Anxiety, depression and mental unhealthiness stem from the ancient ego's incompatibility with modern society

Just like weight-related physical handicaps and diseases, so too are anxiety, depression, and general mental unhealthiness symptoms of the incompatibility between our bodies’ ancient wiring and modern society.

The pace of change in our bodies, designed and guided by the gradual evolutionary process of natural selection is like that of a snail alongside the fighter jet pace of change in our modern society. It is in the widening space between these two rates of change that people suffer from new paradigms of disease. One disease paradigm we are as a society well aware of and actively working on all fronts to tame. The other we are as a society concerned with, but has yet to be broadly accepted as a paradigm of disease that requires a consequential shift in how we operate.

The disease we take seriously is physical. Advances in agricultural and industrial technology have powered a transformation in which some varieties of food - much of it sourced from grain or corn - have become available en masse at very inexpensive prices in many areas across western societies. Despite these rapid advances, however, our bodies remain hard-wired by the ancient forces of evolution to continue craving calories - especially fast-burning carb-based calories. The juxtaposition between these advances in food availability and the way our bodies are programmed to operate has led to a proliferation of disease. People have had to either try to remain healthy by diligent and conscious management of these bodily cravings, or else encounter consequences of this gap in compatibility such as diabetes, heart and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and a spectrum of physical disabilities. Due to the fact that society has widely acknowledged these physical ailments as part of the paradigm of modern life-exacerbated physical disease, we have prioritized the reduction in suffering by intervention at both the consequences end - such as medical procedures and drugs - as well as at the source - such as education, PR campaigns, widespread conscious changes in societal norms, and changes in laws.

The disease we still find ourselves in the denial or bargaining stages with is mental. Advances in technology have also dramatically boosted the interconnectedness of society, which has increased the number of sources that produce achievements, which function as the caloric equivalent that feeds the cravings of our mental stomach equivalent: the ego. Like the stomach, the ego is an ancient system that was designed by forces of evolution to never be satisfied with what it has. The purpose for the ego’s insatiability was to enable us to remain alive for long enough so that we could pass our genes on. It is with this goal in mind - procreation - that our ancient egos, which still govern our minds, compel us to constantly crave more. The ego constantly imagines new goals and urges us on towards them. We constantly crave more achievements, just as we constantly crave more food.

There is a stark gap, however, in the reality that these two ancient systems face in the modern world.

The evolution of modern society compared to ancient times in terms of ego fuel has leaped leagues ahead of the comparison of modern to ancient society in terms of bodily fuel. As in ancient times, we still eat fruit, grains, vegetables, and animals, but the concept of social media likes for instance would be an alien, unfathomable concept in the ancient societies in which our egos evolved to operate within. Compared to the number of quantifiable life events of ancient societies, modern humans are awash in tidal waves of achievements, all producing varying degrees of dopamine, which is one of the physiological components that drives the ancient egoic mental system.

Dopamine is what makes us feel good after we achieve our goals, but the always-connected technology of modern society has turned dopamine from a temporary “pause to appreciate” switch, into an addictive drug. We are now left with no egoic equivalent of leptin: the hormone which is responsible for telling us to stop eating and take a break. Nor do we feel the negative effects of achieving too much, as in the last-ditch physical restraint of bodily consumption when the stomach is literally too full; as a mental concept, the ego exists within a virtually unlimited expanse.

Therefore, the gap between modern society’s advancements and our ancient egoic system has produced a vast new paradigm of mental diseases and addictions.

Whereas simply finding a meal used to be an accomplishment that the ego would nod its hearty approval at, or finding a mate was seen as a life crowning achievement, now we are inundated by achievements that the ego has learned to crave, but not how to rebalance the relative importance and fulfillment of. We crave and are swept away in chasing all manner of achievements, from cryptocurrency markets which never close, to new relationships started with a finger swipe, to new purchases made on incremental payment models, to shiny new careers which are eclipsed by even shinier new careers at an incredible pace, to the concept of strangers who follow and validate or judge us, and so on. Also similar to the bodily craving for calories that burn quickly, such as sugar and carbs, our egos seem to crave the high intensity, fast-burning achievements most, such as arbitrary milestones in acquired money, material goods, and status; however, just like sugar and carbs, the fulfillment of these achievements burn off relatively quickly, leaving us craving more in short order.

Significant achievements that do not involve actively doing or striving, such as living one more day to see a beautiful sunset do not satiate our egos. In fact, they more likely cause us some degree of egoic hunger pang in the form of anxiety, depression, or mental unease because we don’t own a house on the beach with a gorgeous sunset view, or we can’t afford to visit the beach as often as we wish, or we think that another whole day has passed without us having done anything that we recognize as consequential that day.

Relatively few people have learned to remain healthy by diligent and conscious management of these egoic cravings. The majority face the brutal and isolating consequences of unhealthy mental health issues, such as midlife crises, workaholism, substance abuse, relationship failure, victim identification, perpetrating mental or physical abuse, chronic mental handicaps such as depression and anxiety, suicide, and so on.

With regard to the paradigm of mental health ailments, society has acknowledged the more serious of these ailments as problematic, and has prioritized the reduction of suffering once mental unease reaches these levels, via intervention at the consequences end, such as drugs and therapy. However, we have yet to seriously address the spectrum of mental health at the source end.

