4. Everything Can Be Fixed

The ego can make life difficult and prevent us from fulfilling the purpose of life.

The life we see and experience is a combination of facts and fiction constructed by our minds. Something happens, and we interpret it in our own way. We share the same world with other people, animals, flowers, and stars, yet everyone lives in their own bubble, a world built by the mind.

The state of the world is sad proof that something is wrong. The world is broken.

In 2015, the United Nations published a list of challenges facing the world. There are 17 problem areas that we should be able to solve together by 2030 so that we don't destroy our beloved home. At the moment, it seems that we will not succeed. There are two reasons.

First of all, the problems are so big that no one can solve them alone. We need to work together, but unfortunately we are not able to do so. Secondly, the solution would require changes that we don't want to make.

You might suppose that people would have enough understanding to respond appropriately to the threats slowly rotting the world, albeit at an accelerating rate.

It doesn't seem to be enough, for two reasons.

Hope is Wishful Thinking

The first reason is that we don't recognise our own part in the creation and resolution of crises. The world's problems seem external, and our own part in them seems so insignificant that there is no need to review our actions.

The second reason is that we all have our own agendas and priorities. They are based on our adopted values, beliefs, preferences, and assumptions. Most people believe that their view of the world is more correct than that of those who think differently. We also imagine ourselves ready to correct our misconceptions.

Both are wishful thinking. The majority of people reject unpleasant facts by denying them or escaping into dreams. The hope for something better is an internal drug of the mind, an escape from reality.

We are most passionate when we defend the things important to us. Fanatics are ready to give their lives for their beliefs and have not hesitated even to kill another for them. Millions of people have lost their lives in battles fought in the name of faith, ideology, and country.

We Are the Problem

We dodge responsibility. It's stupid because it is we who will suffer the consequences.

We are looking at the situation in the wrong way. In fact, we ourselves have created the world's problems. When you realize this, the solution is simple: just remove the cause. Self-created problems, both at the individual and collective level, are solved when you stop creating them.

We are the problem that we are trying to solve.

To turn the world around, we need a miracle. It would demand direct seeing, recognizing the facts, and tuning in to the frequency of miracles.

The ego-dominated mind is too insensitive, slow, and unreliable for all this. It wallows in its own mess and rejects outright talk of miracles.

Miracles are difficult to prove, but life can always surprise us in positive ways. If the mind is open and capable of seeing, it sees a world of possibilities. That is the home of miracles.

If you look at life only through your own narrow lens, you see very little. The world is more than our wildest imaginations or even our worst fears about it. That's why it's worth making a habit of breaking our own boundaries. It brings forth a ticket to the world of possibilities.

Everyday life begins to turn into something wonderful when you realise that change starts from the mind. If we want to make a difference in the world, we will have to see it differently. When we see differently, we act differently.

The fifth thesis is perhaps the worst knot we have to face.