The fundamental problem in regard to man's attitude is the effort he makes to extinguish the consciousness of any problem.
We must distinguish between the problem and our consciousness of it, for when we reject the perception (of a problem) we are simply nurturing the difficulty; that is, we are increasing it. The opposite of this is also valid; when we accept the consciousness of a problem, we are on the path to solving it.
In other words, our wish is always not to see the errors we commit throughout our lives, for a very sick reason: we think that we are perfect. We believe that we are perfect, as only God can be, because we think we are omnipotent.
When Adam and Eve tried to be gods through knowledge of good and evil they did tremendous harm, because God is entirely good in such a way that He cannot experience evil. At that moment, they simply chose illness, evil, error and sin (as religion calls it), in the belief that in that way they could take God's place.
The major human problem is not one of knowing truth, hut of accepting it or not; and truth (in ourselves) is principally the consciousness of our own errors which, once admitted, cease to be errors.
We become ill only because we try to deny, omit or alter our consciousness of reality. In fact, man's only problem is this attitude of not wanting to be conscious, the attitude of hiding what he sees. Consciousness exists always; it is like a beacon in our innermost self that enables us to discern reality.
The only censorship there is is censorship of consciousness. When an individual has a severe psychic disturbance, he does not complain, but when he begins to become conscious of the way he censors truth, he does not want to accept it. If he accepted it, he would no longer be so ill. Thus, we can say that sickness is a struggle against the manifestation of consciousness.
Because of the way it has been organized, civilization has become a real boomerang for man. At first it went hurtling along in its space, but that space soon became a narrow circle, and now civilization has turned back with great violence against man himself. Because of this, the circuit of all accomplishment is very rapid; the short periods of important development in sculpture, music, politics, and the like, have abated rapidly as a result of resistance from the individual.
Nowadays work is always related to immediate profit, and money has become our greatest boomerang, for it limits all accomplishment to the realm of earnings. That is why a large portion of mankind does not have the minimum necessary for its sustenance and lies around in indolence, refusing even to provide for its own food.
A very great barrier to man's development has been created by his wanting to determine how his life will be, for this attitude has limited him to the field of his fanciful ideas. It is a field that seems to be immense, but really it can easily be contained within the four walls of a reading room. Man believes that work is torment, compensated only by money. He does not believe that money, because of the way it is used, is his hell, preventing him from being happy and from fulfilling himself completely.
From: KEPPE, Norberto da Rocha. Glorification. São Paulo: Editora Proton, 1981.
Reflection:
Is it possible to be happy in alienation, refusing or distorting the perception of all the good that comes from life and especially from God?
Comment below.
It,s totally impossible to be happy refusing the reality. I will develop that idea. In the reality is all the true , goodness and beautiful needs for live. If the human being denies , refuses or distort the reality, he loses all this conditions in his life. In add , he creates problems, sickness , conflicts, lacks of all the kinds. It’s necessary restoration the true for get a fulfillment life. Accept the reality , the goodness and face that needs to be discussed. Alienation never brings good life , although can seems , because is false , without link with the reality and impedes resolve the situations that appear.