~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Self-Actualization ~ ∞ ~
Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary
Self-Actualization is a term similar to Self-Realization, describing one’s ability to realize one’s full potential – expressing one’s creativity, quest for spiritual enlightenment, pursuit of knowledge, and the desire to give to society are examples of Self-Actualization. The basic needs of humans must be met (e.g. food, shelter, warmth, security, sense of belongingness, etc.) before a person can achieve self-actualization – the need to be good, to be fully alive and to find meaning in life.
Research shows that when people live lives that are different from their true nature and capabilities, they are less likely to be happy than those whose goals and lives match. For example, someone who has inherent potential to be a great artist or teacher may never realize his/her talents if their energy is focused on attaining the basic needs of humans.
~ ∞ ~ The Mystery of Consciousness 1/2 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
In this section, we dive deeper into the topic of consciousness and its relation to awareness (which has its own dedicated section following this one). A good way to start would be to say that as we begin to shed the layers of the human condition that blinds our perception of our Infinite Being, we come across the idea of consciousness. It is something that underlies everything we know and everything we do, it is present in our daily life, and yet we know so little about it. And so it can be said that consciousness is one of the biggest mysteries there is. Indeed, if one takes a moment to investigate, one arrives at the conclusion that consciousness has been one of the most profound mysteries of our existence from the very beginning. We talk about it all the time, and we know about it through our experiences – and yet, nobody agrees on what consciousness is – be it science, philosophy, mysticism, or religion; there are as many answers as there are people, you see?
In the previous sections, through many chapters, we have already discussed a fair amount about this topic. As such, the purpose of this section is to crystallize some of the main aspects of it, and pose questions more than give answers. Among some of the deep questions we ask in this section are: What is consciousness? Is it dependent on, independent of, or interdependent with physical reality? Why do non-Western wisdom traditions and Western scientific perspectives disagree so completely in their ideas about it? Do animals have consciousness? Do plants? What do experiences such as dreams, intuition, creativity, spiritual and near-death events tell us about the malleability and the range of consciousness, its elusiveness and transcendental nature? How does one study consciousness? How does one better understand consciousness?
When we ask the question: What is consciousness, we arrive at the conclusion that there is no definitive, all-encompassing definition or description about consciousness, although the emerging field of consciousness studies seeks to arrive at one. One such definition, favored by Western science, relies on materialist theories which argue that consciousness is constituted by the physiological structure of the brain, and hence it can be reduced to its neural activity, or that it is an emergent product of complex neural networks. Mainstream scientists like to say, argue – and even insist, that the brain creates consciousness and that consciousness cannot survive without the brain. But if one looks deeper, utilizing the very tools provided by the science itself, namely Quantum Mechanics, it is just as plausible to argue that consciousness exists before the formation of the brain, and therefore consciousness can exist after the death of the brain. What an astonishing dichotomy, isn’t it? By contrast, non-Western traditions see consciousness as ontologically primary to physical matter, an idea that underlies most of the world’s wisdom traditions, including Zen, Taoism, Buddhism, Vedanta, and Yoga.
From the previous, we can see that the idea of consciousness has been used in many ways throughout the history of humanity. The Western approach with its materialist ideas, definitions and descriptions being the youngest, and hence the most partial and incomplete. Considering how far we have come as a species, with all the discoveries in science, engineering and technology – including astronomy, biology, chemistry, medicine, psychology, sociology, and philosophy, among many other fields, it is simply astonishing how little we have discovered about consciousness. Although we don’t understand what consciousness is, we have some thoughts on what it might be, and hence there are a plethora of theories and hypothesis around it. Interestingly, none of these theories really answers to the primary question of what consciousness is, but rather, most, if not all, focus explaining what consciousness does.
Consciousness is generally described to be a state or quality of awareness; besides being an aspect or quality of awareness, sometimes it has been defined also as qualia, sentience, subjectivity, or the ability to experience or to feel. Other descriptions of consciousness include wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind; some go even so far as to say that consciousness is the same as life; ancient wisdom traditions all over the world has called it simply Spirit. All the above-mentioned descriptions mean that consciousness in human form is something that conceives, governs, constructs, and eventually becomes the activity of the body. When we investigate consciousness more deeply by utilizing our innate ability of being aware of our own consciousness, we can find that consciousness is also something bigger than us – something much more than just the quality of our awareness, and the ability of being aware of our individuated self.
