Saturn Uranus 2 – Live Not By Lies

Live Not By Lies

This is a follow-up to my previous post, Saturn and Uranus: Bumping Into Reality. In that post I talked about how our emphasis on Uranus being a Positive Future and Saturn being a Negative Past has some serious blind spots, so I rephrased the Saturn-Uranus relationship in other ways to emphasize important things we need to acknowledge about Saturn.

Here I want to switch the focus, and talk about some important aspects of Uranus we need to pay attention to. This one is much harder to talk about than the previous post, because here I am touching on meanings that have been over-used and are now cultural cliches that mean almost the opposite of what the words are actually saying.

It is common to hear phrases like, Speak Truth to Power, or to encourage people to be a Rebel, or, be an Outlaw – and by now those words have been co-opted by a progressive cultural agenda that is very much the cultural norm these days. As a current example of its popularity in the astrology community, just this week I have seen ads for two different astrology events, one talking about being Lawless and Claiming Your Bliss, the other teaching you how to be a Maverick.

It is In to be Out. Be a Rebel – just like everyone else. It’s trendy.

Join all your friends and Stand Up Against Authority!

By now the people who are chanting “Speak Truth to Power” hold the reins of power, and are working very hard to enforce their particular brand of Anti-Orthodoxy on everyone else.

What I am talking about now is much more difficult, and much less common. It is about working up the courage to speak about something important to you – and feeling the cold chill come over the room that tells you that you’ve crossed a boundary, and you have spoken about something forbidden. It is a need for real honesty when it involves paying a stiff price.

In this post I am talking about a dark and negative side of Saturn, and a corresponding positive, and very difficult, side of Uranus.

The Dark Side of Saturn

Saturn can manifest as oppressive control using coercion and intimidation to enforce an agenda. It can include a dimension of false control, of delusion, falsehood and manipulation, or being under-handed or sneaky. This can include censorship, mind control, shutting down dissenting voices, and manipulating by fear and threats – but veiled threats, sneaky threats, vague and non-specified threats that can’t be pinned down. And finally, it can involve coercion by silence, ignoring or shutting down dissenting voices by shutting them out of public media.

This works out as a form of collective coercion, where enough people buy the lies, and so help to enforce control by attacking, shaming, coercing, silencing those who would dare speak up. Along with media control you get control by mass public opinion.

Uranus in this case can be standing up for truth.

The Difficult Side of Uranus

Uranus can be about standing alone defending what you know to be true.

I think you see why this is so hard to talk about today – it sounds way too much like “speaking truth to power”, which has been co-opted and turned into a cheap cliche, where “speaking truth” is parroting the same slogans as everyone else. The “rebels” who scream about “speaking truth to power” now hold the reins of power, and use their slogans to obscure that fact. Yelling “speak truth to power” is now a way to silence dissenting voices by shouting them down.

Here I think Uranus can mean standing up and saying no to coercion when all the mob pressure is against you. This is not something you do in a group or a movement; it is alone. You may find people to side with you, but my experience is that it has to start with deciding on your own and stepping out alone.

In the previous essay I talked about the hubris of Uranus, and that is a negative side of the planet we can see at work today. Interestingly, that hubris can negate the positive sides of Uranus.

We need to start by recognizing that the current political cliches about Uranus are just that, cliches, and have been drained of meaning. The ways you are supposed to stand up, be Lawless and and Outlaw, are now very predictable and superficial – and hence are not really Uranian at all.

Here we need to look more closely at what I think is the single greatest issue and threat in our culture today – totalitarian mind control by media.

Mind Control, Lies and Fantasies

One of the important themes of our time is the modern threat of totalitarian mind control using media. I talk about this in a video from December 2020 on the Saturn Jupiter Grand Conjunction. In a lot of ways we do not recognize it since it is couched in a very different sort of language and style from what we think of as totalitarianism. This is what the author Rod Dreher in Live Not By Lies calls a Soft Totalitarianism, which is a mind control that a mix of creature comfort, sensual indulgence, veiled threats and open shaming to both lull and frighten the mind to sleep. This is Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World rather than Orwell’s 1984. It gives the illusion of freedom and self-expression – provided the self is expressed within socially correct parameters. It’s sneaky, it’s slippery, it’s pervasive – and it is happening right now.

To convey my ideas here, I am going to talk about and quote from writers whose work comes out of their having first-hand experience standing up against repressive regimes – Hannah Arendt, Alexandr Solzhenitzyn, Vaclav Havel, and Ayn Rand.

I would like to note the influence on me here of this video on The Big Lie . Many of the quotes I use here are used to good effect in that video.

