The Human Condition

By Craig Downey

In this next book, in the self-help series, I began to examine all of these subjects that basically relate to the human condition and those things that we really cannot learn from or get advice from anybody onto allow us to fully understand the workings of the body mind and inner self and our place in the world from deeply internal and external perspectives.

The subjects cover all of those that provide or disallow us to fully experience life, and as with many other techniques, it is always about working around the edges to then get to the core of the issue in a process of reduction. To allow us to establish understanding that requires less maintenance than a fixed routine to reach a naturally organised state whereby inside issues move with paths of least resistance getting to the eventual state I like to refer to as a contentedness.

The book is basically about well-being, getting a better experience out of life, and most of all, getting to the ultimate state and this contentedness. This is a very wide subject and basically is a state of mind that allow us to order everything you want to achieve in life, and all things that you have done to date it allow you to get out those skeletons and really air everything from the past so it does not create blockages in our thinking or prevent a oneness or most of all, prevent us from cringing every time we think of that event.

So as is the way, lets start this journey, and hopefully by the end of this, you are not only fully prepared to overcome these issues but, most of the way through this subject, with a thorough understanding to again take on the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Feb 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503501621

Craig Downey

A God Complex is a work I have had in progress for about five years and represents the deep sense and knowledge I have acquired due to a life of diversity. I am a masters degree qualified professional, currently undertaking PhD studies to further my life. Although academic studies have not always been my focus, and in no way should it overshadow the truth of the human condition that can see any one of us face the same adversity.

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Copyright © 2015 by Craig Downey.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 07/14/2015

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CONTENTS

Introduction

The Human Condition

Relief Based

Working Life

Depression: Feeling Flat

Depression: Bipolar Disorder

Limits

Resting Base

Looking Deeper

Another Perspective

Dealing With People

Competitiveness Of The Modern World

Withdrawing

The Endless Perspective Of Problems

Inner Self

Meaning

Feeling Inferior

Sleep

Subliminal World

Being Alone

Complexity

Surety

Blockages

PART 2

Live

The Moment

The Complexities Of The Modern World

Physical Activity

Mind & Heart

Sleep & Wake

Ageing

Competing

Problems

Making Decisions

Goals

Motivation

Solidity

External

Our Fleeting Lives

INTRODUCTION

In this next book in the self-help series I began to examine all of these subjects that basically relate to the human condition and those things that we really cannot learn from or get advice from anybody on. To allow us to fully understand the workings of the body mind and inner self and our place in the world from deeply internal and external perspectives.

The subjects cover all of those that provide or disallow us to fully experience life and as with many other techniques it is always about working around the edges to then get to the core of the issue in a process of reduction. To allow us to establish understanding that requires less maintenance than a fixed routine to reach a naturally organised state whereby inside issues move with paths of least resistance getting to the eventual state I like to refer to as a contentedness.

The book is basically about wellbeing getting a better experience out love life but most of all getting to the ultimate state and this contentedness this is a very large subject and basically is a state of mind that allow us to order everything you want to achieve in life and all things that you have done to date it allow you to get out those skeletons and really air everything from the past so it does not create blockages in our thinking or prevents a oneness or most of all prevents us from cringing every time we think of that event.

So as it the way let’s start this journey and hopefully by the end of this you are not only fully prepared to overcome these issues but most of the way through this subject with a thorough understanding to again take on the world.

THE HUMAN CONDITION

It is funny but in nature it is as if our species is part of a piece of a large jigsaw where the piece just does not quite fit. This may be primarily spiritual but in many ways is a physical thing reflecting throughout our entire mind body and consciousness. It is true that many more serious conditions could be attributed to this condition from the most serious mental illness to the mildest anxiety disorder or simply that which would see us have something missing in our lives. In the coming text we attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding this condition and try and aid in reaching the above contentedness in spite of this condition.

