Probably, one of the biggest barriers to growth as a human being is the inauthenticity of our characters. There are layers and layers of our mind. We are conscious of only a few upper layers and remain unconscious of the rest of the layers. For example, the need for social validation and appreciation is so deeply inbuilt in our minds that many of our decisions are unconsciously guided by the same. Say, for example, the choice of career. What plays at the back of our minds is the social perception of career options and often there is a conflict between what we want to do and the social perception. Many of the students have an inclination to work as a doctor and yet become civil servants because of the social recognition of civil services as a career. We become inauthentic in the process and tell ourselves and everybody around us that we want to become civil servants while the fact of the matter is that we just want social validation and in order to get the social validation, we are compromising with what we like to do.
That is why when reality sinks in, we become frustrated. There is no problem with choosing civil services as a career option but the problem is with the inauthenticity. We do not see clearly what is going on inside. We are choosing something that we do not like because our unconscious mind is heavily driving the agenda. Since we do not accept that the agenda is being driven by the unconscious mind, and the conscious mind pretends to have the same goalpost, there is no occasion to ask the right questions. If we become authentic and see this conflict, the conscious mind gets an opportunity to ask the right questions from the unconscious mind. Since the inferences and viewpoints stored in the unconscious mind drive their agenda secretly, they never get examined and questioned and therefore keep getting strengthened and keep driving almost the whole of our lives.
It is not only about the choice of career true for any decision. For example, our decision to buy a property or a car is more often driven by social validation than the need. "What will people say?" is the first of the questions that come to our minds. "Judgements" by society take over the "real interest or need". That is why slowly we become so sub-standard and inauthentic. We want to impress our manager with our work but really we do not like the work and that is why work looks so tough and we get so tired of the work that we keep looking forward to the weekend. The fact of the matter is that if we like the work, we should be equally looking forward to the weekdays.
These inauthenticities are not unique to individuals. Rather, they prevail across societies and organizations. Societies tell the story of Rama and Krishna to their members and celebrate the victory of Rama over Ravana but in reality, they will encourage dowry, corruption, and female foeticide. They will promote all the acts that Ravana did and pray to Rama. Organizations will talk of systems and efficiency but will put the most corrupt officers at the top of the hierarchy. Anything asked by the senior management is justified and the justified rights of low-level employees and customers are denied. Yet, there are talks of fairness and integrity.
These inauthenticities have become the way of life. We are busy finding "workable" solutions that never work. That is why the entire society is going through so much of a crisis. Unless each individual, as well as the community, first admits that there are conflicts within, then examines these conflicts, and with the sole guide being "truth" examines each of these conflicts, it is not possible to resolve them. We will continue to remain chaotic. We will keep pretending the keep giving fancy names to our pursuit of desires. Babas will keep making money and building empires by collecting huge money in the name of giving some comfort to the troubled soul. The troubled soul can never get peace unless these conflicts are resolved and that can not happen unless we see our inauthenticities. Painkillers do not boost immunity. A painful body can not work efficiently, and if we keep taking the painkillers for long, we will end up damaging our kidneys.
प्रवाह
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