“It’s all bull shit!”

Card messages in the Illuminated position.

+ Argument

(contradictory, challenging, debating, antagonist, adjudicating, constructive criticism, Devil’s Advocate, non-believer, scrappy, contentious)

1. “It can’t be! So convince me!” Pilpul is the Jewish tradition to gain clarity by arguing about God’s intent regarding an event or edict. This task is worthy but seldom appreciated. Can you make a clear argument about what is happening? Assert facts rather than beliefs.
2. No amount of love can every be wasted. It is not love but the arguments to withhold love that reveal places where pain has been sheltered and imprisoned.
3. The situation calls for explanation not rationalization. If the argument being asserted isn’t based on facts or tangible premises, congratulations – you’ve exposed an ideologue pretending to be an idealist.

Quotes signifying this pole

• “Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist” George Carlin
• “Confidence in nonsense is a requirement for the creative process.” – M. C. Escher
• “Political ability: it is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterward to explain why it didn’t happen.” Winston Churchill
• “The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.” ~  George F. Will

 Card messages in the Shadow position.

– Denigration

(rebellious, bitter, uncooperative, pessimistic, misanthrope, pain, self-defeating, defamatory, caustic, detractor, bickering, protesting, disputing)

1. It is all crap and we are powerless to change it.” Denigration is the proverbial “all eggs in one basket”…broken and scrambled! Helpless and angry about it, one fights for one’s limitations with a pessimistic certainty sure to kill, or at least maim, any hope. All possibilities are being belittled. Stop the chatter and accusation. Offer a solution or shut up!
2. Nothing has ever been gained from doing nothing, save more of the same.
3. When people confuse pessimism with cynicism they denigrate and fail to see what a genuine cynic like Diogenes or George Carlin did.: they go past the niceties and expose frauds.
4. Careful not to exclude all but your own opinion or destroy another with denigration.

Quotes signifying this pole

• “We’re all fucked. It helps to remember this.” George Carlin (The Patron saint of Cynics and the foil of BS)
• “Give Up.”  Don Joyce
• “If you wake up and you’re not in pain, you know you’re dead” Russian Proverb
• “Cynical realism is the intelligent man’s best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation.”  Aldous Huxley

Relevance within the Michael Teaching

Cynicism is an Attitude that is attended by two suitors: humor and pain. In being contrary to most other points of view, particularly what they see as overly optimistic (Idealist) or vague and emotional (Spiritualist) they achieve a feeling of certainty about things; even if that certainty sounds like Murphy’s Law. Often ready to poke holes in an idea or at the person offering it, they cannot help but want to dispel anything they don’t deem as time honored traditional practices and viewpoints. As Essence equips a personality with this perspective for the purpose of rejecting the frivolous and feeling sanctified doing so. The Fear of being wrong or making mistakes is at the core of this Attitude. The Cynic tries to avoid action unless it is absolutely warranted, and even then, it is minimal.

The Cynic often expresses itself in the guise of a reactionary. Before commenting on your idea, they tend to offer a different, and of course often contradictory one. Someone who will forestall others until their position has been granted utmost credence. A motto for this sense of inferiority might be “I don’t get no respect, no respect at all.” And then, with psychological projection in play, he/she seeks to make sure you or your premise receives little or none at all.

When in the positive pole, a Cynic plays Devil’s Advocate for the purpose of helping his point of view be stronger against attack. The Cynic sets the floor or the most terse of conditions to meet the test of credibility. If you earn the respect of a Cynic when they are in this position, you have proven yourself and your ideas solid to them in some fundamental way. A Cynic is gratified when all the pretty language is stripped away and people “get to the point.” They respect the truth, especially when it is blunt.

In the negative pole, the Cynic tends to be more loner than socialite. Their behavior tends to create conditions that keep people from getting close to them, anyway. This prevents anyone causing them pain or being led around by the nose in the name of love. Something that some Cynics will tell you is a faerie story anyway. Cursing and swearing are a favorite tool of the negative pole serving both to keep people away and to punctuate with shock value, their disapproval.

The Cynic Attitude does not automatically show itself as a mean, contrary, anti-social person. Often, the Cynic tries to blend in knowing their inner filter puts up hard barriers they may want to soften but not eliminate altogether. It is common to see a slight smirk on the face of a Cynic who, on the inside, is trying hard not to laugh when they hear something they deem ridiculous come out of your mouth.

Famous Persons

Rodney Dangerfield, Don Rickles, Joan Rivers, John Belushi, Sandra Bernhardt, Humphrey Bogart, Lennie Bruce, George Carlin, James Dean, Whoopi Goldberg, Mick Jagger, Khomeni, Steve Martin, Andy Rooney, Frank Sinatra, Oliver Stone, Christopher Walken, John McCain, Roseanne Barr, Bill Maher

Cultural Relevance

When the world is beset by too much Cynicism then nihilism (nothing has meaning nor inherent value) is not far behind. Movements that proclaim the ultimate Armageddon, or speak of scientific determinism, divorce themselves from the emotional side of life and tend to live in a soup of banality seasoned with disdain. Scornful of anything that is new or does not take into its umbrella beliefs in the ultimate failing of people, or hope, or virtue; anything that is traditional or has “stood the test of time” is the only thing to fall back on. No matter if their assessment of the situation is skewed or polemical.

Everyone who has ever heard some of today’s most popular comedians has seen the Cynic at work. Cynics are excellent in showing us the fallacies in our thinking and doing so in ways that often sting. George Carlin’s famous “7 Dirty Words You Can’t Say on Television” illustrates his point about the absurdity of denying words, but allowing actions such as war and exploitation in images. Without a bit of Cynicism to confront and ground our rationalizations, we might be lost in a sea of distortions.

Cynics often cast themselves in the role of non-conformist, or outsider. Rather than standing for something, they merely reject or rebel against any trend, fashion, or style that looks in the least bit conforming. Like the Cynics Robes Pierre and Joseph Stalin, they stood against the power structures of their times but offered nothing but the worst abuses of the past as the foundation of their reigns of terror. At the basis of all deep political cynicism, is a hatred of anything that disagrees with itself. Ultimately, the negative Cynic is the eternal pessimist even when changes go in the direction of their arguments.

If your Attitude is Cynic then you will relate to…

1. No good deed goes unpunished.
2. Expecting the worse is sensible. If it turns out better, great!
3. My first reaction is “this ain’t going to work.”
4. If the crap got any deeper in here we could plant potatoes.
5. Most of the time, nothing seems to work out the way it is supposed to.
6. No matter what goes wrong, just remember I told you so.

by Stephen Cocconi © 2011-2012

For a Tarot Session or Channeled Consultation call: 209.768-4956 or email Stephen at channeling@themichaelteaching.com