Stories and delusions that create the modern world

A thought struck me a few years back when jogging down Coyote Creek in San Jose. Many institutions we take for granted are all illusions of our minds. There is nothing concrete about ideas like companies, politics, money and many other hallmarks of modern society. If anyone asks where companies exist, the truth is that they exist in our minds. It is not intuitive for managers, leaders or employees. No one knows what it is, but companies work very well. A king in Buckingham Palace is nothing but an ordinary man living inside a large building. Our mind attaches meaning and importance to that person. Our collective hallucinations create meaning in a man-made world that has little meaning.

We give fancy names like leaders, ministers, politicians, kings, etc., to ordinary people and surrender our freedom to their whims and fancies. Most of the ideas of the modern world are based on an implicit hierarchy and the pursuit of delusions. We surrender ourselves to other people, hoping to make some money in the process.?

What is a country? A large number of people drawing random borders and calling themselves one people? There is no difference between people on two sides of a border.

The entire idea of a company involves random people working together for a common good. There is no manager, CEO, or other hierarchy—there are only strangers.

Similar is the delusion about money. Nobody knows what it is. Is it a piece of paper, a proxy for gold, a tool for barter, a way to invest, a way to inspire oneself for the future or a proxy for the macroeconomic health of a country? It looks like money is everything rolled into one. This wishful thinking adds to the allure of money. We spend all our time chasing it as we think it brings a divine, illustrious power we do not have. The truth is that nothing changes once a person is rich. One is always as beggarly or cowardly as one always was. Money can never build character. The more people have, the more the fear that they will lose. The slave is eternally chained to the manacles. The more one earns, the tighter the chains become. This paradox is the classic sign of Maya; the more one progresses, the further behind he gets. All desires follow the same script.

Humans were not always like this. We have lived for almost 6 million years without any need for money. Suddenly, the idea of civilization entered our minds in the last 10,000 years. Money and currency entered our lives in the last four thousand years. All this has happened so quickly on an evolutionary time scale that we struggle to understand these terms. Nobody understands society, religion, company or money. Still, we happily assume whatever we want and mindlessly participate in the goals this ill-defined, amorphous society seems to tell us.

No nomad would have traded their freedom for civilization. However, we traded our freedom bit by bit. The current generation has lost all their freedom and does not realize what they have lost. They are completely immersed in pursuing rapidly shifting goalposts in this material world. One day, they are told to make money, and another day, to be great parents. Then, they are asked to seek self-fulfilment and simultaneously chase success at all costs. Societal messages are meant for no one in particular. It is just a load of hogwash being thrown around all the time. To become happy, one does not need to be rich and making money does not mean sacrificing one's family on the altar. These are all false juxtapositions.

Nobody says that money and society are unreal. They are completely real in the world we operate in (vyavaharika). Still, from a higher level of reality (paramarthika), we can also observe the absurdity of our situation. This conundrum is the fundamental insight of Advaita Vedanta.?

Indian thought asks you to place your interests first (the idea of dharma or unmotivated action) and find your career later. The Western approach is oriented towards career first and interests later, causing a lot of unnecessary tension and angst. Life is not about trade-offs. Life becomes interesting once people understand that everything can be had once you stay true to who you are. Sadly, nobody dares to walk the path except for Buddha, Madhva, Sankara, Ramanuja and other Indian philosophers. Only limited and fearful minds made trade-offs. A courageous mind places one's own mind at the centre. Once you put your highest self at the centre of your universe, life is never a zero-sum game.