I'm here because I was rather inspired by a topic and it relates to what we could call the depravity of the world we live in.
And we can wrap that around deception,
Deceit,
Abuse,
And power.
And it was fascinating to me because in one way it makes beautiful sense.
And there's this reflection that I see that at least for me brings a beautiful calm about it all.
Not suggesting that you should too,
But I find it fascinating.
There's a phrase that I heard once that said,
The world is the devil's playground.
And conceptually,
This is profound for me.
And so I want to see if I can speak to these things in a way that shares,
Let's just say spiritual insight that helps us make sense of what looks like dark,
Dark chaos in the world.
The world is the devil's playground.
What does that mean?
Well,
Let's look at it from this angle.
The devil is an illustration of that which opposes God.
God is the representation of that which is true.
So in essence,
We can say that the world is a playground for lies that try to subvert the truth.
But it's my perspective that the illustration of the devil is simply a picture being painted of what we today would call the ego.
And it's a beautiful exploration to see just how much the human ego lives in opposition to what is really true.
Which is kind of like saying the ego is fighting for its version of reality.
Even though it goes against the fundamental principles of reality.
And just like in the illustration of the devil,
This mechanism of ego and its attempt to oppose the truth creates hell in the process.
And so if we're going to address the overarching theme of darkness and corruption and abuse in the world,
I find it very,
Very practical to look at the tiniest forms of darkness within ourselves.
To understand it in ourselves.
And the more we do,
The more we see how easy it is for it to run rampant in the world.
Let's look at this in a playful way.
Like ego.
What is ego?
Ego,
In the most simple way,
Is the mental construct of a self that lives in your imagination.
It's who you think you are.
It's the ideas about yourself.
There's nothing wrong with that.
It happens for everyone.
Every human being has this thing that we call an ego,
Which is simply an idea of a self.
And that idea of a self is a mental construct.
There's nothing wrong with that.
The challenge with ego that makes it problematic is the assumption that you are that construct.
That that is who you are,
Who you think you are.
It's kind of like saying or asking,
Who am I?
And you tell this story about yourself and that story entirely lives in the imagination.
So that story is about an ego self.
Now,
Can you see just in a very practical frame of reference that there's a profound difference between who you are thought to be and what you really are?
Meaning that in the present moment of right now,
Reality,
Here you are and there is simply an aliveness and an awakeness to you.
It doesn't require any mental commentary.
It doesn't require any story.
It doesn't require anything from your imagination.
It's kind of like seeing the difference between your thoughts about life and the reality of life.
They're very,
Very different things.
Likewise,
An illustration I use often is the difference between a photograph of you and the reality of you.
Very different.
Do you see the ego is like a photograph of you?
It looks like you in the imagination,
But it's not you.
And the challenge arises when as a human being,
We identify with this ego,
Which is a character of a self that is separate from all the other character of selves.
And this character,
Understandably,
Wants to survive.
Anything that thinks it's alive wants to survive,
Understandably.
Is that clear?
Just that very basic understanding of ego?
It's not mystical.
It's not even overly spiritual.
It's like,
Oh,
Okay.
Ego is who I think I am,
And it exists in my imagination.
And that person that I imagined myself to be doesn't actually exist in reality at all.
Now,
Here's the other thing that I want you to see.
As it relates to your human suffering,
And what we'll call or define human suffering as is an intensity of emotional disturbance that has some flavor of pain to it.
I'm not talking about physical pain.
I'm talking about an emotional disturbance that's painful.
And that suffering can exist along a relative scale.
Everything from a minor irritation to full-on heartbreak or loss.
Can you see how,
And only look at your own experience here,
Please.
Can you see that all of your suffering revolves around the ego and not the reality of what you are?
Again,
It's not saying that it's right or wrong.
Just see the mechanism.
Look at everything you've suffered over and see if you can see how it's suffering over an idea of yourself,
Which includes past and future.
It's suffering over content in the mind and isn't actually suffering over the reality of now,
The reality of what you are.
Even physical pain,
Right?
You can have physical pain,
But it doesn't require suffering.
You can go through undesirable experiences,
But it doesn't require emotional disturbance.
And so my point is to see that the suffering we experience as human beings is intimately and only tied to this thing that we call ego.
Which I guess from a religious standpoint,
If we tie the illustration of the ego with the devil,
This is why the devil is associated with hell.
Does that make sense?
Furthermore,
From an illustration standpoint,
It's why heaven would be described as a place where there is no suffering.
Now,
Here's how I'm going to tie this into the bigger topic here.
