Our Reason For Being
“We Think Therefore We Can”
We often tell ourselves that things will get better if we give them time. We often say this while allowing the responsibility of bettering things to fall into the hands and laps of others. From the moment of conception, we are in a constant state of catching up. In relation to all of life around us, we are behind. We need to catch up on our development from zygote to foetus to newborn. Once we are born, we have to catch up on integrating with the immediate environment around us. We then need to learn how to use our body and proceed to refine those motor skills over the course of our childhood and often into adolescence. We also need to catch up on language, education, social cues and relationships. We have to build ourselves to a point of independence. This “independence” usually involves being a dependent of the system. We need the job in order to earn the money to pay for the independence we’re convinced that we have. We tell ourselves that having the freedom to make certain decisions with our money means we are independent. But what does independence actually mean? Are we able to stand within and as ourselves in ways that empower us to make our own decisions?
When we are young, we answer to our parents. If we get out of hand or fall out of line, our parents are there to make sure we get back on track. They teach us right from wrong and ensure we follow their rules otherwise we will face repercussions. Once we step into adulthood, we believe we are free of this kind of dynamic; that we no longer have to answer to anyone. But this is not the case. Not only do we have to answer to the boundaries of every single person we come into contact with, but we also have to answer to “The System”. The system has become our parent. The system ensures that we toe the line within the boundaries that the system defines. And if we don’t, we face the wrath of the system by means of lawyers, police, debt collectors, social pressure and credit. One of the largest responsibilities the system has is to make sure that we all play nice. That in the great sand-box of life, we don’t punch the other kids or steal their toys. The system then takes it one step further and charges us for this responsibility. We have to pay to hand over our independence to those who don’t know us. To those who view us simply as another number to move around the social chessboard to ensure cohesion within their value system. Disclaimer: I fully realise and respect the importance of laws and protocols. They ensure stability within groups when there are too many variables to account for. This means we reduce everything to the lowest common denominator and make improvements from there. We need the strength of the system to help us fight when the odds are against us. We need police to help secure our safety when we don’t have the strength and resources to do it ourselves. We need the law to step in and back our cause when others try to exploit us. Taxes are there to fit the bill for the resources required to make all this happen. I get it. But this is no longer how the system works. The system has been weaponised over time to embody values that no longer ensure protection and cohesion, but choose instead to reward opportunism and extortion. This is the system we have caught up on. It’s the system we have arrived at on our little game of catchup.
As we continue to play catchup throughout our lives, there’s an instinctive recognition that those further down the line know better. After all, instinct tells us that life is about survival. It therefore stands to reason that those who have survived longer than us clearly know how to do it. Instinct then crunches the numbers and decides that the risks involved with figuring it out ourselves are far too high and we should instead choose to follow suit. There are certain phases during our development where we fight for independence; where our ego does its best to force the world to view us as an individual and not, for example, “just another teenager.” The irony is that the rebellion we action throughout our adolescent phase means we are, in fact, just like every other teenager. During our little rebellion we adopt anything that appears to be counter culture in an attempt to single ourselves out from what we perceive to be the dominant herd. What we fail to realise is that we are doing exactly what the herd expects of us. Our attempts to break away from the herd merely secure our position within it. This kind of pseudo-rebellion happens at multiple points on our lifelong journey. Whether it’s throwing a tantrum as a toddler, rebelling as a teenager, or having a midlife crisis as an adult, the goal is the same; we want to prove to the world that we are more than its summation of us. We shout and scream and make it clear that we stand independent of our environment. We’re more than the toys we want, the person we have a crush on or the job we wish we could leave. We have feelings. We have dreams. We want the world to respect our uniqueness. We want our existence here to be validated. We want to feel important. We want exactly what everyone else wants. And just like that, we’re back at the start; our attempts to break away from the herd merely secure our position within it.
It takes all kinds to make a world. There are innovators and then there are people that facilitate innovation. There are leaders and there are people who make it possible for them to lead. There are people that are changing the world and others that keep the current world on its feet. As much as we need the game changers and revolution starters, we need the plumbers, the electricians, the builders and street sweepers. One hand has to wash the other. And in terms of politics, left-wing and right-wing are two wings of the same bird and they have to work together in order to get the bird off the ground. Society has to be a diverse ecosystem with symbiotic relationships on every level, but in order to have symbiotic relationships, all entities need to carry their responsibility completely. They need to be fully accountable for their contribution. In the context of general society, this is not happening. We are not dependable. We often believe that the responsibility of solving the issues around us lie with others. It’s what we’re used to. Our parents, teachers and elders always handled things. This means we can often feel as though we don’t have the expertise or resources to make a difference. This is an unfortunate consequence of the “catchup” narrative. It leaves us feeling insecure because for our whole lives we’ve only ever followed others. We’ve listened to our parents, we’ve learned from the mistakes of our peers, we’ve toed the line and kept a low profile because that’s how we survive. If we are subscribed to this notion that others know better and that survival is dependent on following in their footsteps, we will never embody progress because we will only be able to maintain the status quo. But there is one lesson I have learned which has helped me immensely. It’s a lesson that has shifted my entire perspective on the world around me, and its this: “the recognition of illusion is also it’s destruction.”
When a magician performs an illusion, we are aghast with wonder. We’re baffled at how the impossible seemed to happen right in front of us. But what happens when we learn how the magic is done? It becomes nothing more than a cheap trick; a sleight of hand, a clever gadget or opportunistic dissuasion. The same applies to everything else in life. We often find ourselves to be at the mercy of things unseen. Be they childhood traumas, relationship baggage or PTSD from moments of conflict, we are being guided by our subconscious in reaction to these events. It’s only once we address these issues and focus on healing, that they no longer have power and control over us. For example, we may find ourselves being attracted to a particular type of person, and despite relationships never working out with this “type”, we still fervently pursue them. Until one day we come to the realisation that our attraction to this “type” of person stems from a childhood trauma where someone treated us in a certain way that planted its roots as a core memory. Our attempts to find closure over this situation, or perhaps seek validation, leads us to pursue this “type” time and time again. Once we understand this, the illusion is chattered. We have to accept that its no longer an attraction, but a “symptom.” We now know better. This means we have moved beyond its control and any time we choose to act in accordance with it, it exactly that; a choice. When we know better, we have an obligation to do better. Knowing better and choosing not to do it, means we have missed the mark. We have missed the point of human existence. Our survival is dependent on improvements; we have improved the gathering and growing of food and we continue to improve our understanding of medicine and how to remedy illness. We keep making improvements in areas of transportation, engineering, biology, physics and even spirituality. Yet with regard to politics, we remain vastly unchanged. The systems and structures that current politicians openly criticise, are still in place and have been for decades. The way people on the street engage with politics, or don’t engage, remains a point of deep concern.
The attitudes responsible for social and ethical decay are negligence, indifference, shortsightedness and egocentrism. The unfortunate reality is that these attitudes have been embroidered into the very fabric of our modern-day culture. Where people are endorsed to be negligent with their responsibilities, indifferent and shortsighted to the consequences thereof and encouraged to only care about themselves and how the world views them. To remedy this, we each need to ask ourselves how we can be fully present in our life. What is required of us to be both engaged and decisive; to know what we have dominion over and how we can be responsible for it. We need to be comfortable living outside of what society expects of us. We need to be prepared to face the reality that choosing to stand for what we believe in means we will most likely lose a certain amount of social status. However, I’m here to tell you that it’s worth it. That for the small price of “bad publicity” you can purchase a ticket to change the world. You are in a position to empower yourself. By living a life that rejects validation and champions authenticity, you can be the change that the world so desperately needs.
