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A fresh look at lack of humility… the lack that causes you to not be able to learn new things
I am reading a book that says: the purpose of life is survival.
It is clear that the purpose of the selfish genes is survival. Not the vehicle (for a human gene the vehicle is a human body) but itself. The gene. Long and short term survival. The gene actually doesn’t care whether that survival is noble, enjoyable, fun. None of that. Just survival long enough to produce another generation of vehicles.
The human vehicle, because of its consciousness, desires quality of life, liberty, and self-determination… the list is probably a lot longer, but the human vehicle, you, definitely considers a life without those not worth living. Not a life for a human. The history of humanity could be told through the struggle, resignation, stagnation, loss, of those values. From freedom to overt slavery to hidden slavery… this is where we are now.
So I am going to look at the issues that hold my students back through that distinction: survival. If what I find is true about my students, it is probably true for other people… as well, maybe even you…
So, the question is: how does lack of humility serve survival… or the illusion of survival? After all an individual’s ability to survive increases greatly by learning new things… and yet.
The issue must be the illusion of survival. And the illusion of survival takes us to the desire trap… where status is one of the ways the Tree of Knowledge teaches you to survive… to increase your chances to survive.
The relationship between learning and a sense of status (status is always a sense… it is not real… it is a concept!) is inverse: the more you admit that you don’t know something, the more status seems to be slipping. So the trapped individual cannot admit that they don’t know something, or there is someone who knows and therefore can teach them.
- I have students who consider what I say my opinion.
- I have students who consider what I say as an expression of my desire to put myself above them.
- And the same students, when they want to be generous, they say that what I say is advice.
- I have students who tell me what they are going to do… to prevent my input
Obviously these are the same students who are stuck in the desire trap, and therefore can’t learn, can’t grow…
- I have students that every time I tell them something, they send their profound thanks, only to not do any of the things I said they should do.
Resistance… the desire trap again.
- I have students that every time we interact, they need to prove that they are superior. That they are the ones that can… not me.
Consider, maybe, that the Tree of Knowledge works through the desire trap, that the powers that be want you to be in the desire trap… because happy people don’t obey, don’t fear, can’t be manipulated left and right.
Consider that until you can get control over the desire trap, you are stock at the bottom of the barrel, without a Self, and no chance for happiness.
In false survival desire trap you have to live in comparison, you have to be in who is better than who, you have to live in who has more…
Your whole life is based on unreality: and when you live in unreality, even when you win: you lose.
I have students who confuse selflessness with humility: they are stingy with themselves. Seeming selfless to others is also a desire trap: I am better than you: status. And these same students argue, tooth and nail. Hate. Are spiteful. Angry. And at the same time they say they don’t like confrontation.
They don’t understand that ‘if I am not for me, who is for me’ doesn’t mean confrontation. It means taking care of yourself, your health, your environment, your needs. Survival…
Instead they skip on fundamentals. They don’t take their supplements. They eat mighty little. Boggles the mind… but this is the desire trap through and through.
So let’s recap what is the desire trap, because my guess is that you are getting confused: all these actions against life, against self are from desire?
The desire trap
The essence of the desire trap is two-fold
- 1. what you desire is not possible for you, or not right now. So you fantasize about it, and it gives you momentary relief… and thus it creates the trap. You keep desiring and you keep fantasizing about getting it.
- 2. what you desire is not up to you, or desiring it is a ‘rule’ you made up for survival. Because it is not up to you, you can’t attain your desire.
The two criteria of a desire trap though are: the desire itself and the fact that you cannot get the object of your desire.
And to answer your question that you must have: are all my students cutting their noses in spite of their face? No, not all. I have students that do the work, consider me their trusted advisor, and are creating a life worth living.
In my opinion life is not about survival on the Tree of Life. On the Tree of Knowledge: yes, I can see that.
On the Tree of Knowledge also is another great man’s definition of the purpose of life: ‘the purpose of life as wholeness or completion – truth – not survival.’
My current view is this: the purpose of life is to become all you can be. And that is through living a life that is worth living.
Living a life that is worth living. By whose measure? By yours, of course. Only you can tell… A life worth living for me will be different from a life worth living for you… but there will be similarities.
My hunch is that both yours and mine will be a life that is a yes to life. Where you have a strong Self and that strong Self has moved you to the human need of self-actualization. What does that mean? I am not sure. It is somewhere in the fog for most people… in the dominion of godliness…
Until you get a strong Self it will remain in the fog… Doing actions for the godliness directly are misdirected and create another desire trap… I see a lot of gurus in that trap.
Here is a surprising example: Vishen Lakhiani, Mr. Greed, is not hungry for money. That he has enough. He is hungry for specialness, for enlightenment, for godliness. Surprised? He is not the only one.
In fact most gurus are hungry for that…
But what they missed is the building of the strong Self. Vishen Lakhiani skipped that too… so he has to be trapped in the desire trap, because without first building a Self, you can’t go to the next level. When you desire something that is not possible for you, you always end up trapped in the Desire Trap.
Survival at all cost… or surviving and living well… these are the questions you want to answer for yourself.
THE 67 STEP COACHING PROGRAM is about living a life that is worth living and living life well. In every area of life. With no desire trap, no false Tree of Knowledge rules… A very rare diamond, indeed.