And if we're going to understand the,
Quote unquote,
Depravity in the world,
The darkness,
The abuse,
The insatiable quest for power,
We have to understand these fundamentals and we have to see it playing out inside of ourselves.
Because the more you see it playing out in yourself,
Then it all makes sense what you see in the world.
A fun exercise for me anyway,
Is to just be radically honest about my own suffering,
Which is to see that I'm only suffering over the survival of my own ego.
And it's not a judgment on the ego.
It's just looking at the mechanism.
It's just one of those holy shit moments.
On the surface,
My mind is telling me stories that I am suffering about things going on out there.
But really I'm suffering over mental content,
Ultimately related to who I think I am.
Now,
As it relates to how this ego functions in a way that is what we will call dark,
I want to invite you to look honestly,
Without judgment,
Just curiosity,
To see how the idea of yourself is trying to survive.
Meaning,
To some degree,
You care what other people think about you.
You want other people to have certain thoughts about you and not other thoughts about you.
You want certain things in the world because you think it will mean something about you.
And you don't want other certain things because you associate that with a negative thought about you.
Do you see this agenda of the ego character trying to survive by a means of protecting a particular image about itself?
It's terrified of not being validated,
Seen a certain way.
It's terrified of being rejected,
Which is being seen a certain way.
It's very fragile.
And again,
This is the more you identify with it.
Now,
Isn't it interesting,
Like,
To the degree that this is about survival and in the identification,
It's not just an idea of survival,
It's real survival.
Like it's life or death.
Do you see how it's possible that when it's life or death,
You become much more capable of doing dark things?
And that might be a leap,
But I'm wondering if you can go there.
Like when your life is on the line,
You're willing to lie.
When your worth and value is on the line,
You're willing to cheat or steal.
Do you see how this happens in a very small way?
And we can just look at our own humanity this way.
And how it moves.
Like,
Put it this way,
How many times have you not said the honest thing because you were worried about what someone would think about you?
Do you see how in essence,
That's like a dark thing?
You hid the truth to protect your ego.
That's a form of darkness,
Right?
You were in opposition to what is true because it threatened who you think you are,
The image of yourself.
And I hope that you can see it in a compassionate way.
Because it's not said to blame you or to judge you.
It's just,
Again,
Looking at the mechanism of how this works.
Because it's exactly what's going on in the world on a larger scale.
It's just a bunch of egos,
Understandably believing that they are a bunch of selves and they're struggling in their attempt to survive.
And it's all an innocent misunderstanding.
And it can only result in what we have now.
Which is why it can be said that the world is the devil's playground.
Now,
As it relates to corruption and manipulation and seeking power,
My God,
Don't you see this playing out inside of yourself?
I love it in the relationship example,
Where to see in the most minor ways,
How you might manipulate someone because you want them to see you a certain way,
Meaning you want them to accept you.
You don't want them to reject you.
You present a particular picture of reality to manipulate their perspective so that you get what you want from them,
Which is to be seen a certain way.
Rather than just presenting the truth,
Which requires you to let go of them.
Do you see that play of,
Let's just say minor manipulation,
Is a form of seeking power by way of taking that power from others?
Do you see this?
Do you see how the ego derives its power?
The ego derives its power by way of manipulating perception.
And to manipulate perception,
You have to distort the truth.
You have to distort reality to make people see something that's not really there in order for them to give you their power.
You know,
In a way,
It's kind of like a politician saying,
Vote for me and I will do X,
Y,
Z.
Right?
With no intention of doing that.
They say,
Hmm,
I want you to give me something.
So I'm going to present a version of reality for you to see,
Which convinces you to see me a certain way.
And maybe for the politician,
It's life or death.
Just like we have our own versions of that.
It's just on a different stage.
And,
You know,
My longer point here is that this exists as a fractal,
Meaning the thing that's happening on what you might call a small level in you is the same thing that's happening on the largest and darkest scale.
And there's something that's interesting in this for me when I see that it's all the same thing.
To see this game of ego power that's being played out in the world.
And that is the solution is not to stop others from trying to take my power.
The solution is for me to just stop giving them my power,
To stop playing their game.
Just like imagine you're in an abusive relationship.
You don't solve an abusive relationship by getting the abuser to stop being abusive.
You stop playing the game.
Because again,
The only reason why those who seek power keep seeking it from you is because we keep giving it to them.
And you can look at this in the context,
You know,
From a deceptive government or institution.
It's the same mechanism.
You see,
It's our egos that get pulled into the power game of egos,
Which is kind of like saying gently,
The problem isn't out there.
