Inner peace during our lifetime is one of the most important treasures for any human being. Life can become a living hell if we persist in living without happiness and contentment. It’s a heavy price to pay for materialism, control, and security. Mortality is an unchangeable fact, and depending on one’s education and life purpose, the knowledge of mortality can be crucial.
We are a combination of both animal and human sides. No one can choose one side exclusively; attempting to do so leads to an unbalanced life. A successful human life is found in moderation, not in extremes. With free will, an individual must find a balance, dividing their time and efforts to keep both sides happy and content.
Living in total deprivation might make one a selfless and admired individual, but self-care is equally important. Living with inner conflict is like choosing to be a head of a department rather than a CEO. Inner conflicts cannot be overpowered by strict regimes. We must ask ourselves: Is living a mortal life, unhappy and torn apart from within, worth the struggle?
If practice made us perfect, our societies would be crime-free, priests would not be convicted of sexual crimes, and war crimes would be a thing of the past. Instead, we continue to be plagued by crimes that even other creatures would be ashamed of.
The root cause of our failure as social beings is our constant pursuit of extreme control, driven by the awareness of mortality. This awareness should help us understand ourselves and our mortality, allowing us to balance all aspects of our lives. Instead, it tears us apart individually and is a significant cause of political wars.
Using free will wisely makes you a CEO of your life. As a human, you shouldn’t pretend or try to be something else. No other creature tries to change its identity. Animals might change color for protection or hunting, but they accept themselves as they are.
Humans are often unhappy being human. We constantly try to change ourselves according to trends. Dark-skinned individuals want to lighten their skin, light-skinned individuals want to tan, short people want to be taller, thin people want to gain weight, and heavy people want to lose weight.
Humans are neither animals nor angels, so what are we?
If you start to see your life as a gift or blessing, wisdom will begin to reveal itself. Free will gives you a choice, and if you choose to please others at the expense of your own happiness, you must ask yourself what this is doing to you internally. If you are not torn apart inside, it’s great—you can live your life serving others. But as you do so, personal expectations develop. If they are not met, you will face resentment, and the animal inside of you will rip you apart. Balance is crucial, as rejecting personal responsibility and ignoring your animal side leads to inner turmoil.
Our teachings often emphasize extremes, leaving no room for questioning due to the strong sense of belonging and conditioning within our groups. This fear of being shunned while having suppressed desires to question leads to inner conflict. Nobody else sees or connects this to social ills, so the individual suffers alone.
Nature created us as human beings, and to experience physical life, part of us functions like animals. This is legitimate, regardless of ancestral beliefs or current thoughts. No one has been able to change this fact of life. There is no reason to feel inferior for having animalistic desires; this is part of our makeup. Free will exists to balance our everyday lives, despite inner turmoil. Inner conflict arises not from nature’s wisdom but from societal knowledge and education about control and conformity.
If you feel like eating something unhealthy but refrain to avoid obesity or societal judgment, you are controlling yourself, becoming more human and less animal. One might think that such practices should lead to better physical shape and evolved humanity. Yet, we see more obesity, depression, anxiety, and unhappiness today despite our knowledge. More people are torn apart, willing to harm themselves because they dislike being out of control and judged by society.
Inner peace is elusive even among the best of us. How can we achieve it? The answer lies in self-reflection. Stand in front of a mirror and look into your eyes, asking yourself if you are happy or sad and why. Often, individuals with limited knowledge have low self-esteem, desire to fit in, and seek admiration from others. If you feel this way, recognize your body as your vehicle and yourself as the driver. The body’s functioning is a miracle, and we should be thankful to be alive.
Ask yourself if your free will, animal, and human sides are in balance. If not, find the cause. The cause lies in how you use your free will and become the CEO of your life, questioning everything, including what your belonging groups have taught you.
We follow what is preached to us, mistakenly believing that God wants us to kill the animal inside to become angels. This is not true. We are created as human beings with conflicting senses and free will. This perfect wisdom allows us to evolve and reach our potential. We learn new things every day, proving that we are not a finished product and that our knowledge is not complete.
