Often, we hear messages that spread throughout our culture and become slogans or cliches. They gain popularity and permeate the culture. We then tend to repeat them as if they are irrefutable wisdom. But as I have heard and evaluated some common messages we hear, I find that many are incomplete or outright erroneous. While we may not always be aware of the effects of these messages or sometimes disregard such effects, I believe that they do help shape the thinking of many people in our nation. So if these messages are faulty, many people will consequently adopt faulty thinking on some of the issues addressed in the messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, the saying, “What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger” has spread and become a commonplace message in our culture that we seldom seem to question. Is such a broad, all-encompassing statement true? In many situations, we can see evidence that the statement may be true. But if we look at human history, we can also find dis-confirming evidence that convinces me that it is not always true. A more accurate statement might be, “Sometimes I become stronger after going through hard things that don’t kill me.” Yes, maybe Obi-Wan Kenobi became stronger when Darth Vader killed him, but for the rest of us, death is the end of our earthly existence and power. But even things that don’t kill us, sometimes take away some of our power or ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christopher Reeve, who played Superman in a few movies, is one example where this cultural message clearly doesn’t stand the test. Mr. Reeve experienced a serious accident involving a horse he was riding and received a life-altering injury to his spinal cord. He could no longer walk or use his legs and feet. According to a Wikipedia article, “Reeve continued to require round-the-clock care for the rest of his life, with a team of ten nurses and aides working in his home” (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Christopher_Reeve).<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case, the accident didn’t kill Mr. Reeve, but his physical abilities were never what they had been. Was he stronger as a result of something that didn’t kill him? Certainly not physically. After going through the struggles afterward, he may have built up some mental capacities that were previously untapped, but it’s not likely that overall he could be seen as stronger as a result. To me this is clear evidence against the saying that “what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.” Other cases have led to individuals losing their mental capacities, as well. Again, evidence against the cultural message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is just one example of a cultural message that doesn’t really give us a clear or true picture of the human state. I believe that often these messages are oversimplifications that help someone make some sense of various challenges in life. But at the same time, they may lead others to actions based on a flawed understanding. With this particular message, someone might be willing to take more serious risks because they really believe the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The point this leads to is that we need to be careful what sorts of messages we pass on. Are we passing on messages that bring light into the world or ones that cast some shadows of darkness into the world? To me, acting on erroneous information that leads to any harm brings some darkness. Passing on such flawed messages is passing on some darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the month of August, the Lightward Bound posts on the Facebook page will focus on various commonplace messages in U.S. culture that seem to paint a faulty picture of reality, whether because it is missing something or because it is just plain false. The goal of these posts is to increase our awareness of these messages and recognize some of their flaws in order to avoid darkness and move toward more light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Often, we hear messages that spread throughout our culture and become slogans or cliches. They gain popularity and permeate the culture. We then tend to repeat them as if they are irrefutable wisdom. But as I have heard and evaluated some common messages we hear, I find that many are incomplete or outright erroneous. While […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,244,253],"tags":[294,293,296,295,292,191],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-relationshiips","category-truth-honor-integrity","category-unity","tag-christopher-reeve","tag-cultural-messages","tag-culture","tag-messages","tag-superman","tag-truth"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions\/605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightwardbound.org\/Main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}