I believe we are transitioning from primarily ego-based interpretations of ‘reality’ – in which fear, control, ‘selfishness’ and ‘competition’ rule – to a paradigm in which we are far more consciously aware of the ego’s role in our perceptions and can therefore operate/react with greater consciousness and wisdom. A paradigm is emerging in which the sense that “our lives are not our own” is not reflexively dismissed as ‘socialism’, and money (whatever that is) is not a commodity to be hoarded, but a non-valuable record of economic transactions fostering cooperation and inventiveness in the interest of a growing commons which serves each ‘individual’. We are leaving behind one sense of what freedom is all about, and developing a different, perhaps more mature definition of freedom. Also up for redefinition are wealth, value and success; dessert, reward and punishment; obligation and responsibility; health and much else besides.
Actually, reality is not subject to a manmade paradigm, a model to be tinkered with. Reality is what reality is. The belief that mankind determines what reality is embraces the very "egoism" that Toby claims to abhor. If the "paradigm" actually shifts, it will be akin to a mere change of clothing: those who control will remain the same, only the language of control will change.
Until you accept reality for what it is-- something that your ego cannot determine-- you will always be subject to control.
