Our Great Human Ego

As human beings many of us hold the belief that we are the pinnacle of life. If life is a food chain, humans are on the top. If life is an evolutionary pinnacle, humans are the final mutation. If life is created, it was provided for us. I have often wondered why we get such a superior feeling as compared to other life on this planet. Human beings cannot exist without all other life, so to me, it is almost common sense that we are all equally important in the design of this planet.

Why is it that people think that they are superior to animals? Could it be that we appear to have superior intelligence? I am not certain that we are the most intelligent creatures. I think we measure intelligence in a very specific way, and in the standard of intelligence we set up, perhaps we are. But if we create the rules, it is easiest to think we are best, because we set the rules. Perhaps it may be that other creatures just refuse to cooperate with our idea of intelligence. Either way, I would put forth the opposite idea. What if animals are smarter than us? I could take it one step further, and say plants, or even a step further and say rocks. Why do people feel they are superior to rocks? This may sound silly, but I can put together an argument that to me, can be a logical reasoning why rocks are vastly superior to human beings. If you will suspend judgment, I would like to share this experiment with you.

We do not know how long rocks live. To our common understanding rocks aren't even alive, so therefore they appear to be immortal. You may think that rocks are not conscious beings, yet when you hit a rock it responds with a sound. Could this not be some form of consciousness? Perhaps rocks are conscious on a level that humans are not even capable of understanding. Rocks do not need to eat. They do not work. They spend all day basking in the sunlight. If they are conscious, I would imagine they spend all of their time enjoying life. They have nothing to do, no place to be, and all the time to enjoy it. You may say that they can't walk and must be bored because they are tied to one place, but think of all the people who skip rocks along the river, you throw rocks and send them flying through the air. I imagine this would be quiet a thrill. Now you may say well rocks cannot create, and look at all that we humans can create. Look at the possibilities that the human mind can put into action. But a rock doesn't need those things. A rock does not need symbols or words or culture or great works to understand life. It just does. Rocks don't need possessions, television, art or even sex to be happy. And if you are still unsatisfied with this idea, think about where human beings came from. If you subscribe in any way to an evolutionary existence think about where all life comes from. All animals, all people, evolve from minerals. From rocks. So still if you have any reservation, and aren't swayed by my hypothesis, then it is conceivable to think that in each rock there is potential for human life. So out of this lifeless mineral, grows the very creatures we revere so much. Again, this is just an idea. I'm not sure how much truth there is in it, but to me I find just as much support for this one as the idea that humans are superior. If nothing else, I think even the possibility is a great opportunity for humbling our great human ego.

Self Addiction

I think that it is engrained deep in human nature the tendency for addiction. This is commonly seen in the realm of drug addiction, but the range of addiction is so unbelievably wide. People can addict to things of a sexual nature, exercise, other people, their job, eating, I mean the list could really go on and on. The one that I would like to focus on is the addiction of ourselves.

We are all endlessly and hopelessly addicted to ourselves and the roles we play in society. We constantly concern ourselves with how we see ourselves and how others see us. We spend our days trying to make the role of ourselves happier or more successful or whatever we think it should be. We may set ourselves apart from an evil and do battle. Every experience we go through is filtered by our consciousness and in a split second we cast our judgment upon it. The sort of what do I think about this? How do I feel about it? And we rarely take experiences for simply what they are. We are conditioned to analyze everything that we think or feel, and are taught that the mind, the ego is the real self. To me, this is all the doings of a creature that takes itself to seriously. The thought has occured to me before that perhaps every sense of frustration, anxiety or pain that we feel in our lives exists as a reminder to laugh at yourself and to stop taking yourself so seriously.

I would argue that this addiction is the largest cause of one's inability to find inner peace. Think of all the frustration and stress we cause ourselves just dealing with this role; the trouble accepting oneself or others, the fruitless self-improvement attempts. We are so addicted to the role we play that the idea of it being a role seems to be completely ridiculous and impossible. Even the thought of not taking it so seriously can rarely be realized. Like the actor who truly becomes the part he or she is playing we become completely absorbed with this character and ignore clear signs that may lead us to believe otherwise. The clear sign to me in this case would be death.

Of course no one knows what happens after we die, but to me the most improbable thing seems to be that I would be exactly the same and be in a similar place. It seems to me that even if my consciousness would remain in the same state, it would require the same culture to produce the same role. Even though everything about "me" would be the same, my role, or who "I am", would change completely based on the structure of whatever or wherever I was. So really who are you? I mean that is how we take on this role in the first place. It isn't self imposed, we are told who and what we are. This is done at such an impressionable age, and with such convincing arguments that we accept it as the foundation of our experience. But is this really who we are? Or have we played this role for so long that we have become completely addicted and attached to it? Maybe that is why death exists, to remind us of this. To free us from ourselves

Seeking

In our society I have found that we do not encourage contentment. We are instead told that we should always be seeking. Seeking for the perfect job, the perfection of ourselves, the perfect spouse, the perfect life, the list can go on and on. This is further complicated by our capitalistic way of life, but I shall save that for another time.