It is quite unusual how such a creature as ourselves would evolve that it would allow for the evolution of such a frail form of life that became less physically hardy that somehow the goal of evolution was to produce a creature that would rely more on its intelligence than on its physical prowess to survive it opens a view into how nature functions. Think of many creatures on this earth adapting to their environment over millions of years of evolution immediately one could think of a plant or an insect or even a creature such as a crocodile that has existed in its current form for millions of years and there was little need for it to detract greatly for its current design and probably will evolve in much smaller steps. It is true that the environment and a specified interaction with its environment led to its evolution but there are certain designs that stand the test of time and had little need to change. Why then one must ask did we evolve the way we did to a form where we are less physically adept with our environment. It is almost clear that that there is some deeper purpose or some strange system in the core of nature and that all nature is simply a stage for our evolving. With this must come great responsibilities that so far we have not been too successful in establishing?

Thus forming the corner stone of the human condition.

Every animal in some ways is chained to the wheel of life with some dependence and the more refined the animal such as ourselves it seems this dependence only increases albeit using our superior intelligence and tools to overcome problems elsewhere in nature ultimately without proper thought; fraught with the potential of upsetting the balance of things.

Sadly though in our passing is where most of the major problems lie with the human condition that is to say we build up such love in our lives for things and seemingly in the cruelest act one can imagine must let these things go.

RELIEF BASED

Ultimately we live our lives in a very strange way but do not really pay this any mind. That is not to say it is completely strange as in what would be considered an everyday sensible way of living. But when we look deeper one would think it would not be enough of a driving force for this or the framework or structure for our entire existence.

And that way of living is by a system of RELIEF, living in this way we get up go to work and spend and incredibly hard day in most respects that not only pushes us to a certain limit but usually beyond this in what we would accept as being within a sphere of a comfortable normal or acceptable existence by our standards. To put this in perspective we usually have had enough after the drive to work, we put up with begin pushed beyond what we deem as our respect level by employers or peers we never find enough time or sometimes work beyond our limits in patience, we show to customers or working with the materials of work.

When this is over is where the unusual aspect or part begins we return to our home or place of rest and take great pleasure in finding RELIEF from the day’s activities this act in itself generates or creates a great deal of pleasure in us it may be as simple as sitting in a chair or having a beer in a short social gathering a good meal shower bath, good meal with family then a relaxing evening of watching TV or engaging in our favourite hobby whatever the case may be this activity generates great pleasure in the relief aspect that is to say the act of unhinging and relieving stress from the day becomes a primary source of pleasure so in essence we are raising into a another almost positive cycle of activity in rest this again would require some form of negative going cycle so we can or could be able to move at a complete state of rest in sleep.

Conversely consider a life where the leading drive in life is pleasure based where instead of chasing pleasure it was the leading aspect. We could get up arrange our schedule any way we would want to engage only those activities that brought us physical or mental pleasure. It is not the life of a rock star or a rich entrepreneur who may have inherited a fortune but a common pleasure based shared by most. Some may also mistakenly find themselves thinking how they enjoy their world of relief and for this I apologise if we are not completely on the same page because primarily we are referring to the common most cases in this instance with a different perspective of things.

Of course there are holidays but relief or rest never seems to be enough and we slowly seem to accumulate a little excess from this life of relief until we eventually become world weary ultimately it leads to the motivation behind the saying I use as a culmination in some part off this series livin’ ain’t easy but diein ain’t no fun I know it sounds morbid or possibly even a little premature but all tolled the subject can be a motivator and our gravest fear adding to the complexity of the underlying human condition.

It is still not quite clear I like to use as a benchmark a range of activity considered normal by a community of tribesman this may also be found in a western country in a farming or rural community where most activities are not so much a chore but a pleasurably ritual to complete most tasks without the driven stress of city life.

So taking the pattern of life as our theoretical system we find that we rest when we want, work when we want, apply effort as we want without a clearly and structural defined period of rest where we force and get into a cycle of relief and ultimately mistake this is the primary pleasure in life at least inside our core physical or animal or biological self. We can even look forward to this activity greatly and may be one or the only thing that gets us through the day e.g. looking forward to getting home to the wife and having dinner and spending the evening culminating in sexual activity.

