The Secret to Finding Balance in Unbalanced Times
Looking out at the world, the one thing that is apparent is that there is conflict everywhere. We are surrounded by it — in the news, in entertainment, in sports, in world affairs, and in politics. Not a day goes by without our being immersed in a climate of incessant conflict somewhere in the world, in some segment of society.
The truth is that there is a reason for the unceasing, relentless cycles of conflict that dominate our news cycles and world events. The reason is that the very systems on which our society operates — our most fundamental institutions and their foundational pillars — need conflict to survive. If there were no more conflict in the world, then the very fabric of our society — the systems of global economy and trade, of the legal and political operations that govern us — would simply collapse and fall apart. Our social fabric is rooted in violent conflict at its most fundamental levels, and without it, the modern systems of governance and trade — the world and the establishment as we currently know it, would simply disintegrate.
The Root Causes of Conflict
We have to begin by understanding what causes violent conflict — where it comes from. Conflict arises when there are two (fundamentally) opposing positions or points of view that are irreconcilably at odds with one another. Under such circumstances, the only possible recourse is violence. When two opposing points of awareness are each provoked by the other to an extreme degree — to a breaking point — then violence erupts, and the inevitable outcome is conflict.
A classic example is road rage. Let’s imagine that you are driving on the highway, anxiously trying to get to work on time, when someone suddenly cuts in front of you in your lane without warning. Many of us would be triggered by such a course of events, and some of us would even be driven to anger and hostility, often expressed with yelling and gesticulating at the offending other. However, not everyone is provoked to the same degree by similar circumstances. While some of us are reduced to yelling and shaking our fists in blind rage, others are able to sidestep the situation and move on along the highway without so much as a cursory second glance at the offending party. Why is that, one has to wonder?
The answer lies in how seriously one takes oneself and the situation that one is confronted with. It lies fundamentally in one’s state of consciousness or awareness at the moment the event occurs. More specifically, it depends on one’s level of physical and mental stress — is one generally so stressed out that an incident like this is enough to send one over the edge, driven to mindless road rage? Or is one, generally, in a relaxed enough frame of mind that a disruptive event like this is perceived as no more than a minor, avoidable distraction?
It is scientifically demonstrable that stress — the human stress response or “fight-or-flight” response to provocative external stimuli — narrows or constricts one’s field of awareness. There are physiological reasons for this — the immediacy of a perceived threat requires a rapid response; one does not enjoy the “luxury” of higher brain function when being pursued by a hungry predator, for example! When multiple circumstances and stimuli over the course of one’s day-to-day life cumulatively “conspire” to raise one’s stress level so that it is close to breaking point at the very moment that one is driving on the highway, then the slightest provocation is liable to drive one over the edge, into a state of mindless rage and potential unthinking violence or desire for violence (even if not acted upon).
Our society thrives and operates on keeping people on edge — in a perpetual state of anxiety and stress. Stress is the currency of modern urban life — one cannot be in the city without getting stressed out. Most notably, the news media thrives on sensationalism and violence to an inordinate degree. It operates on the principle of capturing “eyeballs” to generate advertising revenue. As such, it is motivated incessantly to wave a red cape, as it were, in an ongoing attempt to grab the public’s attention — to provoke and enrage the sleeping bull that is the everyday public.
The news industry has relied on sensationalizing and promoting violence and conflict at least since the era of yellow journalism in the early 20th century — a trend that has steadily worsened, culminating in the mass media of the early 21st century. We live in a world in which violence and commercialism are deeply and inscrutably woven into the very fabric of modern mass media. The entertainment industry, meanwhile, has relied on the spectacle of violence and conflict at least since the era of Roman gladiatorial bloodsport. The “bread and circuses” of imperial Rome were designed to keep the empire’s citizenry perpetually on edge — in a state of constant uncertainty and fear — through the ritualized violence of the arena. The result was to sustain a level of PTSD in the Roman public in order to control and inhibit their ability to function to the full extent of their inherent abilities. By the same token, modern mass media is similarly instrumental in holding its captive audiences in a sustained state of PTSD — though, clearly, not to the same degree, perhaps, as that experienced by veterans of wartime combat.
In addition to an emphasis on violence and conflict in the media, the system of standardized sound-frequency tuning on which modern mass media operates also heightens stress. This is the tuning standard of A=440 Hz, which has been universally adopted thanks to the efforts of the Rockefeller Foundation and, before them, to those of the infamous Nazi propagandist, Dr. Josef Goebbels. This sound/music tuning system has been scientifically demonstrated to increase stress levels in human subjects, as shown by wartime acoustics research conducted by the Rockefeller Foundation. By contrast, alternative tuning systems, such as A=444 Hz and A=432 Hz, have been proven to induce a more relaxed state of body and mind in audiences.
Otherworldly Distractions: Images and Imagination
When one looks outside of oneself — out into the world at large — the majority of what one encounters is second-hand experience. In these modern times, it is mostly projected onto screens. Rarely do we directly engage with our environment in our comfortable urban lifestyle — most of our experience of the outside world is mediated by 2D images on a screen. As such, most of what we “experience” in life is two-dimensional — projected or displayed on a screen or page. Thus, it is inherently disconnected from “reality” and leaves us, the modern urban public, in a similar state of disconnection and perpetual unease.
Further back in time, for the average Medieval peasant, a life in grinding poverty and subsistence would typically have been mediated by clerical institutions, which would have dispensed the necessary religious dogma to guide their lives. In that era, the Crusades and other foreign wars would have constituted the essence of world politics, and the incessant political conflicts of the time would have dictated the quality of their lives. Even further back in history, during Roman imperial times, for example, the public would have been exposed to gladiatorial games as a source of daily entertainment and to a political climate of relentless military expansionism and never-ceasing domestic political intrigue.
