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Monk Must Study Social Currents

Stampedes begin slowly, with everyone headed in the same direction. We seek flows to engage us in the streams of daily life. The wise fertile monk foresees dangerous currents in public opinion and politics, currents in technology and media, currents in methodology. At times, one may fear to stick a toe in the river for fear of being swept away.


The media stream through our homes is best controlled not by technological dams, but by teaching our children to swim well. The first rule is: learn to recognize strong currents and avoid them. Strong flows are socially magnetic, they attract souls like a magnet attracts particles, like a snowball rolling downhill, gaining mass and collecting from an ever widening path.


As information flows though any media, a flood of mass hysteria results whenever people are attracted to strong currents and become swept away by them. It can be exhilarating. And nothing is more democratic than a lynch mob--everyone present agrees that the guilty party should hang.


Just as we teach our children to question authority even as they accept it, we can alert them to the danger of mass fear, the destructiveness of mass hatred. Learn and teach to recognize and respect the power of mass opinion, so as to avoid getting caught up in it.


Once the herd begins to move, it may be too late to get clear. At that point, anyone not going with the flow may be trampled.