Philosophy
Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’
Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’ After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are. The ‘I am’ is certain. The ‘I am this’ is not. Struggle to find out what you are in reality.Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The philosophy around Autentica is based on a profound interest in the creation of our human identity, the one we imagine our selves to be, and how this identity either is supportive or a limitation in our lives, our work or our relations with other human beings.
Humans have completely changed life on this planet with in a very short timeline. Our technological and scientific developments have reached almost geometrical speed; mean while nature and our own biological capacities can’t keep up at the same rate. A hundred years ago old people were considered to be full of wisdom. Nowadays they are stowed away and declared redundant. The rapid change creates challenges that we don’t seem to handle very well as society becomes increasingly complexed.
Through our upbringing, parenting, education, media, friends and employment our minds become conditioned and we tend to lose our selves. We forget who we are as our minds get conditioned. We find and adopt an identity that is manufactured by the values and beliefs induced by our surroundings. In a society of competition our identity is measured against others and we appear in this image as successes or failures, or something in between. We spend energy on how our identity is perceived by others and we try to enhance that impression through our appearance, our career, our family, our precious houses, cars, clothes, jewelry and all of matter. In a western society money has become the measure of personal success. Social media has become the new window where we demonstrate our happiness and successful living, even though it’s just a facade, in order to become a successful person one must always remember to portrait the image of success.
The result is obvious. We create a false identity; an egoic, selfish, ignorant being that comes into play, eager to crave for more of everything on the planet. It’s probably not even recognizable to your self, because it hides and masks it self as you. So you deny it even exists. Denial is just one of it’s off springs. Envy, jealously, anger, hate, anxiety, rage, irritation and physical violence are some other traits that are expression of the false self. The result is what we se as insanity in the world. War, inequality, suppression of women, corruption and the ultimate destruction of life in this planet. The human ego that at some point gave us the upper hand as the supreme species of this world is about to also become our destiny.
“Deny thy selves!” The words and wisdom of Jesus Christ on which Christianity, the worlds number one religion, is founded. Still, apparently no ones seem to grasp the inherent meaning of his words and the underlying message, which ultimately is to dissolve the human ego. Leaders of the Church tend to do the opposite; they promote them selves and position them selves in a hierarchy of glorification, luxury and high esteem, and by that obscuring the sole intention of the Christ they are endorsing.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Your ego can drive your success in the eyes of others, but it can also be the source of great pain, depression, anger, anxiety and low self-esteem. Most people live their entire life in a compromise between who they truly are and what their ego allows them to be. This creates incongruence in your identity. A battle between your true self and the imposter ego. A high level of incongruence will lead to a high level of personal pain.
Many people go to work primarily out of need of creating money to support a modern life. Very few share the vision of why they do the work they do. In fact if they could choose, they would rather have a vacation or do something completely different. Managers do not understand this. They want employees that are efficient and productive and they believe bonuses and benefits are the means of getting the results they want. Again the incongruence is at the identity level and the individual cannot find congruence with the collective.
In our jobs, relations or just with in our selves we can catch ourselves thinking;” When only this happens or that is achieved, life will improve and we can start to enjoy life.” Or-“My life would have been so much better if only….”. We regard the situation we are in of less value than what the future holds for us, and we decide to trade the present moment for the imaginary future ahead. And some day we realize that the future never comes, and we have spent years in the illusion while life around us passed away. At that moment in time the personal crisis is embedded in our body and at the point of breaking out. Some have several crises.
”To remember who you truly are often requires you to forget who you imagine your self to be.
Personal growth implies reducing the gap between who imagine your self to be and who you truly are. It is exchanging the focus on external strength in terms of physical appearance, wealth, position and property with inner strength like wisdom, love, loss of fear and gained affection for others. All external strength will at some point be lost, still many struggle a life time to fight for it, not realising the mistake until they reach their deathbed and it all slips away. Others develop inner strength, and with out a struggle, abundance comes their way by default. We negate the present moment and what we have now and put life on hold in anticipation of a better future. We forget who we are. We are asleep. How ever we can wake up and realise the insanity of the ego, dissolve it, and reduce the incongruence in our lives by increasing the level of truth.
Life does not happen. We create it. Your inner representation is created by our body chemistry, your emotions, thoughts and your sensory apparatus. No one can without your permission, decide your inner representation and your state of being. The first step is to intellectually understand it, and then learn how to integrate it, firstly by dissolving your ego and at the same time redeem your true self. If you are a sleep, these words have no meaning. It’s gibberish and meaningless language. If you are awake, or at least prone to wake up, you will understand. And some how the truth about your self is ignited and you can reach for authenticity.
Happiness in essence is the ability to be your true self with out any compromise. But you might ask what is your true self? Most people would say that they are them selves. And indeed you might even be provoked by me questioning if you are your true self. Well, I rest my case. In order to be provoked, ego comes into play, pretending to defend both of you. The pain of the ego will vary from person to person. Some have a huge ego that encapsulates the being absolutely. Their ego is present all the time, causing pain both for the carrier and the surroundings. Others are mostly ego-free, but the ego can be triggered by certain signals, remarks or situations.
To dissolve the ego completely is self-realisation, a state very few people are able to obtain. The few display traits that are quite rear for humans in our time. They consider them selves as a part of the universe and see them selves in everything. Their body is just a way that the universe temporarily expresses it self, while their being is eternal and immortal. As such, they have no fear and live in complete love, stillness and with out any egoic traits. They do not care about money, status or positions. They regard an ant in the forest to be just as important as the President of the United States. They don’t debate anything, negotiate or defend them selves.
They enjoy life regardless of their location and situation. They radiate kindness, awareness and unconditional love towards every one, humans, animals or even plants. To become enlightened is to become a Buddha, a position of absolute truth and is basically a shift in consciousness. Seekers of truth have self- realisation as their main purpose or goal in life. How ever enlightened people often say that the shift in consciousness happened unintentionally.
People that have experienced near-death situations and “come back to life” show in some cases similar traits like a complete understanding of the universe, unconditional love and fearlessness. A great peace and total relief enters their body. We all carry it inside and the best way to help it evolve is to be true to your self, listen to your inner voice, or your gut feeling, and show love, compassion and kindness. I have no doubt that to reach true enlightenment is the greatest reward on earth.
So be your self in truth the best you can. Question your self and your choices. Mentally leave your body and study your self from a different vantage point. Particularly when in pain or when you consider you self to fail, ask who is failing and who is the judge. At any given point you are able to examine your own thoughts you become aware. You allow presence to enter. Awakened and idle. Chose to create and live the life you were meant for with out compromise. Don’t leave your body dying with your music playing inside it.
Let it out. Play for Gods sake! Play!
Welcome to Autentica!