Yes, I know that I´m playing on your fears to get you to read these words, but bear with me and see if what I have to say is worth your time. I am speaking about another pandemic that is as dangerous as the Covid-19 epidemic that we are all living with. I call this pandemic “psychic infection.” It goes by several names, but the most common are “conspiracy theory,” “false narratives,” and “fake news.”

It comes in on my computer every day from multiple sources. The carriers are my friends and acquaintances, along with the news media that are eagerly waiting to inform me every morning when I read my emails and sign on to The Guardian, Fox News, CSNBC, etc. I am told that there are forces out to enslave me, take away my freedom, take away my financial resources, and imperil my life and the planet I live on.

This psychic pandemic results in strange behavior and beliefs. For example, one news item reports that a misguided man has murdered his small children because he is convinced that his wife carries reptile genes and that she has passed them on to his children. Then there is the person who entered a pizza parlor fully armed with automatic weapons because social media had convinced him that Hillary Clinton was operating a pedophile ring in the basement that was doing unspeakable things to small children. Another email tells me that Bill Gates has placed microchips in the Covid vaccines, and that these chips circulate through our systems and place our minds under his control. Another warns that the new strains of the Covid virus are the result of people who are vaccinated. I am regularly informed by another acquaintance that I must see a certain video that finally exposes the grand conspiracy.

What I am calling the “psychic infection” is the sum-total of all the conflicting theories, reports, and expert pronouncements that bring us to a place where we simply can´t discern the truth from the flood of lies and misrepresentations. I can´t trust any one source of information more than another, be it governmental, corporate media, or personal communication. This psychic virus propagates and takes over our psychic space. The pandemic threatens to bring us down as a species faster than any virus that has arisen (or has been developed in a laboratory in China, if you believe that one).

Here is an example that came to my inbox a few days ago. A perfectly reasonable acquaintance whose spiritual work I greatly respect sent me an email. I will quote a part of it exactly without revealing the identity of the writer:

“Here in [their European country] anyone who does not agree with the government and dares to criticize anything at all, is being defamed, their houses are being searched etc. There are so many doctors, scientists, lawyers, judges, teachers etc. that are faced with this. They are being treated worse than criminals — unbelievable.” When I enquired as to the identity of those perpetrating these crimes, my informant replied: “The Rockefellers and the Rothschilds.” (Rockefellers = big American money and Rothschilds = big Jewish money). Never mind that the villains in this piece are several generations out of favor even among conspiracy theorists, but psychic infection has a long life.

Then there is our friend in Ireland who still believes that Donald Trump was trying to save humanity by “draining the swamp,” and was hounded out of office by whatever evil force she chooses to blame. Closely akin to this is the persistent belief among many otherwise reasonable people that the last American election was stolen. For example, a county clerk in Colorado revealed the secret passwords of the voting machines in her district to a right-wing media outlet, thus rendering these machines unusable in the next election. Her motive, she explained, was to protect the accuracy of the vote.

The most disturbing aspect of this pandemic to me is that there is no equivalent to the Pfizer Corporation working to develop a vaccination to protect us from psychic infection. Indeed, no vaccine is possible because the infection exists at the level of ideas, not physical reality. How can we protect ourselves from psychic infection? I don´t know, but I can offer a possibility from my personal experience. When I was an undergraduate student, my university offered a course called Propaganda Analysis. (Yes, I know that the universities are in the pay of all those evil forces that are trying to enslave us.) In this course we were invited to examine all the statements in each propaganda piece by asking a series of questions. Here is a list of 10 lines of examination, quoted from Propaganda and Persuasion by Garth Jowett and Victoria O´Donnell:

1. The ideology and purpose of the propaganda campaign
2. The context in which the propaganda occurs
3. Identification of the propagandist
4. The structure of the propaganda organization
5. The target audience
6. Media utilization techniques
7. Special techniques to maximize effect
8. Audience reaction to various techniques
9. Counterpropaganda, if present
10. Effects and evaluation

The difficulty, of course, is that none of us have the time or inclination to examine every piece of purported information that comes in. My personal shortcut is as follows: If the information claims that there is a hidden villain who is manipulating us for their benefit, does that hidden villain reflect the prejudice of the person spreading the information? If the answer appears to be “yes,” I ignore the information. It´s an imperfect technique but one that is easily applied.

What can we all do about the media that is spreading psychic infection?

1. Don´t pass the information on to others. This is sort of a psychic version of social distancing. (I realize that I have violated this injunction by quoting all those anecdotes above, but I felt it necessary to describe the nature of the problem.)

2. Avoid the crowded places that spread the infection (the internet).

3. Invent a personal “psychic mask” to wear when social distancing is not possible.

I invite you to come up with your own personal psychic vaccine to protect yourself from harm. Be aware you may need a 2nd dose–and it may take a few weeks to have full immunity. Good luck!