The current wave of protests against lockdown regulations is indicative of how deeply divided our societies have become. There is a dangerous groundswell of anger easily manipulated by professional deceivers and political demagogues.
With a presidential election coming up in the United States the dividing lines between Democrats and Republicans have never been bigger and more dangerous. If even the wearing of masks becomes a political issue there is a problem. Be prepared for a very dirty election with global implications.
The trigger words that end “communication”
A normal conversation quickly gets out of hand when trigger words such as “vaccination”, “Trump”, “climate change”, “migrants”, or “Bill Gates” are thrown in. One of the side-effects of lockdown has been that millions of people have not only been locked in their homes but also in their belief systems in scouring the Internet to confirm existing beliefs.
Conventional religion and other institutions formed for a long time the cornerstones and value systems of societies. These have steadily lost influence in the competition for instant gratification. The hypocrisy of institutionalized religion has not helped either with millions of faithful turning either to fundamentalism or pseudo-religion.
Pseudo-beliefs filling the void of religion
The search for meaning and soul purpose has never been greater. But as humanity moves to higher consciousness, the walk over the hot coals has also become very painful. We are at the crossroads with humankind either falling back into the spiral of fear-based radicalism or moving forward into a restorative, sustainable future where diversity is respected and tolerated.
We will have to learn to communicate again. Communication is not a one-way street of blasting a tweet, or an Instagram post. Social media has become the rocket fuel of narcissism. Somewhere along the process of transmission the concept of real “sharing” of ideas, opinions, facts, and values has been left by the wayside.
We have become so obsessed with our ego-centered own opinion and “belief” that we have lost the ability to listen. Narcissists are masters in denialism and creating their own truth. They will never admit to human fallibility.
But it is only through the admission of vulnerability and fallibility that we open the realm to listening, asking the who, what, where, when, and why? This is where we learn, adapt, revise, and grow as human beings.
Reino Gevers – Author, Mentor, and Consultant
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