Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice. – Thich Nhat Hahn

In ancient times, some tribes used to catch wild boars (hogs) so they could keep them alive in a fenced yard till they were slaughtered. Eventually they soon found out they could breed and the domestic pig were born. Today, there are modern steel fence with remote door control to catch the hogs.  But in the beginning, how did they catch them?

First, they made a wall somewhere in the forest where you could expect boars passing by. A length of 4 to 5 meters of wall may have been enough. They put food they knew the boars like, all food were put on the same side of the wall.

The boars were suspicious in the beginning. Could this be dangerous? No one touched the food, they just kept observing the place. They felt the smell of human, but also the aroma of their favorite nuts. Finally, a curious little swine made a raid on the food, grabbed a nut and ran away. Nothing happened. The nut was delicious. Now it was clear, no problem to eat here. They had found a perfect place to fill their stomachs, without waste energy and time in the traditional seeking.

One day a new wall had connected to the old. Strange. It had the same size and was fixed perpendicular to the first wall in an end. This development doubled the food thanks to the new space. The pigs were happy. They had never seen so much food in their life.

Things went better and better. A third wall, perpendicular to the free end of the first wall. Now the place looked like a U, it also gave a shelter against wind. Then a fourth wall was built, parallel to the first wall. This was shorter than the others. Of course. How should it else be possible for the pigs to enter their food court.

One day, the pigs had just arrived and were all inside the walls, everyone busy in trying to first get the best parts of the food. Suddenly, a loud sound. A door had closed the exit. Now it was the turn for the pigs – to become pork.

The receipt of the classical trap follows these phases: Introduction. Convince. Upgrade. Peak. Deception.

As any new development, the Introduction phase is received with suspicion and rejection. Only a few are interested. Next phase needs more investment and a lot of free sharing. In this phase the image of importance, quality and access for low cost is reinforced.

In the Convince phase, critical voices silence and followers gathers to the new development. With a significant quantity of users, the development grows. Upgrade is required or imposed to maintain the interest and increase the quantity of users. In the Peak, upgrading prepares for the final step, the deception.

The upgrading is imposed and received as disturbing. Now, the last and few critical voices are more brutally silenced or bullied as “conspirators” “regressors” or “terrorists”. In a perfect peak, the users have abandoned old methods and are urging or paying for more maintenance and upgrade.

When the phase Deception enters, the lured users are so addicted and dependent that they must accept slavery or even face death.

Electricity. Banking system. Computers. Internet.  Can you imagine anything of this without bowing your head or bending your body to global actors?  

 

Soon after the Deception phase, a Chaotic phase follows. Chaos manifests in violence, riots, killings or just giving all up, in cries, tears or silent depression. More emotional and creative individuals are sorted out, mostly under their own desperate actions.

Finally, the Master can govern his flock.

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote in his works on stoic philosophy that we shouldn’t stress about the things we cannot control… but instead put our energy into the things that we can.