Confusion is the Name of the Game

(Please note: this post was written in the context of the murder of George Floyd and the uprising that began in my neighborhood. I share it here because the point made has broad relevance to this time period)

In our world, we encounter fiction disguised as fact and fact disguised as fiction.

Confusion is the name of the game, right now. And it prevents us from protecting and supporting those who need it most.

Whoever and whatever is behind this chaos, whether unrelated people, multiple groups or one octopus with many arms, they are reliant on confusion to achieve their goals.

In fact confusion IS one of the goals.

And, it’s not just about misinformation here. It is also about misunderstanding—using human nature as a tool, in and of itself.

It is about taking action and spreading information that is deliberately vague, so that people will naturally play a bad game of telephone, spreading fear and adding to the chaos.

This game relies heavily on mental and emotional structures, like fear and doubt. But we also all have filters through which we perceive reality. We have cognitive biases.

I am glad to see sentences like, “this is from a reliable source,” “this is from someone I trust,” and “this is from someone I know personally.” I have used these sentences myself. That’s a good start, but, as I said, there are still misunderstandings.

In my work, I often witness people hearing the same thing and interpreting it differently, which often leads to confusion and/or conflict. So, again, it’s important to remember that a lot of this is not intentional. It’s just a human thing. But these powers rely on natural human behaviors to contribute to the chaos.

So what do we do?

Try to stay calm. As I said, this “force” feeds on highly charged emotion. At this point, most (not all) people reading this are not actually in harm’s way, nearly as much as this force is trying to create overwhelm, fear and powerlessness–lots of psychological manipulation to undermine us and the system. So, if you actually have the privilege of relative safety, stay calm so that you can be available for those that truly need your protection and support.

From a place of calm, it is easier to delineate fact from fiction, likelihoods, exaggerations, misinformation and misunderstanding.

Be alert. Keep your eyes open, ask questions, look for information from other people in your community that cross references or validates something you’re seeing. But not even that is guaranteed.

Perhaps, most importantly, try not to get attached to anything as right or true, at this point. That’s where we run into problems because it prevents truth from emerging. Be willing to stay relatively neutral and be wrong.

None of what I’m suggesting is easy. These are actually high level mental and emotional practices. So do your best.

I’m here to help.