Saturday, July 17, 2010

An American Epidemic

Confusion is . . . confusing—a time of limbo. Too many options, too many desperate people, too many corrections to be tended to. Which way to go? Where to start? Maybe to escape, run, run, run from it all? Or go mad contemplating why, why, why? What to do? Who is your friend? Who is your enemy? Even they change every day. Even they are as confused. 
Watch movies. Watch TV. As Larry McMurtry writes in his Books (of which he has 400,000), the interrupted narrative abounds, most extremely as seen in commercials on TV. Our minds flick like fruit flies from one sweet to another, unable to be still, to follow one story from beginning to uninterrupted end. Internet clicks tangle behind us as we forget why we began a single search. 
What can we name this unexposed epidemic of mental disease? Does it matter? (I know I always feel better when my doctor gives me a name for my ailment, and sends me off with a pile of pills to distract me from the insight of which he or she has none.)
But let's go further, and for convenience's sake, call it Mental Distraction. Is there any American, rich or poor, who does not have this disease? Some even applaud themselves that they can Multi-task. Listen to the commercials while remembering the developing TV narrative while making dinner while making a quick call on one's cell phone so you don't miss the show. 
It took me 48 years to learn that I had this disease. Another 10 has revealed to me the cure: Do one thing at a time with the whole of my breath, body, mind.
The cacophony does not stop. But I get stronger and more able to do One Thing amidst the hurricane of American society.
What would happen if all of us began a revolution against this disease? All of us boycotted Mental Distraction? What would we lose? What would we gain? What treasure is hidden in the silence?

4 comments:

  1. Oh yes, you've put a name to it! Go here to find even more to validate your thoughts http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

    There is even a test you can take to rate your "distractedness".

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  2. Thank you, Mrs. Bickles, for your response and for the article, which really focused on the downside of multi-tasking in terms of our lost intimacies with others.
    Meditation is the big fix here. Is it possible to think of NOTHING? Ah . . . what bliss
    peace,
    mickey

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  3. Thank you for a lovely blog. Confusion is a product of mind. etting go of all attachments, distractions, thoughtss and opinions, allows us to rest in the natural state of mind. Love john x

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  4. Dear John,
    Welcome . . . happy to have you as a follower . . . and, ah yes . . . the natural state of mind
    peace
    mickey

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