Stressed Perception

"Stress forces" take an active interest in what we see and know. They're only all too happy to steer our sense of reality - and even take over individual minds, not to mention whole societies and cultures.

Look only at how, at times of war, propagandists turn whole nations against one another by creating a whole myth around a less than human "enemy".

The power behind the war propagandist are  "stress forces"... whether compulsive desire , as creates rivals and fuels the greed behind conquest; or anger and fear as fuel anger - and fear - stoked hatred.

Crucial to the ability of the ability of “stress forces” to keep a long-lasting hold over us is their ability to permanently interfere with our perception of someone or something - such that, to return to our example of anger , leaves us stubbornly and forever convinced of their "badness", with no room for forgiveness or for a more reliastic, "big picture" appraisal.

Now, no amount of "upgrading" of our eyesight, hearing or memory can bring us back to seeing the - real - truth.

It's a common assumption that knowledge comes exclusively from "facts" - facts that are "good" and "objective", and authenticated by the recognised authorities and experts. Our own personal, original experience and insight, by contrast, might be cast as inferior for being "subjective".

All along, what gets missed is that "facts" and "truth" are very easy to package and "massage" - an activity necessary to monopolistic power, and one conducted more and more aggressively in our "post-truth" age of "fake news".

And the problem?

What muddies the waters is a rather unfortunate “presence” that can gatecrash our mind (as well as culture), and that can make the truth impossible to see even when it's staring us in the face .

That “presence” is, of course, stress.

To attach ourselves to given "prize assets", stress, as compulsive desire , can manipulate us into desperately seeking given, must-have "desire objects"... through serving as "rose-tinted spectacles" that make such "objects" look irresistible.

Woe betide us, however, if these "desire objects" slip from our grasp; now, compulsive desire  switches over to its exact opposite,  gloom , and our excitement is punctured as our "rose-tinted spectacles" smash. Now, we're left "down in the dumps" and mired in "the blues".

Thanks to the likes of fear , anger , compulsive desire and gloom , we're made to literally "take leave of our senses" - and lose sight of the actual truth... not out of any damage to our eyesight or of gaps in our knowledge, but because false knowledge is being fed into our mind.

This is what steals our very well-being and quality of existence - right from under our nose - whether perhaps because anger overpowers us with aggression (and maybe drives us to wage war on friends and neighbours); because fear overtakes us through anxiety or phobia; because compulsive desire leaves us in a state of addiction; or because gloom makes us susceptible to depression.

Go Back