Marionette No More by Belinda Silbert

“How ridiculous I was as a Marionette! And how happy I am, now that I have become a real boy! “Carlo Collodi.” -“Adventures of Pinocchio.”

We wake up in the morning and begin the day, assuming that every thought and action is of our own volition. It is so tempting to aver that we are creatures possessing the gift of freedom of choice.

Instead, we are well-oiled machinery with programming embedded so deeply within that we operate on “auto-pilot” and if we were to be closely observed by a superior race, we would appear to be wholly predictable.

Who is pulling your strings? It is uncomfortable to countenance the possibility that we are marionettes operated by external forces. Yet, at the same time I would guess that there are very few humans who feel that they are in control of most facets of their lives.

I would like to present to you some keys that will set you free from the bondage of thought-control. True freedom is that which cannot be interfered with by higher powers and that can only be found outside of a cage. Becoming a “free-range thinker” is the route to reclaiming your own mind and the life that cannot be owned by any external force. This priceless real estate is your inner world that is unassailably yours.

Are you being manipulated or influenced by a person; place or thing?

Your thoughts are not your own. It is crucial to sift through the patterns and identify which beliefs are truly yours and set aside those that are being subtly imposed upon you by entities such as Religion; parental beliefs; authority figures and environmental contexts.

The five keys to freedom are:

 Who; what; when; where and how.

The simplicity of these tools belies their utility. Through self-enquiry, a solitary inquisition though it be, you can uncouple yourself from the doubts, the shoulds and shouldn’ts and the farcical imposition of norms that only apply because they are entrenched race-beliefs. The human race is indeed enslaved- not by corporations and shadow-governments but by the facility with which we hand over our power to reason in exchange for fitting into systems that appear to regulate the uncertainties of life. 

Eric Hoffer says, “The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets.” I agree wholeheartedly. Resist even the regulation of your life by those who posture as the intermediaries of God on earth. Religion is not only the opiate of the masses, its more sinister side lies in its fundamentalism that forces you to comply or be “wrong.” Rebel against the sanitisation of your soul because this in itself can become a living hell. This process can transform a unique human being into a shell without an inhabitant, a pretty sea -shell on the shores of the ocean sans the creature who once indwelled its magnificence.

Begin to interrogate your own biases and those of your family, community and macrocosmic society by using the 5 keys and you will indeed become a freerange thinker and you will live out YOUR purpose in this lifetime rather than the false expectations that have been imposed upon you artificially.

“We are no longer puppets being manipulated by outside powerful forces: we become the powerful force ourselves. Leo Buscaglia. ...Let us say, AMEN.