[Anjorni]

To use the cliche Matrix theme... Why did I have to stumble upon the Truth (Red pill)?

There are many a Matrix website out there - and the more I learn about PO the more real life and the matrix coincide. It's quite wierd.

After taking the Red pill - all the world events seem to make sense- Why Gas is skyrocketing, why the US is so hostile nowadays - and why the administration is hell-bent on getting into the middle east.

Kinda freaky - along with the truth, I find that the general population hasnt sought out the 'Matrix' - the truth, and are all living in fantasyland being the lamb that allows the people in power to run the show to their liking.

Although I now know the truth - and have gone through the depression that sets in when we learn the truth (well, still not completely over it a year later) - I feel as if the future is so grim, that I may have wanted to be lead off the cliff and not know what the heck happened until it was too late...

I realize that is self-defeating, but look at what we're all up against:

Most of us live in an urban area (Los Angeles to be exact)

Family members think we're freaks (Finacee is too brainwashed/spoiled/pampered to think otherwise - although I'm really trying hard)

Dealing with trying to gain a comprehension as to how to farm on a small parcel of land - not only that - but a crash course at that!

Too attached to any 'luxury' to shun it - yet (especially since I know I wont have it in the future - trying to enjoy it now while I can

Trying to stock up and prepare with a very limited budget

and the kicker

Getting married in May - so most of the major prep-work cant happen till after that time since the Wedding will suck me dry

Maybe I'm overly paranoid, Maybe I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too, but I'm trying to ascertain how I will go about preparing for the crash at the same time trying to not stand out too much. (Especailly at the jobsite where I am having motivational challenges since I know most of this will be long gone in a few years... seems like such a waste to me)

Ok - I've got to get over this vent/rant/'poor me' soapbox...

So - I chose the Red Pill... and now have to prepare for the onslaught...

[duff_beer_dragon]

The ''red pill'' in real-life equivalents would be

knowing that thought=reality

understanding that thought=reality

and putting it into practice.

The ''blue pill'' would be agreeing with someone else's thoughts - which are bound by rules - not all of which have been proven true by any stretch of the imagination, and going on someone else's trip instead of finding out the Truth for your own self -

which will hold true after-death.

I saw this fake-version of things planned way before the fossil fuels became standard usage - that is the reason they were brought to prominence. Re-incarnation - there's a 'red-pill' truth for you. For starters.

You still need to know it and understand it for yourself tho', it's the thought-circuits and chemicals released inside the brain and how the soul and mind interfaces with that ; pathways within = pathways without - if you think in a specific-loop and believe for example that you (thru others investigations) know EVERYTHING about this planet and universe etc already then you remove all the other possible options in the outer-world as well as from inside your own neural circuits and pathways.

Remember that God made everything and it is not here to test us or to collapse or to go wrong - some people want as many as possible to agree with that because that is what will make it real. The reason they would prefer that is because if there are disasters and problems then the actual truth of what is causing the problems, and who started The Fall, will be hidden and not as noticeable.

[JoeW]

sounds to me like anjorni needs a happy pill. ask your doctor about xanax. it's not just a happy pill--it's also a palindrome!

the world is not going to end. earth will keep spinning on its axis, tilted at 23 degrees. the seasons will continue to change. new years will be ushered in, and then left behind. there is plenty of motivation to work hard. somewhere inside we all need a little hope. anjorni's getting married! why would you do that if you didn't have at least a little hope left in the tank?

tough times may be ahead, but with a little preparation and a lot of luck, we will get by. humans rule this planet because we are capable of rapidly adapting to change. we will do it again! and many years from now, our great great great grandchildren will enjoy running around on some sunny afternoon, and they won't miss oil at all, or miss the lifestyle that we had... and who knows? they may even have it better than we do.

[Kingcoal]

Anjorni: the paranoid survive and prosper. Paranoia is just a term for heightened awareness. What to do next: read all the excellent articles here, go to http://dieoff.org and read the articles there. It's depressing, but think about our ancestors prior to 1900. They had no electricity, no oil, etc.

[Jenab]

Anjorni - you took one of the smaller Red Pills. Suddenly realizing the probable consequences of fossil fuel depletion is hard on the individual psyche, but the level of organized conspiracy to keep those consequences secret is relatively minor. It mostly consists of voices from the government and from the media understating the severity of the consequences, giving people the idea that the only problem will be that the price of gasoline and heating oil will rise.

