(BTA) The human mind is made up of active powers, but subliminal, which few creatures on Earth access, in the normal state of consciousness. Nightmares, emotional outbreaks of anger or jealousy, falling in love, getting intrigued with someone, worship a public, historical or even domestic figure, etc. – all of them are ways to project the unknown but not necessarily asleep forces, layers, mental patterns, which call for manifestation, although the conscious level of the mind does not understand the reason for them to be, when it at least knows of its existence. Myths, stories, legends, the pursuit of art as means of expression and channeling of those powers – that’s what we came here to talk about.
(BTA) And what can you tell about this?
(SE) I would like that, for a few moments, our reader thought about how bizarre and absurd the behavior of Islamic fanatics seems and how they show off their weapons, proudly and happily, in videos recorded just moments before suicidal terrorist attacks. They seem to face death with joy, proud of their act of savagery and folly, as if they were doing something good for mankind, in the condition of martyrs. To what extent could our readers call themselves superior in autonomy of thought and opinion, in relation to those unfortunate young people? In what can one guarantee that, having been born in that environment, in that precise socio-cultural context, one would not assimilate and unfold, in that same proportion, similar tendencies of ideology and radical positioning, before the issues that life offers? Who would be naive enough to suppose himself truly self-sufficient intellectually, emotionally and spiritually to the point of not be suffering and not be today a resultant, perhaps in frightening percentage, of vectors of cultural and genetic influence? There is the free eternal spirit that undergoes specific organic and social contingencies to develop him, either by absorbing the factors or reacting to them. But how much is there of the individual’s genuine free will or of his authentic creation? How many times what seems to be a strictly personal impulse is nothing but the end of a long and complex web of cause-and-effect, of the individual’s family and cultural interactions, with his historical and even biological context (the body also exerts influences the spirit, as much as the spirit upon the body)?
On Earth, people do not consciously create – except for very honorable exceptions, the narrative of their lives. They are not the owners of their destinies; they let themselves to be dragged, especially when they have the illusion that something “has got to be” or that “it has always being that way” or that “there are no alternatives or solution for it”. It is true that common sense frequently reaches conclusions formulated on similar statements, but, often, what is seen as the voice of common sense, is actually the absorbed voice of consensus, of the opinion of majority, the voice of traditions, of the local, familial and national culture, the standards of expectation to which someone feels compelled to meet, yet they have never stopped to ask themselves whether they match their higher ideals, their own nature, their way of being, their most basic needs and even the most rudimentary principles of logic and direct observation of the facts. That is: it is common for people to live in a universe of fantasy, oblivious of observing reality, fascinated by the elaborated way of these cultural fallacies, myths constructed for specific purposes, under certain historical circumstances, almost never suitable to the interests, values and necessities of the individual.
(BTA) What to do in face of that?
(SE) Fight the status quo. No one should submit to the tyranny of convenience, normality and routine. Let’s break the habits, fears and the need of not contradicting real or imaginary figures of power. The father, the mentor, the idol, the lover are not divine figures. It appropriately fits here the reminder of the biblical condemnation of idolatry. It is common for people to put symbols of status and belonging to a community over their most sacred, deep and true impulses. Authenticity, then, is sacrificed in the name of the integration to the social group, and the individual goes on like a robot, feeling like an outcast of him, to avoid being considered an outcast of society.
In a post-modern and post-industrial civilization, in which many nations have already entered today, it no longer makes sense this perversion of values, because if it’s always been reproachable to appreciate more the external than the internal, today it is simply unnecessary (at least in more organized societies), since there is space for all types of subculture, within the dominant culture of the majorities. Hence, with a little effort of courage and transparency, the individual can easily manifest his originality to the world, therefore giving his unique contribution to humankind, as a legacy of a well lived life, always useful to the existential “travelers” of future times, including himself, in a future life, in a higher level of consciousness, structured upon the complexity of the previous level, in a stage of organization and meaning even more advanced and subtle.
(BTA) Impressive concepts.
(SE) Accurate, at least for the level of understanding of today’s humankind. Therefore, may each one strive to dissect the deeper layers of oneself, doing a work of psychological mining, similar to an archeology or even paleontology of the soul, discovering, thereby, relics of past “cultures” (past reincarnations) or even the evidence of deep cultural roots (of addictions, paradigms and tendencies still in force, but centered in past experiences), and, finally, fossils of great traumas and anguishes of this and other physical or extra-physical lives (intermissive periods between physical lives, in the astral dimensions of the planet).
(BTA) People usually consider this kind of reasoning, at least, mystical or vague.
(SE) They should sound out their tendencies and tastes. The order of books and films they like. The type of cultures they feel attracted to. And in a reverse way which causes them repulsion, hatred and aversion spontaneously or compulsively. Not in a literal sense of these suggestions, but assuredly, in a figurative sense, since that their likes and aversions are clues to the underlying nature of the being. Therapy, the study of dreams, the reading of distinguished authors and to seek advice from experts and specialized consultants will undoubtedly be indispensable tools, along with meditation and prayer: indispensable.
(BTA) There is no short way for a work of this scale…
(SE) No, there isn’t. If the body consumes twenty years to reach adulthood, how someone, with a good conscience and subject knowledge, will assume that, in just a few years, they will resolve all the enigmas of their soul? May it be understood that this is an endless work, yet gradually compensatory, as one progresses in its development.
(Dialogue held on May 02, 2004.)