The News Within:
Listening Within the News For the Deeper Story
Intro: Hugh Smiley is a Hakomi therapist & teacher, musician, and astro-counselor based in Toronto, and creator of the Korason Method for Authentic Voice & Dialogue. With a lifelong interest in global affairs and formal study in Peace & Conflict Studies, he explores how world events reflect deeper psychological and & spiritual dynamics playing out both out in the world and within the individual..
In The News Within, Hugh brings together inner work and outer awareness—inviting readers to look beyond headlines into the patterns shaping individuals, nations, and humanity as a whole, while cultivating the capacity for authentic dialogue in a polarized world.
I’ve been a “news junkie” for as long as I can remember. At 14, while many of my peers were immersed in music charts or sports scores, I found myself drawn to maps, conflicts, alliances, and the shifting patterns of nations. I didn’t yet have the language for it, but something in me was already tracking a deeper question:
What is really going on beneath & beyond the surface of world events?
Decades later—after a lifetime that has included music, travel, psychotherapy, bodywork, spiritual study, and eventually formal academic work in Peace & Conflict Studies (U. of Toronto) - I find myself returning to geopolitics with that same question, but from a very different place.
Not just as an observer of global events, but as a student of human consciousness. And more recently, as someone who works with expression, embodiment, and what I call Authentic Voice & Dialogue.
The News as a Mirror of the Psyche
Over time, a realization has quietly taken root in me: What we call “the news” is not just a sequence of external events. It is, in many ways, a collective psychological and spiritual process made visible.
The same dynamics we see in individuals—defensiveness, projection, trauma, fear, longing, denial, courage, breakthrough—also play out in families, communities …and nations.
In the esoteric tradition I’ve studied (including the teachings often attributed to Alice A. Bailey and Djwhal Khul), nations are understood as having both a Personality and a Soul. The Personality (with its physical, emotional & mental faculties) expresses through survival, identity, power, fear, and conditioning; the Soul (with its spiritual attributes) through purpose, service, unity, and the evolution of consciousness.
When we look at global events through this lens, something begins to shift.
We are no longer just asking:
Who is right?
•Who is wrong?
•Who wins?
We begin asking:
What pattern is being enacted here?
What wound is being triggered?
What is trying—however painfully—to evolve?
The Problem with “The News”
At the same time, we are living in an era where the information landscape itself is deeply unstable. Media—both traditional and social—is often:
polarized
reactiveselectively framed
driven by outrage or fear
influenced (or muzzled) by political, business, or ideological agendas
In such an environment, it becomes increasingly difficult to perceive reality clearly. We are not just witnessing events. We’re witnessing competing narratives about those events, each claiming authority.
And beneath that, something even more concerning: A growing loss of trust in shared reality. This fragmentation doesn’t just divide nations. It divides families, communities… even our own inner experience.
A Personal Tension
As someone who identifies with the Baháʼí Faith, I am guided by a principle that discourages partisan political involvement. The reason is clear and wise:
politics, as it is commonly practiced and even talked about, often amplifies division rather than unity.
And yet …I find myself deeply moved, at times disturbed, by the suffering, injustice, and imbalance I see in the world. And the lack of a clear lens in the public forum and discourse, with “spectators” and participants becoming increasingly frustrated, confused, terrified, grief-stricken, or just feeling paralysed.
There are moments when my “throat chakra,” to use the language of energy psychology, gets itchy and feels almost compelled to speak. So I sit with a question:
Is it possible to engage with world events in a way that seeks truth… without contributing to division?
Searching for the “Sweet Spot”
This Substack series is an experiment in that question. I’m not interested in:
arguing political positions
reinforcing ideological camps
adding more noise to an already noisy field
exacerbating polarizations
Instead, I want to explore what I’ve come to think of as “The News Within the News”. This means listening not only to what is happening, but also to what is being expressed through what is happening. It means asking:
What emotional and psychological patterns are at play?
Where do we see projection, shadow, or trauma reenactment?
Where are there openings—however small—for dialogue, healing, or transformation?
How do nations practice the art & science of relationship and evolve from this?
The real news is also …being.
And importantly:
How might we respond in ways that are more conscious, more grounded, and more aligned with our shared humanity?
For many of us, the news can trigger: anxiety, anger, helplessness, overwhelm
But also, at times: insight, a sense of emerging patterns, vision for a more just and functional world, and even hope for a new kind of “concert of nations”.
And yet, even these more positive responses are often accompanied by another layer: frustration, self-doubt, or the haunting question: “What can I—what can we—actually do?”
Re this question, see previous post:
Authentic Dialogue — Beyond Debate
A central thread in my work is something I call Authentic Voice & Dialogue. This is not debate, not persuasion, not about winning. It is a way of engaging that includes:
listening deeply
speaking honestly but non-aggressively
tracking one’s own inner experience while in relationship
staying present even in the face of difference
In psychotherapy—particularly in the somatic, mindfulness-based approach known as the Hakomi Method—we recognize that much of what drives behavior is unconscious.
The same is true, I believe, at the level of nations. Policies, conflicts, and alliances are often shaped not only by rational strategy, but by collective emotional patterns:
historical wounds
identity narratives
fear of annihilation
longing for recognition or belonging
resentments from past humiliations
If this is so, then purely strategic or adversarial approaches to diplomacy may be inherently limited. What might become possible if elements of Authentic Dialogue were brought into the field of international relations?
