When I was growing up we listened to the radio and some few of our neighbors, richer than the rest of us, got a television. Mainly we listened to music on the radio and as television took off we heard an half-hour of news brought to us by Edward R. Morrow or Walter Cronkite and Ipana Toothpaste or Texaco. We watched Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan and What’s My Line? That was it. And we went merrily on our way sitting down to supper at 5:30, doing our homework, and letting the rest of the world go by. And then we blinked and now we have supersonic television, Internet, Titter, Twitter, Facebook, My Space, porno sites and blogs like this one—TMI: TOO MUCH INFORMATION. (The most annoying part of all this 21st century technological breakthrough breakdown also gives those shysters in Africa access to our email addresses just waiting to give us $10 million dollars that some lady who died of cancer we never heard of wants us to have…if we will send $3,500.00 to handle the paperwork. Where is the F.B.I. when we need them?)
I believe that why we have so little room for prayer and meditation is because there is too much static on the line (in our mind). Technology and science have given us so much clutter and so much information overload that the darker regions of our culture (ego and the pleasure chest: drink and drug and other Dr. Feelgood diversions) have begun to crowd out that peaceful place within ourselves where the soul lives-that part of our consciousness where the Divine speaks through Intuition-and where we can find the stillness and reverence to hear Him or Her when they speak.
One of my own suggestions I have taken is not to watch television. I must confess that Sunday night I couldn’t stop watching another one of those Bernard Madoff “how he did it” documentaries. It seems that the Feds are now going to go after those who profited from the Ponzi scheme nature of Madoff’s crimes. I read. I write. And, yes, I see which of my favorites is winning in tennis-and that’s it.
I also pray and meditate daily-sometimes hourly-because I want to know what God is saying to me as opposed to what the scurrilous pundits on radio and television are trying to get me to pander to at any given moment. God has a plan to keep me on course and out of trouble and the media is determined to frazzle me so badly I will use the pharmaceuticals that sponsor their shows.
Keeping a journal will really let you know who did what to whom and where you follow the fly you could never catch beyond left field. When my puppy is too much puppy and the clients are too needy, I am driven inside to put my thoughts on paper. You might do the same thing if you have found yourself in media, broadcast and print, overlaid.
Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.
Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/
