Am I my own Crap Detector?
Or am I spreading the Virus of the Mind?
The coronavirus is a physical example of what is happening in our minds and spreading throughout society. It is scary, destructive, and deadly. We are all seeing this physical virus tear through humanity, no matter the gender, race, beliefs, culture, religion, politics, age, or economic status. And yet there are people that still deny its impact or the seriousness of this pandemic. Even as hundreds and thousands of people are dying, far away on the other side of the world (out of sight, out of mind), it is just a hoax. Even though the experts in the field have been saying for years that we must be vigilant and prepare now, we think it is a joke, or a conspiracy to undermine the American presidential election. Oh yeah, that's why people are dying in China!?!? This world wide pandemic is all about the US president??? And it is whose fault???
And yet, in the midst of all of our denials, there is a virus that is
much much more destructive than COVID 19. It is the VIRUS OF THE MIND. Not only does this virus destroy our concept of reality and truth, it is also reframing our thinking about the coronavirus; i.e. its reality and truth. If you hear someone tell you enough that something is a hoax, eventually, if you are not vigilant, you will shift your perception of reality to this alternative reality. That's what the virus of the mind, i.e. meme, does. There are many types of memes. Some are good like "Love Your Neighbor" or "Be the Change" or "Treat Others Like You Want to Be Treated." Others are innocuous like "Go Tigers" or "I'm Fine." Others are very destructive and lead us away from the good and the truth like "Those Democrats..." or "Those Republicans..." or "White people are Racist" or "Black people are Lazy" along with other biases, prejudices, insults, and name calling. These can be religious, political, cultural, etc. And they can create love or fear, peace or hatred, truth or lies.
What is true? What is real? How can I know? How can I learn to discern what I hear so I can know what to believe. It is you and me that must develop our own internal mechanisms for sorting out truth from untruth, fake from real, propaganda from reality. Each of us must find ways to create our own “crap detector”; a personal fact checker that believes nothing that we have been told. Everything we hear must be vetted by experience and researched in this time from reliable sources. We live in a time of so much information blasting us that we can conjure up any world of our making just by the perception we choose to take. Information overload fosters this even though it is not new. It has always been true that hostile people live in a hostile world and loving people live in a loving world. But HERE and NOW, it is more true than ever in history.
Facts and truth are spinning out of control in this day and age.
Facts and truth are spinning out of control in this day and age.