Advertisements on the radio and television give us the image that we would be happier if only we had a certain product or lifestyle, and what is unfortunate is that our schooling and our society are more often than not part of this conditioning. We find that if everything in our minds expectations are not met, we should not worry because something better is out there, and all we need to do is keep searching. Keep searching for something that we will never find. The idea that there is gold hidden away in those hills, and that is what we need to find. We must be searching for that goodie. It is somewhere for sure, but certainly not here with us now. 

Unless one has a job that is suited to their personality or preference one must search endlessly to find this unreachable place of employment. For if we one day reached such a place, we may find ourselves either dissatisfied with it, as it may not be all that we imagined, or we may find ourselves wrapped in the fear of losing what we have found.

It is no surprise that most of us have lives full of unmet expectations because we are told that although we may have not found such things, it is out there, all we must be is keep searching. I myself have spent much more time than I would like to admit doing this very thing.

I would like to propose a different idea: that yes that perfect job, spouse, mind state, situation or whatever it is you are looking for is not somewhere else, but right where we are. It can be found at this very minute. It is standing directly in front of us, and all we need to do is stop seeking. All we need to do is open our hearts and open our eyes. We have been conditioned that only through the mind and through thinking can we find happiness, but from my experience the quickest way to finding contentment, which I believe is true happiness, is through the cessation of thought. Simply be present, view the world with an appreciative mind, and have fun.

Consider the possibilities of how our lives as individuals or even furthermore how a society would be effected by just a slight change in perspective.

Laughing Medicine

One day a while back I was thinking about all the concepts that created the image of who I was. I thought about my name, the way I look, my beliefs and thoughts, my past and everything that “I” am, and unexplainably started laughing. This deeply serene and calming feeling filled my entire being. I realized that all the ideas of what I am and how I identified what was me, were nothing more than concepts. They are just part of the puzzle. What we are is so much deeper and more beautiful than we can understand or express, and in that moment I was reminded of that. This laughter reminded me not to take this conception of myself and all the opinions or beliefs I have so damn seriously. It taught me that this image is just a role that I am playing, so I should play with it. It was one of the more powerful moments in my life.

So long as we live right now in this moment, there are no problems. As long as we do not connect our being too fiercely with the image or the idea of ourselves, we will not experience a state of disharmony within or to the world we are a part of. I have found that more often than not if I was to step back are take a more complete view of things as they happen, many frustrations and troubles could be avoided. For example if something bad was to happen, I may feel upset or angry not that it happened but that it happened to ME. If I was to take a wider perspective I might find that it isn’t happening to me it is just happening, and I am witnessing this happening. The question once came to me whether or not negative experiences exist solely to remind us to let go of our complete identification of ourselves with the “I” concept.  I have found that one of the most beautiful and healing things that we can do is to laugh at ourselves from time to time. Not only can laughter alter our mood and bring us into a state of happiness, but it can remind us of what is truly important in life.

From there it led me to an idea that at the time I called laughing meditation. There is a yoga or meditation for nearly everything these days and I thought this idea fit perfectly within this group. My idea was pretty simple. All you do is think about all the concepts, ideas, pains, memories, desires, etc. that you think make up the basis of "you”. Go as deep as you can, and let it build. When it all starts to get overwhelming, simply laugh from your belly and let it all go. Imagine all of yourself dying and fading away, and yet you will find that there is still so much left. Beyond all the concepts there is still so much left. Look at yourself in the mirror and laugh at yourself. Laugh at how serious you take yourself. Remind yourself to be fearless and to play. Be flexible and open. To me has been more of a medicine than a meditation, but I feel that there is great power in this simple idea.

Quiet The Mind

One of the greatest things that we can do for ourselves is from time to time respectfully tell our mind to be quiet.

It is the nature of mind to wander, but that does not mean we must follow it. Watch the wandering of your mind, the sensations of your body, and the world as it enfolds right in front of you.

I find from my personal experience that as I do not follow my mind, I begin to distance myself further and further from the idea of "me". Even the idea of a separate self seems like an absolutely impossibility. The thoughts that run through my brain and even the actions of my body do not appear to be things that are under my control. That is not to say that they happen TO me either, because there is no individual me at all. Things just seem to happen. Life happens both through and around me. I have found that experiences like this may not only be the real nature of the cosmos, but is an absolute necessity to promote any sort of harmony within oneself.