Horrific experiences with news stories

[Kotalam]

Hello everyone,

I am brand new to this forum but have followed it for some time. I am writing here to inquire if anyone else has found themselves struggling with the terrible things one sees on the news everyday. I recently read a news story which I won't retell in detail, which just made me almost physically sick. I will save folks the details so they are not forced into the same reaction I was. It was one of the most horrific things I have ever read about and it shocked and disturbed me. I still two days later feel deeply disturbed by what I read and can't stop thinking about it.

I am just asking if anyone else here has any guidance about what to do with something like this. Or possibly any thoughts peoplehave about how to handle material such as this if it in fact is some aspect of a personal catalyst. I understand based on my reading of the Law of One, that their is a need to see life and all its minutiae as correlates of deeper metaphysical process. I am torn between recognizing the need to witness life and not simply turn away even if that is what my intuition tells me to do so. This world is sometimes too much to bear, how awful beings can be to one another. I was just looking for the thoughts of others and any advice about how to deal with these types of lingering vicarious trauma. Thanks for your time.

[AnthroHeart]

I had to learn to accept what is, and send love. Also having forgiveness for yourself and others helps.

[tamaryn]

You might try feeling the emotion disturbance in your body, if it manifests tension in any place.

Lime gem said, send your full love there. The heart never judges, it knows what is and experiences all.

The rest of your body is crying out that you need to point the pain to the heart level so it may feel the energies needing nourishment and let go. Welcome brother, there are many here with extra sensitivities such as yours.

[Sabou]

I'm not sure if I personally can give you any advice, but I can share in your sentiments. Some of the physical suffering I have witnessed has brought me to my knees and physical sick. The pain endured is beyond words. Even after the knowledge gained through such material as the Law of One, and realizing how such events are part of the grand tapestry of creation, to be experienced by beings as part of their spiritual evolution, I am still not able to reconcile why one must experience these things without the capacity to handle it with the veil. I know that beyond the veil, these experiences must have been chosen, but when that being dives into the 3D world with that veil in place and experiences such immense pain, it leaves me saddened. I sometimes think if there was a better way for one to evolve without these experiences, but I am not sure it is about whether or not there is a better way, for that is relative - it is just another means of expedited evolution for those who choose, but still..

In regards to dealing with these things, I don't know any advice to give. I think it is a personal matter in which there is a lot to learn based upon how you react and what these experiences well up inside you. It might help you to deal with your sadness, or your anger, or fear...hopelessness etc... that these events may cause you. The avenues are endless. Like others have stated, forgiveness is a tool to be employed when needed.

[Diana]

Welcome.

The answer is simple. Unplug from the media, especially popular media. I have been unplugged almost all of my adult life. It's doable. And you then are not being anesthetized and brainwashed and in fear and pain from what is constantly being streamed.

This allows you to stay focused on what you choose to focus on. Not only that, when you do look at what is going on in popular media, your sight will be much clearer.

It's not always so easy though. The horrors that go on in this world sometimes seep in. Then, I have no advice. To witness or know about suffering is horribly painful and I personally find it extremely challenging just to deal with it at all.

[Stranger]

What Diana said. Don't watch the news, a.k.a. corporate-sponsored poisoning of your mind and energy field. Unplug. Connect with your immediate surroundings and, if you notice problems in your immediate environment, work on improving those rather than being fed a slurry of other people's problems that you can do nothing about, and which aren't part of your spiritual journey.

The news. It's a form of smoking that gives you soul cancer.

[Aion]

Cry your heart out, resolve to never perform such deeds as you have seen and send Love and compassion to those who have been hurt and need healing. Basically, every possible positive thing I can do from within my mind, from there it is a matter of coming to accept the experience as it has past.

'God, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the strength to change what I am able and the wisdom to know the difference.'

[Kotalam]

Thank you all for The compassion and goodwill. I do not think that turning away from what is horrible is the answer. I think as many of you said, it is a far more nuanced approach I need to take. All I can do is breath in the suffering and breath out warmth and empathy. They key I think, after reading all these wonderful responses, is to empathize but not fully sympathize. To use the reactions in my body mind complex to gauge root cause. Hard to talk about more specifically. I can't convey how lucky I feel to be able to explore things here with you all.

