This Podcast is not for everyone...
It's not a tightly scripted story or aimed at pleasing everyone. Here, the main character is Me, simply because I speak to you in the first person. It's a highly situated perspective after nearly half a century of life, many years of study, and countless moments of putting things into practice and carefully observing the world.

So, I won't claim to bring you absolute truth, but I can assure you that it's my truth. And to each listener, I wish to empower and grant the freedom to create their own truth as well. What I bring may be controversial, even harsh... many will scrunch their noses, others will shrug their shoulders, and some will scratch their heads... but a few will stay to listen.

This podcast is not for everyone, but it could be for you if you align with this perspective or if you're at least one of those who are willing to hear different versions of the same story.

My name is Mário Portela... Welcome to the third episode of my podcast. I've already shuffled the virtual cards... come play with me.

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We all know that human beings have an unsettling herd behavior. We really love to be in a herd, don't we?
When some members of the herd move in a certain direction, suddenly the rest seem to align without even realizing it, rowing in the same direction... Sociology calls it groupthink, but personally, I see it more as a kind of mass hysteria.
Just like in any herd, there are shepherds who whimsically define the paths, unleashing more or less obvious sheepdogs among the crowded multitude. For centuries, this role fell to religious hordes and their armies... today, more subtly, they have been replaced by the mainstream media and social media... but they're still there... directing the herd.

Whenever dissenting voices arise among the members of the herd, there's a frantic race for control, exercised in various ways. I remember back in 2012 when the talk was about the end of the Mayan calendar and how it supposedly represented the beginning of a new era. The tactic employed was to ridicule it, promoting the usual fear and dumbing down communication. At that time, the New Age movement was taking its first solid steps, becoming the heralds of this process. The media ridiculed the situation, and social media posts sensationalized everything, talking about apocalyptic endings, global destruction, and monumental events. If you take a look, in the span of 5 years, 17 movies were made centered around some kind of world-ending scenario. The herd was contained...

At that time, alongside other non-sheep individuals, I explained that what was actually happening was a subtle, slow, and gradual awakening. That infamous date referred only to the more or less substantiated visions of long-gone civilizations (such as the Mayans, Sumerians, and Hindus). They spoke of cycles, evolutions, and phases that humanity would inevitably go through as part of its evolutionary logic.

However, the world was filled with people who, in their faith or total ill will, made claims that were not only absurd but completely illogical. Some believed in a dimensional shift, others were preparing for the arrival of a savior, and some even claimed that the end was near.

Unfortunately, the only awakening that took place was a new madness that nowadays is a plague... I call it the philosophy of "namastreta."

Nothing in the world is purely black or purely white. We increasingly have to filter what we hear or read. We risk moving from a deeply controlling world based on others' beliefs to another world where we become fanatical, without realizing that the dogma has simply refined itself and changed sheepdogs.

It is important that we understand that in order to evolve, we cannot merely refine dogmas, fanatically follow trends, and continue to blindly follow the sheep to the common pasture.

DON'T WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO SAVE YOU!

The various social groups of humans are programmed to seek a savior to guide them. This herd mentality has been taught for thousands of years, probably because humans need that sense of belonging, the need to be in a group... as I mentioned in the previous episode: we are inherently social beings.

More and more people on the face of this planet succumb to the messianic concept as if it were some kind of extra oxygen balloon to help them get through the tribulations and difficulties of everyday life. They are happy to know that they suffer, but that one day everything will stop when a savior arrives who, in a sort of divine vengeance, will restore order to what humanity has disordered. No matter how much pain we are in, it seems we always have a "everything will be fine" in our heads! That brings us comfort...

THE MESSIANIC RETURN IS EVERYWHERE...

History shows us that whenever darkness fills the world more intensely, whenever sin surpasses alleged human purity, whenever all heinous transgressions prevail... the world becomes bad... a kind of immoral and diabolical mirror that reflects the human being. Prophecies about a 'Spring' of good and order that is on its way emerge everywhere, under every stone that is lifted... and it will end all suffering and punish all antagonists!

We see this happening simply by scrolling through Facebook. The promises of "everything will be fine," or here comes A or B to help us, or we will ascend to some dimension led by agent X.

In their vain mental struggle, they await a messiah, a savior, or some kind of guru for a change, or they await external events of great magnitude. In both cases, there is only a foolish child's fantasy. There has never been a single sign, apart from empty words written by anonymous individuals, of the arrival of any prophet or messiah... despite the promises and even over 2000 years later, the Christian Jesus has not reappeared, nor the Immanuel of Judaism, the Muslim Madhi, the Hindu Krishna, the Buddhist Amida, the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, the green man of the Eskimos, the Sikh Baba Naka, the great moralist of Confucianism, the galactic federation of ascended beings, or even the alien spacecraft of Scientology and other trendy pseudo-religions...

Don't let them blindfold you!

There is no savior other than the one who lives within every human being on this planet. Only we can change our world, just as only YOU can change YOURSELF.

I know... here comes the judgment: "There he goes, being a heretic and disrespectful!"

However, as I state in articles I have been publishing on pseudo-religious topics, I am not here to discredit anything or anyone, much less to disrespect. I present facts as they are and hold each human being, each carbon unit, each thinking being responsible for everything they do and aspire to. Each one of us is then free to define whatever they want for themselves!

For a change... It's time for the human being to... BE! It's time for the thinking being to... THINK!

Take a moment and ask yourself: What will change if your savior returns tomorrow?

Will you start loving all the people in the world? Will you start loving those who don't share your philosophy/religion/ideology? Will you be instantly happy? Will you stop judging the actions of others? Will you accept differences unconditionally?

