https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM-0XEOGTvc&t=4s
The fact that our Earth could be habitable was only true by so many preceding fortunate factors, that we or any other life form had no control over. But here we are. Generations after generations of living things evolving. And now there are self-aware living things that can study their own existence.
Fortune (series of natural events and circumstances) granted us the ability to be able to make good short term predictions into the future (to some extent most living things have this ability). But humans with their ability to build tools, conceptualize, and communicate took this to another level. Hence the birth of ego. A sense of you, me, us separate from everything else, and a concept of future and past. This might have played a significant role in making our lives measurably more comfortable compared to before. We did not have to rely on the ability to fight physically or fly naturally or sprint or run long distances to survive as other species had to. But as is true for all evolutionary layers of life, ego has its limit. Beyond that limit, ego does not make life better. It actually makes it worse. Result, we are living in a world where despite all the comforts and safety of human existence, we are full of stress, anxiety, and we ourselves are our worst fears. We do not have to fear a tiger or even a flood as much as we used to. But other humans.
To an outsider observing us, it will seem bizarre that we are not happy, we are not grateful for what we have, and we are separate from each other despite living so close to each other, and we haven’t yet developed fully the ability to be compassionate to each other and other life forms, despite our comforts compared to other species. This is where ego no longer plays a role in making existence of life better. We need egos to survive, but it alone cannot make our existence better. We will be lost in stories, cultures, religions, or our own personal individual tales, without seeing the bigger picture.
Being a self aware species however, there is no wonder we will evolve. We already are. Awareness is what life has always been. There are moments when conditioning takes over, we suffer, and then awareness kicks in. Next big step for life would be a self aware species that learns that ego is just a layer. In fact, in reality, ego is just a concept. There is no such thing as it on a permanent basis. But to get to that level, you will have to practice awareness. You cannot outlast ego by ego. You cannot control your way past ego. That is like beating your drums hoping to find a fugitive, as the popular lore goes.
You can only get to that point through life experience. Awareness. Trust and loving attention to the present. Eventually you will realize that we are not really in control, beyond our circumstances. This present moment is real. Those thoughts you have in your head are also in this moment. And you can exist as awareness. In fact the concept of ‘you’ will fade. The only thing that exists is this moment. What you call you, are the layers of life that are branches/twigs and leaves of this moment. Hopefully you will learn to be loving to this moment.
