ILLUSION
The Illusion of Self: Navigating Existential Realities
I am simply a meat sack with electricity apparently hurtling through space at almost 850,000 miles an hour, flying around the sun at around 70,000 miles an hour while spinning like a top at 1,000 miles per hour.
I am the natural consequence of the Big Bang Theory to today. I do not have free will. Most of what my brain does is done in the darkness of my attention, and even when I am making conscious choices, I did not choose to become the type of person who would choose that choice over another.
From a scientific standpoint, our sense of self is indeed a complex interplay of biological processes, environmental influences, and cultural constructs. Neuroscientific research suggests that much of our brain's activity occurs outside conscious awareness, influencing our thoughts, decisions, and behaviors without our explicit knowledge. This challenges traditional notions of free will and autonomy.
We created gods because we got smart enough to realize that we are going to die. Evolution rewarded religion because dogmatic bonded communities with a shared myth had ways of tending to one another in ways that other tribes didn’t. We are the product of superstitious ancestors who survived better because they believed in supernatural elements, making them more likely to survive.
All we know is that there is consciousness. We have no idea where it is or where it comes from. We are no closer to solving the difficult problem of consciousness than when we first phrased it. We have no idea if objects in consciousness are real due to our brain being limited to its perceptions of reality. When we try to observe what is real, what is real changes.
Our brain is doing so much that it creates shortcuts so that we are not aware of most of it. Our brains are so evolved around belonging to a cult that even when we leave a religion, we create another religion, be it politics, tarot, astrology, etc. These evolutionary shortcuts worked when we were in smaller tribes, but now that our truths are bumping into each other, it will be that machine that destroys us.
We have over 180 cataloged brain biases that tend towards simplicity over complexity, loyalty to our tribes, and the illusion of the self. All of that is not comparable to what we do know about the modern world. Anyone who accepts all of this will inevitably be alone. There is a lot of lip service to leaving the matrix, but in reality, it is very lonely.
The machine of evolution that says to survive at all costs and all of the shortcuts that created that survival will eventually be a machine that eats itself. Individuals can remove themselves to some degree, but if you try to change the world, you will inevitably become part of a cult once again and you would become the monster that you were trying to destroy in the first place.
Navigating the tension between recognizing these insights and finding personal meaning and purpose is a central existential challenge. It involves grappling with questions of identity, agency, morality, and our place in the universe.
That said … there is a way to structure your life with meaning and purpose. Experiencing being and being able to pop your head up in this universe and check out what’s going on, where you are still glad that you got to be alive to experience this reality. It will more than likely take a bit of privilege because you have to die so many times to get there, and it’s very difficult.
Ultimately, this reflection highlights the paradoxical nature of human existence. The interplay between rational inquiry, subjective experience, societal influences, and the quest for existential fulfillment emphasizes the importance of critical self-awareness, intellectual humility, and the ongoing pursuit of understanding amid the vast complexities of reality.
In the end, the only benefit that you get is that you know you are playing in reality, which is a little more than a shared hallucination or perhaps a simulation. But still better than being in a delusion and not knowing that you are there.