We are addicted to distraction. We need to be kept entertained and just because it APPEARS that we are choosing our own entertainment (unlike those poor people in retirement homes who have ‘diversionary activities’ scheduled into their days), we are in fact, victims of our addiction.
We believe we must watch the daily news – ‘You have to keep up with what’s going on in the world…’
Really? Why? How does what’s going on in the world impact on your daily life? How does it influence the decisions you make daily?
I am not saying it doesn’t but I am asking you to spell out exactly how it does impact upon you personally.
Most people watch the news because they are addicted to drama. It is our conditioning. Without drama, we are at a loss as to what to do with our time and our energy.
Of course we justify our ‘need to know’ with all sorts of righteous or practical reasons.
You are part of the world. Don’t you want to know about what’s going on in it?
Again, my question is ‘Why? And more importantly, What is it exactly that you need to know?’
Given that you watch the news daily, do you then take action daily to do something about what you have seen or heard?
Or do you store the ‘information’ that you get, most of which is unpleasant and largely inaccurate, or at the very least incomplete, for the next conversation you will have with your colleagues and friends?
After all, doesn’t sharing awful information about someone or something help us feel a little better about ourselves? Because, thank god, WE are not like that?
Of course we don’t say this out loud and we may no longer even think it consciously (it is so deeply embedded in our subconscious) but, really, doesn’t it help us feel ‘better’ about ourselves even if only in some shallow and fleeting way? Doesn’t it give us a bit of a break from the drone of self-judgement that never ceases in the back of our minds?
Sick as it may sound, we are addicted to bad news. It gives us something to distract us from the disquiet and dis-ease that is happening within us – our existential and interpersonal dissatisfaction with ourselves and with the people and things around us.
As long as we can keep our focus outward, we can run away from what is happening inside. This is an effect of our collective and personal conditioning.
Good news doesn’t quite do it for us. Sure, it may give us a few moments of elation but really, what we want is awful, macabre, scary, unflattering, critical, blame and shame news ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE. It helps us feel just a little bit better about ourselves. If this weren’t true, most of our media – print, online or offline – would be out of business in a shot. And the greater the shock effect, the greater the entertainment ‘value’.
We are addicted. That is the simple truth and unless we face up to it, as we must with any addiction, we are going to remain victims of our addiction.
But, let’s take a little detour for a moment. Let’s do a 180 and focus on what’s going on WITHIN us.
What is it that we are uncomfortable with? What is it that we are constantly trying to avoid? What is it that we feel powerless about? What is it that we have given up on and are grieving the loss of? What is it that gnaws at our conscience? What is it that makes us feel so unworthy, so not good enough? What dreams are we unwillingly (and futily) trying to bury or burn? What pain or suffering do we secretly believe we deserve? What abundance or romance or joy or success do we secretly believe we have no right to or are undeserving of?
These are the things that disturb and imprison our otherwise peaceful, joyous and free spirit, our true nature. These are the things that unconsciously drive us to all our addictions including our addiction to entertainment, morbid and dehumanizing as it may be.
You may sugar coat this fact any way you like. You may argue that if you didn’t keep yourself informed, you’d not be able to make informed decisions. You may argue that if you didn’t know, then you wouldn’t be able to act, to reach out and help.
Do you need to listen/watch the news everyday to make such decisions? Do you need to see graphic displays of human suffering in order to act with compassion? Has any of the news caused you to become more peaceful, to establish a daily practice and attitude of being peaceful? Why are the graphic details so vital to you?
How graphically and how often do you need to be reminded that there is injustice, poverty, discrimination, exploitation, abuse and suffering in the world?
The truth is, If you were already in touch with your own suffering and not just a hapless, unconscious victim of it, you would sense the suffering of the world without having to watch or listen to any news.
And you would be naturally, spontaneously and intuitively doing what you are uniquely called to do to alleviate that suffering.
And you would KNOW that however it is you are called to act, whether by direct action (eg administering to the sick/disabled or creating a business) or indirect action (eg writing or dancing or making music), it is an act of love, which is, as Mother Teresa put it, Service. Not that we need the word ‘service’ but if it helps get your thinking around…
And remember, that this addiction, this need to be distracted from ourselves, from our suffering and our diminished ability to respond authentically and spontaneously to the suffering of the world – people and planet – is NOT a personal failure.
It is nothing more and nothing less than the EFFECTS OF OUR COLLECTIVE CONDITIONING which has been happening since the beginning of time, literally.
If we can truly see this, if we can take some of this *time* to wake up to this fact, then we WILL absolve ourselves of the tyranny of personal blame and get on with the responsibility – the RESPONSE-ABILITY – the ability to respond – of being the naturally loving, free, powerful and joyous beings that we are.
If the world asks for anything, it asks for this.MENTORING
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