How large is your world? I’m not talking about the big ball of rock, dirt and water on which we all live. I’m referring to your world—the people, places and events that are included in your own consciousness. How far does this world extend? To yourself, of course, and undoubtedly to your immediate family, close friends and relatives. Probably also to your home neighbourhood, your school or place of work, and if you live in a spiritual community as I do, to the environment, people and activities of the community. But does your world include much beyond this?
Possibly not, when you really think about it. Most people’s worlds in this sense are rather limited, maybe even a little stuffy and confining. Living in these little spaces, their influence on the larger world is minimal, for influence depends in large measure on what is touched in consciousness. If there’s no conscious connection with something, if, for example, the election of a new Pope or the status of women in Iran never enter one’s mind, obviously there’s little or no connection with those involved in these things. Whereas the appointment of a new governing board in the community you’re living in may be very much within your world and sphere of influence.
But why would we want to enlarge our worlds and expand our range of influence? I suppose it’s simply part of what we might call responsible world citizenship. As residents or citizens of this planet we have a responsibility for what’s going on, not just in our own backyards, but everywhere. I believe we’re all here to, in effect, save humanity. The spiritual community where I live has as its stated intention the transformation and regeneration of human consciousness. And, really, is there anything more deserving of our interest, indeed of our total devotion, than restoring balance, sanity and health to this heavenly jewel known as Planet Earth?
To be effective in this supreme enterprise requires influence. All human beings are connected at the subconscious level; it’s called the collective or mass consciousness. What we personally hold in consciousness goes into and impacts this subconscious repository, and the external human state emerges out of this realm. So, obviously, if we want to expand and intensify our influence in the collective consciousness and hence the world, we may do so by simply including more in our consciousness—enlarging our worlds, in other words.
Which brings us to my formula for world enlargement, something quite simple and which you have probably guessed already: watching the 6 o’clock TV news, tuning in to radio news and talk shows, reading a newspaper or news magazine, checking out the latest world headlines on the Internet, i.e. increasing the flow of information into your consciousness having to do with people, places, issues, etc. It could be called an information processing ministry, a form of radiant service to humanity. Information comes into your consciousness that instantly connects you with millions of people all over the globe. This information is automatically processed by your consciousness according to what you know of the truth of love and right expression in living, and a positive influence in the direction of global health and harmony is thereby extended. How simple and easily accessible.
Yes I know the news media are often biased, “controlled” or offer just a partial picture of an event or trend. It doesn’t matter that much; we’re still put in touch with potentially millions of people, and if there is bias or control, we get to engage with that pattern in our own consciousness, perhaps bringing a needed corrective. Notwithstanding the flaws, I believe the media provide superb tools for global healers. In fact I would go so far as to state that the media exist for no other reason than to allow us to do the transformative work that we have come on Earth to do. Watching or listening to a news event puts us in touch, via our subconscious channels of connection, with all of the people involved in the event, with all those hearing about or watching the event and with all those communicating the event. Wow, what an opportunity for creative influence this opens up!
When I have spoken of this the response has often been something along these lines: “The media are simply too negative. They bring descriptions and pictures of bloody wars, brutal murders, suicide bombings, horrific accidents, starving children, natural disasters of all kinds, extreme poverty and sickness, etc. Why would I want to put this into my consciousness? It will just disturb and contaminate my spiritual focus.” But is your spiritual centring so fragile that it can be disturbed in this way? Have you so withdrawn and insulated yourself from the world, a world that you are actually here on Earth to transform?
Pain in the physical body is a signal that something is not working, something is out of balance and needs to be addressed. Similarly, pain in the world body of humanity is a signal or symptom that cannot be ignored. Action is called for, not necessarily the kind of action that tries to patch up or mitigate the symptom, such as fighting poverty or passing gun control laws, but action that gets at the cause, something I define as false identity. And since the external world is merely a reflection of what is present in human consciousness, the root cause of all problems is in consciousness, so here is where the work is needed, work that you and I as spiritual healers can do in our own consciousness as we work with these dysfunctional patterns that the media bring to us. Just as a good doctor can address any injury or disease, no matter how disgusting or gruesome, so the genuine planetary healer can address any pattern in the body of humanity, no matter how ugly, and take the requisite actions in consciousness that will permeate the collective consciousness to restore wholeness and balance.
Though it may sound a bit peculiar, I have actually made my work with the news media my primary spiritual practice. While many find their centring in Spirit or Being by going within, I feel most centred and grounded when something is flowing out in blessing and invitation to my world. The media provide the conduit for this flow. Radio is my medium of choice, particularly National Public Radio news and its afternoon news magazine “All Things Considered.” I wake up to the news, dress and eat breakfast listening to the news, keep the radio going in my office all day for news updates, work out in the evening listening to the news and go to sleep listening to “Coast-to-Coast AM.” Oh yes, and I manage to get in two hours of television in the evening to bring additional people, places and experiences into my consciousness.
For me all of this is a meditation and does a wonderful job of keeping me centred in the truth of unconditional love flowing from the core of my being. I do not engage with the news to become some kind of policy expert in order to develop solutions to human problems. Or to dazzle my friends at the dinner table with my knowledge of world affairs. I have no political, economic or social agenda. I engage with the media for one reason and one reason only: to invite human consciousness to come out of involvement with problems and issues, to come out of earth-bound, materialistic orientation in favour of orientation in Spirit, the Truth of Being, the Cosmic I Am, the God-self at the core of every human being. I realize that my effectiveness in issuing this invitation is enhanced if I myself have some connection (not involvement) with problems and issues. Hence my use of the media. But I realize that as long as human beings are involved, indeed obsessed, with problems and issues at the material level or entrenched in patterns of religious belief and practice, there’s no hope for the human race.
I would love for others to join me in this, though I hardly expect anyone to engage with the news media with the same passion that I do. While I have never suffered from this, I suppose some could experience what has been described as “information overload” or “media burnout.” Everyone needs to find the right balance in this process. But rather than the introspection and consequent isolation I’ve observed in some spiritual circles I believe those who compose the emerging spiritual body on Earth have a responsibility to spend some time in “targeted blessing,” utilizing the media that have given to us for this purpose. Over the lines of connection thus formed, the authority and absoluteness for which we stand on Earth may move, and the world is brought one step closer to transformation.
For more inspiration on what we can do with the media, watch INTERNET RISING: Building a temple in cyberspace>>
[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]Jerry Kvasnicka, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, has had a varied career as a youth minister, a radio news reporter, a writer and editor for several magazines and journals and a school custodian. Jerry currently edits and writes for the spirituality section of the The Mindful Word. He lives at Sunrise Ranch, a spiritual community northwest of Loveland, Colorado, and can be reached at jerry@themindfulword.org.
image: David Niblack, Imagebase.net.
