I read that the average adult watches television from four to six hours per day. Television has been called "popcorn for the mind", a kind of mindless activity in which we merely absorb what appears on the screen without effort of any kind. As it is "entertainment", we don't need to "think", and just sit mesmerized by the flickering images.

I remember sometimes getting "caught up" in a good show, anxiously awaiting the unfolding of an exciting plot, feeling outrage at injustices, and warmth at tender emotional scenes. It was almost as if I forgot I was merely observing something on a screen, and thought I was the participant. The same thing seems to happen with computer games, where we can become so absorbed that we forget even the passage of time or bodily needs.

The other day a thought struck me. What if human life is similar to television for our spiritual selves? What if we are merely observing "from a distance", as we do television? Rather than a screen with moving images and sounds, our "spiritual television" actually puts us in a body, with five senses to detect even more of this "reality" in order to make it even more real.

With the depth of our human feelings, we can become absolutely convinced that this is "real", for we can "hurt", become "sick", and even "die"' We become so focused on what is going on in "life" that we forget that we are, in reality, a spiritual being. We forget that we are not limited to a "body" and think the body is our "real identity".

Just as we can, in "real life", change channels and choose to watch something elevating and thought-provoking or uplifting, so can we choose to see only the good in "life", to strive to be better human beings.

And just as we can turn off the television and remember that we have lives to live rather than observe, so can we "turn off" our little, ego minds and connect instead with our One true MIND, and remember just Who we are.