I believe God created us with more potential than we realize. There is a divine spark in each of us, spiritually connected yet physically separate. Believing that our knowledge is complete is egotistic and ignorant, rooted in politically charged senses of belonging.
Inner peace and harmony reveal our decent side. By using free will to balance our senses and desires, we manifest divinity. Otherwise, we manifest our insecurities, leading to control and spiritual crimes against our own kind.
Instead of creating balance, we often go to extremes, thinking it feels right. This suppression of the animal side leads to uncontrollable outbursts. Achieving inner peace is not about extremes; otherwise, Buddha would have found it through hunger alone.
In a movie about Buddha, I remember a scene where he meditates by a river. Two men row by in a boat, one playing a string instrument. The musician stops and tells the rower that if the string is too tight, it will snap; if too loose, it won’t play music. Upon hearing this, Buddha stops meditating to eat. This illustrates that inner peace is found in balance.
Inner peace is divine wisdom, and it is our responsibility to find it for ourselves. It is the key to justice for both our animal and human sides, helping us accept our humanity. While few achieve divine powers through extreme hardship and sacrifice, most fail and become torn.
Ordinary individuals who attempt extremes end up in turmoil, losing inner peace. Strict rules create chaos. Extremely religious individuals without inner peace can become hypocritical, acting out animalistically. Human societies have always had crime, and a percentage of people will always be seen as criminals. However, it’s not black and white. Avoiding extremes is crucial.
Conservatives and liberals constantly debate, but when taken to extremes, it indicates an inner crisis. All religions preach tolerance, yet we often get caught up in competition, neglecting inner peace. Peaceful individuals radiate peace, benefiting society in the long run. Social politics must allow individual strength. A group’s strength depends on the strength of its individuals.
Strings of Power
When we use free will, we are given numerous strings to pull, each affecting some part of our life. We often misunderstand this power, thinking we are the only ones pulling the strings. We forget who gave us the strings and the ability to use them. Our power depends on the oxygen we breathe, and every breath relies on countless factors. Recognizing this vulnerability makes us humble, while the pride of pulling the strings can lead to greed for power.
Everything we do depends on multiple factors. We must look beyond our immediate power and understand the source of our abilities. Spirituality teaches humility and belief in something greater. This is why spirituality is consistent across human societies, despite the ego-driven politics of sense of belonging.
Religions should abandon politics and focus on spirituality. Belief in God should transcend worldly setbacks, acknowledging that human understanding is limited. We must dig into the past for the benefit of the present and future, not to create more problems and unhappiness.
Our societies have changed rapidly, from gay marriages to physician-assisted suicide to equal human rights. The past should inform the present and future, not dominate them. Living in the past or future can make today a dead experience, adding up to a dead life. The present is the most controllable time.
Responsibility of the Individual and Society
A starving person stealing bread is at fault, but so is the community that failed to provide. Survival trumps all laws, orders, and beliefs. Ethics and morals are luxuries of the well-fed. When preaching control, remember that the speaker’s stomach is full. A hungry person discards all knowledge—social, religious, or spiritual—in favor of survival. We must evolve individually and as societies to fulfill our responsibilities.
If you or a loved one needs medical help, the community should support you. If not, you should take necessary steps. Community and individual are interdependent, each responsible for the other. If community rules devalue individuals, imbalance arises, ultimately harming the community.
Law and order, social systems, religion, and spirituality are joint responsibilities. Spiritual values, often mislabeled as socialist, should guide religious individuals, yet many vote against these values. True spirituality supports universal healthcare and poverty relief, not political agendas.
Religious people should logically follow spiritual values, yet many align with conservative politics, which contradicts these values. It’s time to think spiritually, not politically. Spirituality transcends religious politics, focusing on belief in God and humility in the face of human limitations.
Digging into the past should benefit the present and future, not create conflicts. Our ancestors did their best with their knowledge. Using the past to destroy the present or future is unwise. Human societies are constantly evolving, and today’s knowledge will be outdated in the future.
Live in the present, use past knowledge wisely, and aim for a better future. Human advancement depends on learning from history, not reliving it. Balance is crucial, avoiding extremes and focusing on inner peace and spirituality for a harmonious life.