Navigating Disinformation

A number of people have asked me about navigating disinformation online, and particularly on social media. We should also ask whether the “info” being presented, appeals to my base instincts? Does it create division (team spirit), or does it encourage empathy, compassion, and kindness? Is it based on spiritual understanding, or does it promote ignorance?

Transcript

So,

I've been getting a number of questions about dealing with the limitless number of conspiracy theories and alternative points of view and all the stuff that's sort of going on and available through social media and the internet.

So,

I've basically been asked,

You know,

How do you wade through all of the disinformation to find what is actually true.

So,

What I'll probably do is though just offer some perspectives that individuals should take on board and I would just like to reiterate that in speaking about this,

The things that we will talk about are yes,

Helpful in everyday life,

But our perspective is always from the point of view of what is most beneficial spiritually,

What leads to enlightenment,

What is uplifting,

And what creates therefore a better world.

I think one of the things that people really need to be aware of,

And this has become very true of so-called news organizations as well as just commentary on the web,

And that is there's this growing tendency for people who may have a philosophical or political platform that they have adopted to then take truth,

I mean factual reporting or statement about factual things and events,

But then string them together and in between you've got connecting narrative and what it's doing is bending the individual items of truth on an arc pointing towards an outcome or a result that furthers the political position or narrative that somebody is is seeking to push and this of course is called spin and this was a phenomena that really became more pronounced in the 60s and really grew from there.

There used to be these people that were called spin doctors and a spin doctor was a person that was involved in what was called PR,

Public relations,

And they sought to give a or to color events to produce a type of thinking in people or a way that people would look at these things and do so in a favorable way.

It was usually done for for corporations and then became very much and and strongly adopted within within politics and so then what's really amazing is you can get two opposing people debating a point and they can be speaking about exactly the same truths or the same set of facts but be presenting to completely and even diametrically opposed perspectives and the average person is not very analytical or very well equipped because of not being analytical to consider you know what's this person how am I being manipulated.

There's a really excellent documentary that I saw and would highly recommend it's called the social dilemma and one of the reasons I liked it it was produced by or it was a group of leading executives from most of the big social media companies who were early participants and held very extremely senior positions and then later step back from from the social media and have now become openly critical of what's going on.

