Homeostasis vs. Destructive powers
A couple of years ago, I remember watching the 14th Dalai Lama giving a lecture in Dharmashala, India, where he also resides. In answering many questions from the audience, including children, which was lovely to see, the 14th Dalai Lama was asked about the best way that humans can heal, even from traumatic experiences. His answer was quite simple but very true, in my opinion. He said: good sleep.
In comparison to Oriental philosophy, in the West, we are accustomed to seeing the aggressive person, and sometimes even destructive powers, as someone who expresses the highest qualities or is worth admiring and the quiet person as someone weak and has qualities deemed negative. Most people still don’t know how to react when someone who is serene from the inside shows up in an environment, and many will not hesitate to impose all kinds of opinions and projections onto them.
Everything in nature has its cycles of activity and rest, and that includes human beings. We are capable of both destructive and constructive powers, and because of these natural cycles, we cannot be continuously active. Nature impresses this upon us for our survival. Now, there’s a great difference between continuous activity and absolute inertia. Between these two states, we learn to either abuse or use our resources to find efficiency in what we do. Listening to the rhythms of our own bodies is not something that necessarily comes naturally to us, but it is essential, especially in leading more productive, healthier, and happier lifestyles.
As far as my own experience goes, I know exactly when and how much rest I need rest, and unfortunately, I need a lot of it. I say “unfortunately” because, typically, like many, I like to drive myself to burnout, always juggling multiple things and projects at a time, and still question whether I am doing enough or working hard enough. Because of the nature of my work, especially writing, it requires a tremendous amount of energy, mental energy, and I can always tell when my brain says, “Hey, it’s time now to shut down completely, and also please meditate.”
As I often mention in other posts, including my book, everything in nature is constantly changing to maintain homeostasis, and that includes humans to achieve that balance. Throughout life, we are often required to have different interests and different attitudes to be able to survive and adapt. This is key to the evolution of the world as we know it, as well as the evolution of humankind itself.
Mind-processes & Intellect
Last year, I came across a very strange yet beautiful sci-fi TV series created by Frank Spotniz on Amazon Prime Video, and it truly caught me by surprise. I read the storyline, and immediately, something inside me told me to watch it. I knew nothing of the writers or producers of the TV series, so I had no idea what to expect but it was sci-fi, one of my favorite TV genres. I also love a good period piece.
The TV series I am referring to is The Man in the High Castle. While I don’t want to spoil the show for anyone who hasn’t watched it, it does feature time travel, which made the show even better since I have a thing for time travel, and I’m pretty much sold on any show that includes this feature. Anyway, I will get back to this, but first, I want to address a few things about our mental processes.
Generally, in our society, collective and familial mental processes result in the continuing unfolding of insecurity. The growth of emotional and intellectual intelligence is often stunted because of various challenges, traumas, and customs or traditional views on how to survive on this big blue dot in the middle of a dark, scary, and unknown Universe. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t met too many people interested in becoming a skillful thinker these days because, first and foremost, what’s the point? Right?
What will I get in return if I am required to use so much mental energy to elevate my thinking and intellect? Is it going to pay my bills tomorrow? Probably not. So, the majority of us are driven by the need to survive and the quickest way to bring food to the table, which is not a bad thing in and of itself. Naturally, we can’t think or think well if we can’t eat. But, it is also true that the mind without a proper guardian will not allow the destiny of the self to unfold unless we develop our thought processes by adding more subtle and subcurrent qualities, skills, and directives.
One of the most defining features of someone who does not work on attaining true intelligence is their lack of insight and self-reflection skills. When it comes to intelligence, most people associate it with new discoveries and new findings of facts, but intelligence, in its highest form, is a regulator of conduct and patterns, personally and collectively.
In the East, there is this concept of cause and effect, but if we hold the same attitude that we are always right, that our patterns and systems are right, that our leaders and policies are right, all these assumptions that continue to show us time and again through experience to bring more chaos, more wars, economic pressure, etc., can only lead to feeling more victimized in the long run.