Isn’t it intriguing that everyone seems to have their opinions about consciousness, but so little true understanding about it; isn’t it intriguing that we sure do like to speculate, but we put very little, if any, effort in understanding consciousness better. It goes without saying that understanding both consciousness and awareness – defining characteristics of sentience, should be our primary goal above all else, or at the very least, considered as being of great importance as they are playing a key role in determining the course of human happiness and suffering. These varying opinions about consciousness comes from the individual perspective of one’s own subjective experience of life, and yet we have no agreement on what consciousness truly and really is. As such, it can be said that understanding consciousness appears to be more difficult than anything we have ever encountered to this day.
The biggest problems in answering the many questions about consciousness, its nature and its extent arises out of the fact that humans have always started their explorations from the external world, rather than within the inner world, you see? One of these problems is deeply rooted in the way in which we acquire information – the importance is often placed on the mind and the linear, rational, and logical thinking; this type of information gathering and processing is valued over the heart-based wisdom (science vs. intuition). For some reason, it is difficult for us to appreciate anything that goes against the norm, that is, logic and reason as we know and practice them today.
This brings us face to face with the difficulty on studying consciousness – our modern contemporary methods of studying consciousness are linear, whereas consciousness is very much a non-linear phenomenon. Also the modern science has its very own core problems (assumptions of and about the world) in their scientific methods – the biggest being the way of seeing the world: as if everything would be separate from ourselves. As such, understanding the nature of consciousness is one of the grand outstanding scientific challenges. The fundamental methodological problem is how phenomenal first person experience can be accounted for in a third person verifiable form, while the conceptual challenge is to both define its function and physical realization. Consciousness is something that cannot be observed in the way that material objects can – it cannot be weighed, measured, or otherwise pinned down. From this, it becomes clear that science can only go so far – or at least the science we know today, which means that the only viable way to study consciousness is through direct experience, exploring and sharing these experiences by discussing about them, and in so doing learning about them – see?
Many ancient wisdom traditions explore consciousness through direct experience, which is achieved through contemplative practices such as Qi-gong, Zen meditation, and Yoga; these practices teach the practitioner to achieve a state of mental quiescence or stillness in order to comprehend reality in its non-physical manifestations, and in so doing, achieve a state of unity with the ultimate ground of being. There are three classical paths that lead towards being more aware, towards higher consciousness, towards better understanding of consciousness: meditation, concentration, and contemplation. Even though each path is different, each of them can help one to better understand consciousness; when followed and practiced consistently, they all lead to the same final goal or destination – absorption of Self into the Ultimate Reality.
~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Self-Realization ~ ∞ ~
Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary
Self-Realization is a process for self-fulfillment – realizing one’s deepest desires and capacities, fulfillment of the possibilities of one’s potential. The highest possible desire of a human being is to know thyself – Self-Realization; Advaita Vedanta (ancient non-duality tradition) defines Self-Realization as the knowledge of the True Self beyond both delusion and identification with material phenomena.
~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Self-Mastery ~ ∞ ~
Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary
Self-Mastery is the power to control one’s actions, impulses, or emotions; Self-Mastery is always a process – a never-ending cycle of learning, integrating, and creating. Self-Mastery gives the ability to control yourself in all situations in life – this gives you a certain level of self-confidence that enables you to move consciously and steadily forward towards your goals.
Self-Mastery starts with a vision of how you want your life to be – the path toward Self-Mastery always begins with a decision that will change the whole course of your life. What is needed is a clear vision of your short-term and long-term goals. Learning to set personal goals, and get into habit of moving towards these goals is fundamental – the clearer you are what you want to achieve in life, the easier it is to move forwards.
~ ∞ ~ Awaken the Living Awareness Within: Overstanding ~ ∞ ~
Awaken the Living Awareness Within Glossary
Overstanding is when you can explain something so someone else; to completely “know”; to be able to explain a subject just like the person who explained it to you; having complete clarity on a particular subject or discussion; no gaps in the comprehension of a subject; the flip side of 'understand,' for example, “When I was a student, I understood Tai chi. Now that I am a teacher, I really have a better overstanding.” See also closely related term Innerstanding.
