You’ve heard it many times before – bad news sells. Let it sell to others, not to you. Responding to global news with worry costs you dearly. Therefore, turn your attention inward.
Two Different Paradigms
Let me generalize a little and say that people are divided into two groups – those who are at the effect in the universe and those who are at the cause.
To be at the effect is known in psychology as having an “outer locus of control.” These folks strongly believe that the world around them has ultimate control over them. And they live and act accordingly.
To be at the cause is known as having an “inner locus of control,” and these people are in a smaller number and believe that they shape their own realities.
All the bad news that is out there on TV, Facebook, and other media, caters to the “outer locus of control” type. This is perfectly logical. The news feeds the beast of worry to which these folks are inclined due to how they view the world.
Unfortunately, the bad news sometimes gets to the rest of us – folks who believe in shaping our own world, the “inner locus of control” types.
These folks think that because they are at the effect they should care about the world because they can shape it. The tragedy is that mentally trying to right the wrongs of the world only results in worry.
How to Shape Our World
A man who is in touch with his life’s purpose understands his limitations and focuses his resources, such as attention, energy, time, and money on things that he can influence at the moment – to the exclusion of everything else.
He may seem insensitive to the problems of world hunger, global warming, and pollution. But, in fact, he is simply focused on the cause of his choice, on his calling.
Imagine if Mahatma Gandhi, while working on liberating India, had three other major purposes in life, such as ending world hunger, protecting the whales, and freeing Tibet.
Would he then become the great Mahatma Gandhi who liberated India? I think you are taking a good guess at the answer to this question.
Identify Your Cause and Stay with It
Do whatever it takes, even if it takes a long time, to identify what you care about so much that you could devote your life to it to the exclusion of everything else. Once you’ve identified it, focus all your power in that direction.
This does not necessarily mean that you should be involved in a nonprofit or philanthropy. Not in the beginning of your journey, most likely.
But this means that now you have chosen to ignore all the negative vibes the mass conscious is trying to send your way. You have my blessing to ignore them, my friend.
This does not make you insensitive. This makes you smart, noble, focused, and strong.
How to Think of Global Conflicts
If you’re worried about some cultural and other mass human shifts in the world today, keep in mind that the history of humanity is a history of conflict.
And sometimes it is time to fight with intensity, don’t get me wrong. But let me conclude with this quote from the Buddha:
“Whatever an enemy may do to an enemy, Or haters, one to another, Far worse is the harm From one’s own wrongly directed mind” (The Dhammapada, Fronsdal – transl. Verse 42).
If this sentence doesn’t speak to you, I don’t know what will.
Till next time,
Philip S.