If what we think and feel doesn’t influence how we act and react, why do businesses spend so much money to convince us that the promise of their product is just what we’re looking for? Not only are products promoted overtly, they are promoted covertly. Take tobacco; when laws were passed to limit advertising for tobacco products because of the large number of deaths associated with smoking, tobacco companies not only went overseas to open new markets, they went underground by investing in movies and television shows along with alcohol and pharmaceutical companies.* By investing money to cover part of the cost of television shows and movie productions, they’re able to have smoking, drinking, and taking pills play a prominent role in the lives of the characters portrayed. They know that if we keep seeing these reaction patterns portrayed as “normal”, more of us will turn to alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals for relief from stress whether it’s real or imagined.
The message is: did you experience something the least bit traumatic? Smoke a cigarette, take a pill, or pour a drink. Better yet, have a drink, a pill, and a smoke!
* Smoking in Movies Still a Hazard, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Says:
“Nearly half of the top-grossing films of 2009 contained depictions of tobacco use….
“The figures come two years after the National Cancer Institute warned that kids greatly exposed to onscreen smoking are two times more likely to start smoking than youth with lighter exposure.”
Look at the propaganda (infotainment, faux news) business and the monopolization of corporations in the world today. Both movements are designed to intimidate and control what the public thinks and feels, so how we act and react can be controlled and manipulated. This Tower of Babel appeals mostly to those who believe in scarcity, separation, and competition for survival, those who inevitably choose money, power, and privilege as their primary measures of success. When enough of something is never enough and the end (more wealth and control of resources) justifies any means, where are understanding and morality? Where are empathy and balance? Where are honesty and integrity?
You know, I always wondered why I hated behavioral psychology, the teachings of B. F. Skinner, and Pavlovian experiments so much in school. It was about learning how to bully and manipulate others through the power of reward and punishment. To me, it demeans what and who we are. Why? Does this perspective rationalize cruelty, abuse, and greed? I think so. Taken to its extreme, reward and punishment becomes a form of torture. It turns us into robots and gives us no credit for being able to paint ourselves into and out of corners. Ultimately, it can lead to the breakdown and loss of self-esteem, the loss of self-control by individuals.
What is ironic is that every one of these thoughts and actions has its own validity. The Energy of Unconditional Love gives us the freedom to be and do whatever we choose for the sake of expansion and evolution. The kicker is whatever we choose to be or do has consequences. So the responsibility of making rules, as to how we choose to be and what we choose to do, is entirely up to us, collectively and individually. How about that? Thankfully, as eternal beings of Aware energy, we all wake up to greater awareness and understanding eventually. If not in this lifetime, in another. Thank God!
Roger Peterson “Pete” https://realtalkworld.com