The problem is that my ego is seduced into playing the game.
Right?
And again,
Let's look at it in a simple way,
Like a relationship.
If I'm in an abusive relationship and my partner says,
Do what I want you to do,
Or I won't love you,
My ego gets seduced by being loved from somebody else.
And so I keep playing the game because I don't want to lose the thing that they are giving me in return.
Or look at it from a governmental standpoint,
Where the government says,
Do what I want you to do and I'll let you be free.
And our egos are seduced by whatever that fantasy of freedom is in the world.
And so we comply.
So just like in relationships and just like everything else,
In one way,
It's our own work to be done to not fall into this trap of the devil,
So to speak.
Because look at it this way.
If you're identified with an ego that lives on the validation of others,
Others are now your master.
Or if your ego is survived on storing up treasures on earth,
You're now a slave to those treasures.
And this is part of the spiritual invitation,
In a way,
Is to wake up from the dream of this world,
Which is just full of a bunch of egos,
And see what you really are and see that what you really are isn't touched by the world.
Furthermore,
Is to see that what you really want in this life has nothing to do with the world.
Therefore,
The world doesn't have any power over you.
And the only way the charade continues on in the world is because people play the game.
As I said earlier in the beginning,
The devil,
Which we are associating with the ego,
Is in opposition to the truth or in opposition to God.
So the way of the world tries to manipulate you into hiding from the truth so that you can get the prize that it's offering in return.
You can imagine this in the way of the devil saying,
Worship me and I'll make you powerful.
Do you see the seduction there for the ego?
And for an ego that wants to survive,
That's very seductive.
And so the game is played as such where,
And I know you see this,
If you look,
You'll see it in so many aspects of your life,
Where in some way or another,
You are threatened to withhold the truth.
And that truth might be the sincerity of your heart.
That truth might be how you really feel about something.
And look at the social container that has been constructed in this devil's playground.
Which is essentially,
You have a bunch of human beings who are terrified of being rejected,
That they won't say what's really going on.
They won't talk about certain things because they're afraid of being socially shamed.
They're afraid of what other people will think about them.
And so the truth stays hidden.
And that's all by design,
By the way.
It's been constructed that way.
So the darkness can keep playing.
And it's so obvious that this is happening when you watch the show.
Right?
It's so obvious that these narratives that we're told are just mechanisms of manipulation.
And this,
For me,
Beyond all of the hyperbole about spirituality,
Spirituality is simply trying to wake you up,
To see that what you are is not dependent on anything in this world.
Therefore,
You can be free to be the truth of what you are,
Which is to feel what you feel,
Which is to think what you think,
Which is to say what you need to say.
And the beauty of this is the more that you see that,
The more that you see that you're whole and complete on your own,
That you don't need or want anything from anyone else,
Then you're not a problem in society because you're leaving everyone else alone.
Do you notice this?
That the people who cause the most problems in society are the ones who think they need others to be a certain way in order for them to be whole and complete.
That's what the ego does.
I am survived by how other people see me.
So I need other people to be a certain way.
And that's when violence enters the picture.
As it relates to the solution,
I only know the solution for my experience.
Like,
I can't possibly say what the solution is for others,
But in principle,
The solution is the same,
Which will always revolve around letting the truth be the truth and surrendering that which the ego is holding on to,
Which is its own survival,
Which is wanting to be perceived a certain way.
And that might look differently for different people.
And this is where you have to get in touch with yourself and not look for somebody else to tell you what the thing is,
Right?
Like,
You have to get intimate with your own experience and see what truth is being hidden because you're afraid of what other people think.
Or what do you need to talk about that you're afraid to talk about because of what somebody else might think?
What's actually important to you?
What's true?
And it doesn't mean that your perspective on something is right,
But the point is to allow yourself to breathe.
Right?
Like,
For example,
In something I encounter a lot as we talk about these things,
People just assume where it's like,
Oh,
Okay,
So if I'm just in an abusive relationship,
Then I shouldn't do anything about it,
Which completely misses the point of what I'm saying.
Because in fact,
It's the exact opposite where you finally use your voice.
You've finally realized that you don't need to submit yourself to somebody else's authority that demands you hide the truth.
And as far as I'm concerned,
This is the only way it changes on the outside.
It doesn't change on the outside because people don't like it or they think it's ugly or they think it's unfair.
It doesn't change because we want it to change.
It changes because the people change.
And furthermore,
Another aspect of the profound beauty is that as it changes inside of what I am,
I'm less bothered by the games other people are playing in the world.
Because my worth and value isn't tied up in things in the world.
