STAYING IN TRUTH: EMBODYING NEW THOUGHT PRINCIPLES AT TIMES LIKE THESE

“I am unmoved by appearances, therefore appearances move.”
~ Florence Shovel Shin

“Who you gonna believe, me – or your Lyin’ Eyes?”
~ Groucho Marx

We are in an age where two major developments are occurring and becoming intertwined. One is the capacity to make false information look very real; the other is a concerted movement to stop social progress and regress to a time where the world seemed more controllable.

Using artificial intelligence to create “deep fake” images and videos (LINK) (images and videos which appear real but are not – like the image of the Pope in the Balenciaga coat above) and show people saying and doing things that they did not is one tactic. Others are creating masses of automated online accounts (bots) on social media to make it appear that some issues have more or less support or to mislead people by exposing them to false information which appears to be accurate. All of this is happening as the United States is one year away from a critical national election, and while wars rage in eastern Europe and the Middle East.

It’s a good time to start sharpening your critical thinking skills. Simplistic perspectives are inadequate for these times. Those of us on a spiritual path must come to terms with the world in which we live and take practical, spiritually-based approaches to the challenges of our time.

An example:

“Most of the things you’re going to see about the election over the next 12 months….that scare you the most…have a very high likelihood of being the result of Russian influence. Watch the peripheral events even more closely. While the war with Israel-Hamas might not seem like ‘election interference,’ I would argue it is some of the most potentially potent election interference there is. How? It induces fear and anger about the very kinds of issues that studies have shown to trigger people turn to domineering, powerhouse candidates in an election year. In short, rather than try to shape the man to what they know you want, they seek to shape the world events…that shape you….so that you’ll want…. the man.

Look at EVERYTHING that scares you, angers you or motivates you in directions that are different than usual…and ask yourself, ‘Who benefits most from me being scared of this, mad at that, or motivated to do this?’”

~ Jack Hopkins, @thejackhopkins

It is also important to discern the intention behind the information we receive. Is this information intentionally designed to make be believe something that is not true, or is the information unintentionally garbled or misrepresented? Who is the source, who are the intermediaries, what are their intentions? (LINK to info about misinformation)

“Consider that misinformation is information that merely happens to be false, whereas disinformation is false information purposely spread. Similarly, mispronunciation is people trying too feebly and in vain to say our names — and dispronunciation is people saying our names incorrectly on purpose, as if to remind us whose country this really is. Mispronunciation is a matter of limited tongues. Dispronunciation is a matter of limited hearts. ”
~ Anand Giridharadas 

The key is not to mistrust all sources of information, but to learn to discern from a basic place of trust when that trust is not appropriate. In order to do that, I have to do my spiritual practices to build my sense confidence in my ability to discern AND I have to stay informed and learn to recognize false information. Mistrust, cynicism, and avoiding the news or media are not the answers, although it is fine to take a “newsbreak” from time to time. It concerns me that so many of my friends on social media reliably fall for Facebook hoaxes or unethical advertisers or believe sources who have been proven time and again to be dishonest or biased.

‎”Somewhat counterintuitively, it’s the more trusting people that actually emerge as less gullible. They obviously get fooled, as we all do… but they tend to be very good at learning from those experiences where they have been duped, they tend not to generalize it over everybody and then to start being cynical about everything, which then makes them more effective socially.”
~ Derren Brown, Professional Illusionist

The work to be done is to build up my ability to discern, learn to notice what AI-generated images tend to look like, to pick up subtle differences in messaging from sources I know (would she really post that?), to identify trustworthy places to get information (while realizing that no source will be perfectly accurate), and to resist passing along information or links that I have not researched.

I must cultivate my connection with my deeper self, my intuitive knowing more thoroughly so that I have my best faculties primed and ready to call upon when I need them. I can learn from my experiences every time I fall for fake information and emerge from the experience more capable of discernment. I must strengthen my inner resolve and build my capacity for resilience in times such as these.

“The need for approval, the need to control things, and the need for external power are needs that are based on fear. This kind of power is not the power of pure potentiality . . . or REAL power. When we experience the power of the Self, there is an absence of fear, there is no compulsion to control, and no struggle for approval or external power.”
~ Deepak Chopra

Since I desire to live life fully, I want to know the truth, even the parts which I find disturbing. I also want to develop myself to be able to face the truth, all of it, with courage, love, and compassion. If I find myself in a world where harm is intended and pursued, I want to be able to confront that with a higher vision and be present to it more powerfully. To do that, I need to see myself as capable (I already am), as strong (I already am), and as connected to an unlimited Divine Source (I already am).

“Stark honesty, however painful, is needed on this journey toward the Self; the unconscious will not tolerate anything less. One must be willing to face many cruel truths, those we keep hidden from the light of day, and those we keep hidden from ourselves.”
~ Marion Woodman

With my spiritual practices, I focus on developing a deep acceptance of myself as having enough of everything I need to express my best self in my life. New Thought principles teach me that everything has already been given to me as potential. What is mine to do is to actualize those potentials as inner qualities which lead to the outer expression of assertiveness, love, and compassion while engaging the world around me from a spiritually realized perspective. Through my spiritual work, I develop my ability to discern what is of value and what is not, what is real and what is imagined, what is accurate and what is mis- or dis-information.

One might paraphrase the quote from Florence Shovel Shin above to affirm:

I am not fooled by appearances, therefore,

I see the Truth!

I will close with something I wrote some time ago:

“The essence of the matter is that when we live only in our mind and do not engage with the world to bring our (New Thought) principles to light, we are, essentially, acting in opposition to our spiritual principles. We are keeping our principles hidden at great cost to those who would benefit by their expression, and possibly, at the cost of a more just society overall.”
~ Jim Lockard

As always, your comments are encouraged. Please share this post with others who may be interested.Copyright 2023 – Jim Lockard