7l1.4 1.4M2 12h2M20 12h2M4.9 19.1l1.4-1.4M17.7 6.3l1.4-1.4"></path>
    </svg>
  </button>
  <script>
    (() => {
      const button = document.querySelector(".theme-toggle");

      const setTheme = (theme) => {
        const isDark = theme === "dark";
        if (isDark) {
          document.documentElement.dataset.theme = "dark";
        } else {
          document.documentElement.removeAttribute("data-theme");
        }

        button.setAttribute("aria-label", isDark ? "Switch to light mode" : "Switch to dark mode");
        button.setAttribute("aria-pressed", String(isDark));
        button.title = isDark ? "Light mode" : "Dark mode";

        try {
          localStorage.setItem("theme", isDark ? "dark" : "light");
        } catch (error) {}
      };

      setTheme(document.documentElement.dataset.theme === "dark" ? "dark" : "light");
      button.addEventListener("click", () => {
        setTheme(document.documentElement.dataset.theme === "dark" ? "light" : "dark");
      });
    })();
  </script>
  <header class="site-header">
    <a class="back-link" href="/adventure/">Back to directory</a>
    <h1>6-peaceful-truth.txt</h1>
    <p class="path-label">adventure/6-peaceful-truth.txt</p>
  </header>
  <main class="document-shell">
    <pre class="document-text">## Truth


### Apathy

Apathy comes from suppressing our emotions, concern, and imagination.

When people feel they have no agency, indifference can seem safer than caring. This shelters us from disappointment, but at the cost of leaving us unmoved.

Over time, this withdrawal hardens into a default state, where doing nothing feels easier than risking hope.


### Outrage

Outrage often performs as proof of morality, demanding attention but rarely changes anything.

Media and algorithms recycle issues into endless cycles of framing, turning groups into symbols and conflicts into theatre.

The performance becomes the point: signalling concern substitutes for participation, and drains energy away without building anything real.


### Numb

Numbness dulls both pain and joy, making life feel flat.

Addiction -- whether chemical or behavioural -- compounds this state.

Television, convenience food, and constant dopamine create overload until even tragedy is met with blankness. Drudgery wears people down so deeply that moments lose colour, and even the suffering of others fails to stir us.


### Shame

When we see suffering but look away, or silence our conscience, shame follows.

We learn this behaviour early. We're taught to frame suffering as belonging to “that suburb” or “that family,” so injustice feels distant. Education systems, family habits, and cultural norms reward comfort over inquiry, training us to look away.

Yet shame reveals conscience: it shows we know right from wrong, even as we suppress the urge to act. The burden often falls not on the abuser or the system, but on the bystander, who carries guilt without resolution.

Over time, silence deepens self-reproach. Inaction hardens into paralysis, until it feels permanent.


### Cynic

We make sense of life through story, and cynicism tells a story where nothing matters.

At first this shields against disappointment, but over time it becomes the voice of the tyred. This appears as “why bother”, “everything will get worse”, or “nothing ever happens.” This is not being careless but being exhausted -- the habit of expecting defeat until even hope feels dangerous.

Cynicism masks vulnerability by mocking those who act, turning inaction into the posture of wisdom.


### Rebel

Frustration grows when agency is absent.

At a tipping point, people seek to reclaim power through *reversal*: flipping the story without changing reality. Reversal offers a quick win. If we feel small, it makes us the hidden underdog; if ashamed, it casts us as victims of others’ failures.

-----

&gt; Apathy, to ***outrage***. People who feel numb try reversing it through anger. Outrage is tempting because it feels like action, even if it changes nothing. The louder the performance, the more it hides fatigue.
&gt; Shame, to ***blame***. Instead of facing guilt, people flip it outward -- mocking others, shifting responsibility, or turning inaction into disdain.
&gt; Rebellion, to ***approval***. What begins as rejection of the system often flips into craving recognition from it. Any rebelious action still exists within a defined frame.
&gt; Cynicism, to ***superiority***. Hopelessness reverses into posturing -- the “smarter than hope” stance. Mockery feels like control, but it’s just the mirror image of despair.

-----

But this is not resolution -- it's avoidance. Real change requires different action, which is slow, uncertain, and often humbling. Instead, rebellion is easily absorbed into performance: slogans, or an aesthetic, or any movement that seeks recognition more than outcomes.

Over time, rebellion becomes identity. What began as resistance is marketed, branded, and sold back until belonging replaces change, and anger burns itself out into tiredness.


### Ruminate

By turning their thoughts over and over and never letting go, people recycle impressions instead of allowing anything new to be created.

Outrage as identity.
People come to see themselves as “the voice of resistance,” defined by being angry at every new event. Anger becomes a badge of virtue, even when no change follows.

Blame as identity.
Whole groups define themselves by who is at fault — “the elites,” “the immigrants,” “the boomers,” “the lazy youth.” The identity is not “we build together,” but “we are not them.”

Rebellion as identity.
Subcultures grow around rejecting the mainstream, yet still orbit it. To be punk, hipster, or “based” is less about living differently than about being seen as against.

Superiority as identity.
Cynicism becomes a posture: “I see through it all, unlike everyone else.” The mask of detachment provides belonging among those who also claim to be above caring.

Reversal as identity is tempting because it offers permanence. Instead of wrestling with powerlessness again and again, you can wear the flipped version as who you are. It feels safer -- but it means never touching the original wound.



