So many people are paralyzed by fear, seeking an authority figure to validate their deepest desires for redress against a life they perceive as profoundly “unfair.” They often point fingers at the government or others who’ve “screwed them over,” rarely reflecting on their own contributions or the concept of karma.

These individuals primarily seek comfort and ease, seemingly disengaged from the deeper meaning of life or their own inherent worth. For many of us, life is a grind of difficult jobs, mortgages, and too many mouths to feed. We just want to collapse into our recliners, letting the glow of the television wash over us, lulling us into believing that what we see on screen is either truth or an attainable dream.

I watch these dynamics unfold with great interest. Some of the people I work with in sessions are utterly lost, unable to articulate anything meaningful about themselves. They’ve long ago severed their connection to their true being, often with the “help” of substances like drugs and alcohol, or through various past obsessions. It seems many, perhaps even you, are searching for an “answer”—a belief system that can quiet the deep, pervasive insecurity and emotional fear that plagues the mind.

This often leads people to “God” and “Country.” A recent Pew poll of over a million individuals revealed these two concepts as the absolute anchors of trust for many. But we need to clarify: what “God” are we referring to? Is it the “God” of wrath? Surprisingly, yes. Most Americans genuinely believe that “God” observes their actions, “blessing” the “good” and “punishing” the “bad.”

For most of us, our inner world feels nonexistent. For a select few, however, this “within” represents the very core of our moral and intellectual understanding. As we confront the realities of our society and the unvarnished truths of our lives, many find it increasingly difficult to uncover a compelling reason to live. This leaves us grappling with a fundamental question: “How much is enough?”

How many animals can one consume before the act of eating loses all appeal? How many hours of television can we binge to quell the discomfort of our own unfulfilling lives? How many family gatherings can we endure before recognizing that genuine love cannot be manufactured or replaced by mere proximity? How many possessions can we acquire before we grasp that “life is more than meat and the body more than raiment?” The way we substitute genuine “Life” with our superficial “living”—what we call existence—is a question that deeply intrigues me.

Once the Buddha was asked, “What have you achieved?” When he had achieved Nirvana, achieved Enlightenment, he was asked, “What have you achieved?”

Buddha said, “I have not achieved anything, only that which was always within me, and I have achieved That which was always within me, but because of that mind I could not penetrate to it, could not see it.”

We are simply too consumed by hope and desire to grasp the truth that could set us free. We elevate “God and Country” to the ultimate authorities. “God and Country” become our everything -“God” blesses the “good,” and our “Country” is where that “grace lands on us.” Thus, this dummied down, pedestrian worldview marks the end of the story and the end of true living.

We prefer words that feed our emotional greed, hate, and fear. We only pay attention to truth when our “best interests” seem threatened.

When I teach, I aim to awaken a person’s essential goodness. This often means speaking truths that are offensive or annoying. These aren’t meant as insults, but they sting because many clients are more emotionally invested in hate than they care to admit.

This explains Jesus’s words: “Blessed is he who is not offended in me.” He spoke many truths that deeply offended his society. He was a disruptor, not the “lamb” people imagine. His demeanor wasn’t that of the expected Messiah, nor did he look like Troy Donahue. He probably would’ve flunked minister school.

Most people are emotionally fragile, making their understanding weak and foolish. They are remarkably stingy with “love” and struggle to believe it when someone genuinely shares it. They dislike this because they can’t reciprocate, nor do they see the karma they create by being so guarded and fearful of emotions that will ultimately betray them.