I haven't had television in years, so TV has not be a news source for me. However, I have always been quite the radio junkie; listening to everything from conservative talk radio to the far left liberal stations in the San Francisco Bay Area. While I was in Europe this summer I had no radios or newspapers, no way to really know what was happening in the world and, interestingly, after a few days I no longer cared. As a result, I made the decision to not listen or read the news for at least month, maybe more. I want to see what it is like not to "know" about the "world" as it given in the "news."
I thought that my life might get smaller if I didn't know what was going on in the media. However, just the opposite has happened. There is no news to fight against, to worry about, to talk to friends about, to obsess about. Instead that space is now empty and free to be used for creativity, ideas, projects and conversing with people on a completely new level. I think if the gunk goes away there is so much more bandwidth for the spiritual, for the divine to move within us, and for us to have access to that power.
I've also noticed a decrease in my fear and an increase in my hopefulness. No longer is the world as scary as it was. I no longer know how many drive by shootings happened in my neighborhood or the possibility of interest rates increasing again at months end. It just doesn't matter anymore. I look at the sky and I don't worry that it will fall. It might, but then it might not. So, I'll plant some flowers anyways and worry about it only if the pieces start landing in the driveway.
A sort of disquieting peace has settled over me. Disquieting because the space left by all that news has forced me to be alone with myself. Here in the United States most of us don't spend time alone, working, living, driving and breathing without the hum of talking heads over our shoulders. When the talking heads are gone it is only myself that I must turn to, which is a strange and disconcerting experience.
