Confronting Reality: Yuval Noah Harari’s call for Introspection in a world of Fiction:
?Such interviews shake your core.
We often take refuge under “Why me?”, sinking into self-pity, which Yuval terms as the “easy way out”, even pleasurable or enjoyable. We shy away from the difficult task of “looking inwards” or reflection on observable data & facts before choosing our Call-to-Action.
Believing in fiction extends to our day-to-day life of mindlessly following some story / Godman, politician, rather than painfully confronting the brutal facts of our current reality. This reality-check may land for a few when it impacts them personally. Invariably, we get so immersed in the fictionalized myths we build that we resign ourselves to this state of helplessness, wishing for the Almighty to bail us out of our misery.
Our societal bias for action / busy-ness, crowding out space for reflection, even poo-pooing it is a reason why Vipassana, or any other form of mediation, (often seen as “wasting time” or doing nothing”) remain at the edge, and aren’t mainstream, reinforcing the self-fulfilling prophecy.