Distractions and Obsessions

 

Almost anything, into which we begin to regularly pump our intellectual and emotional energy and time, can become a distraction and an obsession.  I have had and continue to have my fair share of such things. The Socio-Political Culture War (SPCW) is one such example, one that is unusual and particularly devious in that it is well-organized and funded, and deliberately designed for this exact purpose. But fret not, this won’t be just another rant against the SPCW – or at least I do not intend it to be. We can become obsessed and distracted by nearly anything: the masons, the mormons, the alt-right, the illuminati, big pharma, fad-diets, the military-industrial complex, the new age, the lavender mafia etcetera.

Obsessive distractions in my own life are rarely discerned as such, but time and time again, I eventually find them draining my time, energy, and viable productivity away. Perpetually following my phone or laptop down the rabbit holes of my preferred content providers, who craftily bolster my own perception of reality in the context of my current obsession. They will once again shout (in 36-point font) that my deepest and darkest suspicions about our world are about to become manifest.  There is always something new to be outraged about, and to ruminate upon and to allow to sit, festering within our hearts and minds. Nothing good and fruitful ever springs from such soil. I would spend far more time perusing the latest content, sharing/posting the latest finds online and then arguing about it, than I would in prayer, reading a spiritually profitable text, or considering any sort of a personal moral inventory. Not that I am particularly well-practiced in any of those things, but there was no doubt - in hindsight - that these obsessions would supplant my relationship with God – in fact I often convinced myself that by engaging them, I was doing God’s work, because I was doing something in response to the evil “out there." Many of the sources feeding (selling) me their content convinced me of this and they did so through highly manipulative means. 

The pandemic really opened my eyes to how content creators can skew information (never mind the insanity of viruses becoming a pawn in the SPCW to begin with – the fact that one’s preferred trench in the war generally and very strangely predicted their position on the matter). In a previous blogpost during the pandemic, I discussed at length how anti-vaccine content creators (again motivated by click-revenue) kindled the flames of passion by telling us half-truths, untruths, amplifying anecdotal stories ridden with emotional appeal, and bringing in fringe “experts” whose credentials were...questionable if not outright inapplicable to the questions at hand. It would take the popularized exploration of specific topics – such as clinical trials, vaccines, and virology – with which I am well familiar, to really show me how effectively information can be manipulated to stir up our passions. More and more we can see these same tools being used by online content creators and it's not just about the SPCW or politics and it's not just ONE side employing the tactic. Hindsight being what it is, now when I read an article that seems to have an overt stance on a potentially controversial subject, I am immediately suspicious of it. Even if it fully supports my perception of reality, I ask myself: am I really getting the whole story? I generally and cynically suspect not, because getting the WHOLE story and the truth of an issue or subject takes time and requires extensive and careful investigation, suspension of bias, consideration of counterarguments and interpretations of data etc. This of course – more likely than not – leads to a long and BORING article. Few shares; few clicks. Little to no revenue. If not an extinct animal, it is surely endangered.

I believe that most online content is not presented to inform, but rather to see money change hands and to keep us distracted from most everything except their issue dejour. Content creators produce their wares with their target audience/demographic fully in mind and they are quite deliberately designing their content to keep us angry, passionate, and worried. Why? Because THAT is what triggers innumerable shares and vast amounts of click-revenue. And why does it so successful in doing that? I believe that it provides the much desired opportunity for distraction from our inner lives - an area where it seems we modern folk prefer not to trespass. And it truly becomes a sort of feedback loop in that the more distracted we are; the more their revenue multiplies and the better we feel about ourselves since we needn't engage our inner issues. 

These distractions have us looking outward at the world’s problems. How does that make us feel better? Well, the vast majority of those problems are issues that we really cannot do much of anything about, precisely because they are so far removed from us. Our fretting over them can be, and often is done at the expense of what is really the only thing we CAN do something about: our inner lives’ problems. When we see what we perceive to be evil “out there”, it provides a very convenient opportunity to avoid dealing with our own sin. In essence we say to ourselves: “Oh sure, I know I’m a sinner….but sheesh look at what those evil                  (i.e., liberal, conservative, fascist, communist, mason, woke) maniacs are doing to the world!” And thus is usurped the proper role of anger towards our own sins and is instead directed towards a nebulous “enemy” – an “enemy” against whom we are, for all practical purposes,  impotent and thus we are forgiven any responsibility for the state of the world: it’s THEIR fault. It’s providing the same comforting satiation that explains the popularity of dramatic reality TV shows. It seems to me, such shows allow us to feel better about ourselves so that we can say: “At least my house is cleaner than that hoarder’s house” or “At least I’m not as petty as that rich hedonist.” Similarly, by focusing on all the evil "out there" we subconsciously give ourselves permission to forget that 1) Our own sins pollute the world as much as any others and 2) Those sins are pretty much the only ones for which I have any say in the matter of their existence.

Looking at issues on a gross (sometimes conspiratorial) scale, de-personalizes individuals and creates what can only be little more than an intellectual exercise – there is virtually nothing that can practically be done except to be angry, afraid, rant on social media, and finally vote. Fewer and fewer of us actually believe that the latter can accomplish much of a genuine cultural shift – and it certainly won’t enlighten a single soul to the Life found in Christ. And surely we all know that NO ONE from the “enemy’s” trenches has ever been convinced by your oppositional social media posts and shares. And yet, we rinse and repeat: sharing over and over again those things we believe people “NEED” to read. Of course, they never read them. I'm not advocating for a head-in-the-sand approach to the world's problems, but I am suggesting that during this Lenten period we reassess the use of our time and energies and objectively discern if the division of their labor is appropriately divided between those things we absolutely can change and those things we probably cannot. Or those things we KNOW need to change, and those things our online sources are telling us need to change. 

One way to discern the distribution of our time and energies, is simply examining our social media output. If by straining, we manage to find objectivity (never easy to do), and we see a near constant stream of ranting posts on the same themes (whether that is about the SPCW or not), we might pause and seriously examine the amount of time, energy and passion we are pouring into that subject. (Yeah, yeah...maybe I should cut down on red meat!) Consider how often you think upon the subject. Consider how often you find yourself identifying the object of your obsession in areas that it would otherwise seem wholly unrelated.  Is our relationship with whatever this topic/issue might be really healthy? To what degree am I allowing this to be a distraction from the “one thing needful”? I offer this suggestion because I am one who is very much prone to such obsessions and distractions, and I am still tempted by them – in fact this post is arguably an out-pouring of my possible obsession with SPCW obsession. I recognize that potential, and I’ve worked hard in the last couple of years to very deliberately keep my mouth shut and my fingers off the keyboard and mostly just post pictures of smoking meats – with no ill-intent towards any of my vegetarian friends. Many an email, social media post, or a share has tempted me to engage...but I know that simply becomes a time vacuum with little fruit borne. 

But as Lent is here, I was reminded of my own propensity for this obsession and distraction, and it occurred to me that two out of three of the traditional practices emphasized during Lent (prayer and fasting) are solely about looking inward. And only the third is about looking outward, but it restricts our scope to only seeing what others lack, and then to provide exactly that for them. The Sunday of Meatfare's gospel could not have made this any clearer. The only place we are told to look for sin, is presently thumping away (hopefully) within your rib cage. We need to make use of that time, instead of allowing our fretting about the evils "out there" to lull us into a slumber that leads to our own death. 

"My soul, my soul, arise! Why are you sleeping? The end is drawing near, and you will be confounded. Awake, then, and be watchful, that Christ our God may spare you, Who is everywhere present and fills all things." 

        -Kontakion, Tone 6 (Canon of St. Andrew)