2) Talk about the weather.

If you're one of them they'll listen to you but only if you're saying the kind of thing they want to hear. To get to the stage you are at right now you've probably always gone against the flow, proud to stand apart from the herd and spit on their customs and conventions.

Newsflash - none of them like you! You're just another wierdo, screaming 'burn your MTV' at them from the gutter someplace. Another fuckhead with a sandwitch board with "End of the world is nigh" written on it. They are conditioned to ignore subversion. Their continued slavery depends on it. So blend in. If some BIP pamphlets turn up in the office photocopier it'll be the guy with the dredlocks and facial piercings that gets questioned before the ones with the neat YSL suits and combed side shed. And think about it - haven't you learned by now that the Goth or Eco Warrior look is just another manufactured individualism, sold to the fringes to satisfy their urge to be different? Fashion statements are bullshit, you're supposed to know better. So cut your fucking hair and break out the sensible shoes. You stand a much better chance of getting close enough to mindfuck them and, more importantly, get away with it if you look Normal™.

3) Keep your eyes open

You have a new level of awareness and now you have a new peer group. Your new friends aren't as easy to recognise because they don't all wear the same gear your last peer group wore and they don't spout the same idealistic bullshit the last bunch did. Your new friends have learned rules 1 and 2 and blended in quietly. So listen to the 'ordinary' people a bit more carefully. Sure most of them are the same fuckheads you hated before but every odd one or two have been quietly fucking with the system for years. They will be wary of you in the same way as you should be wary of them but you should be able to discern the odd subtle difference in attitude, the unflappability in pressure situations. An easy going nature that belies a heart of steel. Put out some feelers, drop a discordian flyer in your college or workplace or doctors waiting room then keep an eye on anyone who looks at it. The guy who has a glance, smirks, then puts it back - he's the one you'll have a meaningful conversation with. But make no mistake, being liberated is a lonely existence. Get used to it. 'Real' people are few and far between.