On Duality and the Illusion of Progress

We’re living in the matrix.?

Does that discredit me immediately?

Today’s topic is a little…well, heady so just bear with me. I listened to an incredible talk from Dr. Shefali Tsabury and I will regurgitate a bit of it here.

We were sold a lie that reality is static, not moldable. Doing things because our parents did them, because their parents did them, and so everyone around us does it. We, in this modern society, have been conditioned on duality - everything is either GOOD or it’s BAD. There is no room for nuance and curiosity, get in your box and stay there.

Current understanding of good according to our capitalistic society:

• Things that last a long time
• Things that give us money

No wonder so many of us are so damned depressed - these things are hard to come by these days and none involve finding purpose, happiness and 'good' inside of ourselves. There is no room for enoughness in a capitalistic system.?

But good or bad doesn’t really exist, any situation you look at is complicated.

“It’s no problem to be under a delusion, BUT it is a problem to think that YOUR way is the right way.”

This doesn’t mean that 'good and bad' isn’t a helpful construct. I would much prefer?to live in a world where people aren't starving, raped, or murdered. I would like to decrease the amount of human suffering, so labeling things 'good or bad' makes sense.

But maybe it's time to move beyond polarity. The truth is that these systems were created and we can re-create them if we choose.

Why are we still abiding by the unimaginative systems that were not created for our current reality - much different than the reality that these systems were created for?

“We are puppeteered by the limitations of others imaginations or lack thereof.”

This illusion of progress that we’ve created is the biggest lie of it all. It’s incessant activity for activity's sake. Like Sadguru said, if you want to go row a boat…you could leave it tied to the dock and you can row while still anchored. You won’t go anywhere but you will get a good workout. OR you could just untie the boat and go much further.

Beyond having your basic needs met (which many people still don’t here in our “modern” world)…if you can’t find peace and happiness within yourself right now - no external conditions will ever create that.

Are you ready to untie the boat...to step off the progress hamster wheel into nuance and ambiguity - beyond the Matrix?

??This week I’m…?

?? Reading:

• The Biography of a Yogi, Yogananda

?? Listening:

• The Ezra Klein Show ft. Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehasi Coates

????Practicing:

• Finding peace in the Unknown

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