It never ceases to amaze me just how outright stupid and ignorant more and more people are becoming. Our modern day society sucks out the minds and hearts of people more and more, drawing them in and shackling them to a reality of illusions. And G-d forbid that anyone should disturb their pretty little worlds of make-believe importance to attempt to wake them up to take a glimpse at the real world. Modern society succeeds in every way to enslave the minds of people by bogging them down with so many responsibilities, obligations and desires that no one has any more time to simply think for themselves. Today almost everything is a distraction keeping us from seeing the true nature of our mental enslavement.

More and more society is becoming regimented with nonsensical meaningless bureaucratic complexities. One must now fill out forms and forms of information just to accomplish even the most simple of things. Our minds have become regimented to just accept what is going on as the only way to interact with the system. You either go with the flow or you get left behind. And G-d forbid one should not be on the pioneering edge, arrogantly ahead of one's neighbors.

Rather than to think and complain about the growing amount of nonsense daily citizens are being forced to deal with, everyone just goes with the flow, not wanting to be bothered. After all, how can one little person fight the entire system? I am sure these were the same sentiments spoken by individual sons of Israel in Egypt as they witnessed their nation descending into the bonds of slavery.

Well, here we are again and we are all slaves of a different kind, yet slaves we be. We are slaves to society, to culture, to the norms and forays of our peers. We have to do what is expected of us, how it is expected of us and at the right time in the right way. The consequences for violation will be either social or legal ostracization.

Welcome to modern Egypt, the land and society of modern slavery.

Slaves you be, to your credit cards, to your way of life, the expectations of your friends and the norms of society. No more must the government enslave your bodies with chains. Why bother, when your minds are chained to all the things that you consider to be so valuable and you are so unwilling to change or give up.

Remember Humpty Dumpty, for his day is coming. And "all the king's horses and all the king's men will not be putting Humpty back together again." Slaves do not think; they only do as they are told. For this reason, slaves are not afforded the same rights and privileges as free individuals. Only a free individual can think for him/herself. Slaves cannot think independently; slaves do not even bother to try. Slaves just want to be told what to do and then do it. Free individuals think for themselves and make their own decisions regardless of the bureaucracy or the opinions of others.

Free individuals never take into account political correctness and never just follow the crowd to conform. They do what is right simply because it is right. Convenience is not a luxury they entertain.

I have found that the great commandment of modern society is this, "Thou shalt not inconvenience me." The commentary on this simple: people just want to continue doing what they are doing and they do not want to be interrupted, bothered or slowed down. Anything that breaks the pace of their having their fun is considered evil in their eyes. In the eyes of the blind masses, this world is all about having fun and being happy; nothing else matters and nothing else is more important. This makes the pursuits of the average person similar to and on par with those who are drug addicts or others similarly addicted and not in control of their behavior.

Essentially, everyone today is an addict; they are addicted to having fun and to pursuing happiness. Modern society keeps everyone addicted. We are addicted to our entertainment media. We are addicted to fashion. We are addicted to social life. We are addicted to shopping. We are addicted to the need of approval from our peers. We are addicted to overwhelming over-stimulation, similar in every respect to those addicted to drugs.

Even in the hallowed halls of the religious communities this poisonous infection has taken hold. Indeed, many in the religious communities who are affluent have become victims of their affluence. Instead of their affluence being a blessing from G-d enabling them to do much good; much of their affluence has been a curse that has ruined them as individuals and has destroyed any sense of the fear of G-d in their children. Religion and affluence is a dangerous combination that only very, very few can handle without suffering loss in the both areas.

Slavery of the mind; this is what the Talmudic/Zoharic tradition refers to as the 50th level of uncleanliness that would ensnare the masses before the coming of Mashiah. Today, people see the world they live in, love it, embrace it and can think of no other way to live; nor do they want any other. Today, no one really wants Mashiah to come, not unless his arrival is convenient and not too disruptive. It is nice to talk about how "we want Mashiah now," but who is really willing to give up their enjoyable social lives, big houses, fancy clothes and modern conveniences all in exchange for what?

Our society has become hedonistic, self-centered and arrogant. Happiness is wrongly defined by how much one has instead of who one is as an individual. There is never enough, no matter how much one has. Consumerism has become the addictive drug of choice; buy buy buy, more, more, more, even when the economy is bad, shopping must go on! No one anymore has a concept of frugality; no one anymore knows what it means to be simple. This is a recipe for ultimate collapse, for nothing, no economy; no anything can simply grow and grow and grow without reaching its bursting point and then finally exploding with a destructive force that collapses everything. Yet, slaves and addicts will never consider this; just give them their next fix, their next trip to the mall; that's about as far as their attention span can stretch and how far their life perspective can go.

This is the 50th level of tumah, the slavery of the mind. In this deluded state the slave considers himself to be free and thus refuses to seek freedom. On the contrary, real freedom of the individual to think and act independently is abhorred; it is considered to be far too much hard work and way too inconvenient. Why should one invest so much effort for freedom, when they can get so much more all for free and with relatively little effort from the television, the movies and the mall? There is an old saying here, that rings very true, "no one imprisoned can ever free themselves."

There will be many who will be very unhappy with what I have written here; some will be angry; although most will be apathetic. They will say, "These are my opinions; who cares about them." That is just fine. I do not and have never played the game called, "How to win friends and influence people." Let people believe what they will and live like they will. Eventually they will each face their fate and no one on Earth will be able to intervene on their behalf. This is the ultimate price one must pay for the error of allowing distractions to blind one's eyes.

Does anyone remember what real teshuva is?

In coming essays we will discuss more about specific threats and what one can do to address them, if they wish to become free of this modern slavery...