One of the things that was really amazing they asked them so do you allow your children how much time do you give them on social media and all of them without exception that were interviewed in the film said they don't allow their kids anywhere near smartphones devices that have access to social media and so when you consider a lot of these people are multi millionaires you know even bordering on being billionaires who you know early players in this whole industry who now won't even allow their own children to to look at these things and yet the average person seems to be so gullible in our embrace of whatever gets fed us whatever gets presented to us we we tend not to look at things very analytically and one of the really interesting things that was pointed out was that you can have two people and they may even be friends standing in the same location and both of them will do a Google search on a particular phrase or on a particular subject and both of them may be fed completely different suggestions or ranking of different articles or things to read about the the subject that they're speaking of and so what this means is that these two people can be getting two completely different points of view or two different ways of looking at something and what they're seeking for some maybe some clarity on a subject but what people are actually being served is a perspective that works for the social media companies what they discovered really on in social media and and let me just step back one step here social media has one interest and one interest alone to keep your attention to keep your focus to keep you on your devices looking at their stuff and they learned that really early on the thing that really makes that happen is scandalous things outrageous things things that cause you to become angry or upset all of these types of things will hold your attention and cause you to to continually look at stuff and then follow the next link and the next thing that gets served up to you the next video on YouTube they all employ this exact same strategy because people that are not scandalized people that haven't had their emotions raised are generally going to lose interest and drift off and go do something else so they want you and they want your attention because every second that you spend doing stuff means they're making money out of you you are you are the product so bear bear in mind that when you are served results of a search regardless of what platform it's on some of it is going to be weighted towards things that you have an attraction to and you will probably be served an equal amount of stuff that will enrage you heighten your you know state of mental you know get you all upset about something or move you into overdrive this is really what that they're seeking to do by by serving you so I think one one thing that we need to be there was one guy in the social dilemma documentary is really interesting guy he's considered the father of virtual reality he's a computer scientist and there were others and they made suggestions like never never click on something that's just served to you unasked look precisely for something and then evaluate which one you're going to look at but consider and be aware that every time you are served something and click on it more information is being gained about you and the way that your mind works the way that your emotions work so that you can be further exploited if we realize that this is actually happening to us then or we immediately can exercise discrimination and to discriminate is good to discriminate on false values is bad but to be a discriminating or a discerning person is a really desirable quality to have the power over what you are going to soak your mind and emotions with your heart in is a choice that you need to make very consciously so one of the things that you need to be really sensitive to and watchful for when I when I am a reading something when I am looking at something particularly something that served me is this heightening my emotions and my emotional response am I able to step back and look at things very clearly and objectively if I am becoming emotionally responsive then the chances are I'm not being objective I am what's happening is I am being played and I am going along with it I am I am making life easier for the people that seek to exploit my emotions and to capture my time so when we are served something like this that stimulates our emotions or gets us you know drawn into in into gossip world basically is what's really going on there is a need from a spiritual perspective to try to weigh the information and what's going on so we have to ask the question ultimately does this information does it appeal to my base instincts do I want to start swearing at someone do I want to throw something at one do I want to go and punch somebody in the face do I want to shut somebody down do I want to stop them from speaking if I'm having those kind of reactions then yes I'm behaving in a in an animalistic type of way it's a it's a knee-jerk response to things it's an emotional response to things it's not a thoughtful response I should question whether what I am reading does it create division and here by division I mean like party spirit or team spirit where I see us and them me and the other because every time I go there it is always going to be destructive it is always going to be hurtful and we live in a time where this has become increasingly the focus and we can see that the news organizations and as I said social media everybody's playing this game not being really cognizant of where this is taking society in that documentary I spoke of some of these people who are really deeply were deeply involved in the psychology behind how social media works and everything they said that they felt that humanity is basically on a path to self-destruction there was these are not like wide-eyed radicals or emotional they're very calculating very calm just really intelligent people who have seen where things are going and have drawn these types of conclusions so you know there needs to be a question asked it does what I'm reading create division if the answer is yes then we know that being absorbed in that perspective is bad and it will produce bad outcomes I should question does this information does it encourage empathy and compassion and kindness even for someone that you disagree with and if the answer is yes then okay this is this is good is this information actually based on some spiritual understanding I think is the point that we're trying to make or is it based on and is it promoting ignorance we understand that the foundation of all spiritual thought and understanding the most basic thing is the understanding and appreciation that I am an eternal spiritual being occupying this body this body is not me the labels the gender the ethnicity the activities connected to the body are not me I am an eternal spiritual being I will leave this at the point of what's known as death of the body and all of that will be will be gone it's all over if my interaction with so-called information that's coming my way promotes a view that the body is who I am that there are clear political social ideological divisions and I have to take a side and it becomes me and them or us and them then what I'm doing is no different than what drove