The Perpetual Passive Mind
The human mind is a fascinating subject, to say the least. Especially when one begins to contemplate what the minds of antiquity and ancient history were busy doing in contrast to how humans use their minds today.
In order to be a good listener, you have to be able to switch your mindset from one of force (talking) to one of passivity (listening). Everyone struggles with being a good listener, some of us more than others. Realizing that you aren’t a good listener is a major first step toward becoming better at it. In order to be a good communicator overall, one has to learn how to listen in a “passive-active” state.
In “The Republic of Plato”, a bunch of smart philosophical dudes sit around talking and discussing philosophy and doing a whole lot of listening, because if they don’t hear what the speaker is saying, they won’t be able to respond and they won’t learn from the dialogue. Their minds are both passively listening, and actively coming up with arguments and more to add to the conversation.
We can go way back to illustrate that passive listening was a survival skill at one point. Hunters used it when hunting, people had to listen closely if there was danger lurking nearby, directions needed to be learned quickly from a teacher or parent when humans lived off the land, and the list can go on endlessly. In short, communication was a key to survival for all humans….up until recently.
The mind becomes passive in other ways; theater-goers during Shakespeare’s time or any type of theater throughout history is a perfect example. Listening to music is an obvious passive listening experience, especially classical and instrumental, because the individual isn’t singing along to the music. Children in school learn from a young age to be in a passive-active mindset so that they can learn and interact with the teachers and other classmates.
Reading books is another great example of the passive-active mind, because reading is work that your mind is doing with imagination and the actual comprehension of the words and story taking place.
The key here is that our minds are thinking while we are also listening passively. When we talk to other humans, we instantly put filters on; the person’s gender, race, intellect, and general attitudes are instantly taken into account and these act as filters. Same goes for any news programs these days. Children in class are thinking of the problem at hand, theater goers are busy imagining what’s going to happen next.
When a person is watching television, or looking at their phones, their mind is in a passive state. While in this mindset, ideas are transmitted directly to the mind of the receiver…with barely any filters whatsoever (unless you have learned over the years how important this is). This type of passive mind is not like the passive mind that communicates and listens to a friend, neighbor, or family member. You aren’t speaking back to the TV or the phone, and while many may argue they can learn from a screen, the real learning is in the doing of the thing one wants to learn. One could also argue that the individual is using their minds similar to the theater-goer, but in a theater the environment is also part of the experience; the other audience members, the physical actors on stage, their live voices, the sounds, etc.
With television or phones, people are often watching things alone or in the comforts of their home. If televisions and screens place us into a passive mind state, and there is no return energy (forming a reply and communicating back, a dialogue), what do we call this type of mind? If Hollywood, podcasters, talking heads, politicians, athletes, can all talk at us, tell stories, spout the news, without the need or ability for us to reply to them, what is really going on in our minds?
If our minds are “open” and not really thinking or applying filters, are we susceptible to potentially negative and damaging energies/influences? Look at the advertising world and their gimmicks and you have your answer. Look at the abundance of sexualized, violent, and curse-filled movies available to the public. Does anyone really think watching stuff like that isn’t…influencing us negatively somehow? Now apply this to children given free reign of screens.
Meditation also puts the individual into a passive mind, and almost all religions claim that this is the way to “speak” to God. We don’t hear a response and we don’t expect to have a full conversation in this state, so it’s very similar to…watching TV or looking at the phone. But meditation has proven benefits; television does not. Looking at screens for more than we should each day puts our minds into Perpetual Passive Mode. Not a lot of thinking going on in this state, and if this is a state of mind we put ourselves in on a daily basis, the repercussions could be fairly bad over time. This will also slowly erode our filtering capabilities, allowing any and all influences into the mind and thus into the body, as the two cannot be separated.
Is it any wonder why pharmaceutical ads play constantly on TV? Could this be a type of….subconscious programming to affect the health of the audience?