If you really want the truth about the world, there are several other Red Pills (big ones) to swallow before history really starts to click sensibly together. In this bottle, we have Red Pills for Federal Reserve Monetary System Awareness. The next bottle bears the label "Who Rules America?" That bottle over there seems to relate to racial differences in physiology, intelligence, and behavior, and the degree to which those differences are biologically heritable.

The PO-denial conspiracy is a light conspiracy, a half-hearted conspiracy. If it were on a level with certain other conspiracies emerging from roughly the same quarters, you'd get not even this much hint of the coming crisis. You'd get lies and misdirection. Encyclopedia articles would be revised to include some of the lies and misdirection. The evening news would issue disinformation and soft-pedal mockery against anyone who shared the Peak Oil facts publicly.

The sitcoms following the evening news would fast-pitch the same mockery in fictional contexts, and the fictional nature of the context would be lost on the television viewer, who has been conditioned to accept TV-fare as a substitute for real life experiences. The peakoil character, slovenly dressed with his hair in disarray, would make a raving comment about the End of the World, and all the other (better groomed) actors on the screen would make suave remarks of an ironic nature before rejecting the peakoiler as unfit for polite company. The TV viewer usually swallows this kind of propaganda hook, line, and sinker.

In Canada, PO alarmists would be prosecuted for "spreading false news." In Germany, they would be prosecuted for "inciting economic hate." In the United States, there would be no law overtly forbidding the sharing of Peak Oil information, but the FBI would watch each Peakoiler until he dropped a candy wrapper somewhere, then arrest him and hold him without bond and deny him access to a lawyer.

When a government (or whoever really runs the show) really wants to establish an illusion, the tactics employed are much more pervasive and ruthless than what you've seen in regard to Peak Oil. However much the truth discomforts you, remember that the discomfort is nature's way of trying to prod you into action, and don't regret having knowledge that gives you a chance to survive.

Jerry Abbott

[duff_beer_dragon]

The only way anti-depressants and mood-altering drugs are ever any use or any good for you is if you choose what ones you have, and if you choose when you will take them.

Simply taking meds every day will only make you fall asleep even more and be even less aware. It's like being permanently drunk, often including the lack of co-ordination.

I've taken MDMA and it's great, but I would never take it daily. That would be very bad for my mind and my body. You can drink daily, not to excess, and that is ok. In the evenings, or on days off.

Don't care = doped up on meds during the day while at work or at college or school, unable to think straight, cause accidents on the road, etc.

[NeoPeasant]

Those who fear living in a future depression should talk to some old people who were kids in the thirties. Like my dad, for instance. Sure he may have eaten beans and corn bread a lot, and wore hand-me-down clothes patched many times by his mom, and walked everywhere he went, but he didn't know any different.
He didn't know he was poor and he said they were the best years of his life.

[Guest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JoeW', 's')ounds to me like anjorni needs a happy pill. ask your doctor about xanax. it's not just a happy pill--it's also a palindrome!

the world is not going to end. earth will keep spinning on its axis, tilted at 23 degrees. the seasons will continue to change. new years will be ushered in, and then left behind. there is plenty of motivation to work hard. somewhere inside we all need a little hope. anjorni's getting married! why would you do that if you didn't have at least a little hope left in the tank?

tough times may be ahead, but with a little preparation and a lot of luck, we will get by. humans rule this planet because we are capable of rapidly adapting to change. we will do it again! and many years from now, our great great great grandchildren will enjoy running around on some sunny afternoon, and they won't miss oil at all, or miss the lifestyle that we had... and who knows? they may even have it better than we do.

[Guest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NeoPeasant', 'T')hose who fear living in a future depression should talk to some old people who were kids in the thirties. Like my dad, for instance. Sure he may have eaten beans and corn bread a lot, and wore hand-me-down clothes patched many times by his mom, and walked everywhere he went, but he didn't know any different.
He didn't know he was poor and he said they were the best years of his life.

[nero]

Anjorni,

I would suggest that you view your current occupations as a means to diversify in case your forecast is wrong. Just like financial planners tell you to not put all your money into one stock you shouldn't make all your plans dependent on the world ending in 3-4 years time. You may be wrong after all. It might last 10-20 years, or the consequences of peak oil may mean that the best place to be is living in a small apartment close to down town. Who knows? the wisest course is to be prepared for a broad range of outcomes.

