Clean up your mental environment!

Check out my new category of links: Mental Environmentalism. I ran across this concept on adbusters and I think it's about time this issue was considered. Our "mental environment" is anything that works its way into our minds during the course of any given day.

Unfortunately, much of this is what corporations of various stripes would like us to see and think about (and to ultimately, buy). The "message" we are getting with increasing frequency is that we are not good enough unless we purchase and consume whatever product happens to be out there. Products that used to be designed to last for decades are now obsolete either physically or technologically, in years or even months. We are conditioned to want (and think we "need") increasing amounts of stuff, and then left to wonder how our homes, minds and lives have become so cluttered.

From a mental health standpoint, this is a serious issue. We have an entire society, now, that has been raised with constant mental distraction 24/7, as a way of life. Not only are we subconsciously told that we do not quite measure up to what we think is "average"--the lie of advertisement--but we are also bombarded with sensationalistic infotainment "news" that does nothing but raise our blood pressure and anxiety level, and feed our paranoia.

I think it is important, in light of this cultural shift, to make sure that what comes into our mental environment is healthy. Saint Paul's admonition to "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) is even more important now that distractions from the Presence of God are so overwhelming.

We are no longer able to hear God--there are too many frequencies filling our ears. ~Pope Benedict XVI