Dealing with madness

MADNESS. 

It is the human condition. There is no other word to describe it. Good people who in spite of all the goodness inside them continually behave in a way that hurts themselves, others, and the planet. Every freaken day...

Are you willing to face this madness and find a way out of it?

Here is an exert from the introduction of my book on the subject. 

"One of the most extraordinary things in the universe is our ability to survive in deep dysfunction. We may hate and complain about our terrible situation, but we will still get up each new day and do it all over again. 

All the world’s major religions agree that the normal way of living for human beings is deeply dysfunctional to the point of madness. The Buddhist way of understanding it is called dukka – suffering, unsatisfactoriness or just plain misery. In the Hindu teachings, it is called maya – the veil of delusion. The Christians call it original sin. The word sin means to miss the mark, so to suffer from sin is that we miss the point of what it means to be human. 

Each religion also agrees that there is a way out of the madness through a radical transformation of human consciousness. In Hindu teachings it is called enlightenment. In the teachings of Jesus it is called salvation and in Buddhism it is the end of suffering, yet paradoxically it is not through religion that one becomes free. 

The essence of Jesus’ message, for example, is all about coming home and finding yourself as a fully formed human being, yet often people make a mental assent to accept the deity of Jesus and believe that he died for their sins – making them a “saved person” without ever actually dealing with the madness. Then they become twice the sons of hell they were before, because now they have a framework that produces self-righteousness and hides them in an ivory tower from where they may throw stones at those who are not “saved.” Religious systems then become guilty of merely propagating madness even though all the while they preach the opposite. 

Madness is such a great word. Eckhart Tolle says that if you condensed the history of mankind down into the life of a single human being, that person would be undeniably labeled as a violent, psychopathic, madman. Madness is the correct word for the human condition. It is the only word that does justice to our predicament. Inherently good, beautiful, valuable people who consistently, resiliently, against all the odds make daily decision to hurt themselves, others and the planet from which they draw resources to go on living in madness. 

Most people will go on surviving in dysfunction, right up to the point of madness. It’s the human condition. So many good people, despite their best efforts, go through life hurting themselves and others. It’s the norm for most of humanity. The good news is that there are ways out of the madness for those who are ready to find themselves and break free. If you are sick of simply surviving and want to discover how to thrive, then this book is for you. 

Life coaching is cheeky. It steals all the best tools from counselling, psychology and human behavioural science and frames them extraordinarily well. It is my experience that the right frame, plus the best tools delivers the most powerful leverage for change available to mankind." 

Elegantly simple solutions to complex people problems. P 3-4