There are some common themes running through the work of all of these people. They all talk about how much the power of totalitarian states depends on falsehood and fiction, controlling people by getting them to consent to lies. That in turn points out the power and importance of individuals who are willing to stand up against the lies and be truthful, even at great cost.

Totalitarian systems condition their citizens to believe that the individual is powerless – and that is the biggest lie of all.

The quotes in the following sections are in italics, and my comments are in regular font.

Hannah Arendt – Totalitarianism

I quoted Hannah Arendt extensively in a previous post on Good and Evil Daemons. The points I make in that earlier post are a good complement to what I am discussing here.

Totalitarianism is, at its essence, an attempt at transforming reality into fiction.

It is the attempt of corrupt and pathological state actors to impose a fictional account of the world onto the entire population.

There is a Big Lie…And from this big lie trickled down a stream of endless little lies.

“The outstanding negative quality of the totalitarian elite is that it never stops to think about the world as it really is and never compares the lies with reality.”

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”

This brought home to me a point I had not realized before – how much totalitarian mind control has to depend on fictions, lies, falsehoods. This is because part of the control is cutting people off from any sense of reality and unreality, fact and fiction, truth and falsehood. It is also cutting people off from trusting their own senses and their own reason.

“One of the greatest advantages of the totalitarian elites of the twenties and thirties was to turn any statement of fact into a question of motive.”

This is a very commonly used tactic today. When an objection or opposition is raised, instead of dealing with the content of the opposition, it is easier, nastier and more effective to attack motive, and label people as insensitive, offensive, or selfish, or cruel, or deluded. This is called an ad hominem attack; it skirts the issue of the objection, appeals to emotion and demeans the motive and character of the person raising it.

“Factuality itself depends for its continued existence upon the existence of the nontotalitarian world.”

This is important; for mind control to be really effective it needs to be airtight, all-inclusive. The existence of facts or experience that contradict the fictional narrative can’t be allowed to acknowledged to exist, and hence it needs to be censored or ignored or canceled – or labeled as “disinformation” or as “dangerous and misleading” – or, most effective, just left off the radar – the news story that does not get covered at all so effectively it does not exist.

I know from my own experience over the last few years of multiple incidents that go against the prevailing narrative – that when I check in the main media – what I have seen referred to as, Legacy Media – I find they just don’t show up. It is as if they didn’t happen.

This is censorship by silence. The legacy media merely refuses to acknowledge its existence. This, in turn, means that mentioning it breaks a collective societal rule. Hence people are strongly pressured into keeping quiet – out of caution, or to avoid trouble or avoid making waves – or, just plain out of fear.

You just don’t talk about that.

And, that means you shun people who dare talk about that because they can get you in trouble just by association.

Note here that this tactic of ignoring inconvenient truths is ultimately self-defeating. It is a very effective way to keep any warning signals that things might be going wrong completely off the radar. That is a recipe for disaster.

What is the most powerful weapon against coercion by lies, falsehood and silencing? Refusing to be silent; refusing to assent to the falsehood; being willing to go ahead and say what you know to be true – and deal with the ridicule and coercion and canceling and threats and slander.

“to follow our conscience and place our morality above unjust laws, to fearlessly pursue personal and communal values, and to give voice to our thoughts undeterred by ridicule.“

Solzhenitzyn – Live Not by Lies

The quotes in this section are from Alexandr Solzhenitzyn, from an essay he wrote shortly before leaving the Soviet Union. It continues the same themes from Hannah Arendt.

“The most vulnerable part of the totalitarian system is the lies upon which it is built.”

“The fundamental choice to make is whether we are going to stand on the side of truth and freedom, or on the side of lies and malevolent authority. For those who choose the latter, whether out of fear, apathy, or merely to take the path of least resistance – Let him not brag of his progressive views, boast of his status as an academician or a recognized artist, a distinguished citizen or general. Let him say to himself plainly: I am cattle, I am a coward, I seek only warmth and to eat my fill.”

“What we choose to say and how we decide to act influences not just the state of our character, but the state of society.“

This point is very important and is worth examining further. Each individual’s action is important on multiple levels. It has a profound effect on society, and it also also has an effect on individual character and integrity. There is a steep personal and collective price to be paid for going along with falsehood.

What can we do about it? Again, the most powerful weapon against falsehood is truth – thinking clearly and simply, speaking clearly and simply.

“And therein we find, neglected by us, the simplest, the most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!“

Vaclav Havel – Power of Powerless

Vaclav Havel was a Czech dissident under Soviet rule who eventually became President of the Czech republic after the country became independent. Here again we see the same basic themes we see in Arendt and Sozhenitzyn.

“Life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies…Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics.”

Havel points out how this need to exploit falsehood is itself a serious weak point, and is the self-contradictory feature guaranteeing the system’s eventual collapse.

