One minute it’s a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and the next thing you know the vaccinated are variant super-spreaders who are responsible for ushering in end times. One person accuses the other of stockpiling livestock medicine, while that other believes we’re all being secretly fed self-spreading vaccines via Mexican tomatoes. As ludicrous as some of these ideas sound, you can google any of them and find articles that support the argument. Many people say we are living in a post-truth world, while others believe truth would rise to the surface if we could only edit out the voices of crazed anti-science conspiracy theorists.
If there’s anything we need amongst all this cacophony, it’s what I refer to as coherence. The dictionary defines coherence as “the quality of forming a unified whole.” While we have no control over how unified the world around us is, we can achieve unity within.
Here are some tips that I find useful for that process:
- Listen to information from all sides, especially the ones that cause you discomfort. In meditation we call it getting “lit up,” and it is a cue that we have been triggered by something. Find out what it is.
- Instead of judging someone for their beliefs, ask them how they came to their conclusions. Most people have very valid reasons for believing what they do, even if those reasons aren’t apparent to us.
- Maintain solid beliefs based on your research while remaining open to all new incoming data. If we believe in science, we must behave like scientists when presented with information that contradicts previously held convictions. This is the basis for disruption, which creates an opening for creative problem solving.
Integrity is the state of being whole and undivided, the precursor for inner peace. While it is tempting and even satisfying to direct uncomfortable emotions at some external target, ultimately we must resolve the conflict inside ourselves before we can contribute to peace in the world.
