The Modern Plagues: Hyper-Individualism and Hyper-Comparison

I couldn’t understand why I felt so uneasy with my own existence. It felt like my heart was hollowed, unbearable emptiness. The sensation was eating me, an itch that made me want to drive a knife through my chest. I tried understanding why this was happening. I don’t have anything to worry about. Food on the table, all the time in the world to do whatever I wanna do. But still yet the urge to just be non-existent.

For few days the sensation remained there. Until I couldn’t just bear it. I went on to understand how I reached this place. I couldn’t understand why and how this is happening. When I dug into the effect to find the cause as to where did all of this start. It started with a comparison.

Social Media: Exposure to endless comparisons

Weird how a social platform can become so toxic for your existence. I was laying down chilling and watching my favorite show, I was happy until I scrolled LinkedIn for a few minutes. That’s it. I wasn’t directly thinking about it all. In the back on my mind the comparison loop started. It made me feel like I do not have a life worth living, because now someone else has a better life than me.

Tom, Dick, and Harry all graduated together, but their paths diverged. Tom doesn’t have a great job, but he has all the time in the world. Harry, with a better job, constantly compares himself to Dick, who has an even better one, leaving Harry feeling unhappy. Meanwhile, Dick works tirelessly day and night, but his success leaves him with no time for anyone else, making him unhappy too. When Tom, Dick and Harry meet. Each of them feel like the other guy has a good life. If you ask Tom, Dick and Harry if they think their life is sorted out. Each of them will start ranting about what they don’t have in their life.

Self-worship: Hyper-Individualism

In a world where you have food on the table. Almost everything you want is a touch away from you. Once that used to exclusive is now ordinary for you. Personal gratification becomes hard for you day by day. Nothing excites you anylonger. There is no deeper connection and a sense of purpose anymore. Why would you? It’s not like you need anyone for your survival. That is the time when you start worshiping your desires. One desire after the other it turns yellow. The blunt reality of our existence is that we survive on worshiping our truth.

Solution?

You don’t truly solve the issue of hyper-comparison and hyper-individualism by talking to a psychologist or working you ass off or finding any other coping mechanism. I believe this is not psychological problem. I see it as a spirtual problem.

Fasting is the ultimate detox. Having to fast only in the name of God, enduring hunger, thirst and restraining from every bad temptations. It strips away the layers of self-worship and erases any urge to compare ourselves to others. We awaken to the reality of our ownselves and we don’t feel the need to compare ourselves to anyone else. This is ultimate cleansing of the soul. It has the ability to bring us closer to humility, inner peace and most importantly to God.