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Culture

Should I Follow the News, or Not?

Zarrín Caldwell | Dec 17, 2017

The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the official views of the Baha'i Faith.

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Zarrín Caldwell | Dec 17, 2017

The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the official views of the Baha'i Faith.

With a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in international affairs, I used to be pretty religious (no pun intended) about watching and reading the news.

I subscribed to the motto laid out in the Baha’i writings to:

Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 213.

The problem, however, is that keeping up with the news these days often makes me anxious–or angry and depressed. That’s not always true, of course. To be fair, some upbeat feature stories do address advances in science, education and human decency. There are a lot of good things, and cooperative endeavors, happening in the world. Unfortunately, they’re rarely reported by most news media. The focus, instead, is on a polarized political battles that border on the absurd; sickening acts of violence; and morals degenerating “to an extreme degree,” per the forecast of one of the Baha’i Faith’s early leaders. Oh yes, and then there’s the increasing threat of nuclear annihilation!

We can’t ignore the world around us—but it’s hard to endure a barrage of negative news every day and still retain your sanity.

I’m probably not alone in my desire to crawl into a cave and, admittedly, that may be one of the reasons my husband and I have recently opted to move to the desert. Perhaps that’s why Christ’s 40 days in the desert, Muhammad’s time in the caves of Mount Hira, or Baha’u’llah’s own self-imposed exile in the remote mountains of Kurdistan for two years make increasing sense to me. Baha’u’llah wrote:

We betook Ourselves to the wilderness, and there, separated and alone, led for two years a life of complete solitude. From Our eyes there rained tears of anguish, and in Our bleeding heart there surged an ocean of agonizing pain. Many a night We had no food for sustenance, and many a day Our body found no rest. By Him Who hath My being between His hands! Notwithstanding these showers of afflictions and unceasing calamities, Our soul was wrapt in blissful joy, and Our whole being evinced an ineffable gladness. For in Our solitude, We were unaware of the harm or benefit, the health or ailment, of any soul. Alone, We communed with Our spirit, oblivious of the world and all that is therein. – The Book of Certitude, pp. 250-251.

Understanding that his destiny was to unite the Babi community and, eventually, to proclaim his own divine message and Faith, Baha’u’llah returned to Baghdad after his two-year sojourn.

These historical facts have a message for me today: while retreating from the world is not really a permanent solution, we do need to fortify our own souls to face a world that has largely turned away from God’s laws and a spiritual life, and is suffering the consequences of that choice.

What such retreats look like may be different for everybody. For me, it means hikes in the surrounding mountains, having some kind of meditation practice, not watching violent films, ensuring that I have times when I am completely disconnected from technology, and, yes, not paying rapt attention to the news every day.

What are your restorative practices?

Because I live near Phoenix, Arizona, I have a daily reminder of the importance of renewal—namely, the mythological phoenix associated with the Sun—which obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. The phoenix symbolizes renewal.

Admittedly, it is sometimes difficult to figure out how to pull oneself out of the ashes–and a constant negative, depressing spiral of news doesn’t help–but the following Baha’i prayer offers some reassurance and perspective:

O God, my God! The gloom of night hath shrouded every region, and all the earth is shut away behind thick clouds. The peoples of the world are sunk in the black depths of vain illusions, while their tyrants wallow in cruelty and hate.… O my Lord, the lamps of guidance have gone out.  The flames of passion are mounting high, and malevolence is ever gaining on the world. Malice and hate have overspread the face of the whole earth, and I find no souls except Thine own oppressed small band who are raising up this cry:

Make haste to love!  Make haste to trust!  Make haste to give!  To guidance come! Come ye for harmony!  To behold the Star of Day!  Come here for kindliness, for ease!  Come here for amity and peace! Come and cast down your weapons of wrath, till unity is won!  Come and in the Lord’s true path each one help each one. Verily, with exceeding joy, with heart and soul, do these oppressed of Thine offer themselves up for all mankind in every land…. O my Lord, wing them with victory that they may soar upward to salvation, strengthen their loins in service to Thy people, and their backs in servitude to Thy Threshold of Holiness.… – Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 273.

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Comments

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  • Alan
    Dec 18, 2017
    -
    I appreciate your insights on this issue; one that haunts me as well. I've decided to be more selective in what news and I read and view. In fact, I have not "viewed" news on TV in at least two years and do my best to avoid reading the theatrics of the politics of the day. Yet, I keep feeling I should be able to both read and view the "news" with "eye of God." That is, to understand what I hear and see through the mic and lens of the revealed Word of Baha'u'llah without my ...stomach churning and judgmental self making accusations against the "people wandering in the path of delusion." Thanks again!
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  • Rosslyn and Steven Osborne
    Dec 18, 2017
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    Thank you Zarrin, as this has probably been my mantra when listening to folk complaining of the news on TV. I must admit I stopped watching....I was not sleeping, worrying and due to praying for the mess and tragedies to be fixed or those within it helped. So I quit. I only listen now to the ABC radio news and if I want to know more I will look it up on my computer. The graphics to horror stories, the slander and gossip, I just can't handle. I too needed some me time to help me sort myself out ...with Baha'u'llah quietly in my own way. Like you I live in an isolated rural remote area, so for that I am blessed. Trying to sort the false news from real news was too overwhelming much of the time.
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  • Melanie Black
    Dec 17, 2017
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    Thank you for your thoughtful article. I've been sitting here wanting to comment, with many thoughts running around in my mind. Just over six months ago, I watched the news very little and rather judiciously. I wanted to be informed but not overwhelmed, so I chose public television. Now my situation is changed and I no longer live alone and I don't have as much control over the content on TV. I'm no longer in a community of Baha'is, so I find my succor in the Writings and in doing as much service as I can. Indeed life is more ...of a challenge now, but my sanity is intact.
    Read more...
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