Note: Self-Discovery and the Transformative Act should be read first.
In my work, I encounter two types of people.
Type A are those with a specific, clear problem. Pain in a certain joint, lack of progress in their practice, feeling lost, struggling with their health, or lacking inspiration.
Type B don't necessarily come with a specific issue they want to fix. Instead, they arrive with a strong interest in self-discovery and a desire for new input and inspiration about themselves and the world.
Type A people often become Type B once their immediate problem is resolved.
I assume that most people do have an interest in themselves. Meaning, they have a natural pull toward exploring the deeper layers they haven't yet accessed. Toward feeling more connected to the world and themselves and toward being more present.
But this isn't always a priority in their current state. Sometimes the focus is strongly external. Sometimes they think they are not allowed to explore themselves, they see it as too egotistical, because they don't yet understand that self-discovery also means discovering others. It means creating a deeper connection with life itself.
This must be very clear. The kind of self-discovery I am talking about is always positive. It is always constructive. It is always creative.
It is not about becoming more self-centered. It is about enriching your own life and also the lives of those around you.
There are universal self-development practices that can be found in every culture.
Take, for example, the development of a skill set. That is a fundamental aspect of self-development in virtually any culture.
Similar to the ability to take on responsibility. Taking responsibility often symbolizes the transition from childhood to adulthood. I assume that is found across most human cultures.
But not all practices are universal. Some are more contextual. A society may overemphasize certain values while neglecting others. It may ask us to develop in certain directions while leaving important parts of the human experience underdeveloped or unbalanced.
In my work, I pay close attention to what our Western society is lacking and aim to complement the universal self-development practices with the missing elements.
You can identify the following five elements as specific things to examine and work on in our society if you want to discover the deeper layers of the Self:
1. On a broad level, our society is more competitive than cooperative. While empathy is praised as a virtue, it often takes a back seat in everyday life, especially when we are trying to get ahead or prove ourselves.
2. Physically, our lifestyle is borderline problematic. We suffer from a lack of movement, and even when we do move, we often lack diversity in our movements. Our diets are frequently too high in calories and low in nutritional quality. We overuse artificial light, neglect our sleep, and generally disconnect from evolutionary physical needs through technology and indoor living.
These lifestyle choices also impact our mental health. They directly affect our nervous system. Combined with our competitiveness, this can lead to anxiety and dysregulation. That can spiral into a vicious cycle, eventually leading to various illnesses.
3. Estrangement and alienation from what we do and from those around us. This happens when we feel like a replaceable part without agency. When our doing could be easily replaced and has no meaning for us.
On the level of human interaction, this feeling deepens when we are not perceived as a whole human being. When only one small aspect of us is acknowledged, such as our role, job, or function, it can create a sense of disconnection from the community we live in. As if we are present, but not really there.
4. Speed and our relationship with time. Closely tied to competitiveness and anxiety, we live with the sense that we must keep running just to stay in place. You can see it in how fast we walk, how quickly we speak, how often we use words like „quickly", and how much we value anything labeled as a faster solution.
5. Our analytical mindset. We have become problem-solvers, often at the cost of being constantly lost in thought. True perception, actual moments of being present, tend to occur only through strong signals like during sports, while making music, or in other intense experiences. But it is rather uncommon for us to be „in perception" while we are in silence.
Even though meditation has become a trend in recent years, we are still far from cultivating a perceptive mind. Being a person who regularly engages in stillness and silence is still considered unusual in our society.
The solutions to these struggles are clear. As clear as they are effective:
1. Loving not just yourself but also the people around you. Seeing them not as competition but as humans to cooperate with.
2. Moving regularly and moving in diverse ways. Practicing movement quality. Developing a deep understanding of human movement.
3. Following a natural diet. Aligning energy intake with energy expenditure. Getting the nutrients your body needs. Staying away from food products with ingredients whose long-term effects on health are unknown or questionable.
4. Living more in tune with the circadian rhythm. Giving sleep the attention it truly deserves.
5. To overcome estrangement, we need to revitalize our hands and our creative minds. We need to craft things. Make art. Especially in our free time, so our creations do not have to answer to the demands of the market.
6. To overcome alienation, it is essential to practice true communication. This means genuinely listening to others and expressing yourself. Regularly sharing your inner state and hearing about the inner world of those around you is one of the most potent ways out of the loneliness many feel today.
7. To counterbalance the societal obsession with speed, walk slowly on purpose. Do not constantly check the clock. Make fewer appointments. Let the grass grow at its own pace. Stop pulling on it.
8. And to deal with overthinking, you need to practice doing nothing. You need to sit and go into your senses. Especially when sitting in stillness. Because that is very difficult for many people. Through lots of practice, and for most people, it doesn't come easily, you will revitalize these unused possibilities within yourself. To be present, to be in the now. And to perceive through the senses what is around you and what is inside of you. Without the need to analyze anything fully and solve problems all the time. You practice „to be".
Joseph Bartz