#624 Distractions for "the Great Unwashed" - isn't there More to Life?

     "The great unwashed", a disparaging term referring to the common, lower classes, was coined in 1830 by novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
     Regardless of socio-economic, educational, cultural, ethnic or religious background, people self-select into two distinct "classes" or groups:
          • the majority, who sleep-walk through life on autopilot,
and
          • a small minority, who are actively engaged, do their best to evolve as individuals, and try their best to help the rest of humanity do the same.

     Popular culture is one of constant mind-numbing distraction, keeping the majority in the trance of "ordinary unhappiness" - shop till you drop, keep busy, eat fast food, mindless fun, etc etc. Group-hypnosis, in general, has negative connotations: mob violence at soccer games; people trampled to death entering stores to buy sale items; entire nations obeying the whims of sociopaths like Lenin, Hitler, Pol Pot etc etc etc.

     Yet even highly-educated people become visibly uncomfortable at the mere mention of "wisdom" - it's way past their comfort zone. Knowledge and practice of wisdom is stunningly low. The few who are intentionally awake and engaged, regardless of their individual wisdom tradition, must join forces, if they are to help wake-up, help evolve, help civilize - help rescue from self-destruction - the sleep-walking masses.
     Each individual's meaningful personal life-long evolution of consciousness - "hero's journey" - must replace the pandemic spirituo-degenerative diseases of distraction, apathy and cynicism.

allanD700   www.dpreview.com

#88 Avoidance-Approach Dichotomy

     “We are a creative process in action; change is inevitable, as is our responsibility for our growth. The opposite of responsibility is avoidance, which apathy and fear often engender. Perhaps more than any single attitude, our unwillingness to notice the inner significances of our lives and to understand and care about another serves as the portent of stagnation of person and society.”

     Hart T. From information to transformation. Education for the evolution of consciousness. Peter Lang Publishing, NY, 2009.

     “Experiential avoidance occurs when an individual engages in strategies to blunt, alter, or control distressing private experiences, such as thoughts, emotions, and physiological sensations.”

     Hayes SC et al. “Experiential avoidance and behavioral disorders: A functional dimensional approach to diagnosis and treatment.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1996; 64(6): 1152-1168.

     “… we compound our suffering by trying to avoid it. The anxious person is particularly determined to avoid the discomfort of fear. A feared stimulus can be external, such as snakes (simple phobia), a mall (agoraphobia), or office parties (social phobia); or it can be internal, such as a racing heart (panic disorder) or blasphemous thinking (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Most anxious patients recognize that their fear is irrational, but recognition is not sufficient to alter avoidant or escape behavior during periods of heightened arousal.

     Mindfulness is a technology for gradually turning the patient’s attention toward the fear as it is happening, exploring it in detail with increasing degrees of friendly acceptance.” 
     Germer CK, Siegel RD, Fulton PR eds. “Mindfulness and Psychotherapy.” The Guilford Press, NY, 2005.