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| Jew and Muslim break Ramadan fast together. |
By acknowledging our information overload and stepping out of it,
we recover the space of sanity, the pure consciousness beyond all points
of view.
I.
The Information Age will last until we
discover that information is a hoax. We actually have no information
about the real world: only our interpretation of it.
And when we
want to know about events in a distant part of the world, we are twice
removed from reality, because all we have is our interpretation of
another's interpretation.
And to triple the illusion, we begin
with our interpretation of events before we even seek information. Then
we absorb the reports and images of those events from 'news' sources
that fit our preconceived conclusions. This is why information almost
never changes anyone's mind: because the mind chooses the information
that fits its interpretation. This not only happens in our reading the
'news,' but on a jury in the courtroom, or even in a science lab.
The
world we see is always photo-shopped and edited by the ego, which is
our point of view, our opinion of how the world should look. We do not
live in a real world, but in a theater of illusions produced by the
mind. 'Reality' is prism'd through one point of view, one bubble in an
infinite sea of possible viewpoints. We seek those whose interpretation
of the world comes closest to ours, and eventually 'unfriend' those of a
different view.
Information does not make us wise, it drives us
insane. We don't need more information, but less. Genius simplifies. At
some point, a man or woman finally allows the mind to be humbled,
dissolved by pure compassion. In today's world, this contemplative act
may begin with a sense of 'information overload.'
Are you weary
with information? Could this feeling be the dawning of sanity?
Recognition of our information overload may be the first step back, the
first step within, to become the silent Witness. By acknowledging
information overload and stepping out of it, we recover the space of
sanity, the pure consciousness beyond all points of view.
For in
truth, we are not that bubble in the sea. We are the whole ocean of
consciousness, filled with all possible points of view. Our sanity never
lies in clinging to a single bubble and resisting others. Our sanity
lies in bursting the bubble to become water itself.
When we allow
ourselves to step out of every point of view, when we stop taking sides
with the Left or the Right, the Israeli or the Arab, the Christian or
the Muslim, when we embrace the whole mess we live in just as it is,
with a boundless heart of love, as a mother embraces her trembling baby,
then there is hope for peace.
What can dissolve this multi-layered mirage of interpretations that we call the world? Only love. Love dissolves information.
Love
says, 'You don't have to tell me, just gaze into my eyes, be silent,
and know that we are here, now, one.' This is why, when we sit in the
presence of one who has become pure love, all our questions evaporate.
Our mind becomes so still and clear, like the blue sky. Then we feel a
pulse from somewhere deep in the breath of our heart, far beneath this
mind cluttered with its interpretations of the world.
In-form-ation
forms us, and we get stuck in forms. But love is formless. Love frees
us from forms. Then we can embrace the other, regardless of their story,
their interpretation of events. Let us move out of The Information Age,
into The Age of Love.
II.
For example, in the Middle
East, no one actually knows anything but this: both sides terrorize the
other. Children's bodies are mutilated, sirens fill the mind with fear,
crowds flee into shelters, brain-shattering explosions stun humanity
into shivering protoplasm. A nation that would uproot native people, and
herd them into unspeakably crowded ghettos; then, when they act out
their despair with impotent rage, would claim self-defense and bomb
innocent children huddled in terror with no place to flee, such a nation
could only be considered collectively insane, making itself a pariah to
the world community.
At the same time, any community who would
elect for its leaders a band of thugs who fire impotent yet murderous
rockets at innocent civilians, quite intentionally bringing down upon
their own people a retaliation of horror and unspeakable destruction,
such a community has also gone collectively insane.
And we in
America, who swallow our own mythical interpretation of events as
'information,' take sides in this insanity. We seek out the news sites
and videos that support our side of the conflict, our interpretation of
events. But taking sides only polarizes the conflict, and leads to
greater violence. We too have gone insane. We actually believe that one
side is innocent, justified in its violence, while the other side is the
aggressor. Our political leaders and media are quite willing to pump
their own power and profit by feeding us whatever images we require to
fabricate our personal interpretation of the world. Thus, creating the
'information' that we choose to believe in, we are in-formed by
violence, and become creatures of violence.
The only really sane
words I have heard in the Gaza conflict are these, from a Palestinian
fisherman. In his humble words lies the solution, because he doesn't
offer any interpretation at all: just a pure witness to what is.
“Nonviolent
resistance has proved ineffective. So has violent resistance. Israel
has extremists and we have Hamas. They have been too extreme and Hamas
has been too extreme. We both suffer.”
~
Anwar Qasqeen, a Palestinian fisherman.
In the chaos of Kali Yuga, there is so much to be outraged about! I am as prone as anyone to faultfinding and negativity; it is my fallen human nature. That's why I refresh my screen twice a day with meditation, to discharge the negative energy, empty the trash, and become a blue sky again. Then I am reminded of this truth:
