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Bryan Hyde

Hi Gang!

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About the Fifty-two Seven Alliance

The driving force of The Fifty-two Seven Alliance is to reconcile the current divide in human culture and return to common decency.

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Hello Gang!

Bryan Hyde here.

I appreciate your support by being a core subscriber to Hyde in Plain Sight!

I want to make sure you are kept in the loop.

That’s why I am personally reaching out to let you know about an exciting change.

First, let’s make this point clear. As an original free subscriber to Hyde in Plain Sight you are automatically included in our expanded content plan and will begin receiving content from The Fifty-two Seven Alliance. No further action is required.

What’s going on

As many of you may have noticed, Hyde in Plain Sight and Latter-day Voices publications have teamed up to create a new publication called “The Fifty-two Seven Alliance.” 

This means even more great content will be coming your way!

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Hop on over to The Fifty-two Seven Alliance publication to see for yourself!

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Here is how: 

Navigate to your Settings page > Under Subscriptions, click on the publication with sections you'd like to change > Under “Notifications,” toggle the switch next to each section you want to receive or turn off.

Here is a link for more precise instructions directly from Substack, our platform host.

We look forward to seeing you in the Alliance!

All the best,

Bryan Hyde

***

Have questions about The Fifty-two Seven Alliance? You can find answers in our FAQ post here.

We’ve all heard the expression that “Everyone has a price.”

The implication, of course, is that—for the right price—anyone can be compromised.

But what about those things that are intangible but priceless.

• Would you betray your spouse for a certain dollar amount?

• Would you steal from an employer if you knew you could get away with it?

• Better still, would you bear false witness against another person, if the price was right?

Anyone who has paid the price to develop his or her fidelity, personal integrity and truthfulness would likely balk at the thought of discarding such essential aspects of their character.

That’s because these traits are not developed in an instant.

They are the product of long term discipline, decency and a willingness to do the right thing in all circumstances.

Project Veritas founder James O’Keeffe puts it this way:

“If your price is not your life, then you are for sale… Because the enemy—whatever the enemy is—whether it be physical, legal or spiritual, will attack the vulnerability of the person who can be compromised.”

When is the last time you gave serious thought to those things which you hold so sacred, that you would die before you would abandon them?

If you can’t think of any ideals for which you’d be willing to sacrifice your life to defend, then your ideals may be seriously lacking.

The best time to develop this kind of moral clarity is before we are tempted to compromise our values.

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Anyone who has endured a long road trip with a bored sibling in the backseat is likely familiar with the “I’m not touching you” game.

This is the game where the instigator continually comes as close as possible to touching the intended victim without actually touching him or her.

It’s an intentional attempt to provoke an angry outburst that will get the tormented sibling in trouble once they reach the end of their patience. Typically, the authority figure in the vehicle will focus their corrective action on the one who snaps first. 

What makes this particularly sinister is the air of supposed innocence maintained by the one doing the tormenting.

Believe it or not, some adults still play this game for political reasons.

They offer steadily increasing provocations to those who are minding their own business and when someone finally responds with anger, the instigator immediately plays the victim.

At that point, the instigator appeals to an authority figure, usually the state, to punish those who have been goaded into responding. 

In this sense the action they seek is dependent upon the reaction of their target.

Denying the provocateur the reaction that he or she is desperately seeking is the wisest course of action, in most cases.

But that can be hard to do if we’re not secure in our understanding of what is right.

Keeping our cool when someone is trying to provoke us is one of the surest tests of our character and our convictions.

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Some years ago, I was hiking Dark Canyon in Southern Utah with a group of students. 

It was the final evening of a grueling weeklong backpacking trek in remote desert wilderness and my feet were in agony from wearing poorly fitted boots.

We set up our camp and cooked our final dinner and looked forward to resting before our morning hike out of the canyon.

Suddenly our guide came to the group and announced that he had received warning of an impending flash flood that was headed our way.

We had only minutes to break camp and begin a hurried ascent up the steep trail as the sun was setting.

I pulled on my too-narrow boots and packed my things and began the excruciating hike out of the canyon.

It was only after safely reaching the canyon rim, in the dark, that our guide informed us that the flash flood warning was a simulation.

One lesson that came through loud and clear from that simulation was how purpose can help us push through the pain to do what has to be done.

