One of the most common indicators for mental and physical illness is the feeling of being overwhelmed by life, and the belief that you cannot cope. Now this is a perfectly understandable response based upon our programming within a patriarchal and material world system. Through the three pillars of modern society, namely the nuclear family, organized religion, and formal education, we are conditioned to behave in particular ways. Unfortunately, each of these ‘institutions’ constitutes a pressurized, evaluative, and competitive system, which means that our wonderful, yet vulnerable human natures are poorly nurtured. From the very beginning, it’s a case of ‘fitting in or face the consequences’, with any so called anti-social behavior highlighted and punished. We quickly learn to perform for approval, usually at the cost of our own inherent natures, resulting in the divided self. It seems impossible and unadvisable to be who we really are, and so we embark upon the false-self journey. We literally split from ourselves, doing everything we can to be ‘good’ and acceptable to the powers that be. Of course, there are the few who rebel, and all credit to them.
And so, it is an inevitable fact that we will be bent out of shape by our well-meaning families, educators, and religious instructors, but there comes a point where we must find our way back to authenticity and integrity, and our true selves. The structure of the human brain speaks volumes to the evolutionary journey our ancestors took over millions and millions of years, and one we also need to follow if we are to realize our inherent potential. There are three distinct complexes in the human brain, the oldest part being the Reptilian Complex, which represents our survival instinct, or fight and flight response to threat or danger. We have this part of the brain in common with all other creatures. The next part of the brain to develop historically was the Paleo-Mammalian Complex, which is the seat of emotions, as the prehistoric creature started to experience anger, guilt, shame, sadness, joy, and fear. It could be suggested that we have this part of the brain in common with many mammals, including our household pets. Finally, and in the most recent evolutionary period came the development of the Neo-Mammalian Complex, or new brain. This is our consciousness, and our ability to create, analyze, and communicate through language, all that makes us so distinctly human – AKA Homo-Sapiens.
Now the three complexes perfectly represent the three levels of human existence we must deal with – survival, healing, and wholeness. Level one – survival is where many of us feel we are, stuck and barely getting through each day, feeling overwhelmed. Level two – healing requires us to properly process our emotions, by identifying, acknowledging, and expressing what we are feeling. It may also require some kind of therapeutic intervention to deal with often deeply buried loss or trauma which prevents us from evolving into our true selves. Level three – wholeness, speaks to our growing ability when trained, to think about our own thinking patterns, identify outdated mental constructs, and transform them to more accurate interpretations of reality based upon where we are rather than where we were. Just as our species has evolved over millions of years, so we in this limited lifespan should spiritually evolve, by realizing our inherent potential.
So, my message to you is clear – you are more than enough. You have within you everything you need to be wild, joyful, and free, whether through survival, healing, or wholeness, based upon millions upon millions of years of natural selection, right back to the swamps of early mother earth, for us to be here today. I encourage you not to lose heart, but to trust the process, as life challenges you to find your gold, buried deep within, discovering the real and authentic you. I leave you with a quote by James A Michener, “For this is the journey that men (and women) make: to find themselves. If they fail in this, it doesn’t matter much what else they find. Money, position, fame, many loves, revenge, all are of little consequence, and when the tickets are collected at the end of the ride, they are tossed into the bin marked FAILURE”.