North Stoke Life

Only you can give permission to someone to control your mind. You do this willingly and freely. Even when threatened with force you still make the final decision.  The mechanics of your submission to a Master like this are that someone tells you what to believe. And you go on to believe it. You still don't know if it is truth. You just agree to believe it. Often contrary to what you already know.  That was your choice in totality. No one else or no power in this universe, that we know of, can change your mind against your will. You are the only one who can do it. Your choices are entirely a matter for you to attend to. They belong to you and only you. Your choices may coincide with identical choices of others. But that is random coincidence, as far as anyone knows. The phrase 'controlling your mind' is a bad way to think about it though. It's a common myth. You are the sole controller. And you can prove it without doubt scientifically and emotionally. If som...

And the death toll is increasing over time into the hundreds of millions globally and annually. Yet we hear lots of shrieking about teeny weeny genocides curiously. People doing this shrieking must be deliberately hiding something much more shameful. I'm proposing it is society itself which is behind all the great social problems, particularly those behind the excess death toll at scale.  You need look no further than here: Government and Tax Death Toll And more horrifically, here: The Purpose of War is to Kill Your Own People Allow me to make myself abundantly clear: I'm not saying that society - killing hundreds of million of its own people, every year, no matter which nation it is, no matter if that is a democracy or tyranny - is a good or a bad thing, per se.  I am saying it is absolutely happening and almost all people are refusing to accept its happening. A collective psychopathy. Because this huge death toll is indirectly caused rather than directly, the people deem it ...

Within society there are two possible kinds of state: The Agentic State - the state we live in now, where we all act as an obedient agent of authority—obeying orders with diffused responsibility(“I was only following orders”), reducing personal moral accountability and rejecting our own autonomy - hierarchical obedience, division, incoherence, blame. Illusory and conditional freedom is the outcome, terrible acts become acceptable. The Penitential State - a state we could live in but has never been tried - rejection of authority, choice-less awareness, turning from incoherence toward wholeness, absolute freedom, radical personal responsibility. Of course, the objection will be to say, "are you looking for heaven?" My response is to say "are you looking for hell?" This is not to say that the world's incoherence is good or bad. It is to say that it is happening and to confess to it without judgement. So that we can then face it it as a reality and not try to escape...

Robin Smith is an essayist who authors the website North Stoke Life, a platform featuring philosophical and societal sightings from a hamlet in Oxfordshire. His writing centers on the movement of human thought, psychology, and societal conditioning. Key themes explored in his essays include: Obedience Theory: The idea that human behaviors—such as social compliance, political alignment, and even the jealousy of wealth—are driven by an unconscious, ingrained urge for tribal obedience and survival rather than true free will. The Orwell Test: Smith designed this conceptual framework as a self-reflection tool to help individuals evaluate whether they prioritize autonomous critical thinking or unconscious tribal compliance. Institutional Critiques: He writes on topics ranging from the global effects of taxation and government regulation to broader economic discussions about societal structure.  In addition to publishing on his own site, Smith is known for engaging in the comments section...

Volumes of Space will Soon Command a Rent The volumes with the greatest value will create the greatest demand for the limited volume of valuable space available. Ultimately, the most valuable volumes will command the highest rents. Just like back on planet earth. Nothing will be different. Things will proceed as normal. Heard it before? Yes! Right here on the earth below your very feet. We just call it land area, not space volume. The familiar term 'location, location, location' still applies for identical reasons though. The term space value will be used instead of land value. Space volume instead of land area. 3D versus 2D. In economic terms, space volumes are still considered 'economic land' for use in pricing and measurements. It's just that space value is measured in volume not area. The return to the use of space volumes - the income stream from space ownership, will still be called an economic rent. Or more commonly, just rent. Unintelligent peopl...