05-04-2017, 11:01 AM
(04-20-2017, 01:19 PM)Diana Wrote: Of utmost importance is reinventing one's view of the world. Most of us have no idea how indoctrinated we are into the present worldview. (This aligns with Eisenstein's changing the story). To do this, in my opinion, it requires detaching from the media, which is constantly reinforcing its version of reality (which may range from spin to sensationalism to fantasy), and is not only melodrama (newstainment), but is severely limited by present-day human/society thinking. It's difficult to resist the pressure of mass consciousness—like swimming upstream. But without a view outside of the mainstream, there is no real truth, and without truth, there is no way to participate without being actually caught up in the drama.
I totally agree that an outside perspective is to be cherished. Carl Jung made a very similar point in The Undiscovered Self about how only the perspective of divinity and spirituality could ground a person and give him agency in a world of competing, totally engrossing ideologies that seem to make the individual smaller and less relevant.
When I was growing up, there were years and years where my parents did not allow us to watch broadcast TV. Now, I would be the first to say this could not have helped but redound to my benefit in countless ways. However, there was one sense in which I believe it was truly a detriment: by cutting me off from the distraction, it placed me outside the orbit of the cultural moment to a certain extent. And this impacted my ability to relate to my peers, creating quite a bit of isolation. My parents also fed me a strict macrobiotic diet for much of that time, and again, such a benefit, but also an isolating factor.
I don't think any of what I'm saying contradicts your point, Diana. Even further, I think we'd both agree that an adult making the decision to isolate herself from these distractions and unhealthy activities has a different charge than a child having these decisions made for her. With all that said, however, I think media does have the ability to create a shared cultural milieu in which common ground, however trivial or questionable, can be found and built upon.
It's a fine line, isn't it? On the one hand, we come here to third density to get swept up in it, as it were. If we were completely detached, we would be constantly alien to others -- and indeed, Ra does describe this as the experience of the adept. But without the self-knowledge that accompanies adepthood, can we say that that alienation is an unqualified good? So on the other hand, we can't get too swept up or we fall into the morass of utter distraction, in spite of the calling of our heart, and find ourselves alternately swimming upstream and giving up and letting it wash over us.
I suppose this all returns me to the viewpoint that there is no set in stone rule of conduct here. All things are appropriate in their time. Now with all that said, I can tell you that I have been increasingly isolating myself from media, especially news and social media. Even in terms of the priorities of our illusion-wrapt society, the information stream has just gone off the charts on the noise to signal ratio. I hesitate to think of one place I can go where information can be consumed without having to exert such a gargantuan effort to discriminate.
To illustrate this point: I listen to a podcast where the host related that so much of the minute-to-minute news of the past months has been of very little consequence. Meanwhile, with the perspective of a month's hindsight, the contours of the genuinely important developments are much clearer. The news cycle has become so fast and furious that it no longer really serves our interests in synthesizing information into an actionable response. The host mused that maybe we'll move back to the monthly news magazine, since that might be a better unit to use in consuming current events to let those too current and too unproven in their importance to not occlude those events of more importance. Just a thought!