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44 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

enjoin me to change the world. They mainly entertain me. Social media encourage
a numb-observer approach to whatever happens, quite unlike the detached
observer of meditation: one does react with desire or aversion, one doesn’t discern
what’s beneficial and what is not and then translate it into wise actions or greater
empathy. To be fair, sharing things through Facebook has the potential for these
skillful responses, but it generates far more of unskillful ones that simply agitate us.

Not only does it encourage the first two fires, it also embodies the third. In his
reflections on the roots of social dukkha, David Loy suggests that the mass media
is an institutionalized form of delusion. On the internet, this manifests as filter
bubbles and echo chambers. Facebook, Google, Netflix, Youtube, Amazon, etc.
gather data of one’s searches and one’s preferences and use them to determine
what is shown to you: I do not see reality, everything that’s out there, I only see
what these filters let me, and I can’t access their criteria or know what they have
excluded from my sight. One ends up only meeting those things, which already
conform to one’s ideas and preferences, which doesn’t really help in the task of
gaining freedom. Social media also teach us to filter our experience. People do not
share whatever meaningful thing that happens to them: they share what makes
their life look amazing and special. Does this not get us used to denying whole
areas of our human existence? How do we square this with the first great task of
fully knowing and embracing dukkha? EH

Are you searching for a spiritually challenging work?

Do you enjoy meeting fellow Dharma practitioners, Buddhist leaders, and Dharma
masters? Would you like to introduce the latest Buddhist book you read recently?
How about researching into the latest web-sites on Buddhist activities around the
world? And of course, what about telling us how you first came in contact with
the dharma and what the dharma means to you today. Well, if you find all of these
interesting, we can make it spiritually challenging for you too!

In every issue of EASTERN HORIZON, we publish special chat sessions with leading
Buddhist personalities, essays on all aspects of Buddhism, book reviews, and news
and activities that are of interest to the Buddhist community. We need someone
to help us in all these projects. If you are keen to be part of this exciting magazine,
please e-mail to the editor at Bennyliow@gmail.com, and we will put you in touch
with what’s challenging for the next issue!
Let us share the dharma for the benefit of all sentient beings!