Each of us experiences times when the difficulty and pain of what we’re going through seems like more than we can handle.

When we are driven by purpose, it’s far easier to find the grit to push through the pain and to ignore the lesser distractions.

Finding that sense of purpose starts with identifying the things that matter most to us.

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How do we choose the people and influences that we wish to include in our lives?

The answer is a principle known as free association.

Free association is where we voluntarily choose to love another and it’s a concept that has been under attack by those who place a higher value on forced associations.

This is something most often encountered under the pretense of promoting diversity where different groups of people are forced to live, work, socialize and raise families together.

But forced associations create artificial divisions.

When we’re forced to associate with others with whom we have little or nothing in common, that official coercion quickly becomes a source of resentment, anger and distrust.

There’s a world of difference between being compelled to do someone else’s bidding and making our own choices.

If we’re serious about easing the causes of social disunity, we must become comfortable with allowing others to freely choose those with whom they would rather associate.

Here’s how Paul Rosenberg puts it:

"Leave people alone to do as they wish, in unforced conditions, and even ancient hatreds drain away. This has happened – quietly – in a hundred places and in a hundred times. Wherever free commerce (aka, free human interaction) isn’t forcibly opposed, strangers learn how to get along.”

Individuals who are left alone to choose their associations will more quickly begin to use their creativity and to cooperate with others.

And with that choice, we are free to discover the good in others.

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Avoiding becoming politically possessed is one of the biggest challenges of our day.

We all know people who view every human interaction through the lens of political power.

They have no misgivings whatsoever about inflicting themselves on others due to an inflated sense of self importance and the need for control.

Every person or viewpoint they encounter is screened for political purity to determine who should be treated as a friend or foe.

When simple disagreement is being escalated to an existential threat, you can be certain you’re dealing with a political dynamic.

People who are politically possessed aren’t dumb and they aren’t evil.

Like the rest of us, they have bought into what Caitlin Johnstone calls a manufactured normality and they don’t yet realize it.

They tend to notice only what they’re told to notice rather than scoping things out for themselves.

The danger here is that often things which are vitally important are neglected.

Think of how a celebrity making a snotty remark on social media goes viral, while drone strikes that kill innocent people are rarely acknowledged.

If we wish to avoid the manufactured status quo that comes when we view the world through a political lens, there’s a simple way to do so.

We must be willing to practice seeing the world through new eyes whenever possible.

When we are actively questioning what we’re being told, we’re less likely to be lazy or governed by routine in our thinking.  

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When it comes to leveling up, spiritually, intellectually, economically or physically, mentors are one of our most powerful tools.

A mentor is different than a teacher or an advisor, in that they’re not just imparting information for us to assimilate.

A mentor is someone who has walked the path that we wish to walk.

They understand the trials, traps and tests along the way as well as what it means to pay the price of mastery.

A proper mentor will often turn away prospective mentees, at first, to see if they are serious about their willingness to learn.

When the student is ready, the mentor becomes a trusted confidant and guide.

Here’s how Oliver DeMille puts it:

“Great mentors understand what the students are seeking, what they deeply and completely want, and how they can get it. Great mentors understand this even when the students don’t.”

This means that a good mentor spends more time listening than talking. 

He or she will ask questions that make us dig deep rather than simply rattle off the answers we’re seeking.

The mentor helps the mentee find his or her own path and to reach the heights they desire.

And each person who has been mentored, will also find opportunities to mentor those who wish to become more.

The key here is to actively seek out and to actively become the kinds of mentors who can help the next generations reach their potential.

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This is a bonus essay for anyone thoughtful enough to be a subscriber. It was originally published as a Facebook post on Feb 17, 2022.

Interesting times, eh?

I have to throw a nod to our Canadian neighbors who have found the courage and conviction to claim, use and defend their natural rights. We would be wise to recognize the solid example they are setting for the world about when it's time to say, "Enough!"

These folks aren't making unreasonable demands, they are insisting that their government stay in its lane. Personal medical decisions are an individual matter. Coercion from any level is wrong.

But the people who are making a principled, if noisy, stand for their freedoms are being targeted and painted as enemies of the state. The state is going after their personal wealth as if they were genuine terrorist organizations.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

The ruling class is declaring absolute power and trying to intimidate and economically isolate these protestors and anyone who supported them from the rest of society.