JOOTS
In Hakomi, there’s a concept called “Jumping Out Of The System” (JOOTS). It refers to the ability to step outside a habitual pattern in order to observe it more clearly. Instead of being inside the reaction, we become aware of the reaction.
Applied to global affairs, this suggests something radical: What if we could collectively “step out” of entrenched narratives, even briefly, to see the larger pattern we are all participating in? This doesn’t mean abandoning discernment. It means expanding it.
A World in Initiation?
At times, it seems to me that humanity may be moving through something like a collective initiation. Old systems—political, economic, social, ecological, informational—are under enormous strain. Structures that once provided stability are revealing deep fractures.
Power is shifting, and with it, a new order is emerging. Voices that were once marginalized are rising. At the same time, there is confusion, conflict, and, in many places, profound suffering. From a psycho-spiritual perspective, initiation and transformation is rarely comfortable.
It often involves:
breakdown before breakthrough
confrontation with shadow
the dissolution of familiar identities
If this framing has any truth to it, then what we are witnessing is not just chaos. It is a reorganization process—painful, uneven, and far from guaranteed—but potentially meaningful.
Response to Threats (& there are many: to the environment, culture, the individual, the nation, the human race, etc.)
Integrating the Korason Mehod (KM) with Polyvagal Theory, we learn & practice KMAS (Korason Method Articulations) to study & regulate default reactions to threats and trauma tiggers, i.e. Fight, Flight & Freeze.
Is there another way of meeting the news?
Not by suppressing these reactions, but by gently expanding our capacity. In this space, The News Within, we explore a different orientation:
Another Way: Feel, Face, Find
Feel — staying connected to the body and emotional truth of what we are witnessing, without becoming overwhelmed or numb
Face — remaining present, with courage, to reality, even when it is complex or uncomfortable, without collapsing into attack or avoidance
Find — listening for deeper patterns, meanings, and possibilities that are not immediately visible on the surface
This is not a technique to master. It is a practice. A way of engaging that allows us to remain human, and perhaps become more so, in the face of an increasingly intense world.
The Role of Voice
In my work with the Korason Method, we explore the relationship between voice, body, and consciousness.
Voice is not just communication. It is expression of being. When the voice is blocked, something in the person is often constrained. When the voice becomes more authentic, something begins to reorganize.
I sense a parallel here at the collective level. There are voices that have been suppressed, distorted, or amplified in unbalanced ways. Free speech is often constrained, even in democracies, and ‘truth-telling can end in censorship or worse.
There is noise—but not always clarity.
There is expression—but not always listening.
Part of this exploration will be to ask:
What does it mean for humanity to find a more authentic voice?
An Invitation
This Substack is not meant to provide definitive answers. It’s an invitation into a shared inquiry. Together, we might:
look at current events through a different lens
explore underlying patterns rather than surface positions
practice forms of perception that are less reactive and more reflective
experiment with ways of speaking and listening that support understanding
We will look at real-life current events - war, intelligence games, competing narratives, social media, climate crisis, genocide, corruption and social movements - with mind, heart & soma that go above partisan affiliation and personal emotional reactions, scanning the “the field” & the system for the patterns of the News Within (what’s really a-goin on beyond & beneath).
I will inevitably bring my own perspectives, values, and limitations. But I will aim to do so with humility, curiosity and a commitment to unity—not as a slogan, but as a practice
Practicing How We Meet the News
Processing Not Just Reaction, But Potential
One of the quieter challenges of engaging with the news is not only how we process distressing emotions, but how we hold moments of insight and possibility.
There are times when something becomes clearer—a pattern reveals itself,
A more humane or functional path seems imaginable. And yet, these moments are often fragile & can quickly give way to discouragement, or to the question:
What difference does my understanding make?
In this space, The News Within will also serve as a place to process emerging insight—to help us stay with it long enough for it to take root, deepen, and perhaps find its way into meaningful expression or action.This question—“What can I/We do?”—is not one to be answered quickly or superficially. It is a living inquiry. One that sits at the intersection of:
awareness
capacity
timing
and relationship to the wholesome
A Closing Reflection
Perhaps the most important question is not: What is happening in the world?
But: How are we meeting what is happening in the world?
Are we reacting from fear?
From certainty?
From inherited narratives?
Or is there a possibility, however small, to meet this moment with greater awareness, compassion, clarity, agency and creativity? If there is such a possibility, then the “news” becomes something more than information. It becomes a field of practice. A mirror. And perhaps, in time, a doorway.
Before returning to the stream of news,
take one breath in awareness—
and listen for what is moving within you.
If you feel resonance with this exploration, I invite you to join me here. Feel free to like, comment & engage with your ideas and perceptions.
We will be listening …together …for what is happening ..
within the news.
For some Korason “3Ts” (Tips,Tools & Techniques) to help process, heal and empower your relationship with the news & world events, check out my other Substack posts, and also the following links:
Info. on the Korason Method (KM):
https://hughsmiley.com/korason-method/..and the Korasomi Training (Spring-Summer Semester begins May 30, 2026): https://hughsmiley.com/korasomi/
Thank you for your ideas and methods, Hugh. I will try to create a personal JOOTS. What you offer is sorely needed in these times of chaos and uncertainty.
I love this, Hugh! I'm feeling so inspired by people like you who are taking the collective challenges we face as a clarion call to share ways to wake up to deeper compassion and skill. Thanks so much!