I gaze within myself and discover that I live in a state of confusion and disorientation much of the time; spending my days perceiving the world in ways that are incompatible with what I’m told by others is true. As if either my perception of reality is a lie, or the world in which I find myself is a lie. And when I look around, at my fellow citizens, my brothers and sisters in this life, it appears to me that many of you feel the same way that I do. How has this dire state of affairs happened to us? We are living disenfranchised from ourselves, grasping at superficial identities in hopes of finding ourselves again; hoping to reclaim ourselves, and to assert to the world and to ourselves, that we do in fact exist, and that we know who we are.
But increasingly we don’t know who we are; it certainly doesn’t appear that we do. And I don’t think this is an accident. And we have greater and greater difficulty discerning what is true. Again, I don’t think this is accidental. This is a catastrophe, and it is intentional. We are like lost sheep without a shepherd; and we have become—we allow ourselves to be—easy prey for deception and destruction. Truth was originally given to us as a relationship, by our Creator, for the salvation of our souls. Truth shed light on many things—on everything—and showed us true relationships: between ourselves and each other, ourselves and God, and with the world in which we belong—and what is true about ourselves internally. Truth is intimate, personal and relational; truth is not merely relative. Truth isn’t facts, or evidence or data, and it isn’t the domain of ‘experts’. Truth is implanted in every human heart, and is still available for everyone with the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and with a heart that is still soft and malleable to it.
We live in a nihilistic age in which nothing matters, everything is trivial, and no thought or action has significance. Oh, what a lie! Though, I suspect we have accepted this more than we realize—action without consequence, position without accountability, life without value. This is how we rule ourselves, and each other. Nothing is taken too seriously: wars are started without concern for the lives of those affected, babies are murdered because of the inconvenience of them, and power the world over takes whatever it can from the powerless. We inflict untold pain on each other without giving much thought about it. This is certainly a catastrophe, but it is too profound for me, so I only want to talk about one aspect of our problem: the truth, deception, and our struggle to become sensitive to truth again.
After we collectively turned away from Truth as relationship, we embraced it as evidence, data, and facts and figures. At least this is how it appears to me. We gave up Truth as an intimate experience, and instead it became remote and separate from us. We were deceived to believe that truth no longer resides within us, but is rather the purview of others. Only if we study long enough are we able, maybe, to learn what is true; but only if the best people, the most qualified people are the ones who give it to us. What a lie! But how could we recognize it as such? Since we have turned our backs on the intimate knowing of Truth within our very being. Naively or knowingly we delegated authority over ‘truth’ to others; perhaps it was out of laziness, I don’t know. Regardless of the reasons why, we have done it and we are reaping the fruits of that now.
Years ago I remember reading a lengthy article about the litigation surrounding the cigarette industry, when claims were made against it. A great deal of money was at stake in the lawsuit and both sides brought numerous ‘expert’ witnesses to argue the facts of the case. Reams of research data were made available about the effects of smoking on public health, and arguments were made for and against the culpability of the industry. Apparently, from that exercise, what was discovered was that if the defense could flood the court with enough competing data to completely confuse the listeners, then it would be very difficult to lose the case. They sought to create an environment of reasonable doubt. There was very clear information that implicated the industry however, because they were able to thoroughly confuse everyone with additional data and their own deceptive interpretations of the data, they were able to escape the lawsuit with limited damage.
Since that time, it seems that nearly every industry, or individual, with money to gain and something to lose, have perfected this activity; so that data and evidence can be expertly made to serve their private interests by thoroughly confusing people. We want the truth from information and experts, but we often only get lies. We need to stop putting our faith in these ‘truths’ because they have become thoroughly corrupted and are not trustworthy.
Adding to our confusion, and amplifying it, is the very technology that we use to gather all of this spurious information. Have you noticed what happens to you after you spend time looking at a computer screen or your mobile phone? There are many studies out there about the negative effects these things have on our attention span and concentration. But apart from any external study; what have you noticed about this yourself? Your own perception is the most important tool that you have for understanding what is happening to you. You don’t need those studies, at least not as your primary source for gathering important and meaningful guidance; if anything those other sources can be used in support of what you personally discover by virtue of your own close inspection and exploration.
