My Books Available Now on Amazon ebooks

Amazon Kindle books now have some of my books. Please keep checking for more titles as they become available. Thanks!

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

True Believers Over and Over Again

Watching the television this morning, I am struck by the history of true believers and their hysteria. Once falling into the true believer pit, logic and reason vanish.

Social control techniques whip up people throughout history. Attack, kill, shun "others," outsiders. Words fly. Emotions rise. Self-righteousness smirks on faces. Bandwagons roll.

Crusades match into infamy. Crusades take many forms - against whoever is defined as infidel - women called witches, scientists called heretics, this or that group called enemy, Jews called Christ killers, Christians called abominations, Muslims called invaders of holy lands, people of other political parties called evil, etc.

It is easy to whip people up into frenzies. Lower brain emotions lead us astray.

Our time seems to be especially prone to such craziness. What is called social media (there is a case to say it is actually not social) creates mobs of people whipped up over this or that, whether or not there is even a grain of truth in it. History is rewritten, but few notice. Religion's commandments are trampled to bits. Constitutions are shredded until almost unrecognizable.

Let us take a deep breath and calm ourselves out of our lower brain and rampant emotions. What is actually important, true, in tune with what are called our higher angels? What Truth simmers in our souls? Could it be words of Jesus we turn to? "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself." Or inspirations from our founding documents such as, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal..."

If an action or idea are not in alignment with those truths we hold dear, then we need to take some quiet time for reflection. We need to live lives that are congruent, that is, what we say and do are reflections of what we believe. Let's get off of other people's bandwagons. Let's be true to ourSelves.

P.S. I recommend an old favorite book for more in depth discussion of true believers, it's by Eric Hoffer, "True Believer." I was assigned it in college in several classes and have re-read it several times since.

No comments:

Post a Comment