So, tonight I came home and for no reason at all, I had the urge to watch an old movie, The Pink Panther. It was the Steve Martin version that had my interest for about three minutes.
Now for me this is extraordinary. The last movie I was at was The Hobbit (the first one) and I spent most of the latter part of the movie cringing and hiding my eyes because I don't do well watching violence - particularly gratuitous violence, which is what the second part of the movie seemed to be about. But I digress...
All that to say...I fundamentally don't like Hollywood stuff. It is such obvious manipulation. They want you to be in a certain mindset and accept the culture they are supplying. Yecch!!
So where did this impetus to watch come from? I think it must have been an infection. A mind-meme or cultural infection - you may be chuckling now but seriously, hear me out....
Someone I work with is a big television watcher and talks about it each day. Even though I got rid of my cable over a year ago, after not watching it for long enough that I realized I was paying for basically nothing and even though I got rid of my actual television monitor this year, television is a concept in this culture, which is not easy to escape. This person really REALLY wants to be able to discuss T.V. with me. And she is not the only one. Although I believe that she is the one I "caught" the infection from.
There is tremendous pressure to be able to discuss television, Yecch! I know I used that above - nevertheless it applies here also.)
Failing television, people will often try movies, and failing that things get consumerish (which I will explain my lack thereof in a bit) and then the descent of common topics gets more and more negative and I get less and less able to relate. But let's get back to the explaination...
So let's take a step back and having set the stage I will now explain about the "infection". As someone who meditates, my practice has made me aware of layers of thought, which can be separated out if needed or desired. Most people are so stuck in the culture that they don't perceive them. They think that all thoughts in their heads are theirs. In fact, they are heavily influenced by other people and the culture in general. (Science has proved this by the way, it is not just me being weird) So just a split nano-second before I had the desire to watch The Pink Panther, I remembered my co-worker's emotional need for me to be able to discuss something "tube-ish" with her. And that was the source of the desire to watch. Yikes!! ( See....not yecch this time.)
These little mini-hooks or "infections" are barely perceptible yet they can have tremendous force. I did actually plug the DVD into my computer and watch about ten minutes before I became absolutely disinterested.
Now I know that this person is having an influence on me, I will be on my guard. I don't need to waste my time watching television or movies. If other people are into it - hey, more power! But for me - No!
A dear friend of mine is now de-programming herself and when we spoke recently she echoed my own findings after having the television umbilical cord cut. "I no longer feel the need to go and buy things like I used to." She told me. "I buy what I need to and then I am content with that. There's no pressure and no unhappiness that I can't have 'X'".
I noticed the same effect. Life is calmer and more pleasant. But not boring.
Hopefully, this hasn't been boring for you. Next time you are taken by a sudden impulse to watch television, movies or even to make an impulse buy, go on a quest to find the mini-hook, the "infection", which sent you there. It will empower you to know what is driving your desire life. And it may even free you.
So, I am going to include here the Vlogbrothers version of "Just say 'No!' to Television. It is worth the watch, as are all of the Vlogbrothers youtube vids.
After you watch it - check out www.nerdfighters.com - lots of great stuff going on.
Now for me this is extraordinary. The last movie I was at was The Hobbit (the first one) and I spent most of the latter part of the movie cringing and hiding my eyes because I don't do well watching violence - particularly gratuitous violence, which is what the second part of the movie seemed to be about. But I digress...
All that to say...I fundamentally don't like Hollywood stuff. It is such obvious manipulation. They want you to be in a certain mindset and accept the culture they are supplying. Yecch!!
So where did this impetus to watch come from? I think it must have been an infection. A mind-meme or cultural infection - you may be chuckling now but seriously, hear me out....
Someone I work with is a big television watcher and talks about it each day. Even though I got rid of my cable over a year ago, after not watching it for long enough that I realized I was paying for basically nothing and even though I got rid of my actual television monitor this year, television is a concept in this culture, which is not easy to escape. This person really REALLY wants to be able to discuss T.V. with me. And she is not the only one. Although I believe that she is the one I "caught" the infection from.
There is tremendous pressure to be able to discuss television, Yecch! I know I used that above - nevertheless it applies here also.)
Failing television, people will often try movies, and failing that things get consumerish (which I will explain my lack thereof in a bit) and then the descent of common topics gets more and more negative and I get less and less able to relate. But let's get back to the explaination...
So let's take a step back and having set the stage I will now explain about the "infection". As someone who meditates, my practice has made me aware of layers of thought, which can be separated out if needed or desired. Most people are so stuck in the culture that they don't perceive them. They think that all thoughts in their heads are theirs. In fact, they are heavily influenced by other people and the culture in general. (Science has proved this by the way, it is not just me being weird) So just a split nano-second before I had the desire to watch The Pink Panther, I remembered my co-worker's emotional need for me to be able to discuss something "tube-ish" with her. And that was the source of the desire to watch. Yikes!! ( See....not yecch this time.)
These little mini-hooks or "infections" are barely perceptible yet they can have tremendous force. I did actually plug the DVD into my computer and watch about ten minutes before I became absolutely disinterested.
Now I know that this person is having an influence on me, I will be on my guard. I don't need to waste my time watching television or movies. If other people are into it - hey, more power! But for me - No!
A dear friend of mine is now de-programming herself and when we spoke recently she echoed my own findings after having the television umbilical cord cut. "I no longer feel the need to go and buy things like I used to." She told me. "I buy what I need to and then I am content with that. There's no pressure and no unhappiness that I can't have 'X'".
I noticed the same effect. Life is calmer and more pleasant. But not boring.
Hopefully, this hasn't been boring for you. Next time you are taken by a sudden impulse to watch television, movies or even to make an impulse buy, go on a quest to find the mini-hook, the "infection", which sent you there. It will empower you to know what is driving your desire life. And it may even free you.
So, I am going to include here the Vlogbrothers version of "Just say 'No!' to Television. It is worth the watch, as are all of the Vlogbrothers youtube vids.
After you watch it - check out www.nerdfighters.com - lots of great stuff going on.
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