PREFACE: WHERE HAVE WE COME FROM?
JOURNAL ENTRY 23/03/15
The state of the world that we currently live in is far from ideal or perfect. Contemporary self — help gurus and New Age spiritual fragilistas would have you believe that a Utopia is possible. I’m here to say that this is not the case. A utopia-based world implies that there is good without evil, happiness without sadness, joy without suffering. This type of world is clearly not possible. Black cannot exist without white, left without right and good without evil. How could we know that anything was good if there was no bad to compare it to?
We can’t live in a utopia because we live in a world of comparisons
What if we didn’t use comparisons to describe things though? What if we lived in a world of acceptance of what is, with an understanding that the world is merely change, in the same way the seasons change? Nature doesn’t complain that it changes; it simply accepts and embraces what is, and sees the beauty in it all. We can’t live in a utopia because we don’t accept. We are always comparing ourselves to others or our past and future selves.
To not accept is to create tension in the moment, as there is not full awareness of the now. The irony is that when people stop looking to be happy, and stop thinking that this emotion is some sort of distant goal to be attained in the future, they begin to accept what is in front of them. It is our culture’s greatest sin to constantly remind people to seek happiness, seek wealth, seek love, and seek health. Seeking implies that you don’t have it already, but happiness isn’t something you pursue, it is something you ensue.
So the real truth for our discordance in humanity is not that there aren’t enough people looking for happiness, looking for health, looking for love or looking for wealth; rather that we have people looking at all. When people get to know their true selves, their deep inner being, they begin to live a life that brings them happiness, because they are doing what they are meant to do in terms of finding a partner, health or a source of income. Things become effortless.
The greatest challenge we are faced with when we live a life of acceptance, is acceptance itself, when others are not supporting you, or worse discouraging you from ensuing your own life. Remember though that anyone who discourages your life is really only unhappy with theirs. A truly connected individual, who is ensuing their life’s purpose and accepting the now for what it is will not discourage someone else from doing the same, even if their purposes are opposites. Both individuals know that their purpose cannot exist if someone isn’t living the opposite. Black cannot exist without white.
The world we live in at the moment is a socially conditioned printing press of individuals.
We are told what to do, how to do it, when to do it, where to do it, and even why we’re doing it. We’re told what jobs are right, which suburbs are appropriate to live in, what to wear if we want to be considered cool, who to be with if we want to consider being a success and what phone to carry if we don’t want to be ostracised. We are even told why this is the case now. No one really has an opinion for himself or herself, as we are all products of our social conditioning.
Social conditioning by its very nature is the opposite of self-awareness
To become aware of yourself you first have to stop and turn yourself off autopilot. You have to become aware of the fact you are walking around in a daze with no real sense of identity. You are a clone among many other clones whose behaviour is programmed by mass media. To wake up to this reality is a shock, and one, which will cause a great deal of inner tension.
Yet, you’ll begin to walk around outside and see things for what they really are. You’ll begin to notice the beauty in nature. The angst in an employee’s eyes, as you talk to them. You’ll begin to realise that life has more to offer than what the mass media has lead you to believe: working 9–5 each day for 50 years, plus 20 years of retirement isn’t as glamorous as it once sounded.
You’ll realise that it isn’t actually your fault or even the fault of those who run mass media. No you’ll come to an understanding that it’s just the way things are and they are this way because they are meant to be. If they weren’t this way what would all this self-awareness be about? What are we waking up from?
There is nothing overly wrong with the socially conditioned world we live in. People are living longer, we have higher standards of education, more technology, greater access to nutritious food and water, and more housing to enjoy. However if you look at it in another light, we have the highest levels of stress on record, rising wealth inequality, rising rates of homelessness, higher rates of depression, obesity, divorce, etc. Just because the economic metrics indicate that we are having a higher standard of living, do we really?
It has now come the time to end this way of life and reconnect to our true selves and begin trusting that part of you that should be trusted. If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust? Deep down you know what makes you happy, what foods make you feel good, who being around makes you feel and want to give love. We all have these capabilities and experiences inside of us.
It’s just about remembering them and connecting to your true nature
Meditation was the key for me.
It taught me to be present and in the moment. To accept what is in front of me and if I don’t agree with what is in front, to change it. Meditation taught me to still my mind, to watch my thoughts instead of latching onto them, to know that they are only change and that their appearance won’t affect my reality unless I add feeling from the heart to them. It taught me to concentrate, to listen to my body through my breath, and the sensations of energy throughout my body. It taught me to connect to my inner self. It guided me to my life’s purpose. It reassured me to live it. It taught me that true bliss comes from acceptance. Acceptance isn’t an emotion; it’s a state of being. It is consciousness. It is no — thing
