Body, Soul, and Chaos in the News
How to get news and be body wise
I write the following as a body intellectual, someone thinking with a whole system, aware of humans' limits and capacities in a time when the body politic feels chaotic. My mind is part of my body, not otherwise. I honor my intellect in its fullness.
I quit reading and watching the so-called news some time ago. I subscribe to the online New York Times to get headlines. It's daunting to sort through and biased. I seldom hear from realms where I know any of the people. My news and yours are widely unreported in primary sources.
What is the news? Aren't all mundane and dramatic truths that make up a life equally and actually the news?
I remember when I could find newspapers anywhere purportedly dedicated to objectivity, even though there is no such thing. I'd scan the "paper," read the bold print, and drop into a story. Meanwhile, moguls directed the news I got and massively omitted stories of women, BIPOC, gender-queer, neuro-diverse, and most populations outside the U.S. Was it the news? How direct was the reporting? Phil Porter offers a prompt sheet to notice the difference between an experience report, gossip, hearsay, and judgment. Click here.
Today’s communication outlets are now dramatically dispersed and transformed by media. Everyone worries about getting the truth. I worry about how the televised news targets our mirror neurons, inflames our systems, numbs us out, and throws us under the bus of visual hype without any responsibility for creating balance.
On 9/11, I refrained from repeatedly watching the attack on the Twin Towers. It only tool the initial image for me to see and feel the scale and cost. When I heard that Hamas terrorized, killed, and bloodied so many people, I instantly felt the chaos. Chaos is a thing. It stuns. It doesn't "make sense." When people create chaos, they know there will be no reliable news. They know that it will lead victims and others to make meaning where meaning cannot be made. In that state, we are most vulnerable. We make choices based on outside forces rather than our Inner Source. At the same time, those with direct personal histories help me so much, such as Ori Hanan Weisberg in his post from Israel and political science scholar Oded Adomi Leshem in Israel on how hope theory can aid us at this time of collective sorrow and rage and how it can propel us into action. If you have friends who could use support, please share this video with them.
As I witness or experience epic chaos (which I do), I struggle to identify chaos as a temporary state and to proceed cautiously. Alanon has helped the most in this area. Chaos is not reality. For a time, those in chaos require massive support, care, and thoughtfulness. I may be one of them.
Having experienced earthquakes, horrific fires, and climate catastrophes, I need help with scaling a disaster. Loss of life is painful and frightening, yet it is not everywhere. In actuality, a disaster is like having a broken foot. It feels like it affects everything, but in a while, it is incorporated as one part of me. People may improve life and address inequities as horror remains horrible. Horror is not all of life. I pray to remember this.
It's crucial that I choose what news to follow in chaotic moments. As InterPlay cofounders, Phil and I prefer to hear from those with direct experience. Direct news is personal. It is not gossip or hearsay. In this way, it is authoritative. A direct body-to-body transmission gives the whole breath, muscle, and emotion of truth. Diverse international friendships are a boon when you need direct experience reports.
Recently in a room with a young Aphgan couple, they told about fleeing their country. I heard their fear of death and reasons for escaping with a young son, how they made it to Brazil, where the woman had twins, and how they walked from Brazil to the U.S. through the jungle with two babies searching for sanctuary. Critical to understanding their ordeal, I witnessed the mother hold back tears, the parents hold the restless, uncomfortable children, and the unnatural calm in the father's voice who, before escaping, had honored and supported Canadian intelligence. Their experience motivated me to act on their behalf.
Add decades of direct experience with research, and a source becomes invaluable. Elders are invaluable. Deciding if a source is trustworthy depends on their competence, consistency, and quality of interactions. I seek wise "reporters" who feel real and humble and can admit multiple realities and truths at play.
How do we find these people? Three years ago, with Twitter's blowup, Substack offered a way for writers and readers to link to one another without ads. Direct Experience Reports! Substack charges nothing, although I gratefully pay several writers for their service. Some of them are well-known professors and experts. Others are lesser-known folks like me whose news and insights I also want.
Are you looking for an expert? Look on Substack under a writer and see who they follow. I follow my colleagues Sheri, Shilpa, Monisha, and Kelsey. It's so gratifying to be informed by people I know and trust.
Then there are those I've come to know and trust for reading the news.
Heather Cox-Richardson posts Letters from an American that are incredibly grounding for me; liberal but never inflammatory. She puts her sources at the bottom of daily posts.
When the Ukraine War broke out, a friend pointed me to Prof Timothy Snyder at Thinking About. He wrote this week from expertise on terror and counter-terror. I get help from his perspective.
With church historian-preacher Diana Butler Bass at The Cottage, I join readers steeped in a tradition that saved us, cursed us at times, and left too many wounded. I get honest, compassionate, soul-searching wisdom.
Because we are in deep doo-doo politically, I added Robert Reich, who wrote today about Moral Clarity and who says, "The reason I write this daily newsletter is not just to inform (and occasionally amuse) you, but also to arm you with the truth — about how the system works and doesn't, where power is located and where it's lacking, and the myths and lies used by those who are blocking positive social change — so you can fight more effectively for the common good." As a lifetime activist, he knows the political players and landscape.
I also added Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance because I need a lawyer to help me with legal stuff around Trump. A former United States Attorney, she's a law professor and legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC who believes being a citizen is the most important work we can do.
I touch into the FrameLab because George Lakoff, is someone I witnessed as an expert on how people frame worldviews. He has the science of framing as physically real and hard to shift. He also suggests what we need to look for when framing our agendas.
I read others, too, through emails and blogs. Two people I wish would come to Substack are Rinku Sen of Narrative Initiative and Sacil Armstrong of Everyday Activism Habit. Someone please tell them.
Lastly, I write about dancing that connects to health, religion, and politics. The Dance of Life is not an option. It's dynamic, choreographed, and choreographing us. Developing a dancing consciousness creates a healthy center of embodied and ensouled connection, which is why my tagline quotes Emma Goldman, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." Not everyone has to dance, but those who do dance need to heeding. We know something about grace as a way of life as a Center that is alive with resources and solutions.
Please share news about your dancing center, thoughts about dancing with Chaos, and direct sources that you recommend in the comments.
I’m part of the International Week of InterPlay October 14-22. Free classes from gorgeous leaders. Register to get the listing here. I’ll introduce people to my personal prayer space, Monday night Dance Chapel, 4:30 pm PST on Zoom at 825 748 1773 wedance, and host a Book Blessing for The Art of Ensoulment on Friday, 4 pm PST, same Zoom.
Extremely helpful resources I’d been wanting to help make sense of the chaos of life. I already rely on Diana Butler Bass and Robert Reich. Ty!
My goodness, you are cultivating quite a body of resources and recourses that keep movement happening through the grief and paralysis. Thank you for sharing so thoughtfully and with such generosity.
One of the joys of being your neighbor and a neighbor where we live is the proximity to eldership, to life’s gathered wisdom, and to mentoring from one generation to the next. And while you and I will both be quick to point out that being an elder doesn’t automatically grant one faultless perfection, unending benevolence, and inexhaustible patience, there’s something that’s been missing in our wider world that we are piecing together. How to move through terror, mourning, and depression while guarding the fledgling hope in being human is one project I’m heartened to be working with you on. Thank you.