Photo by Jan Huber
A rather disturbing tendency that was brought to my attention upon an informal debate, is the ability we possess to form an illusory image of self and identity based on their viewpoints and the thoughts they harbor. Specifically, I mean that the set of one’s thoughts, beliefs and viewpoints is being blended to create an artificial upper layer of self that is dubbed identity.
I am writing this chronicle because I wish to delve further into this tendency which I find quite troubling. Our viewpoints and stances, whether they be strong or weak, on various socio-political, economical or environmental issues are nothing more than a collection of ideas formed by our limited exposure to a particular topic. Together, this limited exposures on various topics cumulatively form a collage of opinions that characterizes our outlook on the world. This collage is not only based on third-degree exposure, but also on previous experiences we have had. There is no doubt that our experiences and information snippets collectively forms the central dogma of our thoughts and behaviors. However, I believe it must be further clarified that our mental and historical collage does NOT for an accurate sense of self or of identity, it forms our ego.
Moreover, I believe that the need to seek validation and reassurance in our beliefs, as the ego so often does, turns any interrogatory deviation away from our collage into a form of attack at the self. This is highly dangerous because the ego has formed an strong association with the collage and our identity/sense of self worth. Thus, any questioning of the ego leads us into defensive states where we feel as if we are being personally attacked. Most of the time, the knowledge faction of our ego tends to either associate with the stance norm or a rebellious counter faction to the norm. Thus any deviation from the backbone of this faction leads us into existentialism where we search for justification for our uniqueness or raison d’etre.
The ego is very primeval and dangerous. Unfortunately, it governs many of us and is the backbone of our tribalist mentality to associate within what our collage deems as acceptable. I believe that it is vital to realize that our collage is nothing more than fractional subset of non-simplified, arbitrary and chaotic gradient of entropy unfolding. This realization is why I no longer harbor any strong opinions. I am aware of the limitations of my brain to fully process and interpret such a vast gradient of data. Moreover, I know it is very difficult to arrive at any simplistic memorable conclusion given that the true nature of information is oblivious to our binary stances. This is why one can debate with me on any topic with any stance and I will not get offended. I am simply indifferent to much in the end because I believe that the justification of my existence is tautological and lies well beyond the grasp of my primitive ego.
Contrary to the reflective and rational mind instilled within all of us, the ego seeks to latch on to the collage with full might. A sign of an ego driven society is that exemplification of strong and passionate voices continually fighting each other believing that harboring and sharing views contrary to what there collage shows is a personal attack not only on their character, but objectivity as a whole! Ego ties right in with the belief of harboring esoteric knowledge as I described in numerous chronicles previously. Ego has been the only guilty party responsible for wars, empires, economies and revolutions.
I believe that the only way towards a truly peaceful union amongst men, animals and acceptance of our place in the universe lies in ego dissolution. Leveraging the gift of thought to understand how thought itself manipulates us is the only way to alleviate the burden of thought. Only when we understand the nature of ego and render it more and more futile, can we truly progress forwards in our collective evolution.