[Neurons] 2020 Neurons #12 THINKING WHILE THE WORLD SHUTS DOWN

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall 

2020 Neurons #12

March 16, 2020

Thinking for a Living Series #3

 

THINKING

WHILE THE WORLD SHUTS DOWN

 

It is an amazing thing to watch the world shut down.  Malls have closed,
stadiums have cancelled games, political rallies have been cancelled,
churches have transferred services to be watched on the internet, trainings
have been postponed, schools and universities have closed their doors, and
the list goes on and on.

 

The last time I recalled the world shutting down was nearly twenty years ago
as an aftermath of 9/11.  As I was scheduled to fly to Washington DC on
September 11, 2001, I got up early to get ready when I heard the news about
the first plane flying into one of the twin towers.  By the time I had
finished packing and was ready to go to the airport, the second plane hit.
Then came the grounding of all airplanes.  "Maybe I'll fly tomorrow."  But
on the morrow, continued grounding and cancellation of all flights.  And so
it went for over a week.

 

Nassim Nicholas Taleb  called 9/11 a Black Swan event.  It was an event that
no one saw coming, an event that was unpredicted (although it was a
predictable event) and it was an event that changed the world.  Coronavirus
(covid-19) is likely to be another Black Swan event.  It will make us
re-think many aspects of our lives.  Here are some of my thoughts as the
world is shutting down.

 

First Thought

In spite of all the urgent and frantic plans, demands, and deadlines that
organizations, companies, and families invent and put on themselves-when the
world shuts down, they all become irrelevant.  Suddenly7 we see them for
what they are-human constructs.  In the months after 9/11 I saw and heard
first-hand how plans which seemed written in stone were actually quite
flexible.  It is as if we had all been in a trance- assuming that deadlines
and plans were real, that they were static, impentratable, unquestionable,
and "that way it is."

 

In the days of no travel after 9/11 and after the cancellation of so many
events- we suddenly had time to think and to reflect.  Some did, some did
not.  Why were we all in such a rush, such a hurry?  What did all of that
rushing generate except stress and pressure and psycho-somatic illnesses?
Realization: we can (and should) slow down the pace of life.  We can and
should focus more on the quality of life, than on the quantity of
appointments or money.

 

Second Thought

Why exactly is the world shutting down?  Because of the fear of a virus.
But the virus is not the virus of Zombie Movies where it spreads with a bite
and within 15 seconds turns you into a mindless, teeth-chattering, inhuman
zombie.  Nor is it like the contagion movies where 95% of the planet, some
six-billion people, die.  No.  I think somebody has been watching too many
sci-fi virus-contagion movies!

 

Instead it is a virus that's more like the flu.  The great majority who get
it will have mild symptoms and as with any flu, a very small percentage will
die.  Yet the indulgent and never-ending 24/7 communication of social media
has turned things into an intense fear-and-panic trance.  People are
emptying stores, stocking up food and supplies for months, wearing masks,
and behaving as if actors in a zombie virus-contagion movie.  Geraldine
showed me some pictures that are all over the internet of people strapping
water-bottles to their mouth and face, some putting their entire head in a
large plastic bottle, wearing layers of masks- 6 at a time, some wearing
panties, some wearing half-of-a-bra over the mouth(!), covering themselves
up in plastic like spacemen, even covering up their dogs in plastic.  It is
a case of stupidity run wild.

 

What are people so afraid of when, even in the worst case scenario, they
catch the virus, they will recover and then be immune?  And why?  They are
in a fearful-panic trance.  They have been induced into that trance by
social media and are fully hypnotized.  Realization: Information from social
media, like any state-induction information, induces people into trances- if
they are not conscious and able to catch it.  The cure is to be
de-hypnotized from this fear- panic.

 

Third Thought

There is so much negative and unhelpful spin going on.   Not only by people
who want to make a quick buck by intensifying people's fears, but especially
by politicians.  It's an ideal opportunity for those not in power to
complain about everything which is imperfect about the current
administration's responses.  And they are.  Their message is, "Everything
would be great if I was running things."

 

Now when it comes to communication, spinning news to fit one's agenda is not
only common, it is to be expected.  Everywhere it dominates the news media
and social media.  It is the rear event when news is simply reported in
terms of what happened, to whom, where, and how.  Mostly, when we get the
news, someone has put their own spin on it so that we get the news as
filtered and colored and perceived through that person's filters and biases.
Today we even talk about different news outlets in terms of their spin - New
York Times -left spin, CNN -Trump hatred spin, Fox - conservative spin, etc.

 

About spin, we all do it; we all spin.  We do it both in receiving and in
giving information.  We do it, in part, because it is inevitable-inevitable
unless you have trained yourself to catch your spin.  Why is it inevitable?
Because we all have perceptual filters, beliefs, preferences,
understandings, and biases.  We also have agendas (goals, objectives,
intentions) which we are seeking to achieve.  All of this explains why we do
not think very clearly or accurately.


Spin is the dark side of communication.  It distorts the facts, it
convolutes the news, it prevent us to knowing how best to respond.  It also
creates a false presentation of the world, a false map, a map that will not
lead us where we want to go.  Realization: Instead of passively receiving
information- think critically about the source's agenda and take it with a
grain of salt.

 


 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com   

 

The stunning new history of NLP--- NLP Secrets.  

Investigative Journalism which has exposed what has been kept secrets for
decades. 

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png

 

 

 

 

 

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