As much as possible I would encourage you that a cheap and simple way to diversify in case TSHTF in a few years time is to work on your own body. Muscles and a good strong back would be a very valuable (and portable) comodity after an economic collapse. The best bit about making sure that you are fit enough to be a valuable worker is that it also pays off in the event that peak oil doesn't lead to a catastophic collapse.

cheers

[Jakob]

Well I will tell you a secret, you took the BLUE PILL, in reality people are beeing eaten by insects and soon it's your turn.

Mohahaha


-Smith

[the_red_pill]

The real life matrix of peak oil. I went down the rabbit hole and have found reality. I am currently on travel in Taipei and have spent the past 15 hrs reading everything I can grab on Peak Oil. Damn blasted typhoon has made me unearth the 'unearth' of our society.

But I am a full believer in PO and am full of despair and panic. I don't know what to do right now! My wife, back home in the US, is worried because I sound depressed and frightened. She thinks I read some terrorism article and wants me to ignore what someone else thinks of the future. I haven't the time right now to explain to her what I have discovered.

I am so scared right now and feeling lost. I should be enjoying my probable only visit to this country because I now see what I have felt for many, many years: the end of the oil party is coming.

Although immune of the knowledge of PO, I have felt a strange feeling since a child and have always somehow known that the future was in dire jeopardy. This is why I chose never to have kids. Subconsciously, in the last two years, I had already begun to plan for PO but didn't realize until now what I was doing! I have downsized my car, reduced my debt to nearly nothing and am now sitting on nearly a quarter of a million in cash or easily liquifiable assets. I have slowly been converting to a very frugal lifestyle and had reduced my consumption of goods that really are unecessary in my life.

My wife wants me to just live our life and not worry about something we cannot control, but I *HAVE* to do something! I am not the kind of person to sit on the sidelines and watch us fall into the dark ages.

I do fear the age without technology, but as my awakening of today has me realize, humans are meant to be with nature. We have lost touch with the world and nature. The age after oil will return mankind to the forest, the fields, as a participant in the ecocycle, as both a predator and prey, maybe as it should be. My soul aches with the knowledge that so much may be lost; the accomplishments, the things we did with our time.

But we have plundered our resources, over populated the earth and now we will have to pay the price. Humans are too short sighted in our thinking and maybe that's why we won't last.

I have oftened wondered why aliens have never contacted us and now I wonder if it is because no other civilization has made it out of their industrial age either!

I do not fear losing oil, what I fear is losing my loved ones and the structure of a civilization that may be lost. I would love to return to the natural way of living, but I am terrified of the anarchy that may lie ahead, of the mindless fat dolts out there in their SUVs who run out of gas and start heading to my house looking for a McDonalds.

What is my next step? I fear I am on the brink of a nervous breakdown here, I'm in total shock and have the lost the will to live my old 21st century way of working in an office, traveling and saving money for a nonexistent future.

help me with your thoughts.

[EnergySpin]

Hello red_pill join welcome to the Matrix. Stay away from sites like dieoff.org and calm down. PO will not happen till you come back from Tai (I hope you are just visiting though, and do not plan to stay for ever).
Regarding the "life without technology" : it is not going to disappear any time soon. Suburbia is dead though (has been dead for a while). Since I'm a moderate without money who makes no plans for the future the only advice I can give you is : critically appraise all the s...t that people (POilers or no POilers) tell you.
Welcome to the Matrix .... and enjoy your flight there

[the_red_pill]

The real life matrix of peak oil. I went down the rabbit hole and have found reality. I am currently on travel in Taipei and have spent the past 15 hrs reading everything I can grab on Peak Oil. Damn blasted typhoon has made me unearth the 'unearth' of our society.

But I am a full believer in PO and am full of despair and panic. I don't know what to do right now! My wife, back home in the US, is worried because I sound depressed and frightened. She thinks I read some terrorism article and wants me to ignore what someone else thinks of the future. I haven't the time right now to explain to her what I have discovered.

I am so scared right now and feeling lost. I should be enjoying my probable only visit to this country because I now see what I have felt for many, many years: the end of the oil party is coming.

