A World Caught in Its Own Hubris

Imagine a man. Throughout his days, this person has been living a life of what can only be described as selfish hedonism. The drinking, smoking, blatant narcissism and unfettered disregard for everything around him has ruled his own little world.

He is doing alright in his bubble, until one day he becomes very ill. As he visits his doctor they inform him he has cancer – and it is spreading. Operation and chemotherapy will be required.

The man is dumbfounded. He cannot possibly believe how this has happened to him. Is the Universe playing some unfunny joke? Is God against him and wishes to destroy him? He asks his doctor why he is so unlucky, how could something like this have possibly happened to him?!

The doctor, a high quality physician, is well aware of this man’s life and how he has lived it. He stares at him first in bemusement, then with compassion – is there anything he could possibly tell him to show that his destiny is of his own making? He makes a start, but is quickly rebuffed. The man isn’t ready to know the truth. He does not wish to change his lifestyle, or take responsibility. He informs him when the chemotherapy will begin and schedules an operation. That is as far as he can go.

Now imagine a civilization. One that is mired by its own hubris. A civilization whose inhabitants believe themselves to be very much separate from the natural world around them. Not only that, it is a society that actively destroys its biosphere for its own short-term pleasures.

It is a civilization that treats its peers as stepping stones to personal glory and perceived success. One that is fixated on temporary and mindless entertainment, trapped in its ever-more dopamine stimulating world. There is little connection in this society, for narcissism reigns supreme and loneliness is a common affair.

It is a world of inhabitants that have no introspective insight and thus no awareness of their own shadows. In such a world, where nobody is conscious of their capacity for evil, the evil quickly rises up to rule from positions of power, completely unencumbered in its psychopathy.

Now imagine that this world, whose inhabitants are woefully unaware of their own egotism, encounters a challenge. There are many individual and collective challenges that have constantly been appearing, however this one is different. It sweeps through the world with wrath and invokes fear in its people. The challenge itself is increased exponentially by the reaction to it – from the fear and disharmony already present in people’s hearts, to the ones created purposefully by those in power, in order to increase and establish greater control and authority.

In the chaos, a solution is presented. One that is promised to bring the world back to normal. A normal perhaps, even better than the previous one – one where technology will rule completely, where surveillance will be constant, where all freedom will be replaced by safety, where control will be increased many-fold.

Any dissent to this solution is quelled, censored and removed from the public’s view. Those disagreeing with the narrative and way forward, regardless of their knowledge and expertise, are ridiculed and bashed. There is no time or room for debate, the future and its making has already been decided – it is for the people’s own good.

No attention is placed on the causes of the challenge. There is little mention of the inner disharmony, fear, general ill health, disconnection with self and other, fast-paced stress-based lifestyle, or the destruction of the natural habitat.

Why should it? It is irrelevant, while the people, stuck in their own bubbles, would never accept it anyway. Too busy with immediate satisfaction, they do not truly desire change, responsibility or indeed any deeper form of introspection.

There are those that speak out and resist. There are many of them, perhaps more than one could have expected in such an unconscious world. But they are rebuffed by force, physical and informational, while many from the public blame them for not adopting the solution quickly enough. The solution that will bring order and normalcy back to a distressed world, allowing the pathway of this civilization to go on in its pre-decided tracks, not worrying about unneeded introspection and second thoughts.

What happens to such a world? Does it go on and continues its previous pathway, or does it find enough consciousness to reconsider? Do the old patterns prevail, or is there a stopping, a rethinking, room for debate and discussion, as well as compassion?

Nobody knows the answer to these questions.

However in a Universe where anything can happen, there is no need to give up and give in – accepting the predetermined path set forth by unawareness. And perhaps if the inhabitants of this world do not do so, they can still make miracles happen and create a world beyond their wildest dreams. It is never too late to wake up.

Any similarity to our world is strictly a coincidence 😉

Love.