The Big Why

One of the most troubling if not the most troubling question challenging humanity is: Why do bad things happen to good people?  Or: Why do we suffer? Among the answers that humanity has had to these anxiety-producing questions over the centuries has been called religion or mythology or science. All of these institutions are systems of belief containing theories, stories and models upon which humanity has projected its own identity. They do not explain or answer the “Big Why” so much as reflect back to humanity its own emotions, beliefs, attitudes and values, revealing the unconscious elements of human nature such as the shadow and the collective unconscious, or put forth theories to explain the human sensory experience.  In short, they are not helpful in moving human consciousness forward but rather more useful in maintaining our current level of fear and ignorance.

For example the Hindu cosmology, the most elaborate and profound of the religious “stories” is a big rationalization to get human beings off the hook. In a narrative that explains every aspect of the human experience past, present and future, we are powerless beings with little opportunity for evolution except in a system that presents a bogus opportunity for transmigration of the soul. Five thousand years of no progress in consciousness gives the lie to that religion. All religions except the mystical offshoots of Christianity, Judaism (Kabbala), Hinduism (Vedanta) or Islam (Sufism) are contained in paradigms that prevent human Self-realization. Religions are mesmerizing, constrictive worldviews that prevent human awakening. Human emotions, beliefs, attitudes and values are determined by the worldview which provides the human energy and purpose behind human behavior. If humanity cannot create a more profound worldview than conventional religions do, we will not find our experience on this planet changing from what we have been experiencing since we have been here.

Science doesn’t pretend to be a worldview and religion cannot pretend to be “scientific.” Such pseudo-theories as intelligent design only reveal the confusion within the human mind when it is contained in a primitive paradigm. Science deals with facts and theories meant to explain the universe that reveals itself through our senses. Science exists in the realm of the intellect, is useful in helping humanity function in a physical environment and has revealed the illusory nature of physical “reality.”

Let’s set aside for the moment anthropomorphic super-beings functioning as the “other” to receive the projections of our fears and longings; epic stories reflecting the nature of the human psyche; and theories related to “observable facts” which turn out to be more subjective than objective and move to a deeper, more profound paradigm. What will allow us to continue the journey of unfolding consciousness—the reason that we are here in the first place? We need a new myth that sees human suffering as isometrics of the soul—a push-pull exercise between Eros and Logos, love and fear, the true self and the false self, the heart and the head—reciprocating calisthenics to build the muscles of awareness and to stretch the tendons of compassion.

To exercise our awareness and compassion—that is the reason for life.  Life is not bad things happening to good people. Now we have the beginnings of an inspired narrative to replace the inhabitants of Olympus—to drive Mephistopheles from Hades and St. Peter from heaven. No more sin, redemption and rapture in some vague and uncomforting future or guilt, shame and anxiety because of subtle threats of hell. Hell and heaven fade into the mists of fear out of which they took shape.

Out of our new worldview will emerge a new, dynamic awareness of Simple Reality.  The implicate order is revivified and the good, the true and the beautiful can emerge from the field of endless energy into healthier forms with a higher degree of Self-awareness. The Universe longs to know itself through us. We are no longer stuck in the old, inflexible paradigm, dwarfed by fear-driven emotions, beliefs, attitudes and values. Let’s retrace the journey that has brought us here because we are contained in a very uplifting story.

We can finally leave the fantasy of The Garden of Eden for good and the bewildering state of unconscious perfection. Like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (Cervantes’ Don Quixote), Cain and Abel, the ego and the shadow we are moving to a new reality guided by inner idealism. Like Quixote, we lose every battle when we rely on our scientifically designed lance and faulty logic. We will have learned to trust our inner poetry and the beauty that we see in Dulcinea which is a reflection of our own inner loveliness.

We are not finished in our paradigm shift as we quickly move from Eden to the stage of The Globe as Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Hamlet) in the drama of life characterized by conscious imperfection. We were aware that something was wrong at that point in the human story but could not muster enough awareness to act decisively. We are more aware of reality (as Hamlet) than when we were tilting at windmills (as Don Quixote) but not awake enough to stop the persistent ghostly voice of the shadow (the ghost of Hamlet’s father). We continue to be controlled by the unconscious pursuit of security, sensation and power, still contained in a nightmare. We have met the shadow but cannot muster the courage to face it.

Next, we go to Italy and the final stage of our human drama as we enter the state of conscious consciousness.  As the archetypal Faust (Dante’s Divine Comedy), we have found our courage and acknowledge and even begin bargaining with our shadow, Mephistopheles.  We come to terms with our false self no longer denying our human suffering which provides the energy that propels our insightful shift out of the old paralyzing narrative.  We have come to rely on our heart and its wisdom as the highest value.  Fear is replaced with compassion and darkness with light.  Let those who have a need for a god, for hell and heaven have them but we no longer tell those stories.  We have transcended fear and suffering and the need for a story because we now live in the eternal Now beyond time and space.   

The long and arduous hero’s journey is over and we have returned with the boon, the gift for humanity—consciousness. We can now rest in the bosom of Simple Reality for that is what contains us now. We have created our own heaven.

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Much more in-depth discussion on Simple Reality can be found in the book  Simple Reality: The Key to Serenity and Survival .