After the previous chapter, which focused on the Preciousness of Human Life, it is appropriate to pay a homage to the idea of Miracle of Life with respect to the moment it starts, by asking the question: When Does a Human Life Begin? For however small this chapter ends up being, doesn’t matter as much as showing respect to this important area. You see, it is important to bring it up, because in the next chapter, namely “The Existential Paradox,” we approach this same issue with a different set of questions: When does a human life end, or can it end? We can start by bringing up something that was said in the very beginning of this section: “If we cannot create Life in a lab from scratch, with the same building blocks that Life uses to create multitudes of life forms we find on Earth, would it not then mean that the core essence of our being is not found in matter? This leads us to a staggering conclusion: the gift of Life is passed on — this is why we have babies, to continue as a species — see? Against this backdrop, it is reasonable to ask ourselves: What is Life, really?”
From the aforementioned, we can conclude that the parent’s Life Force*1 is temporarily anchored to an egg and a sperm. This happens via morphogenetic field, which is why the egg and a sperm can “survive” outside the body. It is astonishing to realize that Human Life comes into existence in just a fraction of an instant, and yet, there are so many aspects involved in this process that we have only scratched the surface. To this day, it is still a mystery as to when Human Life can be said to begin. As a result, this topic, in and of itself, is also a cause for a heated debate in the world today for obvious reasons. For curiosity’s sake, it is worth mentioning that in the time of Aristotle, it was widely believed that the Human Soul entered the forming body at 40 days (male embryos) or 90 days (female embryos), and quickening was an indication of the presence of a Soul.
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*1 Life Force has many different names in different parts of the world. In China it is called Qi, in Hawaii it is called Mana, in India it is called Prana, in Christianity in the Western world it is called the Holy Spirit.
We have two parent cells, a human egg and a human sperm — their sole purpose in life is to meet each other and fuse to create a one cell human being. The development of a new human being begins at fertilization when a sperm fuses with an ovum to form a zygote. So in this sense, it can be said that Human Life begins when the elements of a potent sperm merge with those of a fertile ovum, but on a deeper level, the answer is not so straightforward. You see, here we arrive at the question of the most profound: What is it that makes you — you? What is it that makes up the whole of who you are? Are you just a bunch of cells put together randomly, nothing more than a collection of cellular tissue, the processing organs, innervating nerves, bones and muscles — or, are you more than that? From the extraordinary moment of fertilization, our bodies form a design unlike any other, through a wondrous process that is both a replication of an ancient blueprint and a uniquely individual expression. These structures from bones to the tensile fiber of muscles, the processing organs, innervating nerves, and the oceanic fluid systems of the body — don’t alone make a human being.
Even though our physical bodies start out as single cells — it is clear that Life is more than chemistry, DNA, RNA, proteins, enzymes, and heredity — Isn’t it? So now, then, the question becomes: What happens in fertilization? What is it that gives birth to a new life? The question of when life begins is essentially one of the moment of ensoulment (the moment at which a human being gains a Soul). Why? Because it is the Soul, whether the vegetable — and lower animal variants, or the Human Soul — that when joined with a material entity possessing a particular potential exclusive to its nature, brings life or animation. This means that just as a lightbulb is useless until it is connected to electricity, the raw substance of our body does not become human until it is infused with the Force of Life (prana, qi, chi). This mysterious Life Force expresses itself through the projection of light from our eyes; it circulates the blood through our hearts and causes the ceaseless cycle of inspiration and expiration. This Life Force also provides us with a blueprint for optimal movement in the form of universal movement patterns that govern all our actions — these patterns organize our intentions into effortless actions.
~ ∞ ~ The Preciousness of Human Life 2/2 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to the miracle of life, it is worth highlighting the following truth: life really is precious and transient – it is a window of opportunity, and it won’t last forever. To someone who is observant and has a keen eye for detail, it may be impossible to notice that people don’t really understand how precious human life really is – far too many take it for granted, failing to see, recognize, and acknowledge not only the immeasurable value of human life, but also the deeper implications and possibilities that the human life presents us with – those of spiritual in nature, you see? We can see this in the way we humans are going about things – from cradle to grave, people are sleepwalking through their lives. Not only do they have any sense of how unique and precious human life is, but they also have no idea that they are asleep; people are dreaming dreams that are influenced by external stimuli. In this state of enchantment, their minds are open not only to the influence of the will of others, but also to all external circumstances, primal drives and desires that keep the vicious cycle alive – keeping people distracted, keeping their minds focused on anything but the true nature of their existence – preventing them from seeing the true value of their lives.
