Together with the contagious spreading of the corona virus there was also a highly contagious spreading of opinions about it. The virus impact was something new and we wanted to know more, to understand more of the danger. To have someone who can explain and give orientation. – High time for sharing videos and articles.
I received a flood of e-mails and also Skype or phone calls from friends – recommendations that I should read / see this or that, should share links with friends or via the mailing lists:
“This is really important to know, excellent explanations. People must know this – and the mainstream media don’t inform about it!”
But I thought, no, I am not a multiplier for things which I do not really understand and the truth of which I can’t examine. I scanned through some of these articles but I would have spent days and nights to digest all the information flooding in.
With the outer lockdown I increasingly closed down to this flood. But I attentively read articles in the “paper” newspapers we subscribed to. I appreciate the work of preparing information by good journalists, who also include seemingly contradictory information. Of course, the views are certainly selective, but all redacting of information is selective.
The whole mental ambience around the virus discussion is mostly gloomy, impregnated by fear not only of the virus but of all the psychic, social, economic, and global implications – a lot of misery and suffering. Other topics are overrun at the moment. Besides the paralysing aura of the discussion, there are reactions of revolt, feeling suppression and manipulation by “the system” and manipulators in the background. Many diffuse things are intermingling.
How to discriminate and find a right, healthy attitude? My wife hinted at the four basic questions of Byron Katie’s “The Work”. They help to identify and question any stressful thought and to transform it. They are also quite helpful in dealing with social media and other news. The four questions are:
- Is it true?
- Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
- How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
- Who would you be without the thought?
By becoming aware of our beliefs we don’t meditate them away and don’t reprogram them. On the contrary, we welcome our thoughts and examine them. Then they will let us go and we can better realize our true nature as loving, happy and free.
Another helpful method are the three sieves of Socrates mentioned in a short article, “What you should be aware of before posting on social media”, by Krogerus and Tschäppeler in the Swiss “Das Magazin” N° 21, 23 May 2020. Here a translated and summarised extract:
Once Socrates walked through the streets of Athens. A student came up to him and said: “Socrates, I have to tell you something about your friend.”
Socrates replied that he only wanted to hear what had previously gone through three sieves:
- Whatever the man has to say should be true, this is the first sieve;
- it should be necessary, according to the second sieve;
- and it should be told in good faith, as per the third sieve.
The story ends with the man leaving without being allowed to deliver his message to Socrates.
The three sieves are a simple method to check our own and other people’s information for its meaning by asking oneself:
- Is what I want to say right?
- Is what I want to say relevant? And, using the third sieve:
- Am I saying what I want to say with good intentions?
You can easily adapt these sieves for different situations.
