If we think about it, from last year’s Easter Attacks of April 2019 to the COVID-19 crisis which has dominated our lives since February, through curfew and lockdown and interruption of education and commercial enterprise, the rise of unemployment and restriction of activity and movement, to June 2020, where we see civil unrest and riots exploding in the US, we have been subjected to a non-stop attack on our sense of survivalism and security.
It is difficult to maintain our optimism and equilibrium in times like this. And if we consider it, we can see that the issues and incidents that occupied our thoughts a few months ago keep changing, in step with the news reports, and the myriad opinion pieces.
It is almost impossible to determine if what is being shown and told to us is real or not, as we are usually physically removed from the place in which it happens. We are aware that visual images are photoshopped, and videos can be faked. We rely on those presenting events to us to be accurate, objective and factual in their representation of events. But often they are not. Sometimes, it’s brazenly and unapologetically. And in that uncertainty, and that falsification, in those gaps, scepticism and conspiracy theories thrive.
Personal protective equipment
Today, it seems as if the peaceful space outside our own home windowsill shows a completely different world from the one we see exploding on the television and computer screens, with escalating numbers of deaths reported, in lists and infographics, and video footage of Police in protective gear unleashing tear gas and plastic bullets on unarmed protestors.
A few weeks ago, while 100,000 people were reportedly dying in North America, of a virus we had only heard of in February, we were told the hospitals there did not have adequate personal protective equipment to supply to the medical staff on the frontline. Doctors and nurses working long shifts dealing with the health crisis were wearing plastic garbage bags and homemade masks because the proper protective gear was not available, or not being given to them. Healthcare workers were dying from prolonged exposure to the highly-infective illness, due to lack of essential protection.
But the Police and security forces dealing with these protests against racial injustice today seem very well equipped.
For 15 years, I taught a course called ‘Representation and Text’ as part of an A-level Literature syllabus. This showed us how to analyse and deconstruct images and narratives that are offered to us, as representations of events and incidents in the real world. It was great preparation for the world we live in today.
Through technology, we have access not only to the rest of the world, but to perspectives which are created by the ways that world is framed to us. Through selective reporting, through omission, exaggeration, distortion, sensationalisation, minimising and understatement, viewers are presented with a version of reality which is not an exact record of the facts.
Repetition and iteration of these distorted perspectives, on timed cycles and news loops, imprints and reinforces these ideas. And the barrage of information and infotainment impacts us. This is significant because it affects our thinking, and our beliefs; and our beliefs inform our words and actions, which in turn influence others around us.
Human beings are naturally responsive, reactive individuals. And when we are in a constant state of tension and crisis, our responses are easily triggered. This volatility has socio-political implications as well as personal ones.
Meditation practice teaches us to step back and be aware of the transience of our thoughts: our thoughts are like passing clouds, and our mind is the sky. It is our task to try and keep clear skies above us, and to recognise the changing patterns of our thoughts and beliefs, as we respond to each event which is relayed to us.
It is easy to be overwhelmed by the incoming overload of information and representation. But when this happens, I suggest keeping in focus how quickly our attention is directed from one trauma to another, all targeting our fears and anxieties.
To be well and to be happy is the goal of Metta Meditation practice. This seems to be a state of harmony which is increasingly challenging to achieve. To develop immunity against the consequences of these destabilising events, we must develop resilience of will and strength of mind.
Remove the adjectives
A simple rule when hearing stories told about what is going on in the world is to remove the adjectives from what is said. It’s like removing unwanted and harmful fat from the top of food, which can only be done when it has cooled down. If you take your temperature, metaphorically speaking, when watching or listening to something which disturbs you, wait until you cool down before absorbing it.
The contrasting difference between factual events and someone’s representation of it will always show us the intention of the person presenting it to us and expose our own biases, which are being targeted. It is up to us if that difference is clear to us or not, and how we act on that awareness.
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