Now, we should ask the question: What is it, exactly, that makes us precious? Well, some would say that there are as many answers as there are people who ask. While many would like to list various qualities of humans compared to other forms of life, the truth is, though, that those are but attributes of being human – describing appearance rather than the essence, you see? Those who have gone through internal processes of spiritual growth and development, change and transformation – without exception, would agree that what makes us precious is what we hold within – connection to our Inner Being – to our Soul, through which we can connect not only to the deeper aspects of ourselves, but also to the Truth, to Spirit – God, if you will.
It is this same core essence within each of us – the Human Spirit, which ultimately unites us all, and that is what makes us precious – our innate ability to recognize and acknowledge, to be aware of and reflect on this Truth. It is our innate capacity of being able to reflect on the nature of our own thinking and feeling, our own past and future, our own life and death, on the nature of consciousness, and on the nature of awareness itself, which makes self-reflection possible – see? It is our innate ability to recognize that the core essence of another is essentially the very same core essence of oneself – we are all expressions of the same core essence of Infinite Awareness of Living Life, and that is what makes us precious, does it not?
That said, we should reflect on how rare a human birth is. No one knows exactly how many millions of different species there are on Earth, and how many millions more there are to be discovered. Considering the aforementioned, and taking into account how many millions of species have lived on Earth and have then disappeared – it is clear that humans are outnumbered many times over, if not by orders of magnitude. For every human, how many billions of other life forms there are on Earth? What are the odds that you were born as a human instead of any other of those life forms? With such a rare opportunity to experience life, one should appreciate human life – and not just their own life, but others’ as well. Even though we are fundamentally different from each other, we can do well to appreciate our differences. We may be different on the surface, but underneath, at the very core, we are all the same – human, awareness, consciousness – see?
We often think that our human population is huge, when in actuality, it is very small compared to the vast numbers of beings in other forms. That is to say, there are millions upon millions of life forms on, above, and below the Earth and in the oceans. Keeping that in mind, it becomes not only obvious, but crystal clear that a human life is all the more precious for being so difficult to obtain. Therefore, one should truly contemplate the rarity of life in the universe, and then the rarity of intelligent life in the universe. When taken that into account, one should embrace the sheer beauty and marvel of it all – and to top it off with the appreciation that comes from the following: keeping in mind how many other forms of life there are on, above, and below the Earth, what are the odds that you were born as a human, that you exist as the unique you that you are? And so you see, when properly digested, everything does, indeed, start to fall into perspective, doesn’t it?
Let us conclude this chapter with the following thoughts. Would you have the same opportunity to spiritually grow and mature if you were born as an insect or a jellyfish, instead of a human? Would you have the same opportunity to recognize and acknowledge, to be aware of, and to appreciate your very own preciousness if you were born as a frog or a bird, instead of a human? With a little contemplation and reflection, the inevitable and unavoidable realization begins to dawn on you with its adamant presence – in this regard, human beings are, bar none, unparalleled to anything else living on Earth. From this realization arises the appreciation of the preciousness of human existence, for it presents us with a rare opportunity to consciously evolve and grow spiritually. This brings about the question: Of all the people on Earth, how many bother to think about such things at all? A short and concise answer – only a few do; of those who do, only very few contemplate, and even fewer reflect upon it. Now, considering that it is fairly rare these days that someone would go to such lengths, how many of those individuals who think about, contemplate, and reflect upon such things, recognize the cyclic existence of sentient beings? How many of those are willing to create the ground of happiness rather than the ground of suffering? And furthermore, how many of those recognize ignorance and all that arises from it?
