It is a very nice metaphor, yes I will give it that and it may apply in many situations. But it’s just so easy to see yourself as awake and others as sleeping. It’s easy and it’s a trap. It’s a tool of the ego. It’s so easy to point out how you know better than others, to simplify it and say “If you knew what I knew...” “If you just did this...”. The fact is, the more awakened you think you are, the more likely it is that you are sound asleep. By insisting on your own “enlightenment”, whatever that may entail, you you are actively stagnating real progress.
Firstly, you inhibit your own growth by thinking you know more than you actually do. You assume that your truth is true for everyone and this may not be the case. You may see something others don’t see merely because of where you are standing. They may see something you don’t see and think you have taken the red pill and them the blue one.
It’s the Illuminati. It’s the bankers. It’s the Russians. It’s the the Cabal. They’re trying to start a civil war between blacks and whites. They want to put chips under our skin. Fiat is evil. Bitcoin will save the world. Bitcoin is a psy-op. They're all lizards. Trump is going to end the world. Trump is going to save the world. False flags. Fake news. Alt-right. SJWs. Jesus is the answer. Ascension and a new earth. Blah blah blah.
I have my ideas and theories too. I’m not discrediting any of your theories, I am happy to hear them. I am discrediting your assurance that you know exactly what is going on behind the scenes. None of us have a full picture and we are all more easily swayed than we admit. Truth is complex, and perhaps there is no one objective truth. I need any case, we can do a much better job at piecing it all togetherness if we respect each other a little more, rather than seeing ourselves as so much.
Seeing yourself as more awake than others is an easy way to end up with a superiority complex. When you believe so adamantly that you have the answers and others don’t, you not only stunt your own growth, you start treating growth others without the integrity they deserve. You start deciding how things need to be from your own limited perspective. Guess who else has a superiority complex and think they know how it should be? Those so-called “evil doers” you are fighting against.
There is nothing wrong with having your beliefs and sharing them with others. You are free to believe that you are right and others are wrong. But how willing are you to let others believe what they believe? How can we ever seek to create a peaceful world when we expect others to believe the same things we believe and dismiss them as entirely ignorant when they don’t.
I tend to prefer some of the ideas that border on “conspiracy theories” and I love exploring the metaphysical. Still I like to hear input from my father who is semi-religious in a traditional sense and teeters back and forth between neo-liberal and traditional conservative. I may not believe in all the history that he has been taught but he has a great understanding of it and who am I to say that all of it is untrue because some youtubers have “evidence”. I like to hear what he thinks to consider the possibility that maybe it isn’t exactly how I imagine, to get another perspective. I can reject certain aspects of his perspective internally without arguing him. I don’t NEED him to see it my way, as long a story he can just consider my ideas the way I consider his.
Our world will improve when we learn to respect and trust each other, when we learn to discuss opposing views peacefully and learn to listen better, not when we convince everyone that our own philosophy is the correct one. If your ideas are as true as you think they are then have some faith that they will resonate with others. The idea that you’ve taken the red pill is simply your ego getting off on itself. It accomplishes nothing. It’s a nice metaphor and that’s all. Don’t get carried away with it. Don’t let it get to your head.