“This type of system by nature is weak, brittle, and in need of constant infusions of fear and lies in order to prevent it from collapsing.”

“This weakness is why totalitarian regimes constantly slander and persuecute anyone who dares to tell the truth.”

“For truth is the primary enemy of totalitarianism, as it erodes the foundation of lies upon which it is built.”

“If the main pillar of the totalitarian system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living the truth. This is why the truth must be suppressed more severely than anything else.”

Havel emphasizes how important it is for people to realize the price paid for going along with the lies.

“People came to realize that not standing up for the freedom of others mean surrendering one’s own freedom.”

“Just as our failure as individuals fuels the totalitarian system, so too it is a renewed courage of individuals to live within the truth which weakens and eventually destroys it.”

“If the fuel for the growth of totalitarianism is weak and feaful individuals, then a cure is a personal revolution that takes place in hearts and minds, and leads to an awakening of self-responsibility, courage and strength.”

“stop parroting the lies of the state, and refrain from acting in ways that conform to their propaganda.”

“…depended on individuals who were willing to live within the truth, even when things were at their worst.”

Falsehood and Mind-Soul Rot

I want to recap the common themes running through the work of all of these people. They all talk about how much the power of totalitarian states depends on falsehood and fiction, controlling people by getting them to consent to lies. That in turn points out the power and importance of individuals who are willing to stand up against the lies and be truthful, even at great cost.

We need to realize what it does to the mind and soul to give in and live by lies, even the seemingly innocuous act of paying lip service to them to stay safe. It corrupts inner individual integrity and coherency; it blurs, confuses and dulls the mind.

Agree to falsehood – agree to the denial of truth and reality – and sooner or later that leads to losing touch with reality, including the reality of your own selfhood.

Living falsehood rots out the soul from within. When you have no core of truth and integrity you become an empty shell, all appearance with nothing behind it.

Ayn Rand

I want to focus on the high personal cost of going along with the control and buying into the lie.

This next author, Ayn Rand, came of age in Russia during the Communist revolution. She experienced firsthand the consequences of coercive control and acquiescing to lies, and much of her work is a warning against signs of that which she saw in her adopted country, the United States.

Much of the coercive pressure is not top-down control, but a giving in to group and peer pressure, and that is what Rand is focusing on here.

This series of quotes is from The Fountainhead. The speaker is Howard Roark, an independent architect who represents Rand’s ideal of individual integrity. He is describing Peter Keating, a man who exists only for the approval of others and hence eventually loses touch with any self he once has. Ayn Rand calls this kind of person a Second-Hander. someone who has no firsthand life.

Roark is describing Second-Handers here.

“They have no concern for facts, ideas, work. They’re concerned only with people. They don’t ask, ‘Is this true?’ They ask, ‘Is this what others think is true?’ Not to do, but to give the impression of doing. Not creation, but show. Not ability, but friendship. Not merit, but pull.”

“When you suspend your faculty of independent judgment, you suspend consciousness. To stop consciousness is to stop life. Second-handers have no sense of reality. Their reality is not within them, but somewhere in that space which divides one human body from another. Not an entity, not a relation – anchored to nothing. “

“That’s what stopped me whenever I faced a committee. Men without an ego. Opinion without a rational process. Motion without brakes or motor. Power without responsibility. The second-hander acts, but the source of his actions is scattered in every other living person. It’s everywhere and nowhere and you can’t reason with him.”

This next quote gets at something that shocked and puzzled me – a weird and intense rage and hatred against anyone who dares to have their own differing opinion.

“Notice how they’ll accept anything except a man who stands alone. They’ll recognize him at once…There’s a special, insidious kind of hatred for him. They forgive criminals. They forgive dictators. Crime and violence are a tie. A form of mutual dependence. They need ties. They need to force their miserable little personalities on every single person they meet. The independent man kills them – because they don’t exist within him and that’s the only form of existence they know. Notice the malignant kind of resentment against any idea that propounds independence. Notice the malice toward an independent man…”

Now this rage makes sense to me. If you have no sense of self from within – if all of your self-worth and validation comes from those around you – then anyone who refuses to buy into your world is threatening your very being. The rage is a kind of lashing out in self-defense.

The courage of Uranus I am talking about here, the courage to stand alone and abide by the integrity of your own thought and conscience, is also the courage to stand up against that reaction of rage and hatred on the part of people who do not have that courage.

To Live Not By Lies is to be ready to pay a high price. It is also the only life worth living. In truth it is the only real life, since to live by acquiescing to falsehood is to have no real life at all.

It is well worth seriously pondering the high price you pay for going along with falsehood. Yes, there is a high price for standing alone and refusing to go along with falsehood, but it is very important to weight that over against the price you pay by not standing up and being true.