~ ∞ ~ The Preciousness of Human Life 1/2 - Awaken the Living Awareness Within ~ ∞ ~
Now that we’ve had discussions on many wide-ranging topics with regard to human beings, it is time to reflect on the preciousness of human life. In this chapter, we will see how closely the miracle of life and the preciousness of human life are connected and linked together. As an opening remark, it is worth noting that not everyone is able to see that human life is precious, not everyone has the capacity to think about and reflect upon such things. It follows, naturally, then, that not everyone has the appreciation for the deeper aspects of the human experience; such appreciation that some curious individuals who are initiated to the mysteries of life would have; such appreciation that some individuals who are involved in with understanding of the same would have. It is, of course, possible to awaken such curiosity within, and with it, the appreciation for the deeper aspects of the human experience, for the miracle of life and the preciousness of human life, you see?
That said, a good way to start the discussion about this topic would probably be through something that evokes a sense of awe and wonder, if not sheer mystery and marvel, don’t you think? As we have learned from the previous chapters, the probability of life existing at all is infinitesimal – the odds against the existence of life on Earth are said to be on the order of 10^10^123 – a figure so large that one could not possibly even write the number down. And yet, amidst all the odds against – here we are. This gives us some perspective with regard to the rarity of intelligent life in the universe. And not only that, but it also gives us the perspective needed to see the preciousness of human life with more clarity. The creation of our fine-tuned universe and intelligent life in it – the two unfathomably rare, if not mystical occurrences, makes it clear that the universe we find ourselves in – has a purpose: to facilitate intelligent life, which makes it a purposeful universe, does it not? Wouldn’t this then suggest that also human beings have a purpose? If we really think about it, wouldn’t the improbable odds of life existing in the cosmos suggest that everything that exists is a result of a miracle?
By now, at this point in the book, it must have become obviously clear that everything that exists is indeed a result of a miracle. Does it not, indeed, require a miracle to have living beings come out of non-living matter? But how can something come out of nothing, how can living beings come out of non-living matter, and how can intelligence, unparalleled to anything else we have come across – intelligence found in nature, emerge from nothing? Well, it can’t – not without a miracle, you see? Does it not, indeed, require the involvement of a Higher Power to initiate, cause, and bring forth such a miracle? In this sense, life is a mystery, one that may not be resolvable by means available to us, that is, by usual, traditional means of logic and reason as we know and practice them today, including, but not limited to, astronomy, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, and ontology.
By virtue of the aforementioned with regard to the mystery of life, it is worth highlighting the following truth: if one wishes to get a glimpse of this mystery, one would need to aspire to go beyond the thinking mind, to go beyond traditional means of logic and reason; one would need to use their faculty of intelligence to its fullest – to unleash its full potential to cover such aspects as intuition and inner knowing. In so doing, one becomes dissolved in something far more powerful – becoming part of something much greater, beyond ourselves; and in this becoming, one is able to pierce the veil between ordinary life and the mysterious regions of the Soul – into greater Innerstanding, wherein the transcendent nature of Life is experienced. This transcendent part of life can only be experienced through one’s innermost being – it is here – within, where the preciousness of human life crystallizes; it is here – within, where understanding, overstanding, and Innerstanding meet to form a clear, powerful, alive, and vibrant comprehension. And so you see, the answers lie beyond the limits of the known, and the truth lies beyond the narrow limits of conditioned perception.
If we move beyond our preconceptions, transcend beyond limiting beliefs, ideas and concepts that has been handed down to us from previous generations, if we go above cause and beyond effect, above birth and beyond death, above happiness and beyond suffering – we discover what lies beyond the limits of the known. Therein, can we find true knowledge and wisdom, memory and information, universal love, peace and serenity that connects us all; therein, beyond the limits of the known, the mystery reveals itself to those who seek it – see? Furthermore, if one wishes to get a glimpse of what this mystery entails, it requires one to appreciate paradox; accommodating different viewpoints within a broader perspective; seeing the opposites as complementary rather than contradictory – they are, after all, equally important parts of the whole. You see, wisdom and understanding lies in paradox – even if something contradicts itself, it can still be true; some would call this ‘coincidentia oppositorum,’ or just simply Unity of Opposites. A thing is both what it is and what it is not, and yet it somehow escapes contradiction – that’s how the Miracle of Life is possible, that’s how something can come out of nothing, and living beings come out of non-living matter – see?