[ruminate]

Ruminating is thinking and turning over and never letting go; people recycle impressions instead of allowing anything new to be created.

	forms such as
		knowledge hoarding → “I understand politics, therefore I matter”
		conspiracy → pieces assembled endlessly, never acted upon
		self-focus → chewing on past, future, or imagined outcomes

	consequences
		mental effort without agency
		creates appearance of intelligence but produces no change
		both rebellion and rumination preserve the self-image
		rumination convinces you that thinking is acting
			so nothing changes, except the depth of exhaustion
		the reason we keep circling is because underneath, we still care.





[care]

	people do care
		care is not absent, only hidden
		it runs underneath shame, cynicism, rebellion, rumination
		the masks are proof that people still feel, even if it shows as weariness or anger

	apathy
		care without agency wears people down
		what looks like apathy is often fatigue
			caring at a distance drains
			it asks too much and changes nothing
		people step back not because they don’t care, but because it hurts to keep caring for nothing
			with no outlet, caring becomes painful

	world around you
		true care is local
			small actions that meet the eye and the neighbour
			in this way, care builds slowly, unevenly
		community grows in fragments
		and the future seems possible again




[care]

	people do care
		care is not absent, only hidden
		it runs underneath shame, cynicism, rebellion, rumination
		the masks are proof that people still feel, even if it shows as weariness or anger

	apathy
		care without agency wears people down
		what looks like apathy is often fatigue, it asks too much and changes nothing
		people step back not because they don’t care, but because it hurts to keep caring for nothing
			so why wouldn't you numb yourself?
		and even then the care doesn’t vanish, anyone you see in the world is happy to vibe; care just goes underground

	world is big around the earth
		but true care is local
			small actions that bring the world together
			doorknock to create a meetup in a shared street space
			and everyone is down for it, I promise
		makes the future seem possible again




// collective

[future]

	it is the future right now
		instantaneous
			food, water, light, power on demand
			entertainment and communication without waiting
			knowledge always at hand
			billions live inside this immediacy
			if you are reading this, so does everyone around you
		universal
			every country has some form of it
			even where absent, capital strains to provide it

	capital
		quick word people use for complexity
		yet it has enabled
			eradication of diseases
			fast and widespread transport
			shared mechanisms of value
			housing and infrastructure on vast scale
		but also made life unfulfilling
			systems of success reduce dignity
			engineering of body and society
			countless daily indignities
		a nod to industrial society’s future
			comfort achieved at cost of spirit

	memory
		in the future, you will tell your grandkids:
			“any product could be found in a supermarket everywhere”
			“packaging used to be made out of plastic and trees”
		and they will look at you with disbelief

	shame
		everything with a barcode feels suspect
		viewing tragedy makes you complicit
		inaction forgivable perhaps, but leaves a hollow
		defensiveness, narcissism, and denial fill the gap

	planet
		earth is our shared home
		we are all crew on spaceship earth
		so we might as well spend our time with her well



**Factors in favour for everyone**


[people are reasonable]

	in every culture
	they might have their own ways of doing things
	everyone is down to converse

	you'll find that within reason, everyone is reasonable



[local communities]

The world is just many different local communities.



[infrastructure]

	population and connectivity
		~99% of people around you have access to food, light, internet
		supermarket which acts as product relay system and in some cases with zero single use packaging
		uncensored internet → messages can leap borders
		billions reachable instantly

	infrastructure

		cheap internet abilities, both in hosting and access, and anyone can broadcast globally

		consistent logistics -- shipping, printing, scaling

		Stability of supply chains gives a degree of certainty; although, contagion in the financial system could set off semi-autonomous contagion in supply-chains globally, even where buyers and sellers are linked by solvency, sound money and bank intermediation. The cross-contagion between the financial system and trade/production networks is mutually reinforcing [1].

		[1] quote, https://www.feasta.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Trade_Off_Korowicz.pdf



[how fast a message spreads]

	Gangnam Style
		novel, fun, engineered earworm
		cool dance
		novel
		reproducible -- easy to share, copy, mimic
		viral scale showed speed possible for pure entertainment

	ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
		engineered signal to nominate friends publicly
		visible cause was attached to donations, easy link to action
		clear, simple, replicable -- water + camera + share
		spread fast through both fun and moral pull

	School Strike for Climate
		began with only one student
			weeks was across Europe
			within a year millions of students in 150+ countries
		signal caring
			also be done on social media
			showed even protest can scale at extraordinary speed
		grew quickly despite logistical challenges
			someome has to organise a profest
			you hae to go somewhere else
			it is to your significant detriment within the industrial schooling system
			accomplishes nothing
			is anyone else gonna do it






**Factors against everyone**

[system capture]

	within the industrial system
		any action risks being subsumed into control
		co-opted, marketed, sold back as identity
		government and corporate and media

	pwned media:
		instant
		in many cases poorly incentivised
		frames rebellion as theatre or spectacle
		creates narrative to optic demographics
		sets the frame

[envy]

	Despair warps care into violence as a way to deprive others.



### Sitrep

[notable]

	easypeasymethod.org
		the most effective free method to quit pornography
		open source, logical, non-willpower based
		already reached millions


[useful]

	quiteasily.org
		the movement arm
		turning insight into action
		low barrier // posters, memes, light touches
		keeps participation easy, uncensorable


[community]

	small but steady
		globally scattered, but highly loyal
		protected by privacy
		community not large, but resilient

	platforms
		reddit
			r/pmohackbook
			r/easypeasymethod
		youtube
			content without showing my face
		discord
			easypeasymethod → recovery space
			peaceful foundation → project coordination
			coomer.org → meme culture, small core
		websites
			easypeasymethod.org, quiteasily.org, coomer.org
		discord organisation
			peaceful foundation roles sorted by rank
			friendly
</pre>
  </main>
  <footer class="site-footer">
    <a class="back-link" href="/adventure/">Back to directory</a>
  </footer>
</body>
</html>
