One Way to Get the Police to Serve You
In order to attain control over your self, control the police in your city.
Have you ever felt like you are no longer in connection with who you truly want be, but who what the world wants you to be?
Join me for a short walk and discuss that.
I am in the opinion that it is not easy for the modern man to get in line with what is happening around him/her. We are too familiar with messages the modern society sends out to us. Such as; speed up or you are left behind, buy more or you are not satisfied, eat more but do not forget to work out or you are not fit enough, and more and more…
The captivating and material self-centeredness of this world has taken the most important asset of being a human from us, our hearts.
The worldly idealism and the modern rationalism that is heavily driven by materialistic factors, have made us devalue the importance of the heart, and value other faculties such as our emotions, limbs, and desires. All towards self-centredness, and a let loose of self-control or self-discipline.
Frankly speaking, self-centeredness is a human pandemic, and I do not it is any more dangerous than the Covid-19. It plagues us both personally and socially. A 2017 study from the Psychological Science Journal links the rise of self-centeredness (individualism) to increasing narcissism and higher divorce rates.
There is clearly a problem with self-centeredness. It leads people to act without regard for the well-being of other people. It is a dagger into the heart of collectivism, solidarity, and community, and a danger to altruistic attitudes.
My argument is not that the premodern man did not fall into the traps of self. On the contrary, I think the human preoccupation with the self dates back to his inception. However, modern man’s obsession with the self and the modern world’s pervasive tendency to be excessively self-centred is unique. Self-centeredness is what we receive, the self-control is what we do not have. Just look at this abundance of self-help books, NLP conferences, lots of online and onsite personal development gurus and trainers. To whom we spend a lot of time reading and listening. Let alone the money we spend, and yet end up ‘not knowing what to do with ourselves in a rainy Sunday afternoon’ as Susan Ertz says.
So, How Can We Attain Self-Control in Such Times?
In my understanding, it is because of a lack of self-consciousness. I mean knowledge of the self, not in the dull and cold psychology theories but one that relates the self to its purpose on earth and its creation. I am not going to talk about the purposes as it differs from one individual to another. But I would like to use an analogy of the self that could help us with acquiring self-consciousness with hopes of attaining self-control. The analogy of ‘Kingdom of the Body’ was put forth by the 6th century Muslim theologian Al-Ghazali in his book The Alchemy of Happiness.
Going back to the centrality of the heart and intellect, I would like to invite you to think of your body as a city kingdom. Your limbs as the city workers, your anger as the city police, your appetite as the tax collector, your intellect as the prime minister, and your heart as the king in the kingdom.
The struggle of the city kingdom (the body, the self) is a constant combat between anger and appetite in order to attain self-control. If the heart (the king) heeds to the advice of the intellect (the prime minister), it is easier for self-control to be attained and maintained.
However, imagine if the intellect is captive to anger and appetite, the heart will no longer hold a position in your body (kingdom). Hence, the self falls prey to the lashes of anger and appetite. Much like the modern man falling prey to the lashes of desire and emotions. Whereas, if anger and appetite were to do their jobs as workers (servants) to the kingdom (body or self), they would guard the self and cultivate it. The body/self would do its job to bear the senses; see, smell, touch, and feel to gather information and intelligence to serve the intellect (the prime minister). The intellect would also do its job in enlightening the heart (advising the king), and hence an attainment of self-control, and a balance in its maintenance.
The worldly forces in driving us off the road more towards selfishness would then make better sense to us when we value each human faculty and realize their duties. Our pursuits will then be more cantered than our selves, and us being in better grips on what is happening around us. I think understanding the ‘Kingdom of the Body’ helps immensely in attaining self-control. In doing so, the hopes are we draw ourselves closer to self-awareness and self-discipline, and further from self-centeredness.
So lets get the the police and the tax collector to serve us. Let our anger and appetite be our servants, and not the other way around.
I have used self-centeredness synonymously with other concepts such as self-preoccupied, selfishness, and self-obsession.
Please know that I am no psychologist. I am an educator and a teacher educator, currently living in Australia. These are some thoughts that I have put together from my observations and daily reflections on the world ‘s and people’s status quo, and also from what I read from books.
