1: Damage – guilt in the subconscious – and power cell of self-sabotage!

If you look around, you will notice that people are always doing things to hurt themselves or others. This almost certainly applies to you as well – but fear not, because The Social Blueprint is here to offer aloe cream for the burns we cause to ourselves.

Let us take the example of any developed country that has high literacy, strong social supports, and other quality-of-life metrics. You might think that an educated population with access to the internet and other resources would rarely commit basic errors that can lead to ruin. But the opposite is true – do you know somebody in your life circle who refuses to quit smoking? Or, somebody else who spends money frivolously and exposes themselves to poverty? What about a person who keeps eating calorically dense food and drink despite gaining an unhealthy amount of weight?

It is common to know what is best to do in life, such as proper eating, exercising regularly, and planning one’s life carefully – but equally common to disregard what we know is best. It is like a person going to a trusted doctor for medicine and then pouring it straight away down the drain, perpetuating the illness.

Until now, it has been very difficult to understand why we so often self-sabotage – so many examples spring to mind, including choosing partners we are not compatible with, which leads to messy divorces, or spending far too much time in front of screens instead of engaging in productive activities.

The Social Blueprint talks about “damage” as the answer to this riddle, defining it as a hidden force that deliberately, though subconsciously, guides a person to ruin major aspects of their lives. (A bit later on, we will see how “guilt”, a primitive and camouflaged emotion, is responsible for this – but, like a ladder, we must reach the rungs in the order which they come).

It only makes sense – if a person has the wherewithal to identify when a behavior is wrong displayed in others, how else can we explain when they do it themselves?

If we remove the false notion that this pattern is caused by a lack of education, resources, or luck, we are left with the understanding that human beings deliberately seek to harm themselves.

It may seem strange, but if the most obvious possibilities are eliminated, this leaves only the subtle, less obvious ones. The purpose of The Social Blueprint is to explain the mechanics behind damage, the same way a grandfather clock can be understood if one knows about the gears and pendulum. Not only this, The Social Blueprint will defend steps to remedy damage in humans, so that we all, including you, can become fundamentally happy people who do not live life chained and bound to the millstone of damage.

There will be a corresponding video with each post here – for today’s, feel free to check out Episode 1 of Dancing with Damage, the philosophy playlist of Life with Ian and Abi. Enjoy!

Episode 1: Are You Damaged? (TSB Chapter 1)