A wildly different perspective: western culture and the separate self
LE3 .A278 2021
2021
MacNeil, Ryan
Acadia University
Bachelor of Business Administration
Honours
Business Administration
Business
We have come to a crossroads in human history. A moment in time where if we continue down the same path, we will ultimately destroy ourselves in the process. A time where the only way to ensure the survival of humanity is through a complete shift in the way we fundamentally operate. We are being destroyed by unconsciousness. Our culture lacks any sense of connectivity and relatedness to the rest of life, the ecosystem, the past, or the future. If we were feeling these things, we would not be practicing culture as we are. Our modern institutions have ignored the interconnectedness and interdependency of all things and have been built upon the assumptions of ego, the separate self, and dominance hierarchies. Our goal should be to deconstruct these assumptions and build a new system out of the ashes of our old self. A globalized ego death. Today, two of the most pressing threats of our time are the growing tribalism of our politics and the looming ecological collapse as we approach and exceed safe planetary boundaries. To solve both of these problems, we must start with the idea of the separate self that has become so central to western societies over the past few centuries. Even as our technological interconnection increases, our connections to our inner lives, each other, and our shared home have become weaker and more sparse. In this thesis I use psychedelic writing to argue that we need to shift to a new system that is based around the harmonization of man and the universe that surrounds him. A system based in love and compassion, collaboration, and empathy. Lessons deeply embedded within the psychedelic experience. A system that prioritizes the mental and physical well-being of all people rather than short term profits. A system that turns the basic motivation for achievement away from competition and into a collaborative kind of enterprise. This thesis revolves around the idea of transformation and aims to mirror the process of ego death..
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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3592