Everyday ethics: Tuning out the noise

A very young child came to the door on Halloween hoping for candy.  What she said got me chuckling: “Trick or tweet,” she said.

Her request made me realize how immersed we are in social media and how dependent we are upon it, no matter our age.

The world is interconnected, for good or bad.  I believe this impacts how we think — often too rapidly, taking away our capacity to think clearly or deeply.

Centuries ago, the poet William Wordsworth caught a glimpse of where we are now.

The world is too much with us; late and soon,Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;Little we see in Nature that is ours;We have given our hearts away….

I realize how heavy and wearisome the world feels these day. The writer G.K. Chesterton immediately came to mind: “Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.”

We are suffering from far too much seriousness.  Laughter is in short supply.  No wonder when our waking time is deluged with so much news of suffering.

Mark Twain had it right: “The human race has only one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”

I’ve come to the conclusion that what we lack is a lightness of being — laughter, even silliness, that helps us live richer lives.

How can we deal with the negativity when there is some much of it?

Turn off the informational onslaught for starters.  It won’t be easy considering the addictive effects of mass media on our brains. But it can be done.

A few years ago I got off Facebook and then Twitter. It took a while, but I can report I don’t miss them and I feel better. I get news from more reliable and less frantic sources. There is nothing more calming than sitting down with a newspaper, magazine or book.

So the commonsense approach makes sense: Turn off the media blitz and tune into yourself. Take a walk in the woods, meditate, read a book that speaks to your soul.

Taoist master Deng Ming-Dao offers this wisdom for living well: “Peace will never be attained by perpetual action. Stirred water never has the chance to settle clear. … A tree butteted by the wind can never grow straight. Give up all unnecessary actions. Make yourself receptive.  The peace that you seek shall be quickly at hand.”

John C. Morgan is an author and teacher.