verklingen

liberation from what? this quote pinpoints the problem our ego faces as our psychology and sociology matures. the ego is a truly wonderful defense mechanism. it ensures, if nothing else, a dramatic fight for survival when the shit hits the fan. the problem i see is that such display is almost never truly warranted as our survival is almost never truly threatened. what gets us is that our ego has moulded our sense of self and our sense of survival together, or in other words created a lazy mind where the same pathways which enact a sense of threat are utilized similarly for a wide range of inputs, from having a knife pointed at you to your pants falling down. get cut off on the highway, have your girlfriend dump you: our ego is a process of the brain, and our brain is trained to induce the same threatened reaction in every case because survival was that important. all these things engage your every faculty in the fight for survival, the fight for "i." anger, resentment, rage, annoyance. . . you know the cues. all the things that can only make situations worse, because the situations they're needed for are what civilization's around for; to prevent it. survival is an antiquated concept in a shrinking world, where the neighbors on whom we all mutually depend are as likely to be down the road as across the globe. you could even say survival has become suicide!

so anyway, to the quote. the sense of someone needing liberation is your basic ego satisfaction. not only are you sure of your survivability, but you're extremely gratified by the potential of being able to increase the survivability of others. judgments, self-aggrandizing pity. . . it's easy to see how any sense of liberation falls apart in this way. though i must say, this might be the hardest piece of baggage to shed completely.

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“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”