Nowadays, most people spend their lives running after material success and prosperity. In that pursuit, mental health is often ignored. As the definition of success keeps evolving, we begin to believe that our worth is determined by our achievements. This illusion makes us ignorant of maintaining mental wellbeing that is the hallmark of a self-fulfilling life.
Fear, anxiety, anger, sorrow and pain are experiences all humans undergo. Some recover from setbacks and continue forward. Others remain caught in a loop of worry and disappointment. Over time, this emotional loop begins to drain a person from within and quietly affects the biological processes of the body. Painful memories replay repeatedly and lead to a loss of what LC Singh describes in The Collapse of Illusions as EchoTime, which is the duration for which an emotion stays alive within us.
Our fears are born out of the need for safety, protection and belonging. Appreciation causes the sense of I to expand and rejection or criticism contracts it. This change in inner space creates what Singh calls EchoSpace, the emotional space we feel we occupy in the world. Our emotions become reactions to how secure or threatened this space feels in daily life.
To protect the self, we begin to create layers around us. These layers separate us from others and slowly create fear, anxiety and frustration. In this process, we forget the core essence beneath these layers. That essence is a natural state of freedom that forms the basis of our true existence. The need for security grows stronger than the need for this freedom and the result is an identity that feels fragile and constantly threatened.
The foremost requirement in breaking these illusions is awareness.All experiences of our lives arepart of a larger system that governs all existence on Earth. Every action releases energy that either brings coherence or causes fragmentation. Fragmentation increases entropy and disturbs the natural system. Coherence aligns intention, emotion and action. Once we understand how this underlying system functions, the illusions that bind us start to dissolve.
To step out of fear, anger and pain, one needs to recognize a simple truth. Life is impermanent. Nothing remains the same, whether circumstances or emotional states. Joy, sorrow, frustration and hope are transient movements. They touch only the surface of our being. The deeper and elemental part of us remains untouched and unchanging.
As the grip of the I becomes lighter, the noise within begins to settle. What emerges is clarity and a quiet awareness of the space beneath all experiences. In this awareness, illusions lose their power. Life is no longer seen as a struggle of fears and reactions but as a movement within a vast and intelligent system that holds everything together.
Through this understanding comes fulfilment. Instead of resistance, we begin to live with awareness. With the passage of time, even the idea of the self softens and eventually dissolves into quietness from which it emerged. This is where one discovers the meaning of being.
For deeper insights into these ideas including EchoTime, EchoSpace, entropy and the elemental being, explore The Collapse of Illusions by LC Singh, entrepreneur and technocrat, Founder and Executive Chairman of Nihilent Limited. The book presents a clear and rational understanding of life, existence and the self.
