Our False Reality

We are attracted to narratives that fit our emotional state and then we become addicted to the emotional release they create- the feeling of letting go negative emotions like fear anger by having someone or something to blame. We develop a narrative that is a slave to this emotional feedback cycle and can have little to do with the rational truth. The important component is the creation of the other, the people who think differently, look differently, act differently, who are dead set on disrupting the reality we have become desperate to uphold. This internal narrative demonizes and dehumanizes the toxic other, creating the opportunity for our negative emotions to well up around some new story or struggle that dramatizes our narrative and cements our false reality because, “I wouldn’t feel this way if it weren’t true.”

There are always shreds of truth in the false narrative- facts that support our case, visual evidence that what we believe must be true, or isolated truths taken out of the context of a broader reality. But within our addiction to the emotional feedback cycle we ignore the broader truth, the obvious facts that support another possible understanding, the trusted friend who tries to bring us around to another way of thinking. We end up believing a lie, a distortion of truth that twists us into the hero of a narrative where we are the oppressed, the victim, threatened by the existence and beliefs of the other who is trying to take what we have and threaten our peace and existence.

We all do it. We all have a narrative, or have had one, which keeps us in an illusion where we are in a struggle with our own fears and desires. We all have demonized the other, whether it’s a boss, politician, or people from a strange culture or those who look different than us. It’s the root cause of racism, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, bigotry and the general perception of the enemy, which fuels wars and eventually genocide. Good people can do horrible things when they share a narrative that demonizes the other and share an emotional feedback cycle that releases their hate until they become addicted to it.

But what is the truth, what is reality and why is it important? The truth when we are in a lower consciousness is rarely the truth, or even slightly resembling it. We believe a narrative where we are a good person even when we perpetrate horrible things on others. We rationalize our behavior and create a reality that maintains the perception of reality that serves that good person perception. That’s why we need the other. “They made me do it.” “I had no choice, do you know what would have happened?” “You know what those people are like.” or we will even create or join a narrative that dehumanizes the other as “animals” “parasites” or “evil”.

The truth is they are not animals but humans just like us. They have families, share good times and bad, and struggle to stay alive and find peace. But to accept that truth we would have to let go of our narrative and our addiction to our negative emotional feedback cycle. The truth is there is often more than one truth. In a lower consciousness we are stuck in a binary view of the world with winners and losers. In reality there are possible outcomes where we both win and we both lose depending on our level of consciousness, emotional awareness and what we value as to what makes a winner or loser. With every hard truth in our own narrative there is often a scenario where the opposite is also true – not always, but often. Raising our consciousness requires us to ask the simple question, “Is the opposite also true?” If it is, we require the awareness and spiritual health to avoid the trap of a binary, either/or worldview that feeds our false reality and seek out ways for us to find compassion, kindness and a willingness to serve. If we can lean into these as our first reactions rather than the negative emotions that well up in our false reality, we can raise our awareness, our perception of the situation, our consciousnesses of what is reality and truth and find the peace we are seeking.

That’s why in most religions the objective is peace. The emotional trap of our false reality, our own narrative that keeps in a negative emotional feedback cycle, leaves us yearning for the one thing that is more precious than winning, obtaining and consuming, that’s peace. It’s the common trope that, “Money doesn’t bring you happiness.” “Nothing is more important than family.“ “It’s better to give than receive” While they are well worn maxims that can have little meaning when we are being consumed by our own personal false reality, they are true just the same, not just for us personally, but as a reflection of a universal truth.

This greater or universal truth is how we find our Creative Source. Instead of finding a “other” for us to hate, dehumanize or be in competition with to satisfy our false reality, when we begin to raise our awareness we seek out a mysterious “Other” that we connect to through a higher or universal truth that brings us peace and offers us to feel positive emotions based in love. That’s the point of spirituality. It is the higher awareness itself. This higher consciousness is what created us, and everything around us. We are not alone, unloved and in a false reality in fear or competition with the other. We are part of everything; in a world of abundance that provides for everything we need and loved by the mysterious Other, the creator of everything. That’s what a change in awareness from our false reality of either/or to a higher awareness of both/and offers.