Crumbs

Mike Ruppert -  Crumbs

I had not seen this, but watching this video brought up some pain remembering this period.  I can clearly see the pain in Mike in reaction to events at a time when it seriously looked like the US and Israel were going to going to go to war- and nuclear war was certainly not out of the question.

I can see the extent to which Mike had lost his equanimity - to an extent that I have not seen over the whole time he was in Colorado.

For me personally, it was a time when I was involved with CollapseNet, drawing up a list of stories every day alongside Jenna Orkin and Rice Farmer. Mike had brought into the family because I was overwhelming his Facebook page (and presumably him) with stories.

Within a very few weeks of me being being there there was a crisis and Mike left CollapseNet to retire to practise permaculture in Sebastopol.

What I didn't know at the time was how close to suicide Mike was at that time and that, by his own admission, he had gone to Colorado 'to die'.

It is painful to see this video and I'm not sure I can see it through to the end, but am posting it to help us get another insight into Mike, his humanity and his torment.

One can never know what is going on in the innermost depths of someone else's soul - - so much less so if your communication is electronic.

I am fairly confident that during his time in Colorado by immersing himself in Dakota ways he came to know himself.

I have no problem in understanding the depth of the torment  caused by the circumstances of his life and the pressures of being a whistleblower and 'prophet' for 35+ years.

I struggled to understand his spirituality, but now, after his death, I am getting some insights and am beginning to understand how it helped him to make his (albeit violent) transition to the Deathless.

ADDENDUM;

Apposite comments from Michael Green -

"As I see spirituality, Robin, it exists on every level, no exceptions whatsoever. The problem is that we often mix up levels. As Jung said, we also very frequently conflate transpersonal and collective energies with the personal. These energies are archetypal in nature. As such, they are said to be numinous, as well - rather like an acid trip - which , unless we're good at distinguishing levels, can fuel manic-like (mana-filled) behaviors or, in another kind of personality, cause the ego to identify with them, perhaps conferring a sense of infallible prophetic insight or that they themselves are Jesus Christ or God. The thing of importance is that there are levels of experience, and to conflate them is like rather trying to comb our hair with a pitchfork just because a pocket comb too has teeth.

"Ideally, the function of the ego is to assist in making these discriminations, but if the ego function is shaky - due to any number of things, including inherited disposition, poverty or serious loss (etc.) - these discriminations are not well-made. At that point, say the Jungians, the archetypal energy floods the ego with its own unique character. Jung said that at the collective level, this is happening all the time. We think we're in control but, really, we are acting out the archetypal constellations of our time that are pouring through the collective unconscious. I'm not thrilled with that term, and to tell the truth I am also less than thrilled with many, if not most, Jungians - they are often precious beyond belief, imagining they have deep intellectual insight when they're just intellectually constipated - but Jung himself, IMO, displayed quite a lot of insight in these matters.

"The objective of therapy, in his view, was not to channel the archetypes and to become their vessel, but rather to become more conscious of them and individuate from them, differentiating oneself from them while yet relating to what might be termed the centralizing archetype of the Self. Sadly, in our time, most "spirituality" seeks to do the exact opposite. It imagines that the "higher" we get, the more inflated we become with archetypal energies, the more we're channeling something of importance. It not only destroys the ego but, all too often, it also is soul-destroying as well.

"All this applies to MCR, just as it applies to everyone on the planet. But in this video, to be frank,. I don't see a lot of evidence of that. Moreover, I totally agree with everything he said, except for what I consider to be minor and mostly irrelevant details as to the timing of the Eschaton. At around 11:00, he begins to get pissed. The interviewer, however, has been baiting him. I totally get Michael's anger at that stage. No matter, the interviewer persists. More baiting. By 14:20, I myself want to punch the interviewer in the face. I think Mike does too, probably quite unconsciously, which accounts for his increasing agitation, frustration and anger. Michael, however, is much nicer than me. He may or may not have identified with a Christlike archetype toward the end - that too is speculative, however - but here, I see him as well-mannered and very, very lucid.

"Michael definitely had his moments but I do not see this as one of them - except, perhaps, for his tendency to go off at the mouth with Cassandra-like predictions that were often too specific. That, however, has to be deemed one of his more harmless traits. It's rather endearing, actually.

"For reasons I have just described, I see this as one of his best interviews. No shame. My hope is that he takes it to the underworld (where we're all going) with pride."