Significant societal change requires a critical mass of the population to believe in or engage with new ideas, and this influence is often shaped by mass media, social media, and cultural narratives that manipulate public perception through fear, distraction, and curated content, making it essential for individuals to become aware of and reclaim the narrative that shapes their reality and collective future.
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For significant change to occur, a certain percentage of the population must believe in it or, at the very least, have an opinion on it. Some studies on tipping points, also known as critical mass, suggest that it’s 5% or less, while others argue it must be more than 10%.
Humans are powerful creator beings. Our thoughts are things. Therefore, whether on a local, national, or international level, this force can be harnessed to guide civilization toward either darkness or enlightenment.
Mind Control and Mass Consciousness
When you look at the tactics used by those in positions to manipulate public opinion (i.e., mainstream media, politics, entertainment, religions, and education systems), the results are fairly obvious. You simply need to step outside the box for a moment and observe what is truly going on amidst the noise of accepted normalcy.
News reports, for example, are synchronized locally, regionally, and nationally, and carefully curated internationally, so that reporters repeat, word for word, the same “news” to the eyes and ears of the populace tuning in at the same time every day. The system in place is quite effective at disseminating a unified message, which everyone then discusses the next day, worries about, or is otherwise influenced by. The news is, by definition, superficial, predominantly negative, visually disturbing, spiritually deflating, and mood-altering. Its purpose is to steal your gaze and infuse your mind with all manner of distortions and illusions.
One could argue that this is a pretty ingenious method of disseminating false information and instilling fifty shades of fear while shaping a cultural narrative. Simple ideas, when widely shared within a system, are often the subtle, slow poison that is ingrained into our mental and emotional constitution. Then, when you juxtapose that with the opposite extreme — say, the aftermath of something like 9/11 — you have two incredibly potent tools for controlling the entire gamut of public perception.
Today, we have social media and the algorithms therein that aggressively curate and control your feed — a clever play on words, if there ever was one. Their singular goal is to keep your eyes glued to your screen, scrolling endlessly between happy cat videos and doom-filled content. It will undoubtedly have the effect of narrowing your point of view and either altering or affirming your opinion, while influencing your values, good or bad.
Reclaiming the Narrative
I believe much of our general understanding of the nature of reality is suspect. Ten different people can have the same experience in ten different ways. So, which one is real? Which one is true?
The point is that how we perceive our world shapes it. What we think about and believe in our hearts shapes and informs our experience of reality. It influences how we interact with the world and our fellow Earth inhabitants. Our values, beliefs, and biases shape our life story, our decisions, the careers and life partners we choose, how we respond to any given situation, and what we teach and model for our children.
Being aware of the prevailing narrative is critical if we are to have any chance of rewriting it or shifting its momentum. Will we know when or if we’ve reached a critical mass of, say, 11%? Will we be awake and aware enough to notice if the ideas being put forth are truly our own, or if they’ve been shaped by someone or something else?
Eyes open.
Love your life.