Antidote to Fear and Ignorance

 

Discernment and Education

“There are two sources of harm: fear and ignorance. Fear’s major function is to alert us to something that may harm us so we can heed the warning. Fear’s major effect is to constrict energy, which can harm us both mentally and physically and motivate us to fight or flee. Ignorance can sometimes be a source of confusion, which along with doubt is the shadow side of clarity.”

Bill Sommers (On Angeles Arrien’s Four Fold Way; The Teacher, July 25, 2019)

          Fear and ignorance—the zombie couple. Together, they tear through our lives like the horses of the apocalypse. The antidote to fear and ignorance is education and discernment, which Sommers defines as, “the ability to respect appropriate context, timing, and content.” In a world awash in misinformation and outright lies, we need education and discernment more than ever.

          Practicing discernment takes time, and objectivity. So many of us have only one news source, and since the majority of news sources have aligned themselves with the political leanings of most of their audiences, the information we receive is skewed in a particular direction. That’s not just FOX, it’s all of them. Which puts the onus on the audience to figure out what is hyperbole and what is true, what to pay attention to, and what to reject. Sommers adds, “wisdom is always flexible, seldom rigid” so we must be open to ideas and to correction, and stay unattached to outcome.

          Unfortunately, ignorance is cultivated in many places—the premise being that if you give someone tools and skills, they will use them to their own advantage. So, if you want to control what they do, insure their ignorance. That was the foundation of slavery and Jim Crow laws and plays a role even today in the subjugation of women. Educated people are hard to control.

          When we are attached to an idea or a way of life, we look for information that supports our way of being in the world—even if it is wrong. We speak the same misinformation we have heard from our biased news sources, and soon we actually believe it. We believe it because we want to, because it feels good to be in the know even if the know is a big fat lie. And it feels good to believe that we’re right regardless of where the truth lies.

          It’s my understanding after all these years of life that there is rarely a simple, uncomplicated answer to anything. We are complex beings. And all human interactions are couched in an intricate web of ideas and issues full of nuance and change. The world is complicated—there is no one easy answer that will please everyone. When we understand that, when we listen to all sides, when we discern facts from fiction, there is a better chance of getting it right. Of having an outcome that makes life better for everyone. Isn’t that what we want?

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane