Media Cut

The master is speaking...all must listen. Then, like cockroaches, we scurry, we fight, we argue, we devour ourselves. Meanwhile, the world spins around and we forget to remember the fleeting nature of life, the beauty of the stars, the value of who are. 

Thus is the prevailing sentiments of our current age. Tonight, I want to talk about the power of the media.

They say that our brains are in fact, three brains in one. The oldest is called the crocodile brain, which is the first to filter any messages that we are presented with. It's decision making abilities are very primitive, survival based.  Then comes the mid-brain, which processes social situations and deciphers the meaning of things, followed by the neocortex, which allows us to think through complex problems and solve them using logical thought. 

When the media reports to us (through their own devices or in the reporting of one scandalizing thing or another), they knowingly frame the most intense and gripping information in a way that triggers our crocodile brain. When this part of our brain sees information, it asks three questions: 1) Is this dangerous? 2) Can I eat it? and 3) Can I mate with it? Many times, if the answer is "no" to all three questions, new information can easily be ignored.

Getting back to media, when they trigger our croc brain response, it's to inspire in us a sense of fear, of danger. They want us to think that we NEED to keep watching in order to live. And watch we do, in droves. We let this fear tactic ramp us up over and over, until we are becoming verbally and sometimes physically violent with those who might hold opposing views. 

Might I suggest another approach for a listener of this podcast? What if instead, you turned of the "Crisis News Network" (as the great Peter Diamandis has nicknamed CNN) and tune into yourself, your own life, and your own development. I'm not saying to pretend that things aren't actually happening or that you should bury your head in the sand. What I am saying however is that we all must learn to step off of the news cycle and realize that the power we give others over our mental state is both vast and dangerous. 

Such sensationalism and those who arise to power through it lead to dark places. As creators, we must always lead to the light. It starts in our own minds and hearts first.