When Reality Becomes a Trigger Word
The road to hell might be paved with good intentions, but you won’t find that road on Facebook or its picture book cousin, Instagram. I recently experienced the power of their clandestine computer-driven algorithms with two recent back-to-back daily devotion posts (see above and below.) Going from several hundred views a day to seven. Weekday words I share with the world that are all about being human and whose only purpose is about creating more love to world.
Truth can be uncomfortable to talk about, but like genuine love, truth isn’t about our individual comfort. An idea very much at odds with our hyper-individualistic and materialistic culture. Truth is Divine protection that shields other people from the deficiencies, blind spots, lies and delusions that we all tell ourselves as individuals and implement as institutions.
Fallibility is human nature. Like Love, Truth is about the collective well-being of all people. In describing the human experience, it seems obvious that I would write about the reality of death and hell.
I highly doubt that any reasonable person would find either post offensive. Death is as real (or in this case literally a reel) as life. Hell is a word and concept we all can understand and define even if you don’t consider yourself a spiritual person. For example, war has rightly been called hell.
Because I’m no longer spiritually sleepwalking through life, I now ask myself why, when something doesn’t make sense to me. This means setting aside time to reflect on said topic to ensure this isn’t about my own faults or flaws. Even the most pious person is susceptible to their own self-pride and shortcomings.
Call it listening to my heart, my gut intuition or conversing with God. Like all curious learners, spiritually awake people, seek to understand their world. This means questioning everything, even if that insight or learning is morally troublesome or even worse.
So why would a for-profit corporate technology algorithm consider hell or death offensive? Honestly, I don’t know and of course that’s deliberate. Transparency is an anathema for both individuals and entities whose power resides in darkness. Hiding in obtuse and overpowering language that’s used in their voluminous terms of service. Corporate legal speak is never about transparency or clarity.
A learned life lesson when I confused brand loyalty with corporate concern for me as an individual. A companies existence depends on you buying their stuff. Employing both subtle and overt manipulation. This is why companies spend billions of dollars on advertising, marketing, influencers, sponsorships, lobbying and attorneys. Their sole purpose is to sell and generate profit.
They don’t actually care about you. Believing otherwise leaves you blind to the potential for bad things happening. Sadly, this includes your own self destruction, the destruction of other people and the destruction of our planet.
Death and hell are real; social media isn’t. Like all TV and movies from G to triple X, it’s all make believe. A virtual world that becomes idealized through words, sound and pictures that don’t entirely exist in reality. It’s an alternative and manipulated reality. Like shadows reflected against the wall of an Ancient or Modern-day cave.
That doesn’t mean we can’t learn from those shadows. Sometimes they can inspire us to create more love in the world. That’s the highest purpose of art, but that’s not Meta’s purpose. It’s only about making money and you cannot serve two masters. The master of Meta is money.
A Master that doesn’t want people distracted with thinking about actual reality. That’s a “distraction” that would impact their business model. The capture of your time and personal information is their business model. It’s how they make money; its why they exist.
Spiritually awake people seek to understand their life which means acknowledging their upcoming date with death. Their worldly expiration label. Their limited time engagement.
Knowing this changes your priorities. Like how much time you spend endlessly scrolling on social media. Content that’s designed to be addictive, time consuming and divisive.
Virtual casinos where you have no sense of day or night. Enticing you to want more, while leaving you empty. That sounds like a hell to me and that perfectly describes social media.