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A lot of philosophers have said this many, many times, but the truth of the matter is that all the happiness you will ever find lies in you.
The Merchants of Chaos
There are people who could be called Merchants of Chaos. These are people who want an environment to look very, very disturbing. A merchant is someone who buys and sells goods for a profit. Chaos is where everything is in confusion or disorder. So a Merchant of Chaos is someone who spreads bad news to make the environment seem far more dangerous than it is, for his own advantage.
Newspapermen shove the environment in people’s faces and say, “Look! It’s dangerous. Look! It’s overwhelming. Look! It’s threatening.” They report the most threatening bits of news in the most shocking way, making it worse than it is. This is the Merchant of Chaos. He is paid to the degree that he can make the environment threatening. To expect “good news” is foolish where Merchants of Chaos are active.
What is a blackmailer but somebody who is trying to get money by telling someone else that he can make the environment far more dangerous?
The Merchant of Chaos has a lot of troops, a lot of people who depend for their incomes on a dangerous environment. Even doctors are not paid for the number of people in the society they make well. They are paid for the number who are sick. Similarly, if you didn’t have crime, there would be no police. The number of policemen gives you the amount of crime there must be. The more crime, the more cops. The more sickness, the more doctors.
But it isn’t only the politician, the reporter and the makers of weapons who are making the environment threatening. A lot of people spend their whole lives as Chaos Merchants worrying everybody around them to death. The number of people who do this is quite high—probably one out of four. “If I can just keep Henry worried enough, he does what I tell him” is the basic idea. They spread confusion and upset. They may say, “I wonder why Henry doesn’t get ahead? ” Of course, they’re making Henry sick.
It runs all through the society that the environment has to be made to appear dangerous. Of course, there are real areas of danger in the environment. But it is never as dangerous as it is made to appear.
The Real World
The world simply must not be a better place according to the Chaos Merchant. If people were less beaten down by their environments, there would be no new funds for police, armies and weapons. There would be no pennies for newspapers that exaggerate stories to make them seem worse than they are.
As long as politicians, weapons manufacturers and the media profit from crime, war and bad news, there will continue to be those who spread confusion and upset.
But this is the created world, not the real world. Behind all the disturbance there exists a calmer environment. It is one in which people can live and feel better. It is a world where people do heroic deeds and neighbors help each other. It is a world where people overcome huge odds to achieve extraordinary things.
The difference between a competent person and an incompetent person is shown in the person’s environment. A person who is not very competent is not able to adjust his environment to meet his needs. But a person who is competent can adjust his environment so that he survives better. For example, if he needs to increase his income to support a growing family, he will find a way to do so.
The nineteenth-century psychologist had the idea that a person had to “adjust to his environment.” This false information has done harm to people, groups and races. The truth is that anyone is as successful as he adjusts the environment to him.
Being competent means the ability to control and operate the things in the environment.
By recognizing the actions of the Chaos Merchant, people can begin to better control their environments and succeed in their lives.
Excerpted from the Scientology Handbook booklet: Solutions for a Dangerous Environment by L. Ron Hubbard
L. Ron Hubbard developed various procedures to help people feel less overwhelmed or threatened by their environment. Below are a couple of them. When people, places or events are making you or someone you know feel anxious, stressed or overwhelmed, you can do one of these simple procedures.
Take A Walk
If a person feels bad, have him take a walk and look at things as he walks. He should really look at them.
The reason this works is that the person finds out that the environment is not threatening.
“Take a walk and look at things” is the mildest advice that you could possibly give anybody, and is almost certain to produce a result if the person will do it. It is quite effective.
Knocking Off Things That Cause Upset
This is to have the person stop doing things that upset him or stop talking to people who upset him.
You could say to the person, “Knock off some of the things in your life that make you upset.”
Or ask, “Who upsets you? Well, don’t talk to them for a while.”
Or ask him, “What activities leave you feeling worse? Well, just don’t do them for a while.”
Or possibly ask him, “What things in the environment aren’t really a threat to you? All right, have you got some of those? Fine. Associate with those. Pay more attention to them.”