People Everywhere
Writings | Diana Hochman is the author of Dispelling the Myth, a novel based on a true story.
What we are experiencing today is the results of ideological warfare. Between opposing forces, not so dissimilar, who share common origins, but who have entirely different narratives. Collectives of people operate from fixed and static systems of thought. Every religious and political faction maintains a specific worldview that is closed. And because of this, entropy is inevitable. Neurosis is the price we pay for being human. It is in our very nature to thrive and persist, but life is stacked against us from the start. This terror, that is, fear of death moored by a feeling of helplessness and lack of control, is precisely what inspires human beings to create a sense of the feeling of control over our lives. On broad social scales globally, this feeling, or sense of control is created through social paradigms like the dominant religious protocols.
It’s too overwhelming psychologically to think that there is no order in the cosmos, and everything is random and senseless. Neurosis lies at the heart of ideology. And ideology, borne of religious doctrine, spills into the political realm. Fear is the driving force behind the human need to feel as though we have free will and control and this perpetuates imbalance. Maintaining dominance and the current power structures in place are efforts conducted at the expense of the very humanity we aim to perpetuate because familiarity masks as certainty.
It may presently appear as though humanity is fighting for its very survival with its back against the wind while standing at the edge of existence.
Is it really the end? Or, is this state of entropy, where we are quite factually experiencing what feels like a world gone mad, all a part of the process of renewal and transformation? Is humanity moving forward and on to the next level of human consciousness and evolution?
Every culture has a narrative that defines how they orient themselves in time and space. Each culture tells of a beautiful and unique, if not entirely distinct, cosmology. As though all peoples in the world are putting their uniquely different cultural spin on the same story. Open mindedness demands of the individual to accept that what one believes and understands about life is but one piece in a thousand piece puzzle, if you will. How any person perceives life is based entirely upon where one is situated in time and place. Thus, while any one worldview may be one’s particular understanding of life, it must be accepted that there are other peoples and cultures who view the world in a different way. And that’s okay. We cannot impose our ideas upon others. We must learn from and challenge each other to be our best. Moreover, we must share the common burdens and blessings that define our humanity.
War is an unavoidable consequence of ideology. It is an antiquated enterprise for a brand of human consciousness that has not yet reached the next level. Starting wars for profit is the domain of a lower-level mindset. The absurdity which lies at the heart of human irrationality is most evident in the religious arena. The current global mindset is based on irrational behavior. Comparatively, Artificial Intelligence is formidable because it is a rational agent. AI simply executes on command and will never deviate from this for feelings of fear, death or reprisal.
Humans must learn about each other, and engage in dialogue. We must tone down the rhetoric. We must deescalate the current crises throughout the world, defuse them, as it were. Our entire political structures are deeply rooted in religious orthodoxy and multiple streams of belief globally. Many of the decisions that people in political positions and centers of influence make are based upon these beliefs, where people with different points of view collide on contact. The fact that these structures are crumbling is causing global unrest and instability.
It’s hard for people to truly accept the challenge of embracing an open mind. Doing so requires one transcends the indoctrination of their belief system.
A majority of humans are taught to think a certain way from birth. Most people do not challenge these limited frameworks. They accept them as the ultimate, singular truth.
Ideological prisons are the greatest threat to humanity's existence. Ideological warfare is experienced on every level in society, but most potently in the arenas of religion and politics. This trickles down to the local, and how people experience their everyday lives. Humanity is not monolithic. Human beings are capable of great things. But we must expand our horizons, and dare to break free from mind prisons. It’s time for the next-level. Humanity is experiencing a major transformation, and our awareness is expanding. The old is dying away and making way for something newer, and better, and that is, the next-level of human consciousness.
We must engage in dialogue and focus our efforts on conflict resolution globally. The situation is dire. There is a lot of conflict in the world that must be resolved for people everywhere.
Diana Hochman is the author of Dispelling the Myth, Available Now for purchase here. She studied terrorism and Army doctrine as a soldier in the U.S. Army; and also lived in Israel for 13 months in the heart of Jerusalem, having emigrated to Israel from America in 2004.
