By: Eric Le Reste 
Source: The Daily Guardian https://epaper.thedailyguardian.com/view/1986/the-daily-guardian/15 
Dated: February 1st, 2025

There is no doubt that social media, or any kind of media, has an effect on our feelings and thinking. Many spiritual leaders say that the less time you spend on social media, the better will be your consciousness and mind. Those who follow a spiritual path are aware of the need to protect their consciousness at all costs.  

However, the benefits of the social media phenomena, as with all kinds of scientific developments, depends entirely how the individual engages with it. Until I retired last year, my working world was media and it remains an important element of my life. I want to know what is going on in the world. I am fortunate though, in that, as one who meditates, I am able to watch closely what is going on in my mind. Those who cultivate their inner world pay attention to the conscience, the heart of the soul. We are aware, that it is possible to kill the conscience slowly and over a long period of time. It is similar to those who eat all the wrong kinds of food; they may be able to do so for many years before the heart is attacked.   

There are three things we can do to engage with media and social media and retain a conscience that is clean. Firstly, we must look at the intention. Ask the self, ‘Why am I watching?’ ‘What am I going to do with what I am being exposed to?’. Now, I use any source of information to increase my ability to help. Use ideas that increase the capacity to do something good for society. In other words, watch with a spiritual perspective. I may see ‘bad’ things, ‘wrong’ things but I do not think ‘bad’ or criticise, or blame.  

Secondly and closely aligned to this, I create a distance.  I keep a distance intellectually, emotionally and socially. I make sure in this way that there is no impact to hurt my mind. This allows me to have freedom of thinking as I watch and listen. Without that distance, I would be thinking exactly how ‘they’ want me to think. I would form opinions based on the bias and skewed perspective I am being offered. Worse, I might even regurgitate all those opinions and ideas as if they were my own, without understanding that I had been influenced. Therefore, even while knowing what is happening, I have no strong emotions, like anger or hatred nor do I engage in accusative rhetoric. I can do more by remaining distant, unaffected, with the freedom to think what I want to think. In other words, I remain neutral. This is the way to not diminish by spiritual capacity. I can have pure thinking, using my own intellect and understanding and based on spirituality. My thoughts will be of good wishes for whoever is involved, however they appear to be behaving. If I join in the blame and accusations, then I am only adding to the negativity. With good wishes, I may even be able to have some subtle impact on what is going on.   

The third mindset is that of balance. If I want to have a balanced diet, I need to consider what to consume and what not to consume. Therefore, I need to have a very selective attitude to social media. There are very sophisticated ways of filtering what comes onto my devices. I can create a menu of all the things that really interest me and all the elements I want to be exposed to. There are all kinds of firewalls that will protect me from contamination. It just takes a little work to set these protections, and special selections, up on my devices but after that, I will see only what I want to see. In this way I can stay well connected with the outside world but maintain an untouched conscience. I can let only spiritual insights nurture my conscience. I can stay connected with the Higher Being and the inner self, when protected and not disturbed.   

It all depends on how much I value my conscience, my state of mind and my spiritual progress. To that extent, I will pay serious attention to when and how I consume any social media.

 
Eric Le Reste was a producer for the 
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for more than 35 years. 
He coordinates the Brahma Kumaris centers in Canada and is based in Montreal.