I have not written a post for a while … not for May, and not for June, and now it is July. Will I be writing an original post anytime soon. I think not … and so I am sharing what I wrote for my latest bulletin on CoCreating Clarity. Better than nothing! 🙂 … Enjoy!
Quoting Bill Moyers talking with Jon Stewart on ‘The Daily Show’ (June 1st) –
“I think that we’re lost in what Thoreau called ‘the mere smoke of opinion’. The news is about what people want to keep hidden. Everything else is publicity. And people don’t want to keep their opinions hidden. They want to keep the facts hidden. And it takes a lot of money, a lot of time, and a lot of effort to go and explore the facts and to bring them out. And so a lot of news organizations – they no longer do a lot of reporting. They simply rely on opinion, talk … all of that. And that undermines journalism.”
I would add that it undermines the very lives we lead – at work with our colleagues, at home with our families, and everywhere else. CoCreating Clarity.
The Mere Smoke of Opinion
sorts through what is fact and what is the mere smoke of opinion, assumption, unhelpful interpretation, and fear that silently become the secret autopilot that propels our lives.
In the full quote from ‘Walden’ Thoreau wrote –
“ … it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left. But alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear. It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields.”
CoCreating Clarity reboots us to begin again to trust our alert and healthy natures, and with this new awareness, to discover new choices. And the best news is that CoCreating Clarity, unlike the good journalism Moyers speaks of, does not require a lot of time or money. All it takes is willingness, courage and a few hours with me!
Moyers also went on to say “The truth goes down better in a democracy, when it Is marinated in humor”, and so too in CoCreating Clarity, the truth goes down nicely with good humor, and a side of good chocolate!
PS: You can watch Bill Moyers on the Daily Show here – Part I and Part II
Muddy Up and Clear 