Shock

The impact ... of ... combat - concussion - effect of ... violence - sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance - state of profound depression of the vital processes ... caused ... by severe ... injuries - ... the discharge of electricity through the ... body - ... strike with surprise ...

achieves rapid dominance

What i got from Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine" -

Authority - of whatever scale - individual, city, state, national, global - uses the shock of violence - whether administered intentionally through police or military action or as a byproduct of nature (tornadoes, hurricanes, famine, disease, etc.) - to control Human Beings.

Its purpose is to steal the wealth of the people - the people's labor, creativity, land, material possessions, whole lives of individuals, their families, communities, environments, and their descendants to provide security for the authority.

When shocks are applied to an individual its called torture, sometimes in the guise of therapy.

When its applied economically its known variously as the free market, trickle down, market reform, deregulation, privatization, globalization, chicago school, washington consensus, cuts to social spending.

Thank you Ms. Klein.

milder forms

Video artists use small shocks or jolts to grab and hold our attention - quick edits and shifting and contrasting images.

There is an even deeper and potentially more enduring type of shock - similar to the mild shock administered to restart a failed cardiopumonary system - because it can take a life about to expire and allow it to awaken.

The shock of attention

To attend ... to immediately be here and now ... only looking and listening ... smelling, tasting, feeling ... everything ... without resisting ... observing only ... observing quietly ... observing silently ... this totality ... inwardly and outwardly ... only ... beyond any thinking or thought ...

Attention ... only ... leaves you with nothing ... thats a shock ... no past ... no future ... no possessions, no hopes, no dreams ... no fears ... only this ... here and now ... the terminal void.