What has worth and what has not?
Something I wonder quite a lot.

What is worth thinking about? What is worth spending time on? So many of us spend many countless hours distracting ourselves with what can be described as frivolous distractions and entertainment. We are addicted to pleasure and slaves to comfort.

Human social groups tend to conglomerate based on shared perceptions of what has value and meaning. Groups can derive from commonalities in a material, spiritual, philosophical, or economical sense. Group identity can also derive from commonalities of experience, for example, groups that form based on addiction, physical and mental disability, or anything else.

When you abstract out the reasons for human social groups forming, it’s clear we form social pacts when our perceived directions and goals seem to align.

Familial units based around blood-ties form the most basic type of group, centered around survival. Above that, the most basic human social groups and friendships exist simply to enjoy spending time together. These friend-groups tend to be ephemeral and based around convenience; they lack the stronger survival-oriented ties of a familial group and thus tend to dissolve more easily.

Larger more permanent communities and groups form around constructive and meaningful pursuits e.g. artistic and productivity pursuits.

Many of us choose our values based on circumstance: an identification either with familial values or the values of a larger group or community. We often develop ambitions based on this identification, and then develop egoic goals and motivations. For example, a family that values politics breeds characters who strive to hold public office. A family that values spirituality breeds people who find stations in religious organizations.

Many people are driven primarily by their ego, which itself is a construct of circumstance, whether or not they are aware of it. In other words, many people are unconscious experiencers of their own lives; they are more slaves to circumstance than truly conscious choice and direction.

This is perfectly fine and many people live fulfilling and materially successful lives in this manner.

However, the search for personal meaning and the development of the Übermensch described by Nietzsche and the spiritual awakening (the process of individuation) described by Jung requires a much more courageous and proactive spirit. One cannot be content with the constructs imposed on them by life, but must deeply question everything and seek answers within the sound of their own spirit. Such a character must dismantle the meaning of everything to establish their own font of meaning and direction, irregardless of all institutions and people. They must do so by delving deep into their own soul.

This is not an easy undertaking. The nature of this spiritual awakening is fraught with terror, struggle, emptiness, depression, loneliness, solitude, and deep contemplation. This is termed as the nigredo of the soul, according to the individuation process outlined by Carl Jung.

As you struggle to reconcile your shadow and balance both light and dark, gaining awareness of ego, you dip back into periods of egoic unawareness, repeating cycles of suffering as you burn off layers of your old ego and develop increasing consciousness and awareness of yourself. Then there comes a stage when you have burned away all of who you once were, but your “new” self has not yet matured.

During this period, you can often feel lost, as if you are between two worlds: sometimes glimpsing your future self, but unable to revert completely to your former self and former way of viewing the world. During this period of lostness, your existing identifications: friendships, career, identity – all seem to melt away, and your life undergoes tumultuous shifts.

The pursuit of such individuation is a choice, but not one made easily, and not one that can be unmade once it is truly started. Once you begin to “see” beyond reality, “see” into the depths of your own soul, you cannot “unsee.” To try to “unsee” is merely to delay the inevitable.

Some people never fully individuate; they remain half-formed, like an embryo that never fully matures and hatches forth from the egg. This is because individuation is such a demanding process.

And yet, the individuation process is possibly the most meaningful pursuit in existence. The best part: it can be accomplished by anyone. You do not have to be rich, famous, popular, or anything at all. You simply have to be you.

When you are truly you, then your thoughts alone are the reward for being. There is no longer a need for anything else. Everything falls into place, everything is as it should be. Suffering becomes an experience like raindrops that fall off you without making you wet. You see life for the inherent joy of being; you live each moment in the eternity of now.