The Way Ahead Newsletter: No. 4
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the fourth ‘Way Ahead’ newsletter. The year feels like it has hardly begun and already we are entering the month of May. So many of us are experiencing ‘not-enough-hours-in-the-day’ syndrome. This year may indeed be a rollercoaster as shifting events – both within the world and within ourselves – impact us physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically. So let us stay grounded, focus on what is important for us, and throw off the superficialities – and be calmed.
Now, to this month’s reflections…
REFLECTIONS
The Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges once famously wrote of a great Empire that created a map that was so detailed it was as large as the Empire itself. The actual map itself grew and decayed as the Empire itself conquered or lost territory. When the Empire finally crumbled, all that remained was the map. This ‘imaginary map’ finally became the only
remaining reality of the great Empire: a simulation of the physical reality that now encompasses everyone. In some sense we can say that today’s world is moving further towards existing within a simulation of reality. Our world is increasingly given meaning and order through symbols and signs, reducing the human experience to moving between artefacts that construct and maintain a perceived reality. Much of this is orchestrated through global media and the worldwide ‘cultural creep’ of uniform, standardizing western lifestyle patterns. Through the consumerist mass-production of objects and desirables, people’s attention and focus is increasingly driven towards superficial attainments and false value systems. The global media, through movies, television, and printed material, shoulders a high responsibility for blurring the sense of meaning, values, and for deliberate distraction techniques. And, of course, for the incredible amount of propaganda and mental/emotional manipulation that lies at the heart of global media. When there is intent to flood people’s consciousness with images that are often
more real than the real, this sense of hyper-reality is in danger of eroding the presence of
meaning and
significance.
This shift towards propagating banal reality lies at the heart of the ever-increasing centralized control of the media. It is somewhat worrying to learn that most western media organizations are owned by only a handful of giant corporations: News Corp; Viacom; Time-Warner; Disney; Vivendi Universal, and Bertelsmann. The mainstream media (MS media) is free to offer up a kaleidoscopic view of world events like a broad canvas of fleeting colours. Each day the mosaic changes and events, tragedies, disasters, coups, and politics flash before the eyes like a glitterball. As a result the viewer rarely has the chance to focus on one issue, and thus remembers very little. Nor is there the need to remember a specific event as the next day it is likely to be replaced by the next item of news. In this way, the average viewer is granted their ‘nourishment’ and feeling of ‘open news’ whilst at the same time being denied any real ‘truth’ of the situation or any depth of knowledge.
The MS media and entertainment industry also manipulate viewers’ emotions to the point whereby many of us are desensitized. The media of escapism allows us to live out our fantasies in what is considered a less harmful way. It is supposed the placate us; to make us forget the regularity of our everyday lives. It also provides us with an external platform on which to project; supplies a conversation space/talking point amongst friends and/or work colleagues; or offers a buffer zone to cover up the embarrassment of a non-communicative family. For many of us the media is now an extension of our daily lives. By being an extended part of us we are drawn in to their events, are enthralled in their dramas. They appear as an amplification of our own senses, relating, interpreting, and transcribing the world back to us.
The creative capacity of human imagination is being substituted for a ready-made set of imaginative programming. The corporate entertainment industry has proved to be an incredible tranquilizing abstraction and ‘addiction to distraction’.
We are living in 2012 A.D. =
Attention
Distractor
Let us focus our minds - We need ‘Inspiration Agents’ to remind us of where we need to be heading - to prod us when we fall asleep on the way; to show us signs of the Great Capacity we hold within ourselves. To show compassion when we think we are failing; to give a hand when we stumble - to whisper to us that we are loved...
Let us not be distracted from the Way Ahead…
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Until next month.... please visit
my webpage for more news...and stay informed.
LATEST NEWS
Latest Interviews
"Open Source & Repository Creation - Dialogue in Transition" - 15.00 PST/18.00 EST/00.00CET - Sunday April 29th
The Struggle for Your Mind: An Interview with H2O Network - on archives
Some News of Interest
A 'Saying' to Share
‘If you think that you are not self-deluded, just check whether you think well of yourself or not’
A Tale to Finish
'
The Lion'
A lionwas captured and imprisoned in a reserve where, to his surprise, he found other lions that had been there for many years, some even their whole life having been born in captivity. The newcomer soon became familiar with the activities of the other lions, and observed how they were arranged in different groups.
One group was dedicated to socializing, another to show business, whilst yet another group was focused on preserving the customs, culture and history from the time the lions were free. There were church groups and others that had attracted the literary or artistic talent. There were also revolutionaries who devoted themselves to plot against their captors and against other revolutionary groups. Occasionally, a riot broke out and one group was removed or killed all the camp guards and so that they had to be replaced by another set of guards. However, the newcomer also noticed the presence of a lion that always seemed to be asleep. He did not belong to any group and was oblivious to them all. This lion appeared to arouse both admiration and hostility from the others. One day the newcomer approached this solitary lion and asked him which group he belonged to.
‘Do not joinany group’ said the lion, ‘those poor ones deal with everything but the essentials.’
‘And what is essential?’ asked the newcomer.
‘It is essential to study the nature of the fence’