The naked hostility of most of their political leaders and its media stenographers pool is as shocking as it is unwarranted.

I watched about an hour of CBC news last night and their slavish devotion to power would put the fawning U.S. MSM to shame. The current doxxing and shame campaign being waged by journalists in Canada and the U.S. is part of the official effort to crush dissent.

Isn't it interesting how quickly the banks and money-handling systems have fallen into line with the goals of the ruling class? Freezing the accounts of people who either participated in the protests or are merely SUSPECTED of sending financial support.

It raises a very interesting question about whether your money is your property or is now subject to the approval of whomever is in power. I don't know if the bank runs have begun in Canada but 4 of their major banks all went offline briefly yesterday at the same time. Quite a coincidence.

How safe would you feel leaving your money in the bank if you knew that your government was gunning for it based on hacked information from a crowdfunding site?

How can something similar not be headed our way here in the U.S.?

Today, we learn that the FBI is creating a special cryptocurrency enforcement unit. The most highly politicized secret police unit in the world is gearing up to take control of one of the last decentralized institutions.

I'm going to be blunt.

The lines are being drawn.

Hiding in the crowd will not be an option.

A moment of choice approaches and each of us will have to make a decision. That shouldn't be a scary thought but it should make us stop and think.

We are seeing people who are standing firm in their convictions even when the risk to them is real and growing. They are facing being defamed, criminally arrested and financial ruin for refusing to do what the state is commanding them to do.

What might we do under similar circumstances?

Some of you know the answer because you're already doing it.

You see what's coming and understand that it's impossible to compromise your way out of another's compulsion. The very same dynamics that have driven Canada's ruling class to open psychopathy exist in our ruling class as well.

If you're going to be free, it's going to be a matter of choosing to live up to the principles upon which your freedom rests. It's not going to happen because someone in authority decided to bestow it on you.

You have to claim it. If you don't, you're nothing more than a subject to the whims of whomever is currently in power.

You have to use your freedom. Stop asking permission to do peaceful things. Learn when to say no to people in authority.

You have to defend it. This is the part where most people become very hesitant. It's good to approach this soberness. I don't know where the line is for you. I know for myself, there are people and principles that I would defend at any cost.

If you can't think of anything that matters that much, it might be time for some introspection.

We've all been trained to view freedom with suspicion and fear. It is officially considered a threat by governments at every level. You may be a great person but the state still sees your love of freedom as a problem.

That's a pretty hostile environment to go around acting like a free man or woman.

I'm sorry. I know I'm painting a pretty bleak picture. I'm trying to face some hard realities that are fast approaching. I'm encouraging you to see them for what they are and to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Focusing on fearful things tends to invite fear into our lives. Don't give more than a tiny percentage of your attention to the truly gloomy stuff. Put your greatest focus on the people and things that bring meaning into your life.

I know that finding the balance between informed and alarmed is getting tougher. I have to contend with this dilemma daily.

Despite all the volatility, I believe God is still very much in charge. We'd be wise to ask for His help. The best place to start is at the individual level. How differently would you live your life if you knew that God had a purpose for you alone to accomplish?

That's a question few people seem to want to ask. Go ahead and ask anyway. You might be surprised.

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Human nature tends to seek the path of least resistance.

This is particularly true when we hear people using stereotypes to disparage or marginalize others. 

When we hear labels or stereotypes, our first reaction should be to activate our own powers of observation.

In other words, we should trust our own eyes and ears more than another person’s ability to apply scary labels.

People who believe in the superstition of word magic have a tendency to confuse words for things. 

Their goal is to get people to react to the frightening label and not to the reality.

The great semanticist S.I. Hayakawa warned:

“The danger of stereotypes lies not in their existence but in the fact that they become for all people some of the time and for some people all of the time substitutes for observation.”

We typically require less proof for the things we want to believe and to insist upon more strict proof for things we hope aren’t true.

For this reason, it’s wise to be extra wary of those who tell us what we want to hear since they are in the best position to manipulate us.

Problems are not solved by those who arrogantly presume that they alone have all the answers. 

And they’re definitely not solved by simply applying stereotypical labels without having to demonstrate the validity of one’s assertions.

Problems are solved by people who are willing to face reality and to engage with those with whom they may have differences.

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It’s hard to understate the importance of being able to make up your own mind.

It sounds pretty straightforward in principle but can be much more challenging in practice.

