by Karen Mortensen
“RETIREMENT IS HARD WORK!” the headline glared. I had recently retired from teaching, so it definitely caught my eye. The article expounded on the decisions required upon retirement: what investments should be made, what health care provider should be selected, where one should live, what homeowners should do about their homes, etc. I didn’t read far before I decided, “Wait a minute! I don’t want to buy into this belief system! I’m enjoying my retirement and the choices it allows me!” Hard work? I don’t think so. Work? Maybe so, but if so, it is work I thoroughly enjoy. Maybe it would be better defined as work/play.
Since being asked in ReSurfacing “Where do beliefs come from?” I have developed the habit of noticing indoctrination techniques. (In the process, I have also become more and more aware of the connection between my beliefs and my experience.) One source of my beliefs is friends, family and loved ones. How easily I am influenced! If someone tells of a diet system that takes weight off and keeps it off, I’m all ears. If my head is congested and a friend suggests a connection to the drinking of milk, I start to wonder if I have a milk intolerance. If a family member makes a remark about the coffee I order after lunch, I question the wisdom of drinking coffee—and on and on. Even knowing what I know, I find new beliefs seeping into my belief bank without my consciously admitting them.
Beliefs also seem to find their way in by way of the media. When I turn on the television, I am bombarded with propaganda in the form of advertisements. Among other things, these advertisements would like me to believe that I need to take aspirin to help my heart; sugar is bad for me; aspartame is bad for me; salt is bad for me; I am intolerant to dairy products; as I get older I will need incontinence protection; I have bad breath; I need a laxative; I have (_______) odor problem (fill in the blank with an appropriate body part); I’d better watch my cholesterol; butter is bad for me; margarine is good for me (wait, no, didn’t one study suggest that margarine was bad for me?); eggs are bad for me (oh, yes, now they say something in the yolks is good for me); fat is bad for me (but don’t I remember a study that suggested that certain kinds of fat are good for me?); I need an antacid (and why not use one that provides calcium?); I should own my own exercise equipment; I should join a gym; and on and on, ad nauseum.
I became so aware of the insidiousness of these suggestions that I resolved to watch television as little as possible. I became almost fanatical about it, to the point where I would watch only one news program a day, one sitcom or so a week, and an occasional sports contest. One day, however, I wanted to know the weather forecast, so I tuned into a weather channel. How harmful can it be to watch a weather forecast, I thought. So I flipped on the TV and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a shaded map of the US showing statistics on the number of influenza outbreaks across various sections of the country. And guess who was sponsoring this valuable dose of information? A company that sells a well-known and well-advertised flu remedy! It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why this company wanted people to believe that the flu was rampant where they live. Believe it totally, and sure enough, soon you’re coughing, sneezing, and running a fever. Then, you’ll need to buy a well-known and well-advertised flu remedy!
I have since become a little less fanatical about my self-imposed television boycott. But I am aware that companies that try to instill beliefs have a reason for doing so. If they are successful, they will profit in a big way. But what happens to me if they are successful? What happens to my health if I begin to accept these implications without question? “Studies show...” “Doctors recommend...” “Hospitals use...” What studies? What doctors? Which hospitals? Is conflicting data publicized if it doesn’t profit the sponsoring company? For that matter, is it possible that doctors and hospitals might have more of an investment in treating me than in preventing illness in the first place? (Sorry, AMA, it was just a thought.) Still, the question is, how gullible are we?
Our country thrives on free enterprise, and that free enterprise depends on advertising. But those of us who are beginning to wake up notice how beliefs affect our experience. And if we wish to protect our own health and well-being, we will put a shield over our belief systems and accept only those beliefs we choose. Later, we might even discard those beliefs and try out new ones. It will be an active process. We will not indiscriminately allow beliefs to infiltrate our minds. We will be aware that self-serving concerns have reasons for convincing us of certain things. We will become, once again, “We, the people...,” and no longer, “We, the gullible...”Karen Mortensen, New York
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