By Alex Omidvar.
8 views.
As human beings, we are all struck by existential problems. We do not know where we come from, we do not know why we are here in this mysterious world, and we do not know where we are going. Advances in knowledge mislead us into thinking we know more than we do. Far too often we like to claim knowledge or understanding because certainty keeps us sane and helps in our survival. If we all woke up in the morning and started questioning our lives and choices honestly, we would be suspended in a state of existential angst. Here lies the conundrum of our lives: we all know that we don’t know but we act as if we know.
Humans are a by-product of the evolutionary process. For instance, take the brain. The right hemisphere is involved in the acts of exploration that opens us up to possibilities and the left hemisphere seeks to remove uncertainty. The constant interplay of these two hemispheres can be understood as the brain trying to balance between chaos and order. Chaos being what is beyond our understanding and order being something we impose control over.
From evolution’s point of view, it would be overwhelming for the human mind to perceive all surrounding realities. Twenty five percent of the entire brain acts as an inhibitory mechanism – in other words, it blocks off much of the sensory data produced by our environment. Therefore, humans act as if they know the truth because our brains give us a very convincing illusion of reality.
From the moment we are born, we are inhabited by the spirit of our ancestors, this being a metaphor for the evolutionary process. The ego develops through a child’s upbringing by their family, society and above all their culture. Culture builds on the biological foundations of the ego. A simple example of this in the world we live in today is the universal thirst for economic prosperity. Once a biological drive for survival, it has now been transformed into an ego-driven desire to consume the latest new products.
In fact, most aspects of culture are about the maintenance of order. The ego is self-centred, advocating its own growth at the cost of everything else, including nature. As Terence McKenna once said, “The ego will become like a cyst if left untreated,” leading to collective seizures which manifest in forms of human bloodshed, exploitation of others, and ultimately, the destruction of the world. Instead of balancing this toxic order fuelled by the ego, culture strengthens the ego and advocates for the continuation of its survival. Only after collective disasters, a global pandemic for instance, may we be forced to change our attitude towards each other and our environment.
Nietzsche suggested a solution to this problem. He wrote “The weight-bearing spirit takes upon itself all these heaviest things: like a camel hurrying laden into the desert.” If camels are human beings and the weight is tradition and culture, then it appears to be a necessary part of our development to become a slave to cultural values. From a camel, according to Nietzsche, we metamorphize to the next stage of our character which is represented as a lion. Having nourished and developed our ego and learnt the wisdom of the past, it is time to doubt them with the courage of the lion. The final stage of metamorphosis is represented as the child stage and involves a process of self-discovery and above all, the creation of one’s own values, the constant death and rebirth of which is necessary. It can lead to the re-growth of the ego as one that is in total freedom to create its own values, to be in direct harmony with the spirit of nature.
These abstract ideas of self-transformation seem all well and good, but none are of any practical use, which is why the practice of ego-dissolving as present in shamanism is essential if the ego is to be treated. Activates like bringing together the community, caring and connecting to nature and each other, as well the use of psychedelic plant medicines can all act as a cure for these toxic elements.
Particularly, the proper use of psychedelics in their shamanic context can bring about a shift in consciousness and a dissolution of the ego such that our values become aligned with planetary values. The chaos that psychedelics introduce into the cultural machinery is one reliable way to bring the ego to equilibrium. But, as I have already indicated, the ego need not be completely dissolved but only treated, as we do need our personal identities still.
Edited by Amber Warner-Warr
The Quarantine Times 