The Violent Foundations of Modern Society
At the core of all of this is a never-ending climate of conflict and violence, to such a degree that it has become the very foundation of our social fabric in modern times. In a world without conflict, most of the central institutions of modern life would simply crumble into oblivion and irrelevance! Conflict and violence fundamentally feed all the key institutions of the modern world.
For instance, the arms or weapons industry relies on the continued threat of violence for its continued existence. In addition, the legal system and the governmental institutions of law enforcement and military — which are designed to protect the citizenry from violence — nevertheless owe their very existence to the reality and threat of continued violence and conflict.
Additionally, the news and entertainment media, as I have elaborated on previously, fundamentally operate and thrive on covering, sensationalizing, and even, to some degree, perpetuating violence and conflict. By extension, the advertising industry, which pays the news media for public attention, and, by extension, every other industry that relies on advertising, including pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, cigarettes, GMOs, food manufacturers, the sugar industry, factory farms, apparel, footwear — you name it — all feed on conflict and violence and owe their continued existence, to an extent, to the perpetuation of conflict and violence in the world. Without conflict in the world, all of these systems on which the engine of modern society fundamentally operates would collapse.
The Stresses of the “Real World”
To the extent that modern people are not distracted by the deceptive images on screens that, by far, consume the majority of their lives and that are, as I previously demonstrated, inordinately infused with toxic levels of violence and conflict — to the extent that one is engaged with the so-called “real world” — in direct 3D experience — any such engagement with reality is also inherently stressful and stress-inducing. Even the simplest of real-world interactions — attending a party or having a conversation with a friend — can be subtly stressful. For most of us, the stresses associated with such experiences are trivial and irrelevant — but taken cumulatively over extended periods, they can add up to something formidable and dangerous.
Being “distracted” by the world — by 3D reality — can confuse one’s sense of right and wrong and cloud one’s intuition and judgment. This produces the fog of experience — the moral confusion associated with day-to-day reality and its ambiguities. This is an inevitable consequence of living, of engaging with life. One cannot live in the real world without experiencing moral ambiguity and the resulting confusion and loss of certainty.
It is this experience of confusion and disconnection from one’s intuition that typically becomes the fodder for ideologues of various stripes — be they religious, political, cultural, or otherwise. These purveyors of dogma capitalize on and exploit the moral confusion encountered by the masses of humanity on an everyday basis — from everyday living and experience — in order to sell the public everything from nostalgia, religious extremism and fundamentalism, cults, secret societies, terrorism, self-mutilation, and a host of commercial products of every description. Arguably, more devastation and carnage have been caused in history by religious extremism than by any other cause. It is through the extremists and fundamentalists that we get the terrorists, inquisitors, cultists, and zealots who are responsible for much of the chaos and destruction in our world.
When we are left confused and bereft of any inner knowing by the distractions of the outside “real world,” we find ourselves at the mercy of deceptive influences and the many forms in which they manifest themselves — media, advertising, religious dogma, extremism, cults, political movements, fashions, trends, styles, popular causes, etc. We are blown about by a whirlwind of superficial circumstances, never able to connect with the center of our being.
Reconnecting with Inner Intuitive Knowing
It is only by going within — by immersing oneself in the pure silence of the deep recesses of one’s inner consciousness — that one can experience the deep levels of relaxation and stress alleviation that are needed to expand one’s consciousness. Only by going deep within can one reconnect with our inner knowing — our innate intuition — and find ourselves in touch with what is truly sacred and with our deep intuitive sense of moral justice, truth, aesthetics, and oneness with the universe.
Going within reconnects us with the functioning of our pineal gland, which many ancient traditions hold to be the seat of intuition. The experience mitigates one’s stress and anxiety, leading to an expansion of personal consciousness and awareness. Transcendental Meditation (TM), Vipassana Meditation, yoga, qigong, or even taking a walk in the woods (the Japanese practice of forest bathing) are instrumental in achieving a deep sense of inner connection and expanding one’s awareness.
The results of the Maharishi Effect, demonstrated by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, suggest that if at least 1% of a population comes together in the practice of regular meditative techniques — preferably 20 minutes or so, a couple of times a day — then the entire community at large benefits from the results of the practice. Elevated vibes emanating from the practitioners positively influence the entire community’s collective consciousness and the unconscious energetic field surrounding it, producing a measurable reduction in crime and violence in the neighborhood and an improved standard of living.
If more and more people around the world took measures to expand their consciousness through group meditative practices, if they collaborated to raise and expand their personal consciousness and to disseminate positive, high-vibe, high-consciousness media and content into the world, the result could be an improved quality of life for everyone the world over — in the sharing of remarkable ideas to improve the circumstances of our lives and in a greater share of enlightenment and understanding experienced by the everyman.
Without conflict in the world, as I previously mentioned, the oppressive organs of systemic global tyranny would no longer be able to function. And without deep, entrenched dualities in the world, there would cease to be any cause for conflict. If more and more people around the world experienced “unity consciousness” produced by the meditative practices of “going within,” then fewer and fewer people would feel duality or experience “otherness.” Consequently, there would organically be less conflict in the world and, as a result, less need for an arms industry, a sensationalistic news media, an oppressive legal system, or other tyrannical governmental organs and institutions.
If more and more people experienced the expanded awareness arising from meditative practices and “going within” — and, as a result, got along with each other — the world would move in a positive direction — towards peace, abundance, and a deep reconnection with the Divine — with God.
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