#going to capitalistic institution will bring me lifelong wellness??

[staycatcher]

So I’m going to school again n I’m reading thru all the orientation shit n they said “Education will bring you Lifelong Wellness” ✨🧘‍♀️🙏

that’s a fuckin fortune cookie

[serastepsforward]

On Earth Media

     My fields of study in higher education were largely under the umbrella of Film & Digital Media with a focus on criticism, context, and media literacy, though I did enjoy a light introduction to some production techniques.  I also went through a minor in Electronic Music Production where I honed some audio engineering skills and knowledge.  After graduating and moving back home to a city widely considered to be a major media hub of the planet, I found myself finding difficulty landing steady work in the more analytical side of media.  Currently I support myself modestly through occasional freelance sound design/audio mixing jobs.

     On my journey so far, I have taken note of the wide spectrum of media available for public consumption on the subject of cryptids, UFOs, and psychic ability.  Nowadays, through the wonders of the internet, the average citizen of Earth has access to a plethora of research, hypotheses, and even hard evidence.  Due to this ocean of availability, however, it can sometimes be difficult to parse fact from fiction or earnest research from cynical entertainment.  I enthusiastically accept this challenge!  I absolutely love to consume the gamut of Earth Media for the purpose of gaining insights and truths.  My excitement sometimes can get the best of me though, as I’ve shared some pretty ‘out there’ videos with some friends that almost cost me their trust!

     One of my first “hints” I would tell friends after I first delved into the Disclosure Project was to Pay Attention To How Beings Are Depicted.  Does the piece of media you’re watching purport itself to be a documentary?  Was it broadcast on television with commercial breaks, structured with incentives to keep the viewer watching?  Are the dramatic reenactments similar in tone to a horror movie?  How does the music make the viewer feel?  Does the program want you to feel dread over comfort?  Fear over Love?

     During my reentrance to the paranormal in October 2018, I found myself drawn to the exploitative fodder of Zak Bagans’ Ghost Hunters.  Here was a group of investigators who believed in what they were researching, had repeated experiences both individually and shared, and displayed a kind of understanding regarding the energies with which they would interact, but for some reason I guess in adherence to the formula of their process they go about their contact research with downright aggressive, often hostile intentions.

     At first I treated each episode like a kind of comedy, laughing at these silly men who shouted vague threats into the spirit world.  The more I watched, however, the more it became apparent they were simply going about everything in the worst ways.  They were able to retrieve substantial bits of evidence but their means of communication were often far too fearful, angry, or unfocused.

     Bagans and his team serve as a useful avatar for all those who would rather not “let the cat out of the bag” so to speak.  Showmen who aim for capitalistic gains through self promotion, branding, and secretly ineffective methods are perfect for keeping the public curious enough to keep watching but skeptical enough to not “buy” every aspect of a show, or an entire phenomenon for that matter.  (I do not claim there to be anyone behind this as some sort of conspiracy, these are merely observations I’ve made about things we do as Earth Humans.)

     I noticed a very similar framework comprising the show Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet.  My introduction to this show was after I had already been initiated through several lecture videos on the psychic and gentle nature of Sasquatch People, so I once again attempted to make my way through a few episodes interpreting it all as Comedy.  “Silly Humans,” I would tell myself.  However, knowing what I had been told, aspects of this program began to make me physically queasy.  Eventually I found I would be hit with waves of nausea whenever I’d try to watch media that depicts Sasquatch People, Star Nations, or other friendly cryptids in any sort of threatening or scary way.  I did appreciate the peaceful nature of the researchers on Finding Bigfoot, they seem to be curious with good hearts.

     There does exist a surprisingly productive clip from the show available on Youtube.  The regular research team is joined by paranormal investigators Greg Newkirk and Dana Matthews (a pair I first saw in their docuseries Hellier last month) who introduce everyone to the wonderful Kathleen Odom, a psychic who regularly acts as a medium between us ‘hairless humans’ and the Sasquatch People.  I’ve seen several videos of Kathleen reading the transcripts of her interviews with various Sasquatch Friends, each time I am deeply moved.  This scene, albeit short and ‘weird’ enough to be perhaps forgotten by more skeptical viewers, contained some of the most vital research I had seen from the show thus far.

     Unfortunately, several Earth Humans who study Sasquatch People try to split researchers into separate camps.  There are many attending events or conferences who in their hearts “believe in Sasquatch,” but will heckle or walk out on a speaker who brings up the psychic connection to other paranormal phenomena.  I believe this division to be unproductive and unnecessary!  There is also the perpetuated mentality of hunters and more violently-minded scientists who have convinced themselves the only method of gathering proof is to somehow possess a dead body.  Even just typing those words out now has filled me with a deep sadness.  I pray someday soon we are able to reach such fearful minds and coax them toward love.

     It is largely the fault of lifelong conditioning through our all-too-digestible media that we still fear our unseen friends.  We’ve become fluent in the language of Horror Tropes: shadowy figures, disembodied whispers, glowing eyes, and snapping branches automatically read to most of us as DANGEROUS because of the movies, television, songs, and stories we’ve lovingly consumed all our lives.  In almost all of such cases however, I have been reassured that these are merely indicators of a curious presence in our midst.

     Many Earth Humans are also culturally encouraged to ‘protect our own’ through toxic expectations of distorted social roles such as masculinity or parenthood (often rooted in sexism and racism), to ‘stand our ground’ & ‘defend our land’ even when the ground or land was never ‘ours’ to begin with!  For many, particularly those who cling to the established institutions and beliefs of our standing civilizations, it will take a fundamental uprooting of their own core values before they can begin taking more productive steps forward.  To those unused to tapping into their own sensitivity or vulnerability, it can feel as if their understanding of spectral extremes are suddenly swapping.  It may very well feel like Right becoming Left or Man becoming Woman (and vice versa) as binary beliefs are stripped away in service of a gentler and more fluid understanding.

     The other day sitting in traffic I thought, monsters are just friends we haven’t met yet.  If we are able to keep our emotions in check during an experience of high strangeness or even direct contact, I am assured the results will be exponentially more rewarding.  When I say “keep our emotions in check” I don’t mean to suppress our emotions, I mean to put Love First above fear.  Intention is everything, as it is reflected back; fear will be felt by all parties if it is allowed to grow.  This is precisely what I wish to work on for myself in the coming months and years.  Focusing, calming, approaching each experience with genuine Love from my heart space.  Every day I can feel this love replacing more and more old fears.  Even though I am still very much a novice, this mindfulness has already begun to improve some of my personal and professional relationships.  It’s all so very exciting!