The Ultimate Gift And Its Challenges
The greatest gift I can give to the Other is the wisdom I earned in my arduous journey to self discovery. Self-actualization, peace of mind & presence of mind are the major keys to dispel the frequency of fear, anger and uncertainty. What you see projected on the screen is explicitly orchestrated to entrap you into a mental-maze beset by inflamed passions. The solutions to break free from the frequency of terror is a major obstacle that can be overcome in many ways...this is my unconventional path to transform & overcome my Self
The Challenge We Face
The difficult road ahead will transcend generations and possibly alter the biological essence of being human. Underneath the pandemics, police brutality and economic recessions is a new socio-economic model which will assimilate our private dreams, hopes and aspirations for the greater good & safety of the world economy.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
WEF The Fourth Industrial Revolution, finally, will change not only what we do but also who we are. It will affect our identity and all the issues associated with it: our sense of privacy, our notions of ownership, our consumption patterns, the time we devote to work and leisure, and how we develop our careers, cultivate our skills, meet people, and nurture relationships. It is already changing our health and leading to a “quantified” self, and sooner than we think it may lead to human augmentation. The list is endless because it is bound only by our imagination.
The brave new world unfolding today is one the most impacting trends that is affecting our personal lives. The very core of of our being will be redefine in this new normal. It is in this context that we must decide for ourselves what it means to be human in a post-human age.
Are we to react to every piece of bad news? Are we to invest our passions & time in perpetual unresolved conflict?
At night when we restlessly lay awake and reconsider our choices we may feel a gnawing sensation in the pit of our stomach. The world around us is descending into never-ending conflict, poverty and war. Hopelessness, anger and depression are palpable in the supermarket, on highways and especially on social media.
The prevalent attitude in conventional society is that the ends justify the means. This mindset gave rise to tyranny, corruption and social disharmony. In other words, we are in some form complicit in the powering up the unresolved conflict we are currently faced with. Today, the freedom to be wrong, the freedom to be silly and even the freedom to express our minds is targeted for "re-education." The country has effectively become an open air prison, and the prisoners have become the prison wardens.
What are we living for?
Are we living for the moment? Are we living for Others? Are we living for our Self?
Life, freedom & peace are not found through political revolution they are created in the present moment through the creative power of the individual.
The violence, coercion & fraud perpetuated by government power-houses purposefully co-opt normal human engagement for the betterment of the few. This top-down model of control can take many forms & disguises (e.g. Capitalism/Socialism/Communism) but the end-result is effectively the same: dependent population at the behest of centralized control.
The dehumanizing system of control clinically diagnoses individuals who think outside the box as having an anti-authoritarian complex. Individual action that steps outside of the dichotomy of control (you versus me) and uses the power of compassion, empathy and creativity is derided & ignored as idealistic or worst labeled as "crazy." Individual freedom, personal responsibility & compassionate action is targeted by the system because it creates alternatives that are outside of the dichotomy of control.
The limited choice of political revolutions, self-abnegation and the phantoms of ideology locks down the mind in a rigid model of reality. In this reality tunnel our unconscious complexes disguise themselves as political enemies, "sheeple" and ultimately alienates us from our own humanity.
Moreover, the cultural context we are born into by default conditions us with a reality tunnel that relies on normalcy-bias to perpetuate its self-serving ideological existence. Concepts of good, evil and madness/insanity gradually change to fit into the master narrative of groups, societies and specially the state.
The Pleasure Trap & Operant Conditioning
The darkness within...
The narrative we create can lead us astray if it's not grounded in causal reality, virtue and based in universal compassion & freedom Nature's spontaneous order clues us into the underlying principle which creates the conditions for life to flourish:
...opposites...are part of the energic structure of the physical and of the psychic world, and without them no existence of any kind could be established. (Jung, "Four Archetypes)
Man as a reflection of nature is endowed with an internal dynamic of opposites: pleasure & pain, dreams versus nightmares and most of all life and death. This dialectic of opposites can create clarity of mind or entrap the mind in counterproductive pleasures.
We all share an intimate secret with ourselves that out of fear we choose not to reveal to others. The unconscious mind observes all of your actions, feelings and absorbs the internal monologue we carry inside our conscious mind. The Unconscious mind is replete with archaic psychic forces, emotional complexes i.e. a compendium of images/thought structures that precondition our conscious drives, instincts and talents. This contradicting, yet complimentary dynamic is like a rapid flowing stream we must learn to navigate or be consumed by its roaring tides.
As rational individuals we tend to see the world in finite, linear and reductive terms which helps our limited reason comprehend our environment. Reason does not operate in a psychic vacuum, but rather it is like a lifeboat maneuvering through a maelstrom of primitive instincts & archaic memories:
“It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up till now has consisted of – namely, the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious autobiography; and moreover that the moral (or immoral) purpose in every philosophy has constituted the true vital germ out of which the entire plant has always grown.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
At first glance, this relation to reason and our primitive mind may seem opposed to one another, however experience tells us otherwise. The lust for life powers the rational mind with inspirations & epiphanies. These peak experiences create new models of thought that effectively manifest the inherent abundance present in the unconscious; the perennial heritage of humanity. In this heightened level of awareness we can expand the boundaries of consensus reality with the active process of self-actualization.
