Escapism: escape from freedom and responsibility
There are a variety of ways to escape from reality that have been known for a long time. Many of them are very accurately described in the literature, however, they are not differentiated depending on the natural properties of a person, and therefore they do not help much in understanding the problem …
Life is a difficult thing and does not always bring us happiness on a silver platter. Sometimes it requires us to make a significant effort to overcome difficulties. Sometimes we get tired and start dreaming of a world in which everything would be good and understandable, comfortable and problem-free. Going into such dreams can be seen as a way of rest, relieving stress after a crisis, stress, failure. But then we gather strength and re-enter life in order to continue to create it further.
However, for some, this way of avoiding reality becomes so sweet and attractive that they are unable to tear themselves away from the imaginary world they create. And then we can talk about the phenomenon of escapism - a departure from reality, its substitution with a surrogate for pleasure. This term comes from the English word escape, which means - to run away, to be saved. So what are we trying to escape and save ourselves from? What "parallel worlds" are we creating and why? Does this way of solving problems really help us achieve the state of happiness we desire? Let's figure it out. The training "System-vector psychology" will help you to understand what it is - escapism and what kind of person - an escapist.
What is escapism? Through hardship to the stars
We are made to have fun. However, we are not always aware of our true desires in order to be able to receive this pleasure. Often we follow other people's desires, imposed on us by education, society, and quite naturally we do not get real satisfaction from their realization. Or we simply do not fully understand our inner aspirations, being afraid or condemning them. Or we meet strong opposition from the environment in the realization of our desires and, not having confidence and sufficient motivation, we break down and get tired. It is then that the stress of unfulfillment arises, a feeling of dissatisfaction with life.
Not understanding what to do with this, a person looks for a way to alleviate suffering and creates a world for himself that does not contradict his values and aspirations. And he does this, of course, proceeding from his natural properties-vectors. Those deficiencies that are most strongly manifested in his desires can be reinforced by the creation of a "parallel reality" that seems to fill them. That is, depending on what vectors a person has, he will have his own way of escape.
What is escapism? Make a map of "parallel worlds"
Escapism will be considered the implementation of such actions that lead a person to a loss of connection with reality, break off real relationships, nullify the creative, constructive activity of a person aimed at the development of society, make him a passive or active consumer of pleasure. This semblance of an easy, comfortable life, completely predictable and in line with a person's expectations, stops his development. When there is no overcoming of difficulties, tempering of character, boredom arises and an attempt to be filled with a surrogate for life.
There are a variety of ways to escape from reality that have been known for a long time. Many of them are very accurately described in the literature, but they are not differentiated depending on the natural properties of a person, and therefore they do not help much in understanding the problem. If you have an accurate map of "parallel worlds", then when you want to immerse yourself in one of them, you can immediately understand what your desire requires filling in the real world. And then there is no need to hide from problems.
What is escapism? Diving into the past
People with an anal vector have such a quality of the psyche as turning to the past. They are connoisseurs of traditions, everything that is well-established and stable. They don't like change and novelty. What is it like for them in the modern, constantly changing world! Not life, but constant stress. By their nature, they are not city dwellers - slow, solid, tied to one place. Therefore, very often their way of escaping from reality is to flee to remote villages and try to create islands of traditional life there, “as our grandfathers and great-grandfathers lived”. A person with an anal vector is by nature an introvert, so he is satisfied with the limited communication that arises in such places. Of course, he takes his whole family "on the run", because this is also his main value.
Another way to create a "parallel world" for the anal person is to live in the past. Previously, "the sky was blue and the grass was greener." Everything that was in the past has more value for him than the reality of today. Memories of former friends, loved ones, work become the main meaning of life for such an escapist. This is especially characteristic of older people, when their relevance in society diminishes, and they find themselves face to face with their memories, in fact, living in an imaginary world. In this case, escapism is an escape from the reality of the present time into the past dear to the heart.
What is escapism? The most beautiful illusion
The greatest masters of creating fictional worlds are people with a visual vector. Possessing a huge emotional amplitude, which does not always find realization among people due to improper upbringing, they are immersed in the most colorful and beautiful virtual reality that a person can create. After all, for this they have imaginative thinking and a penchant for fantasy. Today, there are the greatest temptations for spectators to completely withdraw into this reality, because the world of cinema, television, fabulous and love literature, more than ever, contributes to the emergence of sweet dreams, much more attractive than life. Thus, for a visual person, escapism is an escape into the world of fictional images and vivid fantasies, in comparison with which reality seems to be of