[rva_jeremy]

I echo Diana's advice: just because there is suffering in the world doesn't mean you have to experience it in the way the for-profit, mainstream media wants you to. Finding the right source for getting your information is some work, but it's worth it. I find that internet news sites tend to put less of a manipulative spin on things, and are easier to skim to get the facts and the catalytic impact without having the events turned into something arresting.

Of course, I'm also interested in the thoughts of others who advise using this reaction you're having for introspection and growth. That's something I was struggling with yesterday when I was over at my friend's place. He and his family have a tradition of watching Survivor, and I find the show so transparently stupid (sorry Survivor fans!). But I realized that making dismissive comments or mocking it would only impugn an event that brings his family together, which is a very loving and positive experience.

I also find commercials really catalytic because they seem so freaking manipulative, it actually really offends and insults me. And I'm sort of learning that I have built in reactions and defenses to things like that that do not allow me to really feel the negative emotion. To actually feel manipulated instead of just detecting and defending against it, this is the task right now, and it's so difficult. But I think to the extent that you are allowing yourself to feel these things that the news is showing you, you're way ahead of me. In pure sorrow there is something to be gained, of this I am increasingly convinced.

[upensmoke]

listen to your intuition it has your best interest in mind

[Jade]

I just try to remind myself, I can add the the collective consciousness with more fear/anger/hate/sadness, or I can add to the collective consciousness with love and acceptance. Most mainstream news stories are designed to make you add "negative" emotions to the collective, everyone feeling a strong negative emotion at once (instead of a strong positive one). One thing I think sometimes when I come across a horrible tragedy in the news, and I know this might be callous, but I think, "Is this real?" I don't put it past many major news outlets, in this day in age, to put out sensational stories that may only have a semblance in truth. How do I know? Did I witness this terrible event? I'm only witness to the retelling of the event, so who knows how it really went down. Do I really have to believe that this small child was tortured in such a way? Is an event I'm unsure even happened worth my agony and pain?

I also echo that avoiding mainstream news is better overall, especially now, where every click has a dollar amount associated with it. The manipulation is intense. It's not about being dismissive, or turning your eye to tragedy - but it's about focusing your intentions in a productive avenue - tragedies that you know are currently occurring that you can alleviate, and not written articles that are articulated especially to pull the heart strings in all which ways, especially where one feels hopeless in the face of all the trauma in the world.

[outerheaven]

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed." - Mark Twain

[Kotalam]

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed." - Mark Twain

You are totally right. Maybe that IS the point, there is no escape. You are damned if you do, damned if you don't. I think just flat out avoidance is fleeing from the conflict and ultimately ignoring a necessary catalyst. If I still have such an emotional reaction to the news, I think that signals there is still lots of work to be done in this area personally. There is only the quivering mass as Alan Watts called it. Our struggle to free ourselves from anxiety and fear only further entrench us in that same awful substance. I think translation this from a conceptual framework into an integrated experiential notion is where I get stuck.

Is anyone here familiar with the book Dispelling Wetiko? It seems very much connected to this for me. Here is a link to it if you are curious...Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil by Paul Levy (sorry linking isn't working for me). Similar also to Eckhart Tolle's conception of a pain body.

[rva_jeremy]

A passage from A Fool's Phenomenology inspired by Sabou's profound post:

"The Gods are here", too, remarked the master, warming his backside at the stove.  Heraclitus knew a thing or two about the divine.  It shows up where it is least expected.  It luxuriates in the intimate and familiar.  It is always very near at hand.

Yet this, paradoxically, makes it the very furthest stage of remove from one who would reach out to it as if it were the Other.  Do I really have to ask why it is that when I am truly broken and washed by sorrow, when every shred of vanity and arrogance is stripped from me, I am nearest to that in me which is divine?  Do I really have to ask why it is that only that in me which is of genuinely divine nature can resonate to the divine itself?  Do I really have to ask why it is that only the divine in me can countenance the glory and triumph of the creator?

Bold emphasis mine.

[AnthroHeart]

Sounds like my writing style. Makes me wonder why a book like this takes off, and my book doesn't.

[Diana]

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed." - Mark Twain

And yet, there is a huge difference between media in Twain's time and media now. The propaganda/advertising/marketing machine is enormous, powerful beyond measure, and insidious. I am not a conspiracy theorist, just an observer, and also educated in advertising for what it's worth. I know the basics, but the Internet and buying power of huge transnational corporations have changed the game significantly.

