Pandemic of Paranoia

From the Hoi Polloi Tarot, the Ten of Swords; from the I Ching Pack, Hexagram 34:

Our mind creates our world. An angry mind sees an angry world. A fearful mind sees a threatening world. But when mind is stable, we see a world as that world is. We see a world that is open, fluid, workable, movable. ~Tim Olmstead

I woke up in the middle of the night with the realization that our world has been infected by something more horrific than the coronavirus. We are in the middle of a pandemic of paranoia, an undercurrent of belief that others are 'out there' waiting to destroy what we love. It seeps out of us in the form of anger and aggression or depression and hopelessness; it separates families, neighbors, and nations. The only cure for this disease is discernment - realizing that much of what we think is true is actually misinformation created by our emotional and opinionated mindsets. While I can't change another person's mind, I can certainly take a closer look at what thoughts I'm allowing free rent in my own head. The 34th hexagram's key phrase is 'great power,' and I can't think of a power more influential than that of the mind. As neuroscientist Rick Hanson explains: "What you think and feel, enjoy and suffer, is changing your brain." Yet, he offers some good news: "Neurons that fire together, wire together. This means that each one of us has the power to use the mind to change the brain to change the mind for the better. To benefit oneself and other beings."