Tara Brach Awakening Trust in a Fractured World, Part 2
Sep 25, 2025
Explore how to cultivate trust in a world riddled with division and conspiracy thinking. Discover the roots of mistrust fueled by leadership and social media, and how it breeds polarization. Learn to recognize the underlying goodness in others and practice compassion through shared vulnerability. Hear inspiring stories of transformation from combatants to peacemakers. Engage in practices that promote empathy and moral imagination, fostering a deep sense of belonging and community even amidst chaos.
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Fear Is An Intelligent Signal
- Widespread fear and outrage are intelligent responses to a dangerous, unraveling world.
- Limbic hijack narrows capacities for reason, compassion, and empathy at both individual and collective levels.
Algorithms Fuel Division
- Social media algorithms amplify anger and mistrust because they maximize engagement.
- This design literally keeps us at war with each other by escalating the trance of bad othering.
Perception Inflates Threat
- People dramatically overestimate how extreme their opponents are, which amplifies fear and perceived danger.
- Distorted beliefs about the other side then rev the actual level of danger and mistrust.
