Brain rinse

Do not favor the company of paranoia. Whether it’s people, places, or the internet. I recently advised someone asking for help, “don’t pick friends who light up your paranoia.”

“If you walk there, you will smell like pennyroyal,” said a voice.

“Is that good or bad?” I asked.

“I think it’s good,” said another. “It’s in the mint family.”

“I just want to take a picture of the dirt,” I explained.

“I love people!” said the one who warned of the smell of pennyroyal.

I’ve been in conversations against my will with people who enjoy conspiracy theories to explain the uncertainty of situations. It’s like conversing with recently exhumed talking dolls from underground with soil still stuck in their ears, and a vocabulary that repeats phrases and words like, what about… about… about… THAT! And….. but…. but…. but…. WHO KNOWS HOW THIS HAPPENED? It….It… DOESN’T MAKE SENSE! SeNsE! senSE….. Ssss…ennn…Se.

Ok. And you believe in God? Who or what we don’t know anything for sure about.

So to clean out my brain I went on a guided bird walk with Audubon. We saw birds. They come from the sky. We don’t know how they do it. Like, do we know exactly how they got here?

I mean we see them flying and eating worms and walking around and floating in the water even, but we’ve never spoken to one directly about this phenomena, this way of being.

Scientists have explained their bodies and systems but can this be trusted? Could this be a political narrative? Conspiracy thinking puts the brain setting on scrambled, confused, and off-center. Inquiry and curiosity are good. Paranoia and conspiracy never bring benefit. Except for creating more paranoia and conspiracy.

“There’s a sora!” A birder had taken me under her wing. Mid-way through the walk, I noticed she could tell I needed help grasping birds, not literally but as identities, realities. Her face lit up when she saw this bird. I was excited for her, then I looked and saw the bird. This was wonder. We watched the sora, and then a Virginia rail, sandpipers, yellow legs. Was this a conspiracy? No, this is too big for that. It is a bigger space. There is too much light here.

Simply put, the sora is a “small secretive bird who lives in freshwater marshes”. I wonder who thought it was secretive? Should we look into that?

When it comes to information, be a lighthouse. Be a safe harbor.