A great chasm, a profound emptiness resides within each one of us. It is an unfathomable void that must be addressed in some way. The one truly universal challenge we all must face – the creation of ourselves. Yet authentically facing up to this fearful task seems to lie beyond our capacities. It produces dread, fear, angst and severe insecurity – all of which must be overcome in some way in order to function in this life.
How we cope with this task is the great determiner of our personality, of who we are. The huge majority among us are led away from our true condition by early childhood socialization and education. We are taught roles; we are shown the molds within which we must operate. The world around us is defined according to the particular social environment we live in. We are offered the relatively easy escape of simply connecting the dots of a life that has been pre-drawn for us. We come to accept simplified codes of behavior, all clearly defined. We identify ourselves within the matrix of these codes. We are a son, a daughter, a student, a high achiever, a hard worker, a boyfriend or girlfriend, a father or mother, an employee, an American or Spaniard or Russian or Chinese…a Christian or Muslim or Jew or Hindu, a citizen, a consumer or person of business. All of these roles fill the chasm, or at least construct an internal edifice that serves to block it out of consciousness.
All of these roles, of course, require a kind of faith, an unquestioned acceptance of the qualities and characteristics of each particular role. Opening them to question not only undermines their psychological and social value, but can also seriously threaten the security of others employing the same roles if such open reflection is externalized.
Thus do the great majority of us avoid authentically confronting our greatest challenge as conscious beings. And thus does the mass of humanity continue blinding itself to our one truly universal condition – thereby creating divisions, clashes, fear and distrust of the other, hatred, war…
