When human beings do not accept the wholeness of their true identity, the most effective defense mechanism is brought to birth: denial.
Cultural, political, and religious influences tend to stereotype persons, societies, and nations. Value systems are accepted, rejected, and distorted – all affecting one’s perspectives, one’s relationships, one’s goals. Amid diverse, conflicting values, the process of denial thrives.
One uses denial in everyday activities and relationships, social, economic, political, and religious. The defence mechanism of denial is unconscious (conscious denial of fact is simply lying). As one is unaware of one’s denial, soon denial becomes “common sense” and enables one to blend into prevalent systems. One is then able to divorce oneself from such problems as ecological pollution, poverty and distribution of wealth, racial prejudices, etc. and direct one’s attention to the accumulation of wealth and security of self and those closest to one.
One asks oneself, “why can’t we just ignore the prejudices, divisiveness, chaos, and pursue what enjoyment we can during our short stay here?” But the world’s activities influence our lives, and we are part of the world’s activity. We are joined at the hip with humanity’s destiny. Our consciousness has expanded when we recognize this fact.
The surge of consciousness, the availability of knowledge, and social media interactions are a looming tragedy for sustained denial. Consciousness (i.e. absence of denial) has taken a gigantic leap. Racial, sexual, economic, and religious prejudices are seeing the light of day. They are no longer able to be sustained.
Personal and national denial stems from anxiety and insecurity, and give birth to the values of power, control, and wealth as solutions. One becomes afraid to ask oneself the right questions and hear the right answers.
Why is there so much poverty in the world? (Poverty is the suffering of children, the agony of parents trying to provide, the starvation and death of populations). When the answer is simply that poverty has to do with economic factors, supply and demand, international trade balances, and inept institutions, we have not listened to the question. The question was about greed and suffering. The answer involves a recognition of the acquisitive nature of our culture and our identification with it.
Solutions do not come about solely by institutional changes which address partial problems, many of which have a negative effect on other partial problems. Nor is a permanent change brought about by a revolution in the streets. The change will only come about by a revolution of consciousness, the recognition of one’s denial, and insight into one’s own perceived identity as an individualized autonomous entity and its accompanying divisiveness.
A revolution of consciousness directs the burden of change to a personal level away from authority figures and institutions. In lieu of projecting responsibility on to religious institutions and political system, one recognizes the degree of one’s denial. With this recognition, the false disappears and changes in one’s perception of reality take place.
The human being clings to a denial of the permanency of death. Good friends and family members have “passed on,” and the living treasure them in their hearts. Prayers are offered for deceased loved ones that they may enjoy the happiness of heaven. Saints are prayed to for their assistance in times of grief and troubles. One believes that family members and friends now exist after death as the persons once known. One grieves over their departure and one’s sense of loss.
Most people’s ideas about heaven are as a peaceful spot, more rationally perfect than this one. Heaven is filled with the newly born (perhaps even the fertilized egg) right up to the oldest deceased. There you will meet your friends and relatives.
That children are encouraged to believe this is a commendable measure of human compassion. Even as adults, we have a difficult time accepting that death is permanent. Our religious beliefs encourage us that we as Tom, Dick, and Harry, will carry on with some continuous life as Tom, Dick, and Harry.
For the young, active adults, life appears to be achieving the goals of one’s ego, and this idea is simply transferred to that transition from life to death – resurrection being the self-fulfilment of one’s ego alongside all the other self-fulfilled egos. We are struck with the idea that God is in the image of man, a perfectly rational being, in some way within the dimensions of time, space, and the logic of causality, and created this world of time, space, rational beings, ergo we’ll say “hello” to him/her/it upon our arrival. Individual souls are considered to be in progress towards reception by an individual God.
The relation between soul and persona, i.e. between soul and ego, has never been clear. Is the soul an individualized entity that soars off to meet other souls in a heaven? Are personas and souls the same entity? Organized religions project the idea that each ego has a personalized soul and that they have the key to its salvation. Sacred words, rites, rituals, and laws, if obeyed, assure the individual that death is not permanent. Each person will continue on by following the edicts of their particular religious system.
There is no doubt that humanity owes a great deal of gratitude for the influence of religious institutions in establishing schools, hospitals, in defence of the downtrodden and assistance to the poor and overlooked members of society. However, throughout history religions have been, and still are, among the most divisive elements of our society. There are myriad religious systems all eager to offer man “salvation.”
Religion is important for political systems. It is important for religious institutions and political systems both, to enable us an exercise of control and influence. Just as one views the soul/ego individually seeking its happiness, so also one views the nations individually seeking their autonomy and greatness. The resulting divisiveness is evident in both realms.
Religious efforts to ameliorate their divisiveness are made through ecumenism, legitimizing the variety of religious ways to receive one’s reward and eternal happiness from the one God. Ignoring both the conflicting religious ideology and its methods, each giving rise to diverse laws and rituals, ecumenism strives to maintain the relevance of religion in a chaotic world.
The strong resistance of individuals to the negation of one’s stereotypical ego identity and to a consciousness transcending that of ego-consciousness is understandable. To many, it is viewed as nihilism. However, kindred spirits have an inner awareness that they are one with each other with no loss of their non-reflective diversity.
It is likewise understandable that organized religions will react strongly to any negation of a personalized soul. It threatens the whole idea of their heaven. True religion is the recognition that “my” soul and “your” soul are not limited individual entities. Individual ghosts appearing through walls in a vague form is the fantasy of story-tellers.
The expanding consciousness of mankind and its assault on the process of denial is a truly liberating phenomenon.
The Voice of the Plowman 