Planting Seeds

Life has always been an uncertain and scary occupation. There have always been natural disasters, acts of violence and cruelty, illness and death. Bad things have always happened at the worst possible time. However, I think that today, we are exposed to more fear and horror than ever before, and it is having its effect. While we live in an age when people live longer, healthier lives, in a world with more luxuries, opportunities, knowledge, and choice than ever before, we tend to believe that things are actually getting worse.

I think this has a lot to do with what we allow to capture our attention.

Your attention is always on something. And it's usually in reaction to things, rather than by willful choice, that our attention seeks it's objects out. When we are listening to someone speaking, and someone walks in suddenly, we don't stop and decide which thing is more important to focus on. We just look up to see who's coming in. This is a reaction. When our significant other speaks angrily to us, we reply in kind. We don't weight all the possible responses to pick the best one, we just snap back. It's a reaction.

And when we have our attention focused on violence, such as that seen on TV or in the newspaper, violent thoughts arise in reaction (or fearful thoughts, or thoughts of disgust). We don't decide what's coming up in our mind next, after seeing an image of a man striking his wife, or learn of a brutal homicide, or see people exhibiting divisive or hurtful behavior. We react, reasonably, with thoughts and feelings we generally consider to be negative (fear, anger, contempt, condemnation, etc.).

So, why do we focus so much attention on things that are violent, frightening, or contemptible? The news is full of stories of war, hate, killing, disease and misfortune. TV shows and movies are often tales involving violence or destructive interpersonal conflict. When was the last time you went an entire week without seeing someone killed or subjected to violence in the media? How often do you think people 100 years ago saw these things?

Now, I'm not advising that you give up your favorite shows or your access to worldly information. All I say is, if you're going to subject yourself to opportunities where these kinds of seeds can be planted within you, be aware of when you are doing so, so that by your own reactions, you do not water them any more than necessary. Awareness is the key to undoing habits of thought (Ch.1), so when you are bombarded with negative imagery, you can become detached from the chain of thoughts to follow, remain objective, and maintain an inner peacefulness.

Jim