A branch of modern mental suffering
From the composition of man, since ancient times, we understand ourselves as not only a composite of matter, but rather the junction between matter and the transcendent. Regarding the first, it is extremely self-evident, however, in relation to the second, several debates about concepts and ideas arise, which are not always agreed.
To the most attentive reader, it becomes evident that the simply rationalist idea of the absence of elements of transcendence in man can (and probably will) become a lethal poison to the conscience, yielding good hysteria, visits and outburst to the nearest psychiatrist. At this point, you may already have some acquaintance in mind, which is probably childishly arrogant: Man created religion (or some other dogma) to support reality and take comfort. In order to understand that this thought is foolish and banal, in the first point it is necessary to have an understanding of the origin of man’s consciousness, and, for this, we must go back in time, to the origin of the universe.
If we consider the beginning of time, it is necessary for a set of forces to originate what we now understand as the “Big Bang”. That is, these forces came together in proportions from which the existing universe originated. From this proportion, it allows us to conclude that mathematics pre-existed matter, since the idea of proportionality derives from mathematics.
However, this is not enough for the universe to originate as we know it. These forces should have an internal logic of possibilities that followed a formula, of which mathematically, were present. This formula is evidently not restricted only to the events that occurred there, since, implicitly, all the causal links and mathematical relationships that existed should exist from the beginning.
Therefore, in order to recap and reinforce: At the moment when these forces met, all the probabilities of events that manifested themselves through an internal logic of possibilities, which we now know as the universe, were present. If these probabilities were not contained at the moment of the fusion of forces, obviously nothing in the universe as we have it today would be a reality.
We easily understand that we can assume our capacity for self-awareness about this process, so we subliminally undertake the following reasoning: As we are part of the process as a whole and we are aware of it, in a way, self-awareness was already written in the mathematical formula of which originated us. That is, the conscious view of the process about itself was already given in its initial form, and the agent by which it manifests itself is the human.
Thus, it is up to us to assume that this initial formula was not only aware of the process. This is due to the following fact: In it, in a certain way, the totality of possibilities is inscribed: the certain, probable and impossible to manifest. Therefore, it contains more than the pure and only existing universe in which we inhabit. In a sense, there are all forms of universes within it.
Any form of existing universe, possibly existing and definitely impossible or not yet manifested, along with self-awareness, is what the Greeks used to call Logos, or us, divine intelligence. Thus, our conscience derives precisely from this initial formula, that is, our conscience is, in short, the transcendent part of our nature. This shows logically that we are heterogeneous beings: Body and transcendence.
In denying the transcendent aspects, we partly deny ourselves. In a practical way, we deny the possibility of being complete beings, generating an existential instability. If we reduce the universe only to rationalism, consequently, all the value we attach to the elements we know is abolished: Everything around us will one day cease to exist, and as the aspects beyond this plane do not exist, nothing makes sense. The luxury car will be corroded by rust, the young woman’s beauty will be a skull, the businessman’s status will be forgotten, the handsome mansions will collapse and the big organizations will be dissolved.
What will be, only and exclusively, is a state of emptiness within this heart that has denied its transcendence: Everything for nothing and nothing outside of nothing. It is evident that this individual will go through moments of existential suffering. Suffering for denying yourself. The suffering for denying its nature that was written at the time of creation.
Taking these aspects into consideration, the negation of the transcendent is the negation of the man himself, and the one who refuses, collaborates at large steps towards the abolition of self through suffering.