11. Can You Be Better Than Other People?
The most interesting ego concept I have recently stumbled upon is the thought that we are "better" than other humans. More evolved. Smarter, faster, stronger.
Oftentimes, I am faced with this due to my strange affinity toward reality TV. As a matter of fact, I have several "basic" hobbies. In a recent post, I actually dove into why I feel it's actually an unexpected skill to be "basic". Without rehashing the article, those who enjoy popular or "basic" activities, vs. ones which are considered more special, elite, cerebral, or niche/unique, are considered "less than" for some reason. Perhaps it has to do with bandwagon mentality, or perhaps our desires to seek "more" from the universe condition us to believe that anything that fits this category is not “worthy".
The concept that we are better than others stems from a fallacy that we have created within the constructs of our society. Whether it's job, career, social status, economic status, etc. Even as an evolved soul, it's not necessary to fall back into a cycle of ego-centric behavior. To a degree, these milestones or "checkpoints" allow us to discern elements of our reality and understand our physical contributions in this lifetime. We can "check" others' physical contributions and compare ourselves to them. Ultimately, this is helpful in regard to evolution, but can certainly be exploited and used in a negative way. This ultimately ladders back to the point that the spread of ideas and inspiration (such as movies and TV) allows us to have a perspective that we may not have otherwise. Living in a small town in middle America would not expose you to life in a big city. How would you otherwise know that living this lifestyle would or would not be your destiny? Certainly, books and other forms of information and education would do, but it's certainly not in real-time or as a first-person POV as a vlog, for example. Consciousness is certainly evolving rapidly and no doubt, suffering from over-inundation/overstimulation and decision paralysis as a result.
But let's get back to the topic at hand. Society accounts for us feeling or thinking we are less or more than, as people stray away or move closer toward traditional methods of success. But what is the truth? Well, many spiritual people would argue that we are all of the same source, and therefore all the "same" to a degree. Even if we are not all the same (as we technically cannot be due to different lives, experiences, and evolutionary cycles), we have the propensity and manifestation power to achieve and accomplish "the same" energetically.
The truth is that if we believe that we had the choice to incarnate on this planet, we made the conscious decision to not only be surrounded by these people but to commit to helping ourselves as well as each other learn, evolve, and grow. Earth is more like a group project, but we treat it like a competitive independent study. Granted, it's not perfect. As we all know, it can be complex. Some people don't want to be a part of the group project, some people forget about the group project, others don't understand their role, or really picked the wrong group project to stay in. Nevertheless, we are all in smaller and larger group projects intentionally and unintentionally, and it's our responsibility to see them through. But the point is, we put ourselves in the position to be in these group projects. Although some of us have more appropriate and applicable skills for the group we are in, we are all ultimately in the same class and therefore on the same playing field. We chose the Earth life; the Earth life didn't choose us.
So what creates or fosters an environment to convince ourselves and others that we are better than others? Certainly, there is a balance as it's important to have confidence, faith in your abilities, and awareness of your strengths, but where does it go too far? My personal philosophy is that it's OK to acknowledge that you have strengths that others do not have, while simultaneously acknowledging you have weaknesses or "blind spots,” which puts us back on that same playing field. What's interesting is that if we observe traits and characteristics that society deems acceptable, we may actually be weakening ourselves in certain aspects. Does intelligence alter other aspects of your life? Do you ultimately become disconnected from child-like wonder? From beauty? From innocence? From intuition? The door always swings both ways, and strengths can simultaneously be treated as weaknesses depending on your perception value. And one thing we know for certain is that no perception value is the right perception value.
If one were to completely remove themselves from popular culture, as I mentioned previously, would they be seen as better than everyone? What is the swinging door? Those separated from popular culture may be separated from consciousness. Perhaps connectedness, perhaps emotional insight. Perhaps it's even a projection of their own insecurities, traumas, and pain related to these themes. After all, any hate or judgment put out into the world, regardless of explanation, is simply judgment and hatred toward oneself.
Consider your own strengths and weaknesses as a swinging door. What can you learn? Do you feel you are better than others? Why? Perhaps this stems from an alignment issue with oneself. Insecurity with your worth can be a culprit. Consider your group projects and what you're contributing. Remember that often times being burden-less means you may be in the group project doing the least work…
