INTRODUCTION

One of the most strident elements that pervades each person's psyche is the ego's inability to recognize the perceived world as its own creation. By willfully ignoring the process of perception, the observer is forced into a world of suffering without ever recognizing his/her role as the catalyst.

It is simple to blame others for our own reactions rather than force ourselves to face the fact that we allow influence and, therefore, voluntarily react (albeit by routine). This is not to say most people “should” know this, for society has become very manipulative at usurping the personal responsibility inherent in each individual; this is a matter of recognizing and overcoming the aforementioned egotistic disability as an individual matter so the collective evolves. This is about enlightening humanity to make the best choice for quality survival.

WHAT IS A FICTIONAL NARRATIVE?

One of the first steps an individual must take to deconstruct this disability is to focus on his/her fictional narrative and admit the inherent lunacy that is within it. A fictional narrative is the “story of the self” that people use to define who they are. Their history, memories, and beliefs are all parts of the fictional narrative. All of these are fabricated elements people mistake as reality and, more importantly, as the construct known as “identity.”

While there is little doubt that fictional narratives play vital roles in forming both an individual’s and a culture’s identity, it cannot be denied that identify is still fictitious in nature.

It is important that an observer remembers reality will always need to be perceived, and it is because of that element in the process of observing that reality can never be known, only interpreted. Therefore, objectivity, by definition, can never be reached. This paradox forces each human to individually create his/her own worldview. This worldview is generally subjected to or at least influenced by the whim of the collective, and oftentimes what we see is both an internal and external struggle between the individual and collective (and most of the time, the individual suffers).

However, because this is a continuous process and suffering has evolved into a type of normalcy, humanity negates the consciousness needed to maintain its autonomy while it creates its own reality. Because this is lost, very few persons know the world is illusionary, and thus, the majority mistakes it for objective reality. The majority will even go as far as to debate which constructions are “true” and “good.”

This flaw is a direct contraindication to the needs for survival and social pragmatism inherent in humanity. This flaw is what causes conflict, suffering, and everything contrary to humanity’s potentially unspoiled quality of life.

THE CONCEPTS & CONUNDRUMS

The question I am presenting is somewhat twofold but the concepts are not mutually exclusive: Why do humans continue to live in this self-imposed world of illusion? What does illusion offer humanity?

Some people might answer the former question with loaded words like greed, fear, or ignorance, and the latter question with loaded words like security, stability, and sanity. These words (read: jargon) are human constructs, ones humans voluntarily choose to define, compartmentalize, and experience. Perhaps we can consider these illusions to be part of a cause-and-effect relationship, catalyzing this type of “normalized” illusion forward, but I would not say “illusions cause illusions” here as an answer to the posed question. Illusions are merely a by-product, a symptom of a greater ailment.

The way people have shaped their reality has not necessarily caused their objectives to change but rather for their perceptions to become skewed. The pragmatic objectives are still present—such as continuity and companionship—but there seems to be a blockage, a hindrance on the path to achieving human goals; either the process of meeting them has changed, or everything is so skewed that it seems impossible to know.

With very few exceptions, humans inherently want to survive both as individuals and as a collective. So why aren’t we taking steps to assure our survival? With recent bombings in the Middle East, “the war on terror,” the rising political conflict and division, and millions of people dying of needless starvation and disease every day, it would seem that our prime objective as humans is quite the opposite of survival. We are killing each other—voluntarily— in a systematic way.

Before I answer my own question, I want to point out what is interesting here is that illusion does not just cause the aforementioned negative outcomes but also acts as a type of safeguard against its own negative by-products by creating and fulfilling needs. In reality, life is intrinsically valueless. It logically follows that the only value human life has is whatever value the observer chooses to give it. There is an obvious understanding over the initial anxiety that an observer generally feels when confronted with this thought, but that certainly does not lend credence to an observer’s voluntarily accepting illusion into his/her paradigm— no matter how it’s rationalized.

RELIGION AS A FICTIONAL NARRATIVE & ITS EFFECTS ON IDENTITY

For example, the creation of religion, an institutionalized illusion (and a mass fictional narrative), has given people fabricated hope and “answers” to unanswerable questions; conversely, it alleviates anxiety with regard to our inherent lack of value, knowledge, and objectivity. Religion offers not just misinformation but also disinformation. It simultaneously creates needs and fulfills them.

Many religious people will argue to the tune of Dostoyevsky’s famous (and isolated) remark, “If God does not exist, then everything is permitted.” This shows that religion offers people structure, which includes concepts like morality, stability, security, and boundaries. However, it is quite logical to suggest the very “opposite” is true: If God does exist, then everything is permitted.

Why?

Humanity knows human nature insofar as its observations and judgments are concerned. Of course, observation and judgment are not the same, yet we often see humans manipulating their observations into judgments and calling that objectivity (which goes back to the original question I posed). For example, the line often heard by religious fundamentalists is “I call it like I see it” does not imply objectivity; rather, it shows that the observer mistakes the personal prejudice inherent in perception for objective observation. It is very simple for a person to take the complexity of human expression and mold it into definitions and categories he/she already has in place.

Humanity, however, does not know God’s nature, and thus can assign characteristics to God in any way it pleases. Humanity can use books, beliefs, past experience/tradition, and rituals as a way to defend their religious positions and their created deities, but if we take note of the recent violence of our times, most of it stems from religious conflict. Religions that seem to have originally preached peace now preach violence and destruction—and those books haven’t changed much in over 2,000 years, the interpretations have.

Culture is based on methods of communication, and because our primary method of communication is language, culture is based in language. Language, which Western religion is also based upon, is fallible and malleable, which means a god, like a culture or an individual’s paradigm, can be whatever we want it to be.

We can, therefore, create a god of war. In fact, we already have. If this god exists (at least in our minds), then this god can condone or condemn a nation’s and individual’s violent tendencies, including specialized or generalized hatred. Even though these go against social pragmatism, it’s all “in the name of the Lord.”

In some religions, it is even noble to die for the belief in a god, to die for the sake of keeping one’s identity holistically undamaged and/or unchanged. Death, in certain religions and cultures, is glorified. Sacrifice is seen as saintly. Suffering is godly. Martyrs are revered. All these go against social pragmatism, against the need to not only survive but to live a quality life.

The movements against social pragmatism that pervade our postmodern culture are not being given enough constructive attention. Why do humans continue to live in this self-imposed world of illusion? Because it has become the normal thing to do. What does illusion offer humanity? Falsities that humanity has come to rely upon, to fight for, to die for. It is in vogue to create a paradigm and identity based upon a carefully chosen fictional narrative since humanity has seen fictional narratives form identity—it really is the only methodology humanity has been exposed to.

Assigning value is a necessity to the survival of the species and its quality of life. However, the value humanity places and the priorities humanity generates are (more and more) against pragmatism, against the secular. This, however, is logical for a religious person since his/her “reward” or “life” is “not of this world.” Religion promises what it never has to deliver: eternal life.