The Orwell Test

I'm going to show you how to test if you're either:

• an autonomous individual, or
• an obedient instrument of authority

We all believe we make our choices with free will. And that thought is just telling us how things are. 

Yet in making 'free' choices are we actually signalling obedience to the political tribe we have chosen to rule us and are unconscious of it? 

This test is not showing you which tribe is more worthy. Or if conspiracy theories are real. Or if the activity is inherently right or wrong. It will show you if you've chosen autonomy over tribal obedience. That is all.  

So the Orwell Test is a self-reflection tool to help you recognise how propaganda is directing your social compliance.

Its focus is something called 'tribal epistemology' where the tribal narrative and obedience to it is everything. 

If you can pass the test you have broken the spell and in that time and place are no longer an obedient instrument of tribal authority - the principal factor in control of the people at scale. It's important to remember that passing it for the first time does not mean forever. It's a continuous daily process you use as a checkpoint for obedience. Some call it prayer or meditation. I do not call it these things.

Obedience Theory which is the founding activity for the test is powerful because it works. If you as an individual signal obedience to the tribe well, you will be rewarded, more than in any other way you can be rewarded. If you're not seen as obedient to the tribe the rest of the tribe will send you into exile - a virtual death sentence.

How do I take the "Orwell Test"?

Take any policy that smells authoritarian and ask its defenders:

If the other side did this exact thing, would you call it Orwellian?

• 90% will say yes.
• 90% will then defend their side doing it.

That's not hypocrisy - it is tribal epistemology. The same brain that aces the 1984 quiz fails the 1984 stress test. 

This test shows you how to test if you've given up part or all of your prior freedom so that you can be seen by the rest of the tribe as a loyal member. It also shows if you're 'signalling obedience' but are not consciously aware of it.

If you fail the test you will not be conscious of it. In fact, if you fail the test, you will deny its happening with all the power your intellect can muster - I have a thousand case histories of people attempting to escape from the activity. I have recorded it happening, played it back and still it is denied, even in front of friends and family. The ego will convince you of your autonomy for the rest of the day, merrily unaware you are self enslaved by the worldview you have chosen to rule you - your Master.

If you pass the test this time you will simply accept the fact that you are doing it - you will have brought your shadow out into the open - and recognise the revelation as a significant matter of personal transformation - it will be transcendent for you. 

But you have to keep taking the test, day by day. It's not like riding a bike. Awareness is quickly lost. Practice is everything. Eventually the test will become automatic so be careful with it. Do not take it for granted.

How to 'know' if you passed or failed the test?

Very tricky. We are dealing with unconscious activity here - that is:

1. We conceal the thing we don't want to be known about us at the start of our dissonance. 
2. Then we conceal, that we concealed it! Meaning the activity gets sent deep into the unconscious. 

So, very tricky. 

Our psyche is clever. It's programmed to help you 'escape'. Not because it is good or bad. But because historically for survival it worked! The problem is that today we do not need these mechanisms to protect the tribe from nature any more - there is abundance for all. And its continuance is now causing enormous unintended consequences.

Yet it can be 'seen happening in front of your face' using continuous observation and particularly by 'suspending' all worldviews prior to making the observation. This 'suspending of beliefs' is extraordinarily hard for anyone to do for more than a few moments. Because what we all believe is so important to us, we make it more precious to us than even our own descendants. Revelation of it will feel like there is the whole world to give up. 

So observe authentically, without judgement, pay attention and run it through the 'machine' below a few times experimentally:

You Pass the Test 

Meaning you show consistency and transcendaence if your answer pattern looks like this:

1. You are presented with a concrete policy / action / piece of rhetoric that has authoritarian vibes (e.g., mass surveillance, compelled speech, censorship by state-aligned actors, historical revision via official channels, punishing "wrongthink,", conspiracy theory etc.).
2. You honestly answer yes to: "If the other side / the party I dislike did this exact same thing, would I call it Orwellian?"
3. You then also say yes (or at least strongly lean toward yes) to: "Then shouldn't I call it Orwellian when my side does it too?" → In other words, your judgment of the action stays roughly the same regardless of who's doing it.

You Fail the Test 

Meaning you're exhibiting tribal / partisan bias / obedience signalling, if the pattern is:

1. You say yes — you would absolutely scream "Orwellian!" / "1984!" if the hated out-group did it.
2. You then immediately pivot to defending / minimising / re-framing / whatabouting when it's your in-group doing the identical thing. → This is the 90%/90% outcome - obedience signalling revealed in real time.

The test is a brutal one

The test is deliberately uncomfortable because almost everyone fails it on at least some issues. Because passing it automatically excludes you from 'attractive ''welfare'' packages' or 'mob' protection - you will be on the Pathless Land where you can no longer throw your obligations onto the tribe - you will be on your own, yet free. It's a reminder that tribal loyalty - that is to say 'obedience', often overrides ones abstract and unconsciously preached about principles. 

The people who consistently pass the test across many topics tend to be the ones who get called "principled" (or sometimes "contrarian", heretics or mavericks) rather than strictly left/right. 

As those who pass the test do not fall into either tribe in the duality, they will be trusted least of all by both sides who fail the test. Because both sides politically are acutely aware that obedience is fundamental. Both tribes will unite in perfect harmony like long lost comrades closing ranks against those who pass. This pathology is often called the Popular Front and is observed repeating across history during global conflict. 

So you can see where the demand to remain tribally obedient comes from. This is not to say its sensible to remain obedient and not speak out. It is to say if you want to remain a slave, then go ahead. And if you want to find out who you really are, you will have to commit to a 'hero's journey'...on your own.

We can see the unintended consequences of entire nations consistently failing the test by observing the group incoherence of every social institution man has ever invented claiming to be saving the world, yet unintentionally boosting the excess death toll.

So apply the test ruthlessly to your own reactions first before practicing in the field. On yourself is the only way to tell whether you passed, no one can take it for you. You are the fire!

I've just shown you how to test if you're either:

• an autonomous individual, or
• an obedient instrument of authority

Go Well.