Towards a Better World

Towards a Better World #56

9 May 2023

New post

Keeping one’s discernment

Those who, through the media, inform us objectively and encourage the necessary openness to the world play an indispensable and positive role in our societies. They deserve our thanks. However, the desire to influence opinion and the race for sensationalism and ratings lead others to play on the emotions, prejudices and credulity of readers and viewers.
Some media, including websites, in defiance of any code of ethics, spread here and there misinformation, fake news, doctored images and videos, propaganda, rumours and so on. These cleverly disguised falsehoods encourage us to step back, to check, and to choose and cross-check our sources of information: Lord HAMSAH MANARAH insists on “the freedom of judgement which must be safeguarded at all costs as the guarantor of the fundamental freedoms of men and women living in a heavily mediatised universe”. (Le Flambeau d’Unité, p. 200)
Moreover, the spread of catastrophic scenarios generates anxiety and locks people into fear of tomorrow. Let us not forget the creative power of thought [1], and let us not fall into the trap of defeatism: on the contrary, this is the time to mobilise our strengths and change our behaviour, to trace together the new paths of the future. [2]
And if an article, a programme or the images of a film get to us, here on p. 205 is a technique within everyone’s reach to free ourselves from their hold:

“Protect yourself with the OM Sound,
slowly and deeply
repeated in the centre of the head…”

Keeping one’s discernment, whatever the context, means remaining in possession of oneself, able to stay at the helm of one’s life.
[1] See post no. 27, “Choosing one’s thoughts”.
[2] See post no. 10, “Choosing the Future”.

*****