True freedom is not found by rebelling against the system, but by creating a revolution within. When we stop running away and numbing ourselves, and finally sit with ourselves, we can start to dismantle the illusion from the inside out. Only when we turn our mind inwardly we realize that fear breeds resistance, attachment fuels endless craving and avoidance and ignorance keeps us enslaved.

We keep ourselves busy, distracted and entertained, not only because society and the system encourage it, but also because we are afraid of what will happen if we stop. The silence that we could then encounter is not just empty; it is like entering a dark fairy-tale forest filled with everything we have ever avoided: It contains the fears we buried, the wounds we never healed and the unsettling questions we don’t want to answer. We fear that if we enter this magical forest, if we ever dare to turn our mind inwardly, we won’t make it out alive. We fear being swallowed by the abyss of our inner nothingness — a nihilistic view of our inner dimension as something negative and dangerous.

And so, we escape. We drown ourselves in work, relationships, endless stimulation and substances that dull our minds. We manipulate our emotions, keep our anxieties at bay with artificial calm and convince ourselves that we are in control and that everything is fine, even when it is not. But deep down, we know the truth: the chaos we refuse to face will rule us from the shadows.