From Consumerism to Creativity (Part I): Key Problem

Ego as it is

Have you ever caught your mind wandering in the past or somewhere in the future?

Have you ever felt cheated or disappointed when the euphoria of possessing a new thing is gone too fast?

Have you ever tried to stop thinking for a tiny bit?

I bet to all these questions you answered yes. Then welcome to the club of trivial human beings vegetating in unawareness.

When we are born our mind is clear and let us say – empty. It’s like a mirror reflecting everything around. As getting older we start thinking, our mind grows and shapes a mental image of who we are based on our personal and cultural conditioning. This image, a «false self» is Ego – the most dangerous beast in the world which causes unhappiness, dissatisfaction, fear, consumerism and cruelty. Ego is a creature of unconscious identification with the mind.

But we are not our mind. The true essence of any human being is measureless and unlimited; in fact we are an overall Universe and the only obstacle which doesn’t let us aware this fact is our Ego.

Ego is fragile and needs a lot of energy to exist. When something endangers its security Ego gets very aggressive and makes us do awful things – just recall the deeds of any tyrant, a person whose Ego is enormously huge. The mind in the Ego mode concerns only about keeping the past alive because you are nothing without it or projecting itself into the future where he is seeking some kind of release or fulfillment – «One day, when this, that, or the other happens, I am going to be okay, happy, loved, at peace etc». That’s why we feel like we can’t stop circling in our thoughts, we don’t have energy to create something great, we are the slaves of our minds – all these conditions are required for Ego’s survival. This false image forces us to identify ourselves through the things we have or so-called achievements we reached. All this creates our sick greedy consuming society with the economic structures where the only measure of progress is MORE. More money. More oil. More natural recourses to take away from the neighboring country.

Take, take, take – and nothing to give in response.

There is a story told me by an amazing Russian musician and culturologist Mikhail Kazinik: each time when the Lord watching all the disasters people made has an intense to destroy the mankind, a Genius appears and creates some masterpiece – Moonlight Sonata, Mona Lisa, Swan Lake, Notre Dame de Paris. And the Lord drops the lightnings down and gives us one more chance.

Many great philosophers considered creativity to be the main sense and the only excuse for human life. True creativity has nothing in common with Ego, moreover creativity is behind the door which locked by the Ego.

Follow us to learn how to unlock the door – on Monday.

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