Introduction
“It was through attention to the unconscious that he made his major discoveries, the most important being that from birth to death we are, every last one of us, divided against ourselves. We both want to grow up and don’t want to grow up; hunger for sexual pleasure, dread sexual pleasure; hate our own aggressions—our anger, our cruelty, our humiliations—yet these are derived from the grievances we are least willing to part with. The hope of achieving an integrated self is a vain one as we are equally divided about our own suffering; we do in fact love and want—may intend—never to relinquish it. What Freud found most difficult to cure in his patients … was their (mostly unconscious) wish not to be cured.”[i]
Chapter Three of this book responds to the Third Great Question: Why Am I Here?[ii] We must find the courage and energy to make the choice that will lead us, whether as individuals or as a community, to consciousness and sustainability.
Simple Reality offers the Point of Power Practice to help us become conscious of our habitual reactive behavior, and remind us that we have a choice to respond instead of react. What do we mean by “react”? To judge, hate, resist, attack, struggle, etc., against whatever is happening in the moment.
We are triggered and then ensnared by our reactions every day, many times a day, which is why it’s time to take a fearless look at our self-destructive behaviors. Changing our deeply rooted and long-established patterns moves us toward our natural state of awareness where we experience freedom, peace of mind, joy and compassion. It is the third step in Transcendence.
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Additional Reading:
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[i] Gornick, Vivian. “The Interpretation of Freud.” The New York Times Book Review. August 10, 2014, p. 10.
[ii] Henry, Roy Charles. Why Am I Here? The Third Great Question: Understanding the Importance of the Human Behavior. October 2014.