I will share what I have discovered through my use of computers and mobile devices. I won’t go into all of my discoveries, but only the one that most relates to this topic. Apart from a headache, I feel a change in my psyche, and this is the vital disruption that these technologies are having on us, I believe. My ability to think clearly and efficiently is reduced. In the areas of my brain, beginning in the frontal lobe, and then descending behind the eyes and continuing back down towards the spine, including the area of the thalamus and hypothalamus, and the pineal gland, it feels as though everything goes numb and is electrically impinged, or paralyzed. I experience this also as a feeling of being dazed and unable to think normally. But more importantly, I think, is a dissipation in my ability to pray and to experience what I would call spiritual insights. It is as though my time on the computer or mobile device closes the door on my connection with God. I find that extremely interesting and poignant; and very much to the point that I believe all of this is intentional and intended to sever our connection with original Truth. So that we can’t see it, or understand it, but rather we become lost in a dull senselessness.
As a brief aside, but one which I also find interesting and relates to my experience. A friend told me recently about research that was done in the 1930’s with LED light to inhibit the functioning of the pineal gland. The idea was to use it as a weapon of sorts, in order to hopefully impede mental functioning. Apparently they were successful in slowing cognitive ability at least temporarily. I can imagine that this research wasn’t abandoned; but I expect that it was continued and expanded to the present day. Who knows what and how effectively this is now being used against us. It certainly explains a lot.
What might one do in response to this technological problem? Get rid of our computers and cell phones? I wish that could be done! But we also now must acknowledge our addiction to these things. Also, I suspect this addictiveness is an intentional aspect of our problem. But short of throwing them in the garbage, I have one other thing to share, which has helped me with the symptoms of technology exposure, and may benefit you in your own discovery.
By a stroke of good fortune, or Godly provision, next to my computer is my prayer nook where I keep three oil lamps. When they are lit, the golden light emanating from the lamps is soothing to my eyes. A while ago I began experimenting with this and I’ve found that looking at the candlelight helps break down the paralysis in my psyche which occurs after prolonged time looking at a screen. The longer I spend gazing into this golden light the better my mental abilities return, and I feel renewed activity in areas of my brain that I previously was unable to get firing. I now keep candlelight burning whenever I work on my computer, and I take regular breaks to look at the light, in order to help mitigate the damage that I experience from the screen. Sunlight works in the same way, if I am outside and looking at my cell phone.
If warm light is unavailable to you, I have found another tool that is also very effective, though I can’t say why it works. It is a visualization technique that imagines golden light filling my brain. I close my eyes and imagine as best I can an intense golden light, like the sun, filling various areas of my brain; left hemisphere, then right, and back and forth, trying to make connections between them, and then bringing the light into my frontal cortex, temporal lobes, back into the core, and down the spine etc. The greater concentration you can give this, to increase the intensity of the light the better the results, I’ve found. It may likely be a struggle at first to direct your attention and concentration in order to break up the numbness that has taken you, but it will finally change and dissipate with consistent and applied effort. And the result is a functioning psyche which is worth the time and effort.
Perhaps this seems strange to you? Why bother? Well, as I’ve said already, since we live in a nihilistic age, it is no wonder we might not think any of this really matters; or that there is anything we can do about it, since we’ve been disenfranchised from ourselves by ‘experts’ and by deceptions on a global scale. But the Truth is that this does matter because we matter. You matter; and your ability to think and to perceive clearly is of great importance. The ability to discover and know Truth relationally, and to know yourself, is a strong tower of protection in this world of deceit which seeks to devour us, and more importantly our receptivity to Truth is the beginning of our salvation; and this is the most important thing, no matter what anybody else tells you! I hope you will discover this Truth for yourself.
~FS
Prayerful Life 