the Nazis to to slaughter Jews gypsies you know homosexuals all kinds of different people that they didn't didn't like if I go down that route I am becoming tribal and if we know anything about the who to and Tootsie conflict where countless people were slaughtered in the most brutal way limbs cut off heads decapitated even of children innocent young children and women and just your next-door neighbor because they belong to a different ethnicity all of these things are coming from the same place as what's driving all of this crap on on social media and the and the so-called news so there is this grave need to examine if am I getting implicated in something that's leading me towards understanding a truth and light or is it making me more ignorant and an animalistic so there is this really amazing principle that was foundational to to the ancient Vedic culture before listening to someone there was need to exercise discrimination one of my spiritual teachers gave an example one time he said you may look up in the sky and you see a bird floating around on the you know the air currents there and it looks so grand and majestic and it's free and it's just you know a great and wonderful thing but if you actually look closely you may observe that it's actually a vulture and while floating on the air currents its eyes firmly fixed on the ground looking for a dead or rotting carcass to consume and he was using that in relation to as an example in relation to people that might propose what seemed like heady or high philosophical ideals but what is necessary is to understand what is their actual motive what is their intent what is their internal condition and before anybody would would read or watch or or observe or take in ideas espoused by another there was a fundamental principle you need to know who it is that is speaking what is their character what is their ethical or moral standards what is their source of knowledge where are these ideas actually coming from what's what's the foundation for it and how was it received and is this person actually living a life that is consistent with the principles that they're espousing or what is their lifestyle how they are living and it is necessary to evaluate that before just exposing your heart and mind to whatever it is that they want to to dump in there and when we think of this and we use these types of standards in relation to consuming social media or even so-called news then it's like oh well I actually have a serious responsibility and I do need to be skeptical and even highly skeptical because if I do not then I am going to simply become an empty vessel that is filled up by whatever somebody else is generating without any concern or consideration for whether this is actually good for me is this making me a better person is this giving me a better view of the world and the way in which people are being manipulated by social media and by even news organizations is so amazing that there are numerous people that I know of and who sometimes communicate with me who have been even for quite a number of years been trying to live a spiritual life a life that is founded on spiritual principles and may for a long time seem to be quite on a very even keel and dispassionate and kind now just a new relatively short period of time of weeks or months or a year you can see this change and and they've become more radicalized due to their consumption of of so-called news and social media and they're beginning to adopt these feelings and ideas of us and them so I'm just going to conclude with a with a couple of really nice statements in the Bhagwat Purana there is a story about a young young boy who was an amazing personality he from an early age was manifest these qualities of being a very deep and profound thinker a compassionate person a highly spiritually developed individual and in reference to this type of schooling that he got because he was born in a royal family and so they had to be educated all their children and in the subject of economics and politics and speaking about him but allowed says he certainly heard and recited the topics of politics and economics taught by the teachers but he understood that political philosophy involves considering someone a friend and someone else an enemy and thus he did not like it so a few verses later about ten verses later it explains this point that people who think in terms of enemies and friends who categorize people like this are actually bereft of spiritual vision and unable to ascertain the supreme soul who resides within their own hearts and that's just like oh wow that's just amazing and so you know this is actually something that we can use to benchmark where we are do we relate to people like this seeing people at whole particular social views or philosophical views or political views that we don't like or don't approve of as therefore being like our enemy we can speak badly of them we can look down at them we can speak in a way that that is you know we degrade them if that is going on then we should understand even to the slightest degree but to whatever degree it's going on to that degree I am utterly bereft of any spiritual vision and if I am bereft of spiritual vision I am deeply absorbed in that which is temporary that which is material and I am on a path of downward decline and it can never produce a really good outcome in my life or in anybody else's life so I think the fundamental message we need to be very discerning we need to learn to be to exercise discrimination and we need some guidance we need some principles to live by a code by which we can apply this discrimination and discerning it will make us better people it will create a much happier and healthier environment and it will help us wade through the disinformation that is absolutely flooding us okay so don't take this as don't see this as discouraging the world is doing what it's doing people are doing what they're doing but how you and I interact with others and the world is of what is of great importance for our own sanity for our own spiritual development for our own happiness and that which we can then pass on and share with others the compassion the kindness making their life better thank you very much for that I hope that wasn't too heavy a topic but I think it's absolutely necessary and I do recommend that you look at that that documentary I spoke of it it's quite enlightening I think for the average person so of course the thing that helps us maintain a clarity of mind that makes it so our life is fundamentally spiritual is this meditation upon transcendental sound so tonight I'll be chanting the mantra Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl and invite you to join me thank you I know that I go nithai gore Hari bowl Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore nithai gore Hari bowl nithai gore

Reviews

Lived thus thank you. Will listen a few times to really hear it all.

Thank you for such an even toned, informative talk. I thoroughly enjoyed it and then the mantra was such a Beautiful close. ♡♡♡

Perfect timing! The universe always guides me to where I can find guidance. Thank you 🙏

Thank you, Many Blessings, Love and Light Dear One, exactly what I needed to hear! Highly recommend 🙏💓🌻

EXCELLENT and VERY NEEDED Talk for those seeking Wisdom in our current Social Environment❣️🙏🏻💕