Every reality is valid. Free choice is sacrosanct. There are many levels to our being, and these all have a purpose. It is only when one of these levels gets out of balance that we need to take a second look. Right now, Western societies subscribe to what I refer to as the Cult of Self, an ethos that has as its main focus the gratification of the individual’s desires to the exclusion of all else. We are allowing the shadow side of our ego to control human society, including an economic system that accurately reflects the predatory nature of this mindset.
But what if we are the whole? What if this imbalance in our psyches as reflected in the world is a detriment to our being? I propose that the very connection that we forego, to pursue personal gain at the expense of others, is the one that we constantly seek to regain. I see it in the rampant materialism of the culture, in the soaring levels of addiction and depression, which at their root are simply manifestations of the desire to connect to something larger than our personal aggrandizement. We are trying to drown out the void that lies at the pit of our existence, but we can’t. All we can do is temporarily placate it until we are willing to face the reasons for its existence head on.
If my life can be boiled down to one thing, I will call it my personal journey of connection. I have found freedom in those things that forged a stronger connection within myself, with the natural world, and with others. I didn’t have a choice: my life had become such a nightmare that I was forced to find and instil meaning to what had become a meaningless existence. After spending decades searching for the meaning to life, this is what I have come to:
Life longs for itself, and no matter how far we stray from this truth it will always circle back and remind us that love is the most significant force in life, as well as the most beautiful.
