~ ∞ ~ The False Sense of Self (Human Doing vs. Human Being) – The Essence of Life ~ ∞ ~ |
In this chapter, we continue our deep dive into humans as we know humans, after which we will shift gears a little and turn our focus on the preciousness of human life, and further along the line, we find ourselves discussing existence itself. But for now, without a further due, let us dive into the topic at hand, shall we? But just before we do that, a quick reminder: as mentioned earlier, it’s going to be a wild ride from here on out, so better brace yourself because the pace is not going to get any slower. So, here we go. We live in times of confusion, disillusion, and ignorance, in a world where being genuine and honest is rare, where inauthenticity and insincerity, immorality and inhumanness is running rampant. If one is observant, they cannot but arrive at the conclusion: it seems as though humanity has become to disintegrate and devolve; people seem to suffer from a spiritual decay, a spiritual disease that is eating them from within – they have become to deteriorate and fragment from within. As a result, people react more and reflect less, do more and accomplish less, talk more and say less, generalize more and specify less.
Any observant individual can see that humans as we know humans today, are blinded by hubris and denial of things obvious – they have become arrogant and selfish, hollow empty shells, wandering through life like a ship lost at sea, drifting farther and farther off course; it’s like there’s no one home, you see? It seems that vast majority of people choose to remain that way. In an age of individualism, people are blinded by the false sense of self, slumbering in an illusory dream; unable or unwilling to wake up, they are driven by the cravings of various sorts – everyone seems to want the same things that others do. Blinded by groupthink, people are like a flock of birds or herd of sheep, nearly all of them running at a given time in the same direction. Isn’t that precisely the epitome of selfishness, the paradox of individualism?
When people are looking outside, they never have to look inside – until one day, something happens that reveals just how asleep they are. Suddenly, they realize that their sense of self, which has been formed and constructed out of their ideas, images, beliefs, assumptions, interpretations, expectations and desires is not really who they are. As this happens, one has to be overwhelmed how much their life has been driven by someone else’s narrative. When we look around us, and pay attention to our surroundings, we can see that no one seems to have any idea what they are doing and everyone is just pretending, which brings us to an important point: as humans, most of us live immersed in our daily lives with little thought of who we are, why we are here, or where we are going. This means that most of us are completely unaware of the fact that real freedom and happiness can never come to us from outside ourselves – they can only be found within, you see? As such, most of us have never realized the True Self – our innate Spiritual Nature, which is the Living Essence beyond name and form, words, ideas and thinking.
Because in the Western culture, people have been accustomed to think in certain ways, it reflects back to us in the way we live, behave and act. This, in turn, governs and shapes our culture, which is a collection of unvoiced agreements of how to be and act as a part of society. And so it goes that our evolvement as a species is keyed to the culture because it directs the way people assume how they ought to think, feel, be, act, and live – see? Identified with mind and body, ignorant of our True Nature, we derive a false sense of self from outside of ourselves – from what we have, what we do, or who we are connected with – our possessions, our social roles, how others see us, and so on and so forth. To a large degree, this is due to the pressure of “fitting in.” You see, our whole lives we are told who we are by our society and our culture – even as babies we are told who we are by our parents and others we come into contact with.
Most parents project expectations onto their offspring and put pressure on their children. While all this may come with good intentions, it is precisely those good intentions that often lead us astray, which is another way of saying that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” as they say. In other words, good intentions, when acted upon, may have unintended consequences. You see, what we learn as children about who we are, or who we are supposed to be – greatly influences how we see ourselves as adults. And so it goes that as we go through life, we may feel the pressure of fulfilling those expectations. Taking into consideration that most of these projections are parents’ own unfulfilled expectations for life, it would be beneficial to learn to identify where the influences are coming from and ask oneself: why it was in these people’s interest to place these expectations on me, and then let them go. It is saddening that some people want their children to be carbon copies of themselves – or do you beg to differ?
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, and their passion a quotation. ~ Oscar Wilde
Furthermore, as we grow, our parents pass onto us significant beliefs about the world and whether or not we should be wary of it or embraced by it. And so it goes that we are shaped without knowing and conditioned without choosing. Out of all this, we accumulate a fixed perception of the world, that is, a worldview or philosophy of life. Everyone has a worldview that is mostly unconscious – it is a perspective that we have about the things around us. In other words, it is what we believe to be true, or more specifically, what we believe is possible. And so it goes that most of us have a worldview that is arrived at unconsciously – a lens of unquestioned beliefs, through which we view everything. This lens will shape our understanding of who we are and where we came from, how we decide what is good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable, and our concept of perfection and imperfection.
By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to the lens through which we perceive the world and ourselves, it is paramount to highlight the following consequence: as a result, we begin to formulate a belief that we are only these limited physical bodies and mind. This belief begins to ingrain in us the idea that we are nothing but a product of an amoral, evolutionary process – an accident, if you will – insignificant creatures in a vast cosmos; and because of this, we live in constant fear that the limited self we have identified with – will die, cease to exist, and return to nothing. In part, this is the result of scientific materialism – a view that physical reality is the only reality there is; that all things are composed of material, and all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of material interactions; that the brain creates consciousness and that consciousness cannot survive without the brain; that the death of the brain is the death of the individual and the death of consciousness.
