Wise men advise us to move on after unloading the baggage of the past. Yet, is it that easy to shed one’s old skin and sport a fresh one? Even if one consciously tries to block out the past, it remains embedded in one’s DNA. After all, what we are today is the sum total of all our life’s experiences. To some degree, all humans are victims of trauma. The process of birth itself is regarded as a kind of trauma. People who have experienced severe trauma often end up with strong negative imprints such as neurotic suspicion, indecisiveness, overdependence, et al.
Metaphysicians believe that human life hasn’t been bestowed on us by default. Humans arrive on earth to experience and fulfil a very specific life purpose. Interestingly, our negative imprints can help us identify our life purpose.
For example, if someone identifies “betrayal” as their negative imprint, they may realise that being “trustworthy” is their life purpose. However, it isn’t mandatory that the exact antonym of our negative imprint be our life purpose. Someone who has experienced betrayal may also identify “self-reliance” as their life purpose. Recognising one’s life purpose may be a subjective process.
Ria, my friend, and I had an involved conversation regarding imprints. Ria had delved deep and discovered that her negative imprint is “repression.” As a ‘90s child, she had been at the mercy of controlling authorities, who constantly told her how to behave, react, feel, and think. With Indian society and systems generally being myopic, she felt that her attempts at self-expression were viewed as rebellion and disobedience, which were to be dealt with with the harshest possible punitive measures. Having been a slave to rigid rules for a long time, Ria eventually found it difficult to adjust to the arbitrariness of the real world.
At about 20, Ria was plunged into severe psychological chaos. After several years of navigating the turbulent seas, Ria discovered her life purpose: free, unbridled creativity. She threw herself into art, writing, and every conceivable form of self-expression. “I wouldn’t say that these measures have fully abated my ‘internal storm,” Ria confided, “but I can safely claim that I am now living a life closest to my value system.”
Perhaps this is what they call liberation.