The Eight Stages of Awakening on Facebook

How a dumb move can still result in spiritual growth.

“JD Vance Mocked Jasmine’s Education—But Her Law Professor FLOORED the Room”

Come on. How do I not click on that to watch it go down?
Justice. Schadenfreude. Na naNa naNaaaa Naaaa.

You probably wouldn’t have fallen for it, but I was tired and bored and not paying attention, so this caught me off guard and I clicked. And in the following sixty seconds, I went through The Eight Stages of Awakening on Social Media.

STAGE ONE: Curiosity
Hm, what’s this? Jasmine Crockett is vindicated? To JD Vance’s face? In public? Gotta see that.

STAGE TWO: Suspicion
A millisecond of something showed up at the beginning of the video, but then the narrator started speaking. Right away, I was mini-disappointed. I wanted the actual denouement, not a description of it. Disappointment curdled into suspicion when the narration couldn’t just get to the point.

So, what was that flash at the start of the video?

STAGE THREE: Courage
A lot of people skip this step because life is fast, we just wanna feel what we feel, and who has time to go back and check that little millisecond thingy. But this step is crucial. So, I put on my big girl panties and moved the little where-you-are-in-the-video ball back to where that thing flashed on the screen.
And I read it.

STAGE FOUR: Confusion

actual screenshot of millisecond thingy

Wait. What? Wait a minute…WHAT?

STAGE FIVE: Anger
So, no public dress down of JD? No delicious vindication of the smart, scrappy Congresswoman from Texas? I have stuff to do! I wasn’t here for “entertainment!” (Insert sneaky feeling that maybe I was, followed by furious, defensive doubling down.) I wanted to see real news. Why are you wasting my time with this bullshit?

STAGE SIX: Realization
Oh. (Long pause.) You’re wasting my time because I fall for it. I remember now. Eyeballs. The internet’s* almighty thirst for eyeballs. They learned me. So now they know how to drive my behavior, make me click links, keep my eyeballs on the screen. (For an informative, sobering, and, yes, entertaining description of how this happens, watch the phenomenal 2020 movie The Social Network.)

STAGE SEVEN: Compassion
After a moment of self-recrimination for having fallen for it again, the seductive “click here and be satisfied,” I remembered that I’m human. Wanting ‘something else’ is part of the human experience. I’m not evil. I’m not stupid. It’s just a condition of being alive in this moment, at this time and place. All of us are being played in some way or other by those who’ve cracked the code. That’s why it’s important to pay attention.

STAGE EIGHT: Awakening
Bold talk, using the word “awakening” here, as though we could achieve it. But in a microscopic way, moment by moment, we can. This little JDVance/JasmineCrockett mishap helped me see where I get caught.

Just this morning, it happened again. I saw something aimed right at my baser instincts: two people I admire, Warren Buffett and Norah O’Donnell, apparently clashed during an interview.

I caught myself before going further. I recognized the familiar pull of ‘famous people exhibiting bad behavior.’ Watched myself getting ready to pour gas on that flame. And, because I was paying attention, I didin’t. (Did a brief google search to confirm my suspicions, and I was right. There was no such interview. The “CBS” site I was on looked legit, but was completely fake.)

So, my friends, WAKE UP.
We are being played every minute of every day, but we don’t have to fall for it. Yes, habits run deep, and it takes regular, committed action to break them. But we can do it.

We can create new ones. Habits that nourish our better nature, habits that create a much better world. Let’s start today. The minute you feel yourself rubbing your hands in anticipation of some juicy gossip, stop right there. Bow to it as a teaching moment, and find some better food for your soul.

Something maybe like this: (see “Surprises” section below)

I would love to hear from you. What tangled up your attention span recently? Show me where you go instead for fun, or for inspiration? Tell me.

* I’m using the word ‘internet’ to stand in for Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Facebook, Instagram, whatever, whoever benefits economically or politically from our collective hungers.

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Wisdom from Mike Bechtle

“People can’t drive you crazy if you don’t give them the keys.”

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Surprises (this one lifts my soul)

I’ve decided to start incorporating this section from time to time, so that we remember that we can be caught off guard by life, in the most yummy ways.
Here’s my recent favorite. Big shout out to Fulton Lee and Karen Linette.