America seems to be burning down, both literally and figuratively.
The hope of freedom and liberty seems to be all but dead.
And for a lot of us, life seems out of control. The answers to the world’s problems are being tossed aside, in favor of emotional reactions and pragmatism- or taking immediate, knee-jerk responses over well thought out long term solutions.
It’s not what many people want to hear, but the only way forward is to go inward.
Trying to solve society’s problems with externalized solutions (i.e. just vote in new people, just force people to be less racist, make new laws, etc.) not only doesn’t solve the problems in the long term, it’s counter-productive.
It’s like taking sleeping pills when the root cause of your sleep issue is stress. In the very short term, you can sleep through the night. But the sleep you’re getting is poor quality, and your body is not actually getting the rest you need.
Your stress remains and now you are taking a drug to mask the root issue.
Eventually, your body will break down from the stress, even though you “solved” one of the issues it’s causing.
Society will not get better until we get to this root cause.
What is this? What can be done to fix things so we can live peaceful, productive, happy lives?
It may sound a bit cliche, but the only thing that will fix the world around you is to “fix” yourself first.
You can think about the sphere of influence:
The individual is the only place to start. There is no short cut that will work here.
Start with yourself.
How much self knowledge to you have?
Can you do a little bit of “self work” every day?
That’s what this is going to take. You becoming a better person.
Become selfish. Get to know yourself on a deep level. Bring about freedom, and liberate yourself from your own emotional chains that create suffering within.
The “red pill” is that there is no “societal solution” to the problems we are facing in the realm of COVID-19 or racism.
We can’t punish our way out of this, as punishment is just another symptom of being disconnected with ourselves.
We can’t protest our way out of this, as we are asking for “fairness” in a world that is set to continue on the path of expecting some outside forces to make everything better, without having to do any self-work.
The “powers that be”- the media, the government, and even family units- aren’t going to be promoting this idea any time soon.
Building up inner strength and resisting the swirling winds of conformity is a must if you want change for the better.
Becoming resilient, and resistant to what people think about you is how change will happen in society.
If you become a beacon of light, you will have 1000% more influence on the world than if you remain stuck in a pattern of expecting others to solve your problems.
We can make it out if we go inward first.
What will not bring more freedom & peace in your life?
-Yelling on social media
-Isolating yourself
-Letting your fears run your life
-Watching TV
-Getting into Twitter debates
What will bring you closer to a peaceful, free life?
-Therapy
-Writing
-Giving up the desire to control others
-Courses & books: Peter Levine’s Healing Trauma, Pete Gerlach’s course on parts work, Nathaniel Branden’s sentence completion technique
-Understanding your fears on a deep level, and moving forward with your life
-Moving towards freedom in each area of life, while moving away from unchosen positive obligations
Society will not improve on a mass level; it’s a painstakingly slow one-by-one process.There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution
-The Police, Spirits in the Material World