Work activities would be sporadic and last for much shorter periods than in a standard western country and there would be much less repetitiveness and strict structure to a daily routine such as 9 to 5 hours. Many of the activities would be supported by deep religious belief lessening the blow of the good and hard times. Where the relief based activity was almost incorporated into the full life style of this more relaxed framework.

The ultimate strangeness is that we almost exist or live in heaven but the structure of our lives could almost be considered hell and we can be held over this barrel by our needs to survive, compete and prosper in the world in which we live. So it is quite unusual that we say we are almost living a ZEN existence where the pain is offset by the pleasure, the hard offset by softness, the harshness offset by smoothness, the distasteful offset by the tasteful.

We do not notice this relief cycle of life because it is so engrained in the work ethic and consumer nature of the western world but if we really get in touch with ourselves we begin to notice this strange cycle. Obviously it is something that we cannot really change in our lives but by being aware we are able to organise and prioritise our lives better.

And all the while consider how much better off we are than someone in a third world country outside of a country in upheaval but more of a natural tribal origin or existence in that theoretical lifestyle. So we say are we that much better off when we find the structure of our lives may negate this in the underlying world of a western society? Where for every up there is a down, almost as if we do not get any time to think of such subjects? This seems to what occurs as a natural phenomenon to create order amongst our kind.

It is a very strange phenomena where ultimate we live our lives to a zero balance or in a very transient manner. Where the ultimate result of this are the material possessions we surround ourselves with or the memories of the experiences that we accumulate. All in all it is another constituent element of what I like to refer to as the human condition. As with so many other subjects it is unlikely that we can rely on being recorded in historical references instead have our name carried on by our children is important but still does not provide a direct answer for this condition.

That is on an overall or total explanation of our lives but what about on a personal scale on an interpersonal level form within ourselves as we move through the daily regime of providing for our families and gain great satisfaction with this.

Other things that are like corner stones of this human condition are the seemingly pointless venture of going through massive amounts of effort to build up love and respect in our lives to end with an unknown as to whether this is preserved in some way outside of the lives that we have built.

Along with this transience and pointlessness there is the ethereal questions as to our purpose and meaning in our lives that ultimately are big deep questions but attached to these other aspects inherently as to provide a greater underlying meaning in our lives. So this book and the subsequent books in the series focus greatly on these areas.

WORKING LIFE

I have often read stories of the ultimate heroes in this world being those that each day grind away the 9 to 5 cycle to provide housing and food for their families and in essence this is not so far form the truth at all. It can be made difficult to really put ourselves on such pedestals with such unrest in the world but with the structure of our society and some analysis it is probably not so hard to find this truth to enable this viewpoint.

What we live is very fixed repetitive lives working massive amounts of hours to pay for a quantity of bricks and mortar to house our families with the obligatory mortgage. Sure it will provide for our children in the future but in no way would usually be able to divided up so everybody benefits equally especially ourselves it in essence is soul destroying and with the current retirement structures one could almost get the feeling we are like consumer cattle being ushered in and out in what are almost like societal zoos.

Don’t get me wrong I am not some new age rebellious type more so a realist as return for effort and living a life as free as possible and I don’t generally weight into arguments of overpopulation because with responsibility many of these things can be overcome. But when we share purpose and meaning on large scales it would usually set alarm bells off as to what is occurring on a large scale. With human condition issues usually being on an individual scale.

Which is the motivation behind continuing the series through the human and living conditions we face finally the profound and beyond is explored to really attempt to give a modern basis to purpose and meaning in the world we live in without going too much either way towards religion, scientific or technological solutions.

As mentioned the cycles of rest, work and play we follow in our lives are too fixed, repetitive or structured for the cycles needed in human in reality. As shown in some countries the cycles of rest should be natural and based on need or feeling rather than an enforced structure all of this lead to a same activity repeated over and over.

This is basically abnormal, add to this a fixed period of rest and sleep then getting up to do