Illusions of Control

Remember I said something about an idea in my last post? Well, I thought about the topic, and realized that that was way to offensive even for me. Really, it was pure evil. So, I'm gonna wait a while, think about it, and post it if I decide it's worth the risk.

Anyway...

I was thinking about control today. Not like an XBox control, but the control we claim to have over each other. After some though I came to the tenative conclusion that most control is an illusion. This would mean that if we see past the illusion, no one could truly control us except ourselves. Sounds like an ideal existence, right? Total freedom, except of course from death. That's the only form of control I cannot see as illusory by any stretch of imagination.

But most of us will have real trouble seeing beyond the greater illusions. I don't like to brag, but I've already gotten past the illusions of religion and government. However, I'm having a lot of trouble getting any further. Religion and government are minor illusion, despite the fact that almost everyone encounters them in some form several times a day. The really huge illusions of control are the ones put upon us by the people we are around every day. Our friends, teachers, and parents (I'm working on that illusion now) hold more control over us than anyone else, because we interact directly with them every day. I would say that the strongest illusions are set on us by our friends, especially those of the opposite sex (or whatever). We generally disregard our teachers unless we come across one who really has something intelligent to say. Most of us are too independent to listen to our parents, and some of us are in open rebellion against them. But our friends are masters of illusion.

What we generally forget, though, is that we are also putting illusions on others. Some people learn to fine-tune their illusions verrrrry carefully. These people become expert manipulators of the emotions, opinions, and social lives of those around them. Manipulators may not necessarilly be highly intelligent, all they need is charisma. Example: we may all hate his memory, but when you get down to it, Adolf Hilter was an expert manipulator. He was charming, charismatic, and a good speaker. Even to the end when he was messed up on pills most of the time, and maybe also suffering from Parkinson's disease, he was brilliantly manipulating the Nazis, Europe, and the whole world. He might have even succeded in world domination if he had not come up against other charismatic leaders such as Stalin (who was charming even if he was a Commie bastard), Churchill, and Roosevelt.

If one can become an expert manipulator, he is probably going to go very far in life. Bu the more I watch those manipulators around me, the more I begin to think that manipulation is not a learned skill. It is something you have to be born with. The normal people (in respect to control) among us may scratch the surface, but we will never reach the depth of control the experts find so naturally.