Think of all the different screens and sources of information to which you have access throughout the day.

Every one of them is a potential source of manipulation, if we’re not careful.

When narrative managers tell us that we must not listen to or consider what another person is saying, they’re not trying to protect us from misinformation.

They’re trying to protect their narrative from facts or ideas that may cause us to question it.

We can be manipulated by them to the extent that we allow them to dictate the limits of what we may or may not consider.

Our job, as seekers of truth, is to consider all pertinent information and then to make up our own minds as to what it all means.

We don’t need to be shepherded into believing what someone in power wants us to believe.

Becoming an independent thinker means refusing to outsource your ability to study things out and to decide for yourself what is correct.

This isn’t a matter of having an inflated sense of knowledge or being the smartest person in the room.

It’s admitting that you don’t have all the answers but you’re willing to work to find them.

It’s good to be open-minded. 

It’s also perfectly fine to commit to the truth at some point.

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There’s a saying that goes: “Tell me what makes you upset and I’ll tell you where you get your news.”

There’s a ring of truth there and it’s not because we’re easily led.

Most of our mass media platforms are optimized to deliver information that is focused on the worst things taking place in our world.

It’s intended to keep us alarmed, angry or fearful more so than keeping us well-informed.

When someone presents us with information in a way that causes anger rather than understanding, they are bringing more heat than light to the situation.

Of course, this can also apply to us and how we communicate with the people around us.

Our goal then, is to become seekers and bearers of light more so than heat when it comes to understanding the world around us.

If the media we’re consuming is leaving us feeling dark and hopeless, it’s a safe bet that we’re not accessing a source of light.

This doesn’t mean we put on rose-colored glasses and only listen to things that are easy to hear.

It means that we need to choose our information sources more carefully and discard those that are lacking light.

It also means that we should consider whether we are contributing more heat or light to the world when we engage with others.

Even difficult news can be delivered in non-inflammatory ways that enlighten or encourage.

We ought to choose to be a source of light rather than a source of heat.

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If you have been experiencing periodic bouts of hopelessness or feeling anxious about current events, you’re not alone.

Many of us are trapped in an endless loop of bad news that we feel duty-bound to go back to each day.

The problem with this is that we allow our primary information platforms to be the same ones that keep us focused on the ugliest things people are saying or doing.

We willingly give them our attention when we could choose to give it to other things that matter.

And these platforms feed us information that’s intended to keep us alarmed and feeling hopeless.

The answer to finding peace in challenging circumstances starts with where we choose to  put our focus.

A friend once explained to me that when current events begin to feel overwhelming, he doubles down on improving his relationship with his Creator.

He said that as his relationship with God improved, those other things just didn’t matter as much.

This isn’t the same thing as putting our heads in the sand and pretending that nothing is wrong.

It’s about prioritizing our attention and our energy in ways that don’t work against us.

When we are actively directing our efforts toward things that we can influence, we have less time to worry about those things we can’t.

The more we focus our attention on the things over which we have legitimate control, the more quickly we find a measure of peace.

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Standing up for truth is a lot harder than it sounds.

It’s easy to visualize ourselves bravely making a principled stand for what is true.

But when the moment to speak up arrives, we quickly learn that telling the truth comes with a price.

Especially if the truth we’re speaking is an unpopular one.

That’s when many of us encounter real opposition for the first time in our lives.

From snarky online attacks to being hooted and jeered at by the crowd to risking prosecution and punishment—our commitment to truth can carry a price.

This is why Alexander Solzhenitsyn stated:

“To stand for truth is nothing. For truth, you must sit in jail.”

His point isn’t that we go out and try to get ourselves arrested.

It’s that the level of commitment required to speak the truth is a lot higher than what most people are willing to pay.

Faced with almost certain ridicule, rejection or punishment, it’s easy to understand why so many choose to remain silent.

It’s also a good reason to pay attention to those dissenting voices who are actually willing to suffer for their beliefs.

They are often the genuine article in a world of pretenders.

Too many of us act as if speaking popular platitudes or having the right avatar on our social media is the same thing as boldly defending the truth.

There’s a world of difference between risk-free emoting and being an authentic source of light. 

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How would you define prosperity?

For some, it’s mostly about economic affluence.

For others, being prosperous includes personal autonomy and self-reliance.

