THE HUMAN PROBLEM

Our species has only ever had one real problem, we’ve failed to maintain perspective on the thoughts and feelings we have about ourselves and our world, and we became so intertwined with our self-concept we infected ourselves with a mental parasite. Because we forgot that our world isn’t reality and our mental avatar isn’t us, our lives have been hijacked and our energy redirected toward realizing biological and cognitive imperatives instead of improving our experience of existence. Parasitic infection is the cause of most mental disorders, the source of all non-physical suffering, and the reason we built a world based on scarcity and fear, but it isn’t a problem most people are aware of or the thing people suffer most directly.

The issue most of humanity struggles with today is a loss of identity and an increase in anxiety or nihilistic dread from the apparent dissolution of what they knew to be real and true. Although the world is exploitative and extractive, it is dying and it was the only one we’ve known. Thanks to the increasing rate of societal, cultural, and technological change, the pain of having our reality slapped away is only now becoming such a widespread problem that most can acknowledge it openly. Being hijacked by a mental parasite that seeks surety and comfort at every turn makes it difficult to impossible to contend with a rapidly evolving and changing world. For the first time in known history our species, regardless of demographics, is collectively experiencing the same thing, we’re becoming aware of the unreality of what we once thought was permanent and solid, we’re waking up.

As the narratives supporting the world and our identity erode, as institutions and systems comprising civilization stumble, nearly everyone is undergoing a psychological transformation called awakening. We call the process of transitioning from a state of less awareness and understanding to more awareness and understanding “awakening” because it resembles a return to full consciousness from a sleep or dream state. Waking up can be the most rewarding experience in life when it’s gradual or deliberately chosen, but when it happens to an undesiring or underprepared person, processing and accepting the change associated with expansion can be a painful and disorienting experiences.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF AWAKENING

Disorientation and Overwhelm: A sudden influx of new information, perspectives, and experiences can be disorienting and overwhelming, making the process of integrating them into an existing worldview a challenge. Alienation and Loneliness: As one's perspective and understanding evolve, a sense of alienation from those who may not share their controversial opinions or understand their new insights can occur. Existential Anxiety and Uncertainty: Greater awareness often means an increased awareness of life's complexities, uncertainties, and existential questions, and this can lead to anxiety and other disorders, especially if one’s comforting beliefs are being threatened.

THE WORLD CURTAIN

WHAT DOES WAKING UP MEAN?

What we are aware of and what we know comprises the entirety of our world, but our world does not represent reality, instead the limitation of our knowledge and extent of our awareness act as a curtain blocking light from a broader reality. Each of us exists in a pseudo conscious “dream state” by default and we don’t become fully conscious until our light blocking curtain begins to come undone thread by thread, or until it is abruptly torn open. World curtains aren’t bad or something we should feel ashamed of, they provide a sheltering and nurturing environment for the developing mind, but they aren’t meant to be lived in forever. Staying in a world that we’ve grown beyond, refusing to investigate what we’re aware of, or refusing to see what it’s time to see turns the curtain into a cage, a self-imposed prison. Exiting our self-made cage only gets more difficult the more habituated we become to it, but when they erode before the person is ready to do without one, intense confusion and suffering are almost unavoidable.

Whenever we become aware of reality challenging information or we experience something that causes us to question reality, our minds must either reject it, it must be assimilated into an existing model/worldview, or the worldview/model must be expanded or modified to accommodate the novelty. If we cannot reject, assimilate, or expand, our understanding of ourselves and our world risks being severely undermined or completely destroyed. Because a new thread is pulled with each question or mystery we encounter, and the fabric of our curtain is torn with every noticed incongruence between what we experience and what is known, our world curtains become less effective each day.

In the past there was little to no external pressure to wake up because most people’s understanding of their world changed slowly enough for their curtain to serve as a consistent frame of reference and mental shelter for an entire life. Because it's historically been an effort and time intensive endeavor to experience enough and gain enough knowledge to completely dissolve the reality blocking world curtain, and because doing so is an exercise in loss, nearly everyone remained in a state of partial lucidity/partially woke. Now that light from beyond is beginning to shine through and beginning to inform us that our world and identity are not fundamental, we’re undergoing a species wide cognitive transformation.

WHY NOW?

Once we’ve seen past the limits of what we thought was the world, we can never believe in it the same way, it'll never again be acceptable as real, and it’ll soon fail to support our narrative based dream state. We can repair the curtain and try to restore what’s been lost, and most will, but with each new stitch the curtain becomes less durable and elastic than it was before. A curtain that’s been patched or restitched is more vulnerable to tearing and unraveling than an untouched one, and in this world a complete loss is inevitable. Because we can no longer protect or preserve our curtain, as soon as it begins to fail the best course of action is to exit our slumber, open your eyes, get up as quickly as we can, and cast the curtain aside. The curtain is fated to fall at some point and there is no turning back, we can only delay progress and prolong our suffering.

Having questioned reality since my earliest memory, I know what it’s like to pull threads and tear holes in a world curtain, and I know what it’s like to fail at repairing one. Deliberately opening the curtain and acclimating to the expanded view are the only things that ever truly helped, but existing in a completely solipsistic, skeptical, or nihilistic state only leads to mental unwellness and more suffering. What we need is an orienting and sheltering mental framework capable of structuring our knowledge and understanding of self and world without creating yet another light blocking curtain.