Liberation Through Cancelation
How we can Achieve Zen Through Cancelation?
Cancelation isn’t new. We all experience it, daily!
We live in a world that is constantly trying to shove us into boxes of expectations and comparison. Our eyes and ears are bombarded with images of perfection, success, and the “perfect life”. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the pressure and stress of living up to someone else’s standards. But what if I told you there was a way out?
What if I said that you could find liberation from the shackles of our own personal narrative through cancelation?
That’s right – cancelation!
There is a way to achieve zen-like liberation through canceling yourself! A way to break free from societal and our own expectations.
Zen and Cancel Culture? What?!
The practice of Zen or zazen meditation is a form of cancelation. Being able to view things through the lenses of acceptance and non-judgment is the original cancel culture. The only difference is, in the process of implementing zazen or Zen meditation into our lives, we aren’t canceling someone or something, we are canceling ourselves. Over time we realize our false narrative and uncover the true self, who we really are.
Did Cancel Culture, accidentally show us how to achieve enlightenment?
Cancel culture can be defined as an attempt to ostracize or reject a person or group due to their beliefs or actions which are deemed offensive or problematic by their peers.
It has become increasingly prevalent over the years and has been used as a form of punishment for those who are viewed as going against social norms. The idea behind it is that, by canceling those who engage in inappropriate behavior, we can create an new environment. An environment where everyone is respected and valued equally. While this may seem like an effective solution on paper, cancel culture often turns into a mob mentality. Mob or Troll mentality does nothing to curtail our poisoned society, it only inflames the original problem. We don’t feel accepted ourselves and from that place of unacceptance we breed resentment and rage and we lash out. When people attack others without considering all sides of the story, we generate more opportunity for suffering to breed. When suffering breeds, we all lose.
This can lead to unfair judgement and even bullying en masse based on false assumptions or misinformation.
That is right, the key world here is judgment. And it is the poison that creates our problem.
However, might be able to see this failing and create something valuable for us internally!
External Cancelation vs. Ego Cancelation a.k.a Enlightenment?
While the external world might seek to cancel us in a public sense, I think we need to examine the many ways in which we cancel ourselves daily. Our mind is littered with cancelation notices, scathing reviews, and uber troll level posts, all about OURSELVES!
We actively try to cancel ourselves and we do it with unparalleled success. Our internal defense mechanisms have often run away with the source of our power like a toddler running away with your iPhone. This schoolyard in our mind is filled with bullies that seek to dim our inner light. And just like the school yard of our younger years, there is a victim and a bully. Only in this case we are playing both parts.
Are you finding yourself, canceling…err…yourself?
Let’s take it a step further
What if instead of resisting the cancelation we embraced it? The way we are being is unsustainable, dare I say utterly unmanageable? Ten thousand negative thoughts a day would be enough to drive anyone mad. On that I am sure we can agree. What if we took a look at the composition of those thoughts?
Studies tell us that our thought count ranges anywhere from 6,000 to 90,000. The amount in our experiment is irrelevant. It is the content of these thoughts that matters. It would be safe to say the average person has 10,000 thoughts per day. If even 4,000 were negative or should we say, cancel notices, how do you think that person feels? How do they operate or show up in the world?
What would happen if you could cancel the negative patterns?
Would you be able to free up some energy? Maybe you might start seeing things a little differently. In my own experience sitting in meditation and facing the internal cancelation often leads me to a very peculiar result. Liberation.
The ego has been running the show and it LOVES to cancel Me.
It is this simple act of releasing my resistance to the negative thoughts, or cancelation notices, that allows me the ability process them, analyze them, and decide whether or not I want to file them away in my personal profile. You see much like in social media our minds have a profile of ourselves and it often looks nothing like our social profiles. We are already actively canceling ourself and projecting a false story about who we are.
It is this deception that leads us to experiencing cancelation in the external world.
How Can You Use Cancelation To Liberate Yourself?
Cancelation doesn’t have to be seen as something negative; it can actually be used as an opportunity for personal growth and self-liberation. When you take ownership of your own cancelation, it becomes easier for you to take responsibility for your own thoughts and actions. It is in this accountability that we find the ways in which we have been unfair or in some cases downright awful.
The old adage hurt people hurt people holds true here. If we are hurting ourselves daily with 4,000 cancelation notices, how do you think we are going to show up for others?
Eventually, we are going to piss people off. Then comes the secondary cancelation. The inevitable consequence of the first cancelation notice. A total shutoff of our external power via our peers.
When we cancel ourselves it becomes easy for others to cancel us. We have given them permission.
But when we take ownership and rewrite those 4,000 negative thoughts it becomes more difficult for someone else to cancel you! Because we aren’t bringing that negative smoke to the external world.
How do you think you would feel if you dropped those 4,000 heavy thoughts and replaced them with something more fitting? Something more YOU! You know what this mean deep down, I don’t have to explain it.
Instead of trying to fit into someone else’s idea of perfection, you can focus on creating your own definition of success that works best for you – one that doesn’t involve conforming to what other people think is right or wrong. It is by conforming that we dull our own light, we mute our sacred song. By taking control of your own narrative in this way, you can achieve zen-like liberation from societal expectations and pressures without having anyone else dictate how you should live your life.
Cancel culture is raging and rampaging. But it might also have the secret sauce we need to free ourselves form our own internal bondage.
By taking ownership of your own cancelation and focusing on creating your own definition of a fulfilling and successful life rather than conforming to what other people think is right or wrong, you can achieve liberation from societal expectations and inner struggle while still maintaining respect for yourself and others around you. So don’t let anyone else dictate how you should live; take charge today by embracing cancel culture!