Having said that, most of us would likely agree that our sense of prosperity has been slipping lately. 

Sometimes it seems as though the deck is being stacked against us.

Collusion between corporate special interests and government is creating a situation where authentic prosperity and freedom are things that only the very elite may enjoy.

Instead of begging politicians to save us here’s the question we should be asking:

How do we escape a corrupted system?

Paul Rosenberg teaches that with the key elements of economic freedom, personal independence, and personal privacy, we’d be mostly there.

Having the freedom to produce value as we choose, to make a profit, and to build up capital provides authentic personal power.

Of course, this is difficult to do in a system where regulation, debt, and taxation are used as leverage to prevent us from attaining that power.

Personal privacy allows us to act as we choose without threats and intimidation hanging over us. 

Now does it make sense why those who run the corrupted system are so eagerly erasing our privacy?

Rosenberg reminds us that people who possess personal power are far less receptive to any system that is running roughshod over their natural rights.

This is why it’s essential that we choose to opt out of corrupted systems and to develop our personal independence.

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One of the greatest truths I’ve ever learned came from a caveman. 

It’s a powerful bit of dialogue from the film “10,000 B.C.” that tells the story of two prehistoric friends growing up together. 

After becoming the leader of his tribe, one of the young men faces an almost impossible challenge when a more highly advanced civilization kidnaps and enslaves many of his people.

As he wrestles with his doubts about being able to lead his remaining tribesmen to free the captives, his best friend describes the choice that is before him. 

He reminds him that: 

“A good man draws a circle around himself and cares for those within. His woman, his children. Other men draw a larger circle and bring within their brothers and sisters. 

But some men have a great destiny. They must draw around themselves a circle that includes many, many more. Your father was one of those men. You must decide for yourself whether you are, as well.”

I’ve thought about this quote as I increasingly hear from people beginning to awaken to the reality of our seemingly impossible challenges.

The question they are asking is, “How can I make a difference?”

A good start would be to evaluate how wide we are willing to draw our own circle of influence. 

We don’t always recognize the impact of our efforts because we don’t always know who is paying attention. 

But our influence is real and we may want to widen our circle accordingly.

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Learning to work with reality, rather than against it, is harder than it sounds.

For example, when my dad died, I watched him wither away from a terminal illness over a period of months.

I attended his funeral, comforted family members and visited his gravesite.

Yet the reality of the situation did not hit me until several weeks later.

When it did, I realized for the first time that I had been rationalizing that it was all a big misunderstanding that we would one day laugh at when it was resolved.

The fact that he was really gone was more than I was willing to accept.

It’s part of human nature to deny, reject or avoid realities that are uncomfortable or that challenge our narrative of the world.

Dan Ellsworth puts it like this:

“A refusal to live in reality leads to observable states of being: agitation, restlessness, panic, daydreaming, rumination, emotional volatility, and neurosis. Acceptance of reality leads to poise, patience, flexibility, resilience, and strength.”

The great challenge, for most of us, is learning to adapt to the way things are rather than the way we wish things were.

Even if we believe that we are objective observers, we each carry with us certain cognitive and emotional biases that cause us to deny reality.

Being realistic about our biases helps us develop the maturity to deal with everything that remains when we wish it were otherwise.

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Being a truth-seeker sounds like a noble and worthy goal.

In practice, however, it requires far more effort than we realize.

We may see ourselves as a kind of Indiana Jones of truth-seeking, bravely going where others don’t and overcoming impossible odds to find that gleaming nugget of truth.

But that’s not the hardest part.

The real difficulty comes when we find truth and must then choose whether to incorporate it into how we live and think.

The reason for this is that many of us have a conformity filter that kicks in anytime we encounter new truth—especially if that new truth is uncomfortable.

Instead of asking ourselves questions like “Is this the truth?” we ask ourselves “What will others think of me if I believe this?”

See the difference?

If we’re more concerned about what others might think, we’re not really seeking truth.

We’re seeking approval.

And that approval is almost never given to those who live or proclaim uncomfortable truths.

The more we make truth a priority, the greater the chance that we will encounter opposition.

This means that our desire to know what is true must be stronger than our attachment to our current beliefs and our need to conform with the current groupthink.

Our world desperately needs individuals who are sources of light and truth.

Becoming one of those light-bearers requires that we switch off our conformity filter and stop caring about what others might think or say about us.

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