It's like letting the world be the world.
And honestly,
In many ways,
The outrage is often such a distraction because the outrage is just blame.
The outrage isn't looking at the outside and saying,
How's this going on inside of me,
Which is contributing to it.
The outrage is just blaming the outside when the outside is just a reflection of the inside.
And the outrage says,
I don't want to look at the inside.
And then,
You know,
On another level,
It might be wise to see that this whole experiment called life is so that life can explore all the corners of life.
In the same way that in this landscape of life,
There is light and dark.
There is daytime and there is nighttime.
There is hot and there is cold.
If one thing exists,
The potential for the opposite has to exist.
And so in that regard,
As far as I'm concerned,
The objective isn't to rid ourselves of one aspect of the whole,
Right?
It's like we could look at the wintertime and say,
Well,
This is uncomfortable.
This doesn't help me get what I want.
This is in my way.
We should find a way to get rid of wintertime.
And I think that that misses the point.
So like for me,
And again,
I understand that these are all just silly words and I have no clue where they're landing for you or even how they're being interpreted.
But for me,
The focus isn't conquering or eliminating the evil.
It's more so understanding the game that's being played and then choosing not to participate in the game.
And choosing not to because it's seen that it's irrelevant.
In the same way that if somebody else says to me,
I will love you if,
That's irrelevant because I don't get my love from you.
It's a silly game.
Or if a government says,
I'll let you be free if,
That's a silly game.
My freedom doesn't come from you,
Which frees me up to just do what I do and move in the most honest way that I can.
And as it relates to the impact that has,
I find that a little bit irrelevant because it'll just be whatever it will be.
It's almost like saying the truth of what you are is the perfect medicine.
Is enough.
It is the truth that is the remedy.
And not truth as it relates to who is to blame because blame is just a story.
That separates.
And honestly,
I don't know how that's all going to unfold in the world because the world really likes its stories.
The world really wants to blame and judge and condemn.
Which is why we just get more of the same.
And I'm not convinced that it's supposed to be different.
Right?
Like if I walk into the forest and it's chaos,
It's a mess.
Maybe the forest is supposed to be the forest.
Maybe that's part of the design.
How silly for me to go into the forest and say,
This should be more organized.
We need to get rid of all the dead things.
Stop the bugs from fighting.
I don't know that.
It's so interesting because the only thing I know when I look honestly and I ask myself,
What's really true here.
The only thing that happens when I do that is.
I let go of my judgments on others.
And I ultimately end up being more kind to others and more kind to myself.
Which has nothing to do with some sort of collective outcome of how things should be in the world.
It just affects the way that I move in the world.
It affects my real life.
It affects how I show up in my relationships.
There's this very real decoupling from the ego.
That I think is.
One of the most practical opportunities for actually adding value to your very real human experience.
And I really mean your very real human experience.
And some people,
They can't discern the difference between that and the nonsense going on in their mind.
What I mean by this is.
You know,
For most human beings,
There's this obsession with specialness.
Which is the ego,
But they don't know that it's the ego.
Where the ego is craving this sense of being special,
Being validated in the world.
And so that's its real life,
Is being validated,
Being approved of.
And with that comes all these anxieties and fears about what other people think.
And it's like,
That's not even your real life.
But that's what life seems like.
That's what it seems like is important.
And it's fascinating because beyond all of that mental noise.
There's the reality of being alive,
Which is quite magical.
And it's fascinating,
This obsession that we have as human beings.
With being special.
And then we put other people up on special pedestals.
And then you find out they're human beings.
Where it's like you have this fantasy that some people are special.
I want to be special too.
And it's all just nonsense.
It's all mind stuff.
There's a completely different life of just being here and living your life.
Maybe in a quiet way that the world never knows about,
But it's fine.
It doesn't matter at all.
And you know,
I think it ties in a little bit with society as a whole and our access to information on the internet.
Where it just creates this fantasy world where people know you.
I contrast it,
You know,
To 50,
000 years ago.
And the hundreds of thousands of years that we've been doing this human thing.
Like our circles were so small,
So much more intimate.
And now,
You know,
We're constantly online.
And what is it to be online other than to be in the mind?
For reals.
In all this dark stuff that you see going on in the world,
You think this is new?
Or is it just because we have access to information?
It's becoming loud.
This is one reason I'm not surprised because this has always been going on.
There's always been dark shit.
There's always been corruption.
There's always been deceit.
My God,
I'd love to give another talk on corruption.
Corruption.
Good luck getting rid of that.
The world is the devil's playground.
