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17<br />
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. The Evolv<strong>in</strong>g Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium<br />
(HarperColl<strong>in</strong>s: New York) 1993, p. 55<br />
33<br />
<strong>rapt</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>awe</strong><br />
unpleasant <strong>in</strong>formation on the screen of consciousness<br />
as soon as we stop do<strong>in</strong>g someth<strong>in</strong>g purposeful. It makes<br />
us feel good when we do th<strong>in</strong>gs that <strong>in</strong> the past have<br />
served survival, but it can’t tell us when pleasure<br />
trespasses the threshold of danger. Whether we like it or<br />
not, it primes us for actions that made sense when<br />
people lived <strong>in</strong> caves, but are now out of place. These are<br />
some of the biases built <strong>in</strong>to the mach<strong>in</strong>ery of the bra<strong>in</strong>,<br />
and <strong>in</strong> order to ga<strong>in</strong> control of consciousness we must<br />
learn how to moderate their <strong>in</strong>fluence. But they are not<br />
the only obstacles that stand <strong>in</strong> the way of free<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
self. We normally allow a whole series of illusions to<br />
stand between ourselves and reality. Built out of genetic<br />
<strong>in</strong>structions, cultural rules, and the unbridled desires of<br />
the self, these distortions are comfort<strong>in</strong>g, yet they need<br />
to be seen through for the self to be truly liberated. 17<br />
These three veils that must be seen through have been the play<strong>in</strong>g<br />
field of history. From f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g ways to meet our most basic and<br />
primal needs guided by genetic <strong>in</strong>struction, we have grouped as<br />
families and tribes and communities. These groups have created a<br />
cultural narrative that shapes our perceptions of the world around<br />
us. We need only travel amidst a vastly different culture than that<br />
of our orig<strong>in</strong> to wake up to this fact. But the one that I f<strong>in</strong>d that<br />
most <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g is that of our own <strong>in</strong>dividual self <strong>in</strong>terest,<br />
commonly associated with our ego. This is the part of our self that<br />
cl<strong>in</strong>gs to concepts of self and tries to protect the perceived order<br />
around us. This is the voice with<strong>in</strong> that sees a new face as an<br />
“other” rather than “one of us”. With respect to socio-‐cultural<br />
evolution, this protective veil that tries to profile the surround<strong>in</strong>g<br />
environment <strong>in</strong> each <strong>in</strong>stant to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> safety and social rank is<br />
perhaps the one that we are least equipped to recognize and see