Critical Thinking: Is A Lack Of Self-Awareness One Of The Biggest Problems In Today's World?

If someone was asked to talk about some of the biggest global challenges, they could mention the things that most people are aware of. For example, they could talk about climate change, poverty, inequality, and terrorism.
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These are the challenges that are often highlighted by the mainstream media, the education system and the entertainment industry. Undoubtedly, these, along with the others that are often mentioned, are important.

Cast Aside

What is rarely, if ever, considered by these sources, and is unlikely to be considered anytime soon, is that although technology has greatly improved over time, self-understanding hasn’t developed at the same rate. As a result of this, one of the big challenges that humanity suffers from is a lack of self-awareness.

Of course, there are people who have developed a certain level of self-awareness, and who see this lifelong process, but there are also those that have no desire to and probably won’t be encouraged to by the society that they live in either. Thanks to this, someone like this can simply carry on as they are and try to ‘change the world’.

An External Focus

When it comes to the challenges that the ‘system’ focuses on, they largely relate to what is going on ‘out there’. There is then no reason for someone to look within themselves and to see what part they might be playing in what is going on externally.

In general, it’s as though human beings are merely observers of their reality, having very little effect on their own life or the world as a whole. Thanks to this, there is no need for the average person to go within; the only thing that they need to do is to focus on the challenges that the system brings to their attention and to play their part.

The Law of Correspondence

Part of having self-awareness is for someone to be aware of their thoughts, how they feel, and their behaviour; another part of it is for them to see how their outer world is mirroring their inner world. Their inner world relates to what is taking place in their conscious mind and what is taking place in their unconscious mind.

Through having this connection to themselves, then, they will be able to see that they are not merely an observer of their reality. Therefore, if they see something ‘out there’ that they don’t like, they will be able to go within themselves and to see if there is something that needs to be resolved.

A Radically Different Approach

However, this is not to say that someone like this will never take action and will only focus on their inner world. They will realise that there will be moments when they need to do something, yet that won’t prevent them from looking in the mirror, so to speak, and taking responsibility for their own reality.

Through being self-aware, they will realise that they are not inherently separate from anyone or anything, which will allow them to play their part in healing the collective shadow. Healing their own inner wounds will stop them from completely feeding into the current paradigm.

The Norm

When someone doesn’t have this connection with themselves, their modus operandi can be to focus on what needs to change ‘out there’. It might not even occur to them that what annoys them about the world could be a part of themselves that needs to be resolved.

They will just be observing what is going on ‘out there’, so why would they feel the need to look within? As they will have the need to change what is going on, they will be coming from a place of resistance.

Feeding the Beast

What is resisted is what will persist, and even grow; therefore, without knowing it, they will be feeding into the very thing that they want to change. But, although this will be the case, they could believe that they are doing the right thing and they could receive a lot of positive feedback from others.  

One won’t be ‘being the change that they want to see in the world’; they will be fighting what they don’t want, keeping it alive in the process. The trouble is that while doing this can allow one to feel alive and even self-righteous, going within will be painful and it is unlikely to lead to too much approval from others.  

The Law of Resonance

Being an activist or simply someone that who wants to change the world can be very appealing to the ego-mind, the part of someone that lacks strength and stability and sees itself as separate from everyone and everything. This part of them also does what it can to avoid pain and has numerous defences to keep their pain at bay.

This part of them will push their pain out of their conscious awareness and into their unconscious mind/body. Once it is there, it will have an effect on how they perceive the world, what they do and don’t experience, and who they do and don’t come into contact with.

A New World

Taking all this into account, if people were encouraged to go within and to heal their own inner wounds/baggage, there is the chance that the consciousness of the planet (the unseen) and the world itself (the seen) would dramatically change. With a universal understanding of the effect that the inner world has on the outer world, there wouldn’t be the same desire to focus on external challenges.

Only trying to clean the dirty window would be seen as the wrong approach; what would make sense would be to clean the pair of sunglasses that are being worn. Here, someone would be going to the root of what is showing up in their reality, as opposed to trying to deal with its external manifestation.

Final Thoughts

If someone has solely focused trying to change what is going on ‘out there’ and they no longer want to play this ego game, they may need to reach out for external support. With the assistance of a therapist or healer, for instance, they will be able to go to places inside themselves that they might not be able to go to by themselves.
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When one changes their world, they will be changing the world as a whole, and this is because one is part of the whole. This type of change can be seen as silent change as they won’t be out there making noise, but while it will often be silent, it is likely to be far more effective.

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Oliver JR Cooper
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