Although immune of the knowledge of PO, I have felt a strange feeling since a child and have always somehow known that the future was in dire jeopardy. This is why I chose never to have kids. Subconsciously, in the last two years, I had already begun to plan for PO but didn't realize until now what I was doing! I have downsized my car, reduced my debt to nearly nothing and am now sitting on nearly a quarter of a million in cash or easily liquifiable assets. I have slowly been converting to a very frugal lifestyle and had reduced my consumption of goods that really are unecessary in my life.

My wife wants me to just live our life and not worry about something we cannot control, but I *HAVE* to do something! I am not the kind of person to sit on the sidelines and watch us fall into the dark ages.

I do fear the age without technology, but as my awakening of today has me realize, humans are meant to be with nature. We have lost touch with the world and nature. The age after oil will return mankind to the forest, the fields, as a participant in the ecocycle, as both a predator and prey, maybe as it should be. My soul aches with the knowledge that so much may be lost; the accomplishments, the things we did with our time.

But we have plundered our resources, over populated the earth and now we will have to pay the price. Humans are too short sighted in our thinking and maybe that's why we won't last.

I have oftened wondered why aliens have never contacted us and now I wonder if it is because no other civilization has made it out of their industrial age either!

I do not fear losing oil, what I fear is losing my loved ones and the structure of a civilization that may be lost. I would love to return to the natural way of living, but I am terrified of the anarchy that may lie ahead, of the mindless fat dolts out there in their SUVs who run out of gas and start heading to my house looking for a McDonalds.

What is my next step? I fear I am on the brink of a nervous breakdown here, I'm in total shock and have the lost the will to live my old 21st century way of working in an office, traveling and saving money for a nonexistent future.

help me with your thoughts.

[dissimulo]

I'd tell you to relax, but that is pointless.

Start making plans. Plans will help you to feel in control. The world is not going to fall apart tomorrow. Most changes are likely to be gradual.

Appreciate your ability to go see amazing things on the other side of the world - luxuries such as fast long distance travel will be among the first things to become unaffordable in the future. Try to experience the trip as if it were the amazing experience it would be if you could not rely on jet fuel to get you there.

And go see the National Museum. I go there every time I'm in Taipei. I could spend days there.

[aldente]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('the_red_pill', 'T') I fear I am on the brink of a nervous breakdown here, I'm in total shock and have the lost the will to live my old 21st century way of working in an office, traveling and saving money for a nonexistent future.

[Raxozanne]

Welcome to the desert of the real...

Peak oil sucks doesn't it? But it somehow makes perfect sense. That vague sense of something being not quite right with our current way of living and then bang you learn about peak oil.

Try not to worry to much about it though the whole world will be going through it with you. At least you know about it now and can be a little bit better prepared than the average person. If you have been reading for 15 hrs maybe you should get some sleep to absorb it all. About those fat dolt coming to your house, best to get some means of personal protection.
Check ou the planning for the future forums to get some ideas on how to prepare for the future.

Good luck.

Ps: don't forget to tick doomer in the current landers, moderates and doomers thread poll

[the_red_pill]

Albente, *No*, there is nothing fake about what I've said. If that's what POers *want* to hear from the newbies, well, shit, you're welcome. But I am choking down the reality pie here so thanks for your compassion.

Others, thanks dissomulo and energy spin for your words. I'm going to the Ntl Museum tomorrow.

I do plan to enjoy the party before it's over and somehow figure out a way to move on. I am stuck in suburbia, but fortunately not in an overpriced house (I live in California). I also believe and now fervently hope of an imminent real estate crash.....perhaps a bad economy would slow down the effects of peak oil and maybe buy some time for a newbie like myself to make preparations.

[MD]

So, in fifteen hours of research, instead of focusing on oil related data, you managed to find your way into peakoil.com forums, managed to dig out the blue-pill red-pill threads, and have written quite a first post.

OK, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

Here you go: The world is not going to end because of peak oil. Relax, everything will be fine. You might lose your job, but there will be soup lines. The Disney WalMart lifestyle might fade away, but was it worth the trouble anyway? Technology won't go away, in fact it will march on. You just won't be able to afford as much of it. You might have to work a little harder, but the excercise will be good for you.

Welcome to PO!

[aldente]

Double post - double answer:
Live within your means - a very important sentence to understand. For the time being realise your surrounding geograpy.

Link to graphic