While one marvels at the extraordinary nature of life, we cannot but conclude that life is, truly, a Living Miracle – something to be cherished and nurtured; to be alive is the greatest gift of all, is it not? Indeed, each of us is a living testament of the miracle called life. Is it not, indeed, a miracle that you exist? Is it not a miracle that you exist as the unique you that you are? Is it not a miracle that you were born as a human instead of, let’s say, an insect, or a jellyfish, a frog, or a bird? Is it not a miracle that you were born with a capacity for intelligence incomparable to any other life forms we are aware of? Is it not a miracle that Intelligent Life can evolve to a level of consciousness, to a point where it can trace back its history to understand its own origin and its true essence? Is it not a miracle that Life can become aware of itself through the vehicle of a living form that has the capacity for self-reflection? You see, as far as we know, human beings are the only form of life that has this capacity of being able to reflect on the nature of its own thinking and feeling, its own past and future, its own life and death, on the nature of consciousness, and on the nature of awareness itself, which makes self-reflection possible.
~ ∞ ~ The False Sense of Self (Human Doing vs. Human Being) – The Essence of Life ~ ∞ ~
In the West, our culture emphasizes the pursuit of happiness through external means. By contrast, in the East, traditional culture emphasizes acceptance of the conditions of existence, positing the idea that happiness is found within. And so it goes that in the West, 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.
The name of the game here is persuasion. You see, ordinary everyday people are influenced and persuaded by advertising, marketing and the various forms of media to behave and act in certain ways. And so it goes that people in the modern Western world promote the idea that “more is better,” in order to justify their never-ending need for more. With the immense amount of advertising we are bombarded with on a daily basis, it is not unsurprising that there are many things we feel we want and need. Advertising plays on our fears and the need for social acceptance. You see, advertisers exploit our innate drive for fulfillment and unity, our inherent need for social connection and bonding; and not only that, but they also exploit our desires, our sexuality, and our love of pleasure for the marketing and sale of everything from toothpaste to cars. As a result, “hyperspenders” emerge out of all this – they often think that collecting expensive toys will enhance their overall satisfaction with life. Yet, the honest truth is that these material possessions doesn’t seem to bring us inner peace and happiness – or do you beg to differ? Satisfaction in life is not a function of what you can buy in a store – see?
The materialistic worldview has resulted in excessive production of short-lived and disposable items, and thus the Western society has become a “throw-away society” where consumerism is being worshipped. Indeed, we live in a culture of hyperconsumerism where we can, and do buy nearly anything. Sadly, beyond the basic necessities, awful lot is spent on useless things that end up in landfills; in a throwaway culture, even human lives are seen as disposable – see? We take what we need in the form of raw materials and cheap labor to invest in our “culture,” we then feed it back to the world in the form of cheap material possessions, which in turn further the image that we have more and hence somehow better. As long as we keep up the illusion, the gears keep turning. Doesn’t this fit the definition of a parasite? The consumerist-driven capitalist economic system is indeed a parasitic paradigm which is only going to lead to more problems and eventually to self-destruction – one has to be blind not to see it.
However, despite this obvious dichotomy, people seem to hold a belief of an unlimited material progress that is to be achieved through economic and technological growth. It goes without saying that this kind of growth always comes with a price tag. You see, the harsh truth is that materialistic progress is cutting deeply into the natural resources of Earth; it’s also poisoning the environment with its waste products and threatening the ecological equilibrium. And so it goes that in today’s world, nature seems to represent merely a reservoir of resources to exploit – a set of forces and obstacles to channel and tame. We have come to look upon nature as something separate from ourselves, something we could master, control and manipulate to obtain specific benefits for our species. All this because we were taught that our species has been given dominion over all others and over the Earth itself. As a result, people silently give their consent for it to happen. This results in that our increasing wealth is concentrating in the richer countries, and the poorer countries are increasingly becoming more and more indebted to the richer ones. Because of this, there is widespread impoverishment and destruction of indigenous cultures.