Alternatively, if we become subsumed in group-think, entrap by pleasure and programmed by our comfortable habits we regress to reacting to life rather than creating life.
If your heart is heavy with limitations then you will not be free ....
With universal freedom we find the wisdom to cooperate with our neighbors. With empathy we find the courage to take personal responsibility and preserve peace. However, it is up to the individual's persistent action to produces meaningful, peaceful & long lasting results. There will be no universalized solution for everyone to adopt and forget their personal responsibility. There is no model of reality that will remove us from the consequences of our actions or lack thereof. If we are to find the solutions we must find the...SELF.
In the present moment the Self finds the triumph of unlimited freedom & peace of mind.
The Self is borne in a deep unconscious chasm of uncertainty and contradiction: freedom and destiny. When we come into being as children a powerful curiosity drives us to question the world around us. The contemplation of life can produce both subtle joys or deep woes. The balance we create in this opposing dynamic is an art, and its science lab is the subjective experience.
The individual CREATES his essence through self-reflection, actions and social interactions. The phantoms (cultural conditioning) of society's plague our mind with distorted images of what it is to be a successful person or a "responsible adult." The popular opinion underpins the master narrative of the State: our objective is to serve the state, the economy and the law.
If we embrace our uniqueness regardless of popular opinion then we are free in the now.
If we opt-out of the tax-powered controlled economy by creating a localized & circular economy then we effectively created a freedom zone in which to live life to the fullest.
If we choose to believe in our Self then we've redeemed humanity in a small but deeply significant way.
Before approaching these long-term creative solutions one must forge a Soul/Essence in this maelstrom of conflict & confusion. The inner-maze of the unconscious mind holds the keys to empowering our being to transcend the conditions of violence, coercion and fraud. Before we eliminate the political tyranny we must liberate our Self from our own self-tyranny:
The great events of world history are, at bottom, profoundly unimportant. In the last analysis the essential thing is the life of the individual. This alone makes history, here alone do the great transformations first take place, and the whole future, the whole history of the world, ultimately spring as a gigantic summation from these hidden sources in individuals. -- Carl Jung
How do you know when you're on the right track?
Your vision will become lucid, your skin will tingle and a surge of energy will rise from the center of your being to the top of your head. This is your intuition speaking, follow it.
"Self-realization is Self-actualization"
PsychologyToday: Self-actualization, according to Maslow, represents growth of an individual toward fulfillment of the highest needs—those for meaning in life, in particular. Carl Rogers also created a theory implicating a “growth potential” whose aim was to integrate congruently the “real self” and the “ideal self” thereby cultivating the emergence of the “fully functioning person." It was Maslow, however, who created a psychological hierarchy of needs, the fulfillment of which theoretically leads to a culmination of fulfillment of “being values," or the needs that are on the highest level of this hierarchy, representing meaning.
The roles we play in life can either be our creation or foisted upon us by social pressure:
Psychology Today: Social pressure may cause people to change their picture of reality, and those who resist it can be emotionally upset. Fitting in feels good, even at the expense of your otherwise good sense(s)—and we may pay an emotional price for the courage of our convictions.
Studies have shown that individuals will voluntarily distort their perception of reality to conform with the crowd, their family and their group of friends. To go against the group can create emotional discomfort which can lead to stress. Stress in itself is not a problem but rather an obstacle that can help the body & mind adapt to challenging environment & situations. However, prolonged exposure to stress, fear and violent imagery can shrink our brain. Some rather lose their Self in the crowd than experience the short lasting discomfort of being authentic.
The challenge in becoming an authentic, individuated self is to persevere in the presence of obstacles. To be truly free means preserving our passions regardless of material success or social pressure.
A group is an abstraction which exists mostly in the collective minds of people who sublimate their independent thought for group-think. The only experience we can fully understand is our own. In the lens of social groupings we experience the crowd indirectly through our unconscious psychological complexes. Depending on the cultural context groups can manifest the best & worst in human beings. However, if we do not individuate our being from group-think the Self will not ascend to higher levels of awareness.
The orchestrated system of control relies on our personal detachment and obsession with fear to subdue our resolve to create a better world. The illusion we assume to be true is that through political revolution peace, prosperity and freedom will become reality. The never-ending negative headlines turn our attention away from our passions. When we react within the dichotomy of fear & control we burn-out our passions "fighting" against phantoms. As our convictions wane so does our vision for a better world. To break free of this hamster-wheel the individual must look within & reclaim their peace of mind through self-exploration.
If we do not create freedom in the here and now, then we will never be free...
