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Shahriar Shahriari |
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Message of the Month
April, 2001
Manufacturing Dissent
When the results of the last Presidential election took some time to come in, the now President Bush and his Vice Presidential candidate proclaimed that the economy was in bad shape. President Clinton, naturally, countered these comments, although not very convincingly...
Shortly after that, in early January, the local television networks started showing programs about protecting our finances against a "recession". The "R" word kept being thrown around. The public psyche became accustomed to using the "R" word.
And in spite of the valuations and reassurances of most analysts about the fundamental health of the economy and the impending bounce-back of the stock markets, the indices continued their decline.
While this can make a great case for media manipulation by the various interest groups, or even smack of "conspiracy theory" material, I am more interested in the spiritual mechanism of such shaping of a national destiny.
Economy, perhaps more than many other things in our Western culture, is based on public trust and confidence. If I trust that when I pay a dollar, I receive a dollar of value, then I will spend it freely. Likewise, if I have a dollar to spend, and am confident that I will have another dollar to spend tomorrow, I am more at ease in spending my dollar today. Whereas, if I lose confidence in my ability to make a dollar tomorrow, I am less likely to part with my dollar today. Or at least, I should perceive a very high need for the value that I am about to receive.
The advent of the media in this day and age, helped by the infiltration of the Internet in most places in the United States, has created an intricate network of communication, which has rapidity and effectiveness.
More than ever before, our world is connected. At least our words and minds are connected. When an idea starts propagating, it propagates fast. And if it is forceful enough and repeated enough times, it reaches every corner of our inter-connected world very quickly.
And any idea that is based on fear or self-preservation, has the ability to travel much faster, and take hold more rapidly. After all, what better way to increase our credibility in our circle of influence than by providing them security and protection against what may come.
If we start with the premise that consciousness gives rise to thought, and thought manifests reality, then we find ourselves on very shaky grounds.
Add to this Napoleon Hill's idea of the "Master Mind Group", or the Jungian notion of the collective consciousness. Then we can only conclude that the rapid propagation of ideas through the dominant communication mechanisms of our world, have given us the ability to create our future much more effectively and quickly than ever before in history.
Dissent can be manufactured in a matter of days or even hours... and that can manifest a reality that will only confirm our worst fears.
However, we seem to have missed two points in this process.
First, that we are all in this together. Even the manufacturers and propagators of dissent are not immune from the process. They may be ahead of the game for some time, but eventually, as with all things, the effects will catch up with them.
And second, if dissent can be manufactured and manifested so easily, so can consent. If instead of letting the news feed on our worst characteristics, namely fear and self-preservation (which only lead to fight or flight), we consciously create and propagate inspiration and hope and confidence, then we can manifest what we are truly here to do. We will create an environment of progress and fulfillment and the possibility of well being of all.
© Shahriar Shahriari
Los Angeles, CA
April 2001
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