WHY IS OUR LIFE SO INCOHERENT? AND WHY IT MATTERS
Maybe you would not describe your life as incoherent. After all, you work, you pay your bills, you try to raise a family perhaps… So what’s incoherent about that?
But as soon as you look around you or read the news, you are reminded that you live in a world where just about all human norms are upside down, and just about anything goes if you have enough power. You try to tell yourself — well, I live as a decent person, and after all, what else can I do? But it does not settle the uneasy feeling within. And it certainly does not answer the questions in your kids’ minds — what is the real deal here? And what am I supposed to do?
What you are experiencing, and even more importantly, what your kids are experiencing, is incoherence. That means that things no longer make sense. Human life has become dispensable, a commodity which either serves someone’s interest, or can be discarded. Genocides before our eyes that noone seems to have the power to stop objectification of bodies, pursuit of image at all cost, addiction to devices, endless pleasure-seeking in efforts to distract from emptiness and from the tragedies unfolding all over the world…
We are not made to live this way, and when we do, we pay a very high price.
Not only is a human built to experience empathy, to care, to belong, to connect. It is our optimal state of being, which scientists call coherence. Experiments show that when a person centers themselves in their heart, their variable heart rhythms synchronize with their brain waves, and showers of hormones of wellbeing are released throughout the body. People report an experience of calm clatiry, upbeat and expansive perspective — optimal wellbeing.
But coherence depends on conscience. When the world around us becomes as incoherent as it now is, and we try to disconnect from that as best we can, our conscience creates a chronic state of unease, which translates into all kinds of symptoms.
The more the conscience of a person develops, the more their heart feels free and their soul experiences happiness.
If that sounds naïve, check out the whole field of Positive Psychology and all its research.
But how to live with conscience in a world which clearly lacks it?
Well, it starts with acknowledging that we are part of the problem, that we are complicit in a materialistic worldview which has defined life’s priorities as getting more comfort rather than developing the qualities of our spirit. It is that worldview that has justified the objectification of human lives, the grabbing of wealth, the corruption, the violence, the ruthless destruction of lives, nations, and the planet. Unless and until every one of us engages in rejecting this worldview and reclaiming the value of spiritual growth as the central purpose of life, we will find no peace…
This is not about preaching to each other. We’ve all read good books that tell us that. It is about action; about engaging in every aspect of our lives and networks to question and transform this deadly worldview and to elevate to collective vision of what human life is and should be about; what governance is supposed to govern towards.