We are often left to battle our egoic cravings alone, while being constantly barraged by powerful signals that constantly strengthen these egoic cravings and attack our innate mental health defenses. As a result, when our mental health immune systems are eventually worn down - or don’t even develop in the first place - is when we become hooked on constantly satiating our egoic cravings for more. We are hooked on constantly doing and seeking more, which leads us to eventually become the mental equivalent of either significantly physically overweight or underweight, which is when mental issues proliferate. There are precious few spaces in modern society that enable us to engage our mental health defenses by being present, which can help us heal from anxiety, depression, and mental unease. 

We become obese when we succumb to the internalized societal pressure to keep achieving and we continue accumulating a larger and larger mass of achievements that we consume thinking they would make us full(filled) - but don’t - such as money, material goods, fame, superficial or failed relationships, or working hours. We become emaciated when we succumb to the internalized societal preoccupation with perpetually comparing ourselves to others. As this comparison deepens, our egos begin to malfunction and convince us that we are failures who can no longer achieve anything at all. What is the reason for which natural selection developed an ego that convinces us to become scared of everything? Perhaps because fear used to keep us alive, and the longer we stayed alive, the more likely our chances to find a mate and pass our genes down. At any rate, in this case, we beat ourselves up for not achieving enough, develop paralyzing victim identities, fear being around people, lose the will to get up each day, or abuse ourselves or others.

While treatment for people who find themselves either mentally obese or emaciated is available, such as therapy, yoga, meditation, and other activities that create more present awareness and slow our rate of achievement seeking down, unfortunately these treatments are still battling the full weight of a society that has not yet fully understood or taken seriously the juxtaposition of our ancient wiring and the reality of modern society. That is, a society that does not believe in the link between ego and mental health and continues to encourage the pollution of our mental wellbeing. Modern society prefers not to see our egoic cravings as a problem because those cravings - goals - are the most recognizable currency on which modern society operates. Without constantly striving towards new goals, would we lose all the progress that we have gained and start regressing?

Let’s reframe this concern.

As human society evolves, shouldn’t the goal of our evolution include balancing both progress and a reduction in the harm each human being suffers? Or even an increase in the fulfillment of each human being? Why would we want to continue forward in technological progress if it means continuing to sacrifice or stymie our mental health? Why would we choose to address one widespread disease while ignoring another of the same auto-immune category? Isn’t there a way to live a modern life that supports the growth of society and ourselves, without sacrificing our own mental or physical health? Or to look for new ways to feel full(filled) that don’t strengthen the gorging habits of our insatiable egos? The world collectively possesses enough intelligence and resources to solve most of the world’s problems which exist at the lower end of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Do we actually face an opportunity to leverage our incredible modern societal intelligence in order to transcend our antiquated egoic trappings?
It does not have to be one or the other: progress or happiness. There indeed is a way to live in harmony between achievement and happiness.

Just as we still need to eat to continue growing and maintaining our bodies, so too do we still need to achieve to continue growing and maintaining our minds. The difference between healthy and unhealthy pursuit of achievement has to do with the why, and also how often we take breaks between active, achievement-oriented thinking and passive, being-oriented mental downtime. If we can pursue achievements without believing the egoic thinking that those achievements will make us happy/whole/satisfied/okay, it will reduce our general unhappiness and stress. It would even lead to more peace of mind when an achievement we are pursuing inevitably goes off course from our egoic expectation, such as a promotion taking longer than we wish it would or being passed over for that promotion. If we don’t attach our sense of self or life’s meaning to attaining the achievement, then we will also discover that we can enjoy a space of appreciation not only at the end, but along the way, too. When we can find spaces to simply be present where we don’t hold our breath waiting for the future, we recharge our mental immune system by enjoying non achievement-oriented aspects of our lives such as spending time with the people in our lives, exploring fun hobbies, and just plain old relaxing or downtime. We may even feel less resistance or an outright desire to do something that doesn’t directly benefit our egos but benefits something bigger than ourselves, such as donating money, smiling at a stranger, talking to a neighbor, volunteering, showing up to vote on an important political proposal, or changing our career.

Again, the reason the ego craves achievements is to keep you alive, so that you can pass your genes into the next generation of humans. This ancient ego drive had to keep us constantly moving in a dangerous world so that we would stay alive and procreate; hence it was not designed with an off switch, even when our basic needs are met. Everything should be held in balance or moderation, including achievements. Now that modern society has opened a space for citizens to rise higher through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it is less important to listen to the ego’s endless and blind cravings to achieve, and more important to develop your own, inner consciousness. The ego is not you, after all. It is only one system that is a part of the complex being referred to as “you.” So long as we believe we are our egos and pursue self-actualization according to the egoic cravings for ever-more, we will never be satisfied.

If we can pursue achievements without thinking that they are necessary to make us happy or complete, and if we can add more space for being present in-between our striving for achievements, then our life journeys will be far healthier and we will succumb much less often to anxiety, depression, and mental unease, and other mental diseases.

Stay tuned for more introspections on modern society and the ego, mindfulness, and how to use the act of being fully present in order to transform your life to find more happiness, peace, and meaning.

Inspired by Why Buddhism is True and works by Alan Watts