Sensational News! May 9, 2009
Posted by tkneller in Ponder This.Tags: collective consciousness, guns, media, messages, news, TV
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Yesterday, I finally watched Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine. It’s been on my list to watch for a while. What a great film! He does such an excellent job of telling the story of American’s love of guns and the fear behind it. It is so clear to me, and this morning, driving home and listening to the Canadian institution, CBC Radio (1560 am where I live), the differences between our countries were driven home to me. The host of the show was speaking about an event happening today in Hawrelak Park in Edmonton, to inform and educate people about Emergency Preparedness. He interviewed the city of Edmonton’s director of Emergency Preparedness, Bob Black, who seemed like a very level-headed, ordinary Canadian. Bob spoke of “just taking a few minutes to prepare” and how easy it is, and that the most common misperception about emergencies is that people will panic. He said people really don’t panic, and by far, people are remarkably calm and use common sense when an emergency happens. Gosh, that makes me proud to be Canadian!
So do Americans panic more? Hard to say. But there’s no question that those who do make it on the 6 o’clock 
news, and the more graphic, the better, as far as news agencies are concerned. I won’t preach Michael Moore’s sermon for him — if you haven’t seen Bowling for Columbine, rent it — but it’s clear to me that our neighbours across the border are bombarded with much more sensational news and heavy-duty fear tactics than we are. If I were American, I’d cut myself off from TV completely, or at least, the news. Would my life suffer from not knowing what’s going on? Nope. I don’t watch any news now and I am not suffering. I hear the big stuff from people I interact with, and I sometimes look on the internet for real news (from a better variety of sources) to find out for myself what is going on in the world. This is my way; perhaps you can’t imagine living without the news. That’s fine, but be aware of what might be behind the message they are sending, or what emotions they are trying to create in you. This is also an interesting exercise when watching commercials — what is this ad really trying to say? And I know I’ve talked about this before, but what do you think it does to our collective consciousness when thousands or millions of people all think the same thing at the same time? “Oh, there’s so much crime out there!” I think it puts quite a slant on things… but the good news is, positive collective thoughts have more power.
We are more susceptible to the messages we receive than we realize. Those messages seep down, if we aren’t careful, and affect our thinking… and that affects everything else in our lives. And we send more messages to those around us than we realize, especially with our body language. But that’s a blog for another day.
Enjoy the sunshine and fresh air!
Snow, Waves, and the Collective Consciousness January 23, 2008
Posted by tkneller in Ponder This.Tags: collective consciousness, duality, fluidity, media, mood, snow, wave-particle duality, waves
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I went cross-country skiing today, for the first time this winter! It’s just been so cold, and combined with my crazy schedule and whatnot, this is the first chance I’ve had to go. It was great! It was so mild out, only about -5, and the trail was nice and all the trees draped in snow looked beautiful. I am so amazed at how snow, which is made of frozen water, can look so much like a liquid! On the edges of roofs, it flows off and hangs like a frozen wave… on the trees, it clumps in such interesting shapes, it looks like the snow is splashing! It’s hard to describe! I am going to have to take my camera next time, and get some photos of the snow on the trees, the trees bent over under the weight of the snow, and the snow clinging to branches of poplar and evergreens alike.
There’s this paradox of nature that thing that are essentially particles–independent like snow flakes–can take on the appearance and even characteristics of waves, behaving like a liquid. It reminds me of physics, where I learned that elementary particles like electrons behave like waves much of the time, and so they are said to have wave-particle duality–indeed, a dual nature. So, as I skied along the trail, I got to thinking about other things that seem to be separate, but are also connected, or fluid. Like people.
I am my own person. I am responsible for my own actions, and no one else’s. I am responsible for my own thoughts, and what those thoughts create, either by way of my mood, attitude, opinions, as well as more concrete things in my life, like what job I have or where I live. In these ways, I am separate from those around me. Yet, with close friends and loved ones, I am in harmony, not separate. I have so much in common with them and although I don’t have any psychic abilities, we seem to read each others’ minds. On a much larger scale, I’ve read about the collective mind or consciousness–where a large group of people share attitudes and are somehow linked. For example, in the tropical paradise of Hawai’i, everyone is miserable! They have collectively decided to ignore their idyllic surroundings and instead focus on things which add to their unhappiness. The mood was quite palpable, and like I said, I’m not psychic, just observant (when I want to be).
When I first read about the collective consciousness, I found it hard to believe. I’m a scientist, after all, and this phenomenon can’t be measured, at least not measured and displayed on an oscilloscope. 
But, yet, when you look at the US, and the aftermath of 9/11, it’s pretty plain to see that the entire country has adopted a fear-based thought pattern, mixed with revenge, and it’s also pretty clear to see the result. Anxiety, pain, paranoia, violence, disease, and more things to be afraid of! Now, I think the collective consciousness is amplified by the mass media, and that abstaining from any media, as I do from time to time, really helps cushion one from the effects. But, I have lived in a few places in Canada (and wasn’t much of a TV watcher then either), and I have noticed a different “feel in the air” in each place I go.
So what we, as particle-like people, think and do affects absolutely everyone around us. It’s practical; if some people litter, soon everyone’s doing it. It’s mystical; the consciousness of a population practicing Christianity is different from that of Eastern religions. It’s amazing; we aren’t very different from lemmings at all!
Take care everybody!