And when it comes to scientists who are driving the scientific and materialistic progress; well, their code of ethics seems to be tied to our current paradigm through which we perceive ourselves as separate from everything else. All because of monetary or political interests. The relationship between science and politics has been well established, with the politicization of science becoming increasingly apparent in recent years, having extended into nearly every scientific field, including biology, physics, medicine, and the social sciences. That is to say, we humans are so driven by greed, power and profit that even scientific ethics are largely guided by the commercial interests of corporate industry. The politicization of science has reached a point where even scientists do not examine their own motives very closely. This obviously leaves the question lingering whether there is any code of ethics at all these days.
By virtue of the aforementioned, it is clear that as things stand now, most of what scientists do is not life-furthering and life-preserving, quite the contrary – it is life-destroying more than anything else. You see, physicists design weapons systems that threaten to wipe out life on Earth, chemists are contaminating the environment, and biologists are releasing new and unknown types of microorganisms without knowing the consequences. On top of that, psychologists and other scientists are torturing animals in the name of scientific and materialistic progress. What we have created is a world where not only do we believe that we are individual beings, but that we are separate beings – separated from each other, from our environment, and the very Earth that sustains us. Against this backdrop, it is obvious that the world is in trouble – which is an understatement, to say the least.
On that note, nowadays there are people in the scientific community who have come to the conclusion that maybe we have messed up this planet; but worry not, because these people think that they have a solution. You see, they have suggested that we should go find (or perhaps create) a new one. These people think that with the aid of technology, we could export life from Earth to other planets, and someday perhaps even leave our solar system. Given the underlying motive and incentive, this must be the ultimate delusion of a throwaway society, don’t you think? Even considering such an idea is nothing short of absurd. What does it tell about us, if among other things, we are ready and willing to throw away our home, as well?
Are we really so disconnected from everything that we truly think that the only way to solve our problems is to relocate somewhere else. So that we could mess it up all over again? The reason we are having problems on Earth in the first place is because we have ignored what nature is capable of giving us when we live with nature’s principles rather than against them. Let me ask you this: As things stand, if we relocate, how would it be any different than now? You see, if we relocate, not only are we exporting life from Earth, but also our prevailing culture and lifestyle, including our views, values, customs, traditions, beliefs, morals, ethics, and so on. Considering that these are largely dependent upon the materialist paradigm, which in turn is driven by the capitalist market economy, it is highly probable that we would repeat our mistakes – such is the nature of us humans, it seems.
Now, let me ask you this: If we take into consideration everything we have discussed in this chapter, isn’t it ironic that people buy the things they don’t need, with the money they don’t have – to impress someone they don’t like? And now we can ask the following questions: Why is this? From where does this kind of behavior come from? Where does it spring from? What motivates someone to act in this way? Well, in our deepest core, we all know that we are part of something bigger than ourselves; and because of this, we sense that something is lacking from our lives and we try to fill the void with anything – be it people, money, education, sex, drugs, travel, entertainment, cars, houses, or other material possessions – big or small. Yet, the truth is that satisfaction in life is not a function of what you can buy in a store; happiness in life has little to do, if anything, with what you wear, drive, eat or drink – see?
Upon deeper examination, one finds that the drive for contentment, fulfillment, and unity is innate in every human being – we all have a need to experience a life of meaning and purpose; we all have a need to feel a sense of belonging. It is this drive that is the impelling force behind our desire for love, and emotional, mental, and physical intimacy. However, when it comes to fulfillment – it can only be achieved through a pattern of living in which we focus on two primary spiritual needs: 1.) Continuous growth, 2.) Contributing beyond ourselves in a meaningful way. Out of these two arise other, somewhat deeper spiritual needs, foremost of which is Self-Actualization, and ultimately – Transcendence.
We find contentment when we choose gratitude. It’s when we take a step back and see the beauty of what we have, and choose to focus on everything we already have that we can find happiness. When we look at what’s really important in life and appreciate everything we have, it takes the same circumstances and allows us to see them through new eyes. What’s noteworthy is that these primary spiritual needs can be just as vital to life as food, water, and air. Unless we discover how we can satisfy these needs, we will be off track with unhappiness and emotional distress. You see, if these spiritual needs are not met, a person is spiritually unwell, and therefore struggles with finding meaning and purpose, which is another way of saying that eventually, in the long run, the individual will become emotionally unhappy, tense and anxious, confused, and sometimes even depressed.
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."
~ ∞ ~ 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.
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."