Herd mentality and illusion

July 6th, 2023

Why is following and/or being a part of the herd so blind and bland — the question arises. And the answer is easy — because we need and demand illusions. The illusions of vicarious power and safety and easy answers and having the meaning (or explanation) of life and its various struggles.

The real world and its reality are terrible when you think about it, so it is better (and safer) not to think about it at all. In cosmic terms, we are small and insignificant and bound by the durability of our bodily vessel that carries in its flesh our souls and selves and thoughts and dreams and pride and sadness and joy and a spiritual sense of being.

And belonging.

And illusions change all that. They make us seem important and vital (maybe even fundamental) to the affairs of the universe and, in a sense, immortal by being a part of a group that is distinguished by its common race or religion or ethnicity or political and social views, or by the favorite sports team or type of music we listen to.

And we willingly diminish ourselves by selling a part of our soul for pretended and pretentious lies. Illusions are nothing but lies. At best, some of them might be considered half-truths, but no more than that. And the leader of the herd now comes with an important role — to magnify those lies into an illusion of a heroic victory. Or into ennobling eternal struggle.

Illusions also let us feel and possibly even live (vicariously or in reality) with our deeply repressed forbidden impulses or secret wishes or fantasies. It is clearly the whole package provided for us by our minds and ingrained behavioral impulses that come from countless generations of internal evolution. And evolution must have a reason to shape us in that way.

And I would love to know the reason.