The world will not magically become beautiful, peaceful, and full of happiness just because. Nothing can change the world except the beings that inhabit it. And no one can do for us what is entirely our responsibility.
Living in a better world...
If you truly want to live in a better world, you have to start by being a better person. Your world is a direct reflection of what you put into it.
Don't wait for anyone or anything. Don't wait for a master, a savior, or a new era.
Your personal growth depends solely on you, your will, and your willingness to do so.
I don't want you to think or feel that I'm somehow belittling you for your choices... you are free to have them, you are free to make them, and the more aware you become, the more they will truly be yours. I'm simply warning you to consider that in reality, a large part of our beliefs belong to the herd mentality, and through education and social interaction, we integrate them as our own.
Remember that there are specialized "brainwashers"; and mind you, this is not a recent phenomenon. For thousands of years, humanity has been traversing a path that is manipulated, adapted, and has become religiously sick. Every society, cultural sector, and civilization has progressed through a careful and cunning, increasingly complex script of brainwashing.
Every child, just like today, had no escape, and when they become adults, they take the place of their predecessors as contaminated heralds who have simply learned to nod their heads, which is why it's extremely difficult to find an adult who can listen to this podcast without at least furrowing their brow and muttering an expletive. Someday, I might talk about how the herd relies on instruction manuals they've never read, scriptures they don't know... but for today, it's important to explain that in order to truly awaken, we must cleanse what is not ours... the baggage of our balloon journey, if you recall from the previous episode.

Awakening is being unique
Without dealing with the social psychological blocks, it's difficult to truly observe what is called awakening. Although psychology and sociology are dominant topics today, I am and always will be a mystic who incorporates each of the teachings I've accumulated over these nearly five decades of experience. My esoteric nature is strong, and a big part of me.
That being said, I won't deny that we are indeed at a paradigm shift that we can even call awakening. When I studied the Vedas, I understood that they spoke of a new phase, a new Yuga, gradually unfolding and bringing new energetic vibrations that will bring about a change in our lives and the world. It's up to us to consciously make room to receive this new information and integrate what resonates with us.
There are a series of symptoms that reveal that we are all already feeling this awakening, and the sooner we understand them and realize that each case is unique, the sooner we can embrace that oh-so-outdated word: AWAKENING!
We are shaped by a society that carries a strong socio-religious past, where gratuitous insults and judgments were perfectly acceptable and practiced by those who were supposedly meant to teach us to be free. They burned 'witches', imprisoned 'heretics', tortured 'excommunicates', and pointed fingers at 'pagans'. We live in a society that forgives despicable acts in exchange for money or a kilogram of oranges during Lent. A society that indulges in deceitfulness and then absolves itself of responsibilities by uttering a few magical words to a white-collared gentleman.

Perhaps you think that over time, these traditionalisms have faded away and we've become more free? But no... Today, we exchange religious labels for pseudo-intellectualities of alleged all-knowing sciences. Today, we are hyperactive, bipolar, schizophrenic, detached, among other names that replace the previous ones with subtle forms of reinvented torture through medications, invasive therapies, and therapeutic invasions.
Me?! I'm not introverted, nor extroverted, nor ambiverted. Me?! I am whatever I feel like being on a certain day, and I can guarantee that I will vary.
There's already a label for each of us... from ancient times... we are UNIQUE! Each one of us is unique.
For me, this is the first step of awakening!

Awakening alters your perspective
Well... awakening alters your perspective, especially because you are a co-creator of a new perspective that you integrate, and consequently, it alters you.
It's in human nature to belong to a family, a community, or a tribe – to be loved, cherished, protected, and honored for who we are is our greatest goal. When this doesn't work out and we are rejected, trampled upon, judged, and mocked, the feeling is devastating. They accuse us of not being the same as before to justify the negative attitude they direct towards us.
But be like before? Be just another one of the thousands of bleary-eyed sheep who refuse to see? Why would we want to be like that?!
Of course, we can always try to open the eyes of those around us, especially those we love... inevitably, that will push away a significant percentage of them, and some will even form an attacking flock against us. At some point, we have to understand that it's better to be alone than in bad company and that "what doesn't do us good is not necessary."
I wrote the content of this episode to confirm that yes, you are in a tunnel, and awakening is more than just responding "grateful" to Facebook posts... but there is light at the end of the tunnel! We are all in the process of awakening, whether we want it or not. It's not a metaphysical inevitability or a divine order. It's pure energy and evolution... it's the natural course of species growth! What's happening is that these solitary beings in awakening are simply at the forefront of change.

Well... it's not easy to walk this path of awakening without belonging to a herded group, and I don't want to end today without telling you that you are not alone. Maybe you say to yourself, "I'm willing to experience this intensely and play my part, but why does it have to be so painful and lonely?" In reality, it doesn't have to be... All beings who are awakening go through a process of loneliness because life itself takes care of removing the anchors we carry from the past from our path. If you're feeling tremendous and unsustainable loneliness, it's probably because you're missing the most important company and connection that exists: connecting with yourself, knowing who you are, and trusting yourself! On that day, you will be unstoppable...
Yes, unstoppable, but for today, I think it's best to end the podcast here, lest I exaggerate the controversy and greatly irritate you. Maybe revisiting the podcast tomorrow might be more useful because we tend to assimilate things more beneficially when we're not heated.
If you've listened this far, it's certainly because what I presented made sense to you; otherwise, you would have been herded somewhere in an antagonistic view. And because you're there, I offer you my most sincere and profound gratitude, sprinkled with a smile.