Because this view has spread its roots deep into our collective worldview and belief system, or short, consensus reality, we humans have developed a false sense of self which is dependent on the materialist paradigm – see? Although bringing innumerable benefits to our world, the materialist paradigm has created unprecedented challenges that threaten the continued existence of humankind and the biosphere. This ethos disregards the perils of our present interference with the intricate web of relationships upon which life on Earth depends, which goes a long way to demonstrating how deep our willful blindness and ignorance of the obvious really goes. We are an integral part of this great web of life, and hence it is obvious that we cannot survive without respecting all aspects of it. If we destroy our habitat, whether inadvertently or deliberately by continuing on our present path – we may risk destroying ourselves.
From the aforementioned, it becomes not only clear but self-evident that our sense of self is learned, experienced and defined by the mirror that others reflect back to us and by our own projections onto others. Because our sense of self is learned, we are steeped in a particular perception of ourselves from the moment we are born. Not only is our perception of self skewed, but also our perception of reality, as well; not only is our individual perception of reality biased, but also our collective perception, as well. This we can call ‘the human condition.’ It has colored our perception of reality and molded our beliefs and values to what they are today in ways most of us don’t realize. You see, the disconnection from our true spiritual nature has distorted our perception; everything has been turned upside-down – morally, ethically, spiritually, and logically: the truth has become lies and lies have become truth; light has become darkness and darkness has become light; good has become evil and evil has become good; justice has become injustice and goodness has become wicked.
In a way, the human condition, from which the false sense of self originates and springs – is a collective story, an unstructured narrative we buy into and believe in. This collective condition, or story, if you will – has shaped not only the individuals themselves, but also our culture. You see, stories are the foundation of our lives and character, and because our lives are influenced by the stories we tell, they have the power to create our reality. This is why the stories we tell ourselves can make or break our future. Without awareness, we give our personal power to the story, and in so doing, the story writes itself. But with awareness, we recover the control of our story, and in so doing, we can choose what stories we believe, and in turn we can change the old story to better fit our needs and values.
Unfortunately, the stories we live by today largely come packaged not as spiritual or communal quests but as aspirations for material gain, which results in that we always seem to be wanting more. No matter how much stuff we have, we always seem to want even more. The Western “culture” believes the capitalist idea that the more is better; that to have and own more is somehow better. And so it goes that the master narrative of the modern world is the story of the capitalist market economy, a powerful but deeply problematic story. As a consequence, we live in a culture that is materially rich but spiritually poor, which is another way of saying that we are experiencing the poverty of the Spirit. And so you see, we live in a society that has lost its heart – saddening truth, isn’t it?
Against this backdrop, we can see that we seem to regard material things as paramount to life, and hence we forget that there are far more important and meaningful aspects like knowledge and wisdom; we also seem to forget that our lives are far too valuable to waste chasing possessions. In our hubris, we have lost our perspective about what is good and wholesome; blinded by the false sense of self, we are driven by the cravings of various sorts, and so it goes that we want more money, more wealth, more status, more power, more influence, more excitement, more love, and basically more of everything. Here we should ask ourselves: Why are so many of us driven to accumulate more of everything, without any evidence that they provide us with contentment and fulfillment? We can only arrive at one conclusion: this endless craving of material possessions is our desperate way of trying to alleviate our spiritual thirst for deeper fulfillment, with severe consequences.
We live in a consumer-driven society that tries to tell us that money does buy happiness – “the more we buy, the happier we will be,” goes the slogan. In a society where the prevailing worldview is materialistic, values are created by advertisements, which results in that actors, musicians and other “famous” people are followed as though they were gurus, nearly worshipped as modern day avatars or gods. This has a direct effect on the self-image of a consumerist – it is rooted solely in physical appearance, social status and material success. It is this idealized and artificial lifestyle that is then pursued as the principle means to achieving life satisfaction, happiness and contentment or the so-called “good life.” All of the consumerist’s creative and intellectual energy is redirected towards a goal – which is, in essence – an illusion created largely by the commercial interests of corporate and the entertainment industry.
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~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~
Get the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within – Discover the Keys to Happiness, Inner Peace & Harmony
~ ॐ ~ Sambodhi Padmasamadhi ~ ∞ ~
Get the Book: Awaken the Living Awareness Within – Discover the Keys to Happiness, Inner Peace & Harmony
[ Click » here « to read the next part: The False Sense of Self 2/2 – The Essence of Life: Part III ]
Extra Material: Video: Society, A Perpetual Cycle [Alan Watts]. Video description: "Alan Watts talks about how our society conditions children to live with a constant frustration and worry about the future, and never learn how to live in the present."