Levels of personal hell: where are you?

You will never touch something that has nothing to do with you.

Only fragments of our inner conflict can make us nervous. But the nature of these conflicts, of course, depends on us.

The Museum of the World ocean in Kaliningrad (Russia) there is a modest exhibit, which allows you to visually evaluate the color and transparency of the water column depending on depth of dive and surface to see the creatures living there.
Today I thought that its model is well suited for describing what happens to people.

"The Shining",1980

Imagine the following: we stand between the light plastic racks. The light here easily.
Hang out here frivolous guys, and their main problem is the need for attention. They dream of becoming big, beautiful and arouse admiration. To become true masters of the oceans.
They jostle and fight for a place under the sun, each of them tries to stand out and make themselves louder at any cost.

They are all terribly upset when they remain in the shadow of someone larger, brighter, more interesting. So nimble flock is often combined to become stronger and to gnaw competitors to the bone.

For a couple of points deeper are more serious guys.

They have to pass a face-control on the list: "study-career-car-family-penthouse".
Fundamentally, they differ little from those that swim near the surface. However, to shout loudly about themselves here no longer works, because it threatens to link in the emptiness and the cold of rejection. Therefore, the same deafening scream of craving attention, these guys replace the expensive mask of sarcasm.
Money at this depth is the most reliable measure. Just close your problem with money, until this problem disappears. Destroy the emptiness in the head due to the new expensive toys and friends, which can also be bought.

Measure other people their achievements in terms of money.

At this depth we swim to the accompaniment of: "first I want the same level!", "can you do that?!" and soft music from wet hot tourist destinations in Europe and Asia.

At this level it is very easy to go down, there is fear to lose, to miscalculate, to stay in the cold, because "you are over 30 years old, and you haven't achieved anything yet".

On the lower level there is no sun.

In the thick darkness of the living gnawed skeletons of those who failed with previous levels of complexity. Live here, abandoned, alone, cover in a thin shell of social conventions. They are ruled by fear of condemnation and disapproval of society.

These guys don't know how to change their lives, decide to keep going, to say Yes, to say "no". Other people drank and sucked out they everything they found, and what they left this people gave in the hope of reciprocating courtesy.

This puff jelly is always strung on a sharp multifaceted spoke of fear. We breathe fear, we are accustomed to its presence.

But only we create our own hell.

It is we who give rise to our internal enemies and they are always as strong as we are strong.
And only we are able to step over fear and our complexes in order to finally begin to live truly.