UCADIA | SELF Journey | Mind and Self | An understanding & clarification of perspective, ego and judgment



Home	Self Index	Chapter Index	< Previous	Next >

you are here: > Self > 7. Mind and self

7.4

An understanding and clarification on the concepts of perception, ego and judgment

As sensible and generally understood as the words ego and conscience are, there is something inherently disturbing to consider that within us are two voices- potentially one positive and one negative.

In modern circles of social psychology the analogy is to dismiss the fragmentation of the mind as a natural flexibility to response in each given situation- in other words one mind- multi-response.

Certainly, something within us feels better with the notion that our mind, like our body might be viewed as one. Yet is not the concept of two halves also consistent with models of unity? The model of yin and yang for example?

7.4.1

The dark side- is it the devil speaking?

As we have discussed, it is a particular strange characteristic of the human species that it can at one be so creative and so destructive towards itself and others. On the one hand, we may create poetry and art of beauty and in the same breath kill without giving it a second thought. If that is not base enough, human beings have a unique ability to destroy themselves within intricate webs of unhappiness-

the professional that works seventy hours a week for most of their lives- achieves their financial ambitions, but dies before the finish line of retirement;

the worker that dreams of living by the sea for their entire lives, but instead lives in a grey house, in a grey suburb in a grey city, even though the cost of living in rural beach side areas is probably cheaper;

the beautiful girl that has everything from private school education, athletic physique, naturally intelligent and popular, who cannot be happy with who they are and must compare themselves to fictitious images of anorexic drug dependent

In years gone by, it was religions way of explaining the actions of those negative aspects of the human psyche that evil thoughts were because of the devil.

In some courts in America, this is still occasionally offered up as an excuse- now more towards a plea of insanity than acquittal. Yet there is no example of the darkness within having anything to do with a centrally controlled and orchestrated plan to perpetuate evil- rather a convenient excuse to externalize the cause of negativity.

7.4.2

The frightening truth- kept under wraps

The frightening truth as discovered by American and Russian psychological testing during the Cold War period is there is a murderous psychotic lurking within each and everyone of us.

What the likes of the CIA discovered in the 1960's period of drug taking was a parallel dark side to the "mind expanding" effects of LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs. Deep within us is something quite terrible and savage- the ability not only to kill, but to kill for the enjoyment of killing.

While many of the tests were both illegal and immoral, they nonetheless proved that ordinary law abiding citizens under the right conditions and sufficient inducement can become every bit a killer as a trained soldier.

In Chapter 6, we explained in part the effect of the modern culture of violence as entertainment on the psyche of self and the self-fulfilling nature of violence in society. As violent as the movies get, society only seems to catch up or surpass the minds of Hollywood.

What we are saying here is that darkness appears to be already within us. Something we may find abhorrent, yet true.

7.4.3

No need to judge negatively

That we can be so destructive to ourselves and others, that we have within us such darkness may cause us to judge that such things hold us back from what we might be- to be more to be pure.

Thus in so many books and so many books of literature we see the words of cleansing- of purification- that somehow if the world was pure, then the world would be better- that perfection is better.

This thinking is fundamentally misaligned to everything that UCA has taught us about balance and the necessity for night to bring day, from darkness to balance light, for evil to mirror good.

When we describe these issues- we do so without judging in a negative fashion- we are not seeking to "demonize" those things within us- but to seek to identify them for what they are so that we might move forward.

<<Back Continue>>