Some of the people who believe themselves to be the most awake are actually the most deeply asleep. Their inner state is determined almost entirely by what is happening outside them. Every month there is a new reason to be terrified, furious, or outraged. A new enemy. A new crisis. A new thing everyone is expected to care about immediately. Their attention is constantly being pulled outward, and because they never learn to govern that attention, the world does it for them. They live in a permanent state of reaction and call it being informed.
This is what it means to be plugged into the machine. It has nothing to do with knowing what is happening in the world. You can be informed without surrendering your mind to it. The question is whether you choose where your attention goes, or whether someone else chooses for you. If the news, politicians, algorithms, and opinions of strangers can determine your emotional state every day, then you are not free. Freedom begins when you stop allowing the world to reach inside you and pull your strings. Pay attention to what matters. Act where you can actually make a difference. Then return to your own life and do the work in front of you.
"There are a lot of people who have a lot of opinions, but when you prove them wrong, you don't have to say shit to them. Nah. They don't deserve it. Thank you.”
— Jalen Brunson. 🗣️🗣️🗣️
(via @NBA_NewYork)
The Church Committee created by the Senate to investigate the CIA, found operations to secretly influence the minds of Americans. More than a 1000 books were produced, subsidized, or sponsored by the CIA in 1967. It's 2018, You think they stopped? #SaturdayThoughts