The Beauty and The Beast Within
Most people are too distracted and are primarily looking to be entertained. To be entertained one needs an entertainer who is responsible for making you laugh. It is known today that when someone genuinely laughs, the brain uses two main chemicals or compounds: endorphins and dopamine. Apparently, the release of endorphins and other opioid peptides increase our pain tolerance and affects our emotions therefore generates the arousal of pleasurable feelings. In short, the person laughing experiences some sort of euphoria during those moments. In addition, endorphins secretion also releases sex hormones and enhances our immune response. I learned that dopamine "plays important roles in executive functions, motor control, motivation, arousal, reinforcement, and reward, as well as lower-level functions including lactation, sexual gratification, and nausea." (Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine)
Back in the days, there were caravans of entertainers and clowns traveling from town to town to perform their tricks. Most adults can remember circus performances that drew significant crowds and were written about in newspapers for months. The advent of Television, the internet, and smartphone technologies have put those ambulant clowns out of business.
Just look around and observe, you will quickly notice that the type of activities that draw people in masses have elements of entertainment. There is pretty much nothing today on earth that is not at least entertainment in part . Whether it is sport, politics, churches, funerals, so-called news, comedies, and others have some elements of entertainment carefully embedded in their delivery explaining why they draw people in masses. It is nearly impossible to find a home without a Television or a person without a smartphone. These are powerful tools for entertainers to deliver their tricks and the gateway for individuals to consume in masses. In this social context, the power breakers no longer refer to individuals as people but simply as consumers, yet no one finds this reference repulsive and repugnant.
The positive reinforcement from associating pleasures with its triggers and the repetitive experiencing of pleasurable feelings create a false sense of comfort and spiritual laziness. I said false sense of comfort because it is always temporary which means that the 'consumers' needs more and more for their daily doses of distractions and entertainment just as any other addict. The masses of consumers are now in a morbid state of dependency like drug addicts who cannot live without their addictions or simply exist for it. They find real existential topics that genuinely affect their eternal lives to be very boring. These topics simply don't immediately trigger the secretion of endorphins and dopamine in their brains to satisfy their chemical dependency. It is just like someone who spend their live eating junk food or who has a poor diet while ingesting pills and all sorts of medicines to feel healthy. The smart person knows and fully understands that, to be healthy and well, they don't need the chemicals from engineered medications. They must simply have a natural diet and practice good lifestyle.
What good is it for you to spend your entire lifetime on earth laughing just to avoid facing the reality of your own imperfections? What good is it for you to spend your own life gossiping about others? Growing up, I can vividly remember my neighbor friend always saying that alcohol doesn't drawn your worries in live. I can now equally say entertainment, distractions, or avoidance don't fix your personal imperfections or struggles. Your imperfections float while you - as spiritual being - are drowning in a lethargic swamp created by all sorts of temporary physical pleasures. Yes, entertainment provide a temporary sense of comfort but through avoidance, it makes you forget about your shortcomings, but you fail to realize how dependent you become. What you are trying to hide from yourself and from others will go nowhere until you face and address it. Pretending and avoiding by distracting yourself only waste the limited and precious time you have. Even if you have a mountain of personal flaws or weaknesses that you must work on, you are better off starting somewhere and tackling one at the time. Each small victory will bring real joy to you. If you do it right, you can address your flaws one after another as in a game. Call it your game of life and soon your own brain will release the same dopamine and endorphins that you've been negatively addicted to.
At some point in your life, you must step back and reflect about what you gain from all these entertainments and distractions. At best, they are sources for mundane conversations and gossips. What benefit do you gain from knowing the names and lives of athletes, movie stars, and celebrities? How does watching countless videos that make you laugh all day help you become internally better and a productive member of society? When will you identify your own talent, develop it, and make it blossom so that it transforms your own environment for the better? The beauty and the beast are both truly within each one of us. The brain is a docile animal-like tool that loyally serves its master by only obeying the commands it receives from our volitions. If it is let loose, it goes out of control and turn into a beast that controls and terrifies its master in a sluggish environment that it creates. With a strong volition, courage, determination, and real commitment towards self-ennoblement, the beast will be reined in and put back where it belongs. With you the master in control, the beast will become the best tool there is for your own spiritual maturity and ascend so that your presence in a body made of flesh and blood promotes harmony, peace, love, and beauty in this magnificent creation of God!