Staying unplugged from the media helps one to be BETTER informed. I'm not talking about living off the grid and having no interaction with the outside world. I mean not plugging in everyday or every week even. Just checking in occasionally if needed, and when you do, after being unplugged and un-brainwashed, your sight and perceptions are so much clearer about what is going on. Not only that, you become detached from the drama, as well as the propaganda.

Occasionally I am stuck in some lobby such as Discount Tire, and pick up a magazine. I usually pick up a women's mag in lieu of something intelligent since reading a hunting and fishing mag doesn't interest me. I am always taken aback at the endless fear-mongering throughout the mag. Ads and articles about breast cancer, getting mammograms, taking drugs to fend off osteoporosis, depression, and on and on and on. It's rather shocking to realize that average people out there are steeped in this nonsense everyday, everywhere. No wonder so many people are sick. It's not the only reason, but the public is being swayed and herded very effectively through the media. One doesn't have to be a conspiracy theorist to see that the pharmaceutical companies are behind the idea that sick people benefit their agendas.

Unplug.

[tamaryn]

I watch the 6 o'clock news with my parents when they is a 'shocking' or powerful transpiration of tragic events I observe them sometimes having intense emotional resonations with the simple fear emotion perpetuated in the broadcast.

I do wonder how the actual news broadcasters feel, knowing they are great emotional resonators or some kind? They must think about it.

If you seek to the heart of the television broadcast, you are able to connect with others watching the same thing. And the same way with listening to music or reading a book.
Let your heart feel its feelings and emotional triggers.
Understand this means you are still bound to the thoughts of other selves.
We are able to choose the energy that we are, and we choose to do the best thing for an energy that does not serve us is to let go of its tightening grasp, gradually.
This is a service to the thought that you let go, and to yourself.
You are letting it be inside you, as it is in any moment, but not fear its grasp, or sway from its tightening as it enthralls you.
Yes we will face our fears deeply in the future, and right now.
Face them with courage and listen to them with the ears of a child.

[Bring4th_Austin]

To add to the great sentiments already shared, I have a clip from Mr. Rogers that is always on my mind when the news focuses on negative occurrences and it seems overwhelming:



Mr. Rogers is a childhood hero of mine. Looking back over his life's work and how much of it I absorbed as a child, I'm awe-struck by how utterly focused on love, compassion, and kinship he really is. He was a true beacon of light and planted seeds in many children that I believe are sprouting all of the time.

To give an example of what he's talking about, there was a story recently here in Louisville where the local Islamic Center was vandalized with nasty racist words. The mayor asked for community members to show support and help them clean up the vandalism. Hundreds of people from different faiths showed up to show their support. This act of anger and hate was committed by a small group of people, maybe even just one. But the people who showed up to show support for the victims and help them restore their place of faith was relatively massive.

While the media might not always make it easy, there are inspiring things to be found alongside the catastrophes. It's important to work harder to find these since the media will focus on the negative, and it helps to bring ease to the awful horror we can feel when witnessing such negativity.

[ozzi]

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed." - Mark Twain

You are totally right. Maybe that IS the point, there is no escape. You are damned if you do, damned if you don't. I think just flat out avoidance is fleeing from the conflict and ultimately ignoring a necessary catalyst. If I still have such an emotional reaction to the news, I think that signals there is still lots of work to be done in this area personally. There is only the quivering mass as Alan Watts called it. Our struggle to free ourselves from anxiety and fear only further entrench us in that same awful substance. I think translation this from a conceptual framework into an integrated experiential notion is where I get stuck.

Is anyone here familiar with the book Dispelling Wetiko? It seems very much connected to this for me. Here is a link to it if you are curious...Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil by Paul Levy (sorry linking isn't working for me). Similar also to Eckhart Tolle's conception of a pain body.

Please listen to the voices that say you should unplug. If you think hard enough, what is the hardest thing for you to do in such a situation ? Keeping your attention focused on these events and trying to come up with a solution, or letting it go ??? This might be a little bit of an advice, maybe more than any other i could think of..
You won't find any hope or solution while you are still focusing on these news/events, because they are by purpose negative. Or if you might find the will to try and fight back, you will get channeled into even more destruction... Please trust me, and let it go.