System: Chasing Paradise

I keep hearing people wanting to create a better world. A world without pain. A world without struggle. A fair world, with peace and justice. Everyone seems to be either trying to create this world, or abstaining because they don't believe it can exist.

But I ask myself: do we deserve it?

Imagine for a moment that all of history was gone. We can even erase every trace of a weapon, every trace of injustice that was ever done or created. Imagine each person no longer remembered who they were. They didn't remember that grudge they held, or the debts that were owed, or who owns a house... or where to even look that up. All slates were wiped clean.

One could imagine that we'd get together and start to build the world that we want. Maybe our current world would be too advanced for us, so let's also assume that somehow there was an abundance of food, water, electricity, and Wi-Fi! And obviously there'd be an abundance of shelter, especially if we're not preoccupied with who owns what.

I posit, however, that no matter what other magical restraints we place on this world, we... each one of us... would slowly bring back the darkness. We would slowly bring back the inequality, the injustice, the shame, the guilt, the pain, and the struggle. We aren't strong enough to exist without it.

Come on, David, what are you on about now? If all my debts were paid, and I didn't have to go to work, and there was an abundance of food, electricity... Wi-Fi?! I'd be happy!

Would you?

Let's Imagine for a Moment

Imagine for a second that your partner could read your mind. Anything you wanted, they would be able to know about it, and could choose to please you. Wanting a fancy dinner? Those steaks that were too expensive? Oh, a foot rub... yes, right there. He knows me so well. Would you love him then? Would you feel loved?

Many people would. Many people would feel understood, nurtured, and seen. Most people would probably even feel some sort of reciprocity, caring for the other and wanting to make them feel just as loved and seen as they themselves had felt. But really, if "love" were that easy... what's stopping you?

What's stopping you from telling your partner what you like or don't like? Asking them for what you want? Sharing all those things that, if they knew and did them, would make you love them? Is it shame? Guilt? Fear? Insecurity? Who are you to have someone give you what you want? It would all just be so easy if they could just read my mind!

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why we deserve the world we have. We are not strong, courageous, or bold enough to live in paradise. As soon as any one of us had a desire, viewpoint, or objection that we didn't have the heart to say, the darkness would slowly start within us. Maybe not at first, but met with that feeling over and over (of not being heard, not being understood, not having anyone listen to you), it would eat at you. It would eat at all of us, and we'd blame the others. They didn't ask me my opinion! They should just know that's wrong! It's because I'm [fill in the blank].

Our Stories Have Power

These stories we tell ourselves are powerful, more powerful than the world we currently inhabit. We, humanity, have been blessed with the most miraculous of gifts. We are able to see a world that is not there. To live and feel according to a world that doesn't actually, tangibly exist. We torture ourselves within our invisible cages, hoping someone will let us out... but we fail to remember. We have the key. We created this prison.

Take any of a million examples, maybe even some stated above. Imagine you now had a million dollars, or your debts were all paid. Imagine you looked outside and saw a beach, with beautiful people in their swimsuits parading by. Imagine that it was actually warm outside, instead of the edge of winter. Imagine that you had the energy to go on that run, or to start that yoga class. Imagine that there was no restriction on what you could and couldn't do.

Barring physical laws (like gravity, or cause and effect, which are self-enforcing), almost every rule you see exists purely in our collective minds. Sure, we write them down, but if everyone forgot everything... would you be pulled over for jaywalking? Would you be detained for crossing a border with no passport? We, collectively, enforce those laws. We enforce them for each other, and we enforce them for ourselves.

Some of those rules are for our individual and collective benefit. Others were added because of that one person who was out of line. Should our laws cater to the least of us? Should YOUR cage cater to the least of us?

Okay, I was with you, but you lost me. What are you talking about?

Think back to your trauma. You learned a rule, a rule to keep you safe. That rule isn't a natural law; it exists nowhere but inside of you (and maybe some other people). You use that rule to stay safe... but is that rule also creating the world you want to live in?

Maybe you don't speak your mind because when you did, you were punished. Maybe the last time you stood out, you were made an example of. Best to fit in, then. Best to get along... but what if your destiny lies on the other side of fitting in? What if the paradise we're all seeking to create requires us to let those rules go?

Because, surely, if you were in paradise, I'd want you to speak your mind. Not a tempered version of what you want to say, but the real truth of what's in your heart, for better or worse! And if I was in paradise with you, I'd want to be able to handle it. Because only then would we deserve paradise, but that's a story for another time.

Further reading: Book: The Bait of Satan