Does Mindfulness Separate Opinion from Fact?

Being consciously aware makes you aware of many things.

Photo by Usman Yousaf on Unsplash

Living in a fear-based society is problematic on many levels. First, virtually everywhere you turn there’s something in place to make you fearful. The play on your emotions is often deeply subtle, sometimes even subversive, and always present.

Advertising plays on fears of lack, scarcity, insufficiency, and missing out. Buy this item to be more lovable, sexier, and appear smarter and more refined — or suffer. Utilize that service to stay on top or gain the upper hand. Vote for this guy or allow the “other” to take away all that you are. It’s very nasty, insidious, and ever-present.

Fear, in its original incarnation, was healthy. It kept humankind’s ancestors alive in the face of predators, environmental threats, and other matters of life and death. When it was tangible, fear was a lot more helpful.

Now that fear has become mostly intangible, however, it’s less about saving life and limb and more about holding onto fluid values, beliefs, and habits. These, in turn, get attached to equally fluid notions that are presented as limited, though that’s largely artificial constructs intent on disempowering to maintain a person or organization’s control.