Monday Morning Greetings 2024 #49 – Self-consciousness as the Root of All Suffering
Dhanurdhara Swami December 2nd, 2024
I think I need here to first define my terms. By self-consciousness I don’t mean self-awareness where you realize or become aware of the self and therefore think of others before yourself in the mood of service. By self-consciousness, I am referring to the disposition of focusing on oneself without considering others. I like how Jordan Peterson, the sometimes controversial, but insightful psychologist puts it.
“Self-consciousness is so connected with negative emotion that they are not statistically distinguishable. And there is no difference between being concerned about yourself and suffering… To be concerned with yourself is connected with anxiety and shame and grief and disappointment.”
One other important clarification before I expand on the theme of today’s post. The criticism of self-consciousness as described here is not denying our responsibility to take care of our needs, or even our pleasure. It is rather challenging the mindset that seems to subtly plague us all, at least to some extent, that pleasure is the most important thing in one’s life.
I found it interesting that self-consciousness even statistically, or shall we say scientifically, relates to negative emotion and suffering. But I not surprised. Such a conception is foundational to the bhakti philosophical conclusions.
What is the root of suffering? Suffering is the natural result of going against nature—a kind of cosmic parental punishment to veer us back to our true and fulfilling self. In other words, by constitution we are meant for service and when we deny our nature we suffer like a fish out of water.
It is not hard to perceive how self-consciousness also relates to negative emotions. The objective of self-consciousness is to enjoy and control, a temper that contradicts our very nature and thus one that is doomed. Naturally this is followed by feelings of anxiety, disappointment, grief and shame.
The correlation of self-consciousness and suffering is not exclusive to the bhakti canon. It’s the basis of all spiritual traditions. I especially like how in one Buddhist text self-consciousness and self-awareness are compared:
“Pleasure is the happiness of a madman and happiness is the pleasure of a sage.”[1]
The plague of self-consciousness is also on the minds of the more contemporary aware. Tom Wolfe, the legendary journalist and contributing editor to New York in 1976 wrote an exposé of the self-consciousness of the post-war generation in a brilliant essay titled The Me Decade.[2] There he describes how a type of unapologetic hedonism was embraced by the young in the west at that time. I especially like the line:
“They will never understand duty above self.”
This week the concept that self-consciousness is the root of all suffering intrigued me. It’s certainly food for thought.
[1] This quote was referenced in a book Happiness by the renowned contemporary Buddhist, Matthieu Ricard. I don’t have the book with me and can’t give the exact reference.
[2] https://nymag.com/article/tom-wolfe-me-decade-third-great-awakening.html
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