Self knowledge is enlightenment! Discover who you really are.

     We are all painfully familiar with emotion. It's a hugely powerful thing, not necessarily a good thing. Emotion has a bad reputation, we distrust it, we even suppress and ignore it. Very bad.
     Intellect, yes, the physical body, yes, the Spirit, yes, emotion.... not really. For this oversight we pay a terrible price.
     In fact emotion is the missing fourth aspect of humanity. Emotion is actually far more powerful than intellect or spirtuality. However because we have overlooked its true value all our other aspects are stunted. Most people are emotionally inept and as a result their lives are dominated by unconscious, emotional behaviour.
     You will never be a truly conscious being until you understand your unconscious mind. Emotion is the key that will introduce you to your hidden self, a person you do not know. There is no real self knowledge without it.
     The Tao Of Emotion is a revolution in human evolution. Until we master it individually and collectively we are doomed to repeat an endless cycle of suffering.
There is an extract below, you will find more freely available at,

                                              www.taoofemotion.com

The Deception              

     For thousands and thousands of years humanity survived without self awareness or consciousness. We not only survived, we conquered. Humanity came to dominate the planet even driving our competitors into extinction. We rose up on a potent mixture of instinct, emotion, lightning reflexes and cooperation. A lone human was a dead human. Our existence was dominated by the unconscious. Self awareness and consciousness were a distant prospect.
     Intelligence evolved making an already powerful species unstoppable. We covered the earth, breeding, competing and spreading until the only competition was other people. Happiness was an unknown concept. The name of the game was survival and not just survival but survival of the fittest.
     Our intellect blossomed and won its place at the evolutionary table. Our brains physically evolved. We began to find time to use our intelligence in new ways. People painted on walls and decorated their weapons. People began to question the stars and look for meaning and purpose within their existence. The concept of creation and a creator arose. Our fledgling Spirituality spawned religion which somehow led to countless crusades, pogroms and Jihad's. From intellect came science which opened new frontiers and yet somehow this led to new and more terrible weapons which we used to terrible effect.
     Humanity began to feel a sense of itself. Humanity began to feel special, we can think, plan, anticipate. Our culture, art and science exploded and, like Narcissus, we fell in love with ourselves However no matter how technically and culturally advanced we become, we seem unable to truly benefit from our efforts. The world should be a better place, but obviously it's not. Our lives should be more fulfilling, happier, than they are?
     Today, we all feel a lacking in our lives. Something is wrong, something is missing. Actually it's not that there is something missing, it's that there is rather more going on within us than we know about. We are not who we think we are. We are simply not the conscious, self aware beings that we think we are. Our ancient, unconscious runs quietly, powerfully, irresistibly, in the background. Naturally, because of its unconscious nature we are unaware of the sheer scale of its control. It's hard to put a number on it but as far as our science can tell between 80% and 90% of what we do is unconscious. The unconscious runs unchecked simply ignoring our feeble vain attempts to find meaning and direction in our lives.
     There is a fundamental clash between the ancient unconscious order and our new emerging higher consciousness. Humanity is caught between an immovable object and an unstoppable force. The tragedy is that we fail to realise this. We are almost completely unaware of this conflict and the devastating effect it has on our lives. We merely suffer the consequences rather like civilian refugees in a war.
     We are aware of a feeling of hopelessness, even of despair. We hide in work, career, addictions and relationships desperately trying to feel good about ourselves. This is obviously impossible trapped as we are between our growing consciousness and our unconscious default setting. The ancient unconscious has one priority, our survival. Survival yes, but survival of the fittest. Survival of the species not just the individual.
     The unconscious wants gladiators not Enlightened beings! Happiness? Fulfilment? What are they to the unconscious? It cares only that we survive and the best defence is a good offence. Our behaviours and unconscious thought processes have evolved to create an environment which promotes conflict. We eye each other suspiciously, constantly measuring, comparing and then competing. We struggle to build empires and then we struggle to tear them down. The reality is that we are driven to endless strife by our own unconscious default settings of inadequacy and fear. We behave like mindless, expendable pawns in an endless cycle of conflict and suffering.
     Now, this system worked beautifully for thousands of years. Conflict and suffering grew at a most gratifying rate. No matter what lofty goals we foolishly believed that we had set for ourselves. National pride, freedom, communism, fascism, capitalism, racial or religious purity, self defence, all grist to the mill. It doesn't matter one bit, the unconscious imperative remains the same, to create conflict so that the "best" of us can survive. Somebody will eventually dominate, but winning is not the objective. Winning does not bring the happiness that we seek. The winner immediately becomes a target so that the whole cycle can continue.
     Each one of us carries this hellish code of conflict and naturally we bring it to the world we live in. Then somehow, we became self aware, we began to want more than endless conflict. Great teachers appeared and spoke of love and compassion. Of course we killed them but somehow their ideas took root. The intrinsic truth contained within them resonated with some of us offering a different way. We are desperate for change but until we realise our unconscious nature and set about consciously redefining ourselves the cycle of suffering will prevail, relentlessly grinding on.
     We are evolving, or trying to but the old unconscious order reigns supreme. It laughs at our vain attempts to find happiness. It only cares about our physical survival and it is not remotely interested in happiness. Naturally, we are unhappy because happy folks don't fight. Happy people are useless to the ruling unconscious! Our enemies, friends and lovers our careers, passions, moods and secret fears, all determined by our unconscious.
     So everything in our lives is secretly pre-programmed to create conflict. Our efforts to find happiness are constantly undermined by our own unconscious feelings of inadequacy. Even so our consciousness continues to evolve. We have become self aware, we can see that the old order needs to change. We have outgrown the mindless regime of the unconscious but because we are unaware of its influence and how it controls us we are trapped in misery between our growing consciousness and the unconscious.
     We cannot choose consciousness, our birthright, until we first understand our dominant unconscious. The first step is to realise the nature of this, our human dilemma. Become aware of it, be amazed at the power and pervasive subtlety of the unconscious mind. Admire it and recognise its achievement. It is not our enemy, it brought us to where we are. However we are evolving and in order to do so we must know ourselves.
     To know yourself you must study your unconscious which is who you really are. In so doing it is possible to  break the cycle of suffering and find direction purpose and peace.