00:01 Have you ever noticed in your life that some people seem to have a lot of good luck and others, you know, seem to have well, a lot of bad? This is not your imagination. And it's really not a bad thing either because it's just showing that your perception antennas are perhaps just a bit more sensitive than others. Hello, my name is Ernest.

00:23 Welcome. And what I talk about in this series are the unfortunate consequences of ignoring one of the greatest abilities you naturally possess, perception. So with no ado, let's dive right in. In case you didn't notice, there seems to be a hell of a lot of problems with relationships these days.

00:46 And I'm going to tell you the real reason why. Hello, my name is Ernest. Welcome. The cause you see is not in the air or the water as some have suggested. So stick around until the very end of this episode and you'll feel much better having a much clearer understanding of not only the cause of our relationship woes but the solution.

01:13 So with no ado let's jump in. I would like to start this with a short quote. One of the most important things a wise man always seeks to know is the vital importance of quidd proquo. That was semore. Now if you're not familiar with that quote or more precisely the phrase quid proquo is Latin and it means something for something.

01:47 Of course there are other ways to say it. One of my favorites and I believe is one that just about everyone on the planet knows is you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. But that is the very crux of the issue. You see, because the saying has mostly generationally disappeared and it's no longer used in the parlance of our times and consequently has ceased to be a driving force in our collective consciousness if you believe in that idea put forth by the incredible Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung as I do. So we as individuals are by and

02:33 large no longer interacting with each other based on that extremely important rule and that in turn produces very bad consequences. Now if you wanted a more modern or perhaps I don't know technically impressive sounding term it's called symbiosis. And symbiosis has been a defining part of human existence ever since there have been well humans.

03:05 And there are quite a few examples of symbiosis in the natural world as well. But it's only mankind that seems hellbent on separating himself from symbiosis. And he's doing a pretty damn good job of that. I'm not laughing because the situation's funny. I'm laughing because it's so frighteningly real and upon us.

03:36 The important thing to recognize is if you take even the most cursory examination of human history, you discover pretty quickly a very disturbing pattern. It doesn't matter what group of people, what race of people, whether it be a successful kingdom or civilization. From the distant past to our current time, an unmistakable pattern appears.

04:01 They all reach a peak and then disintegrate. Some faster and some slower. And there are certainly different mitigating circumstances for all of them. Yet the primary cause for all of their downfalls is losing their ability to produce and keep symbiotic relationships. And in each and every case once that tendency becomes well established unless there is a strong intervention such as when you know Augustus came to power in Rome the kingdom or civilization inevitably collapses always.

04:44 Now I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but it's entirely possible you don't even have the time to finish this episode. So, I'm going to spill the proverbial beans early and tell you what it is in a nutshell. Capitalism. Now, before you draw your daggers and are about to dispatch with me as though I were the Roman Emperor Caligia and you believe I'm touting for communism, please put your daggers away, remain calm, and hear what the hell I have to say.

05:25 Capitalism, which particularly in America is the god and philosophy. we are relentlessly indoctrinated into as Americans K through 12. But it starts even sooner than that with most American preschoolers sadly being able to recognize advertising characters and memes before recognizing Santa Claus or Jesus Christ. In the corporate states of America, the psychopathy of capitalism has become the norm and natural state of human interaction, increasingly replacing our natural symbiotic state.

06:06 So it is certainly no mystery why we feel so, you know, isolated and alone and vulnerable, thrashing around, flipping and flopping like a damn fish out of water, out of our natural environment, because that's exactly what we are. But I'm not here to discuss the relative economic merits of capitalism one way or the other.

06:34 I don't want to bore you with something you're probably already bored with in the first place. I find that discussing economics is about as pleasant and stimulating as watching two Unix attempting to copulate on a tin roof during a hail [Laughter] storm. I thought that was funny. When you examine well doumented evidence concerning the welfare and stability of societies over the course of several thousand years, what becomes very clear is when societies stop being human.

07:17 When as individuals they fail to recognize certain obligational responsibilities, also known as the social contract. and instead begin to act as completely autonomous, self-centered individuals. That in the shortest possible terms is the moment that society begins to collapse. Now, of course, it may not be immediate, but if it takes say, you know, 20 to 50 years, that's kind of a blink of an eye.

07:56 if a civilization has been around for many centuries. So if you believe that so much of America has gone to hell in a hand basket in the last 60 years, you're absolutely correct. As much of society is currently crazy and without a serious intervention is doomed to collapse. But don't worry, it's not all gloom and doom.

08:29 As long as I have reruns of Family Guy, Sid, and Morty, and the occasional delivery pizza, life's not too bad. What needs to be fully and completely understood? Sorry. Um, if you want to, you know, have a much greater chance of a happy and successful life, you must make absolutely certain that your relationships are as symbiotic as possible. That is the secret.

09:01 That is the key or at least I should say it's a very important key of the many keys of life. This is the reason why wealth, even great or tremendous wealth, doesn't walk hand in hand with happiness. And it never will. Because the accumulation of wealth, particularly through the unscrupulous manipulations of other people's lives, runs completely counter to the beings we actually are.

09:35 And the beings we are are social. And our normal state of being is symbiotic, not predatory, not exploitative. So what we need to do as human beings first and foremost is to recognize our need for symbiotic relationships because ultimately without such relationships, our lives cease to have meaning and we become miserable.

10:06 Now before I finish, I believe it's very important that I mention the other aspects of symbiotic relationships, namely unsembiotic relationships or what I pleasantly referred to as parasitic relationships. As I mentioned earlier, all relationships, if they are to be healthy relationships, need to be symbiotic relationships.

10:34 and anything other than that is not. And this is often where people find themselves in a lot of trouble, particularly with family who may be commonly and perhaps erroneously referred to as loved ones. If you help someone, and I do mean anyone, it could be a nextdoor neighbor, and they basically do not even attempt to repay you to say help you in any way.

11:06 And this happens repeatedly or consistently. Ditch that person. They are a parasite and they certainly don't have your well-being as their top priority, if actually any priority at all. Now, perhaps what I just said may sound cruel to you, but I don't think it is. Not for a damn minute. You could argue that the other person you're dealing with simply was not aware of the concept of symbiosis.

11:43 that they were never taught or never learned their entire lives about the simple concept of give and take. Yeah, you could argue that, but it sounds to me as though you'd be defending the behavior of an idiot at best or a narcissistic psychopathic predator at worst. And if you're the person that's willing to suffer the consequences of those people, that's entirely your choice.

12:16 But don't come running to the rest of us when they've made your life a living hell. And you expect us to sort things out. I certainly believe in compassion, but not for those who ignored repeated warnings and chose to embrace their stupidity. And nature never rewards stupidity.

12:41 Do any of you out there have any thoughts on this you'd like to share? Well, you know how to do so, and I'd really love to hear from you. Oh, and just so you know, I've done a great deal of research on this, and I recently discovered that your odds of winning the lottery increase dramatically if you subscribe and hit the notification bell.

13:08 I don't know the reason for this. I don't understand the correlation, but that's what the science says, and I never argue with science. Anyway, until next Monday or Friday, this is Ernest and I usually always am.