This mental pride, for lack of better words, does not only concern world affairs but is very much ingrained in personal matters and comes in various degrees. The drive and determination to do what we want to do because we are so right becomes an asset. We’re going to get it because it is an indication of our success, and what we do to other people in making it there doesn’t matter. Driving our own viewpoint to its extremity leads to unreasonable and unjustified political ambitions, in which the person not really equipped for leadership becomes a ruthless dictator.
Breaking the pattern | Destructive powers
This relentless drive can be in education, religion, or anything else you can think of. In our society, though, this drive often brings the individual to the top. So we find ourselves with institutions being led by individuals completely dominated by egocentric drive who will block any suggestion or activity contrary to their own. These are highly ambitious people in authority driven by discomfort and unhappiness in themselves and completely undisciplined.
Prone to spouting opinions and making observations without logic, these so-called leaders or anyone exhibiting the same tendencies, whether in your social circle or within your family unit, are emotionally triggered and very self-serving in the way that they think. When you confront these individuals and say change is needed and that some adjustments are necessary, they will look you dead in the eyes and say you are talking to the wrong person. You need help. You need to do it, but not me. In more intimate and personal matters, these people will cause all of the chaos and conflict and, in the end, will play the victim. They are professional victims by nature.
In fact, the other day, I saw an interview with someone who I do not want to name but calls himself a son of a terrorist. And no, it’s not what Google search will suggest on their trusted ranked sites. These are people who are obviously paid for specific propaganda to affect the way the majority of the people perceive our current leadership and for their refusal to take accountability and accept any contrary drive and opinion of their own in our political system today. They are devoid of logic and common sense, but yet so many people fall prey to their sensationalistic propaganda..
Is it just me, or is it that hard to see and understand that killing more innocent civilians and thousands of children will not solve the issue of current tensions between different ethnic groups, political systems, or whatever the case may be, but perpetuate a cycle of hatred and suffering? Isn’t it common sense that doing the same things over and over again will not produce different results? Yet these leaders have no issue calling an entire nation terrorists, stripping their men, women, and beautiful children of their dignity, and hurting an entire generation so they can justify their repulsive actions and crimes. But of course, we are no different than those terrorists. We are better. We know what we’re doing, and we take pride in what we’re doing.
The Man in the High Castle | Prime Video
This TV series was a real treat, to say the least. It’s rare to stumble across a show and not know what to expect but it ends up being ten times better in the end. It was difficult to watch at first and a shock to the system, at least for someone as sensitive as me. Now, the show is about WWII, the far right, and the extremity of world views and principles of the Nazis. As with any political party or ideology, the principles, in theory, may have been correct or well-intended but are very dangerous and inverted when the focus remains on the external rather than our internal processes and growth.
If what I am saying doesn’t make sense so far, please watch the TV series first, then come back to this post. The most atrocious crimes can be committed and justified based on various principles, whether it is the far right or far left; people are just as susceptible to seeing the world in black and white, putting their blinders on without considering the moral or ethical implications as long as they don’t interfere with their stong-hold beliefs until they themselves have to pay for the consequences of those same ideologies. We could say the same about our modern times.
People don’t have time to consider their opposite because it feels such a threat to their identity that even when they are presented with facts, they will ignore and deny that reality as it is not the same reality to which they adhere. It is very interesting and complex overall, but it is up to the individual to awaken these opposites within themselves first before understanding the whole and the external processes in their true form.
Either way, the TV series is beautiful, romantic, and full of aspirations of the many struggles that people had to face during those crazy times, and it is also true that many people and leaders of this time are still stuck with the same ideologies and attitudes that had to fight those atrocious crimes, which may be understandable to some degree as they were closer to those generations than we were.
But sometimes, moving forward with those same attitudes may not be resonant with where we are now, in this present moment, and how the world is evolving now. These attitudes can become an obstacle rather than constructive principles or powers. We have to be mindful and flexible enough to evolve with it as time requires it, too. Otherwise, we may be on the same trajectory as those we once fought against and not even know it. It’s easy for both ourselves and our nations to go contrary to common sense and justify our contraries by reference to our goals or mental objectives.
