Selling Our Souls for Comfort
Musing on numbness, masks, and the quiet war against truth
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
—Jiddu Krishnamurti
This isn’t exactly a typical article, but rather a stream of consciousness… a soul spill if if you will. It is about a truth that’s been coming up to the surface for many of us for a long time.
We live in a world that makes us numb and disconnected, but I believe underneath all of that we are all aching for something real, something authentic.
This is me putting words to it.
The Performance of Happiness
A world once centered around joy, connection, care, and gratitude…
Now turned into a place of long lines, loud traffic, the sound of a camera shutter.
Who can post the best photos on the internet?
Who can show they have the happiest family, the most beautiful life?
That they’re put together so neatly – like no human is in reality.
Where did the time in the moment go?
The care about another’s well-being?
The desire to see through someone else’s eyes?
Would you walk a mile in another’s shoes to understand them better, if you had the chance?
If you had the chance to see yourself as another sees you, would you take it?
The Masks We Wear
There are thousands of versions of us – different faces we put on for others.
We wear masks to show what’s underneath the surface, but humans bleed their essence nonetheless.
I see it in the clothes you wear.
I see it in the way you come into my home just to show off, or just to take something,
but not to give.
I see it in the way nothing “darker” interests you.
God forbid people talk about something real—something human.
We only repeat the good and “fun” things over and over, never diving deeper underneath the surface.
The Burn of What’s Unsaid
See, I can’t live that way.
My skin burns from all the unsaid things within me, begging to be let out of their prison.
My emotions scratching their way to the surface, begging to be acknowledged.
Begging for something real. Something of substance.
Feeling separated from the world.
Disconnected from the majority.
They seek greed and power, not caring who they step on in the way.
They seek some sort of approval, not caring how much of their soul they’re losing along the way.
They no longer even see injustice—for their eyes have been blinded so much, to them it’s normal.
A Society Addicted to Numbness
Why has forsaking our brothers and sisters become the new normal?
Why has shallowness, greed, injustice, inhumanity become the new normal?
We’re a traumatized society of people wanting to be heard, seen—begging for likes and comments
while selling our soul for the next thing that will keep us numb and subdued.
Where is the resistance for change?
Where is the change?
We ignore the world burning around us and say it’s okay because we’re used to the fire.
Are we used to the fire—or have we become the product of those who seek power
and tell us what to think, what to do?
Soul Disconnection
Why do we listen to what everyone else has to say,
and not what our soul has to say?
Even a soul itself is still a mystical, out-there thing,
but what do you think it is you feel the world with?
Experience the world with?
Why do you think your stomach hurts when you see a human being or animal suffering in front of you?
What causes a visceral reaction within you when you see someone in pain?
No matter how much you want to ignore it, that connection is there.
We hurt when another hurts.
The Cost of Escaping Ourselves
We all seek happiness and joy, inner peace, something to fulfill us.
And the more stuff there is out there to distract us, the better.
We will just keep numbing ourselves.
Pop a pill.
Have sex.
Go to the casino.
Have another drink…
Just to get away from being human.
Just to get away from being in this skin most of us have been taught to hate since before we could walk.
The world conditioned us to compare ourselves,
to hate the body we’re in, to hate our very own lives.
Because depression and misery make money.
Happiness and health never have.
There has to be a problem for there to be a solution.
And the solution must cost a pretty penny.
Who Benefits From Our Misery?
It’s all so transparent, yet you don’t seem to see it.
You’re okay with contributing to the corruption, as long as you feel at ease.
Are you really at ease?
Are you really happy within your own being?
When I look around, I mostly see unhappiness.
I see unaware humans trying to be something they’re not.
Everyone is trying to impress someone else—and impress themselves.
Buy different products. Change our clothes to look better in the eyes of someone else.
Every single time we do that, we give away another piece of our power.
Every single time we lie to ourselves or another, we sell more of our soul.
Every time we do something not aligned with our soul and pure intentions.
I’m Part of It Too
And you know… I know I’m a hypocrite too.
Because I’m part of it all too.
I’m connected to you, to the corruption, to the betrayal, to all of it.
I’m a fraud just like you.
I wear masks just like you.
I hide my true self and bury my feelings for the sake of another and their comfort zone.
I stifle my own voice to be liked and accepted, to be part of something.
But is it worth it in the end?
Am I doing myself any favors?
Do I wake up happier in the morning?
Do you?
The Light of Awareness
I can tell you one thing…
I’m not aware of everything, by any means, and I’ve never been some kind of genius.
I’m no one special.
Just another speckle of sand on the infinite beach of the never-ending cosmos.
I’m tiny—but I’m aware of some things.
I’m aware the source within me is infinite.
I’m aware of the interconnection.
I’m aware of the evil and the ignorance.
I’ve seen it all.
I’ve been through it all.
I’ve walked a mile in all sorts of shoes—until my feet were bleeding with every step I took.
But I continued walking.
To Be Awake Is to Be Alone
Sometimes I know it’s easier to be unaware.
But then… then I would just be a fucking robot.
Then I wouldn’t be aware of my feelings, how I’m affecting another human being, and the cosmos at large.
I don’t know what’s worse most days—
because I know it keeps me alone.
It keeps me disconnected.
And I’m afraid of my own inhumanity.
And the inhumanity in others.
I’m not afraid of human beings.
And I’m not afraid of souls.
I’m afraid of ignorance.
I’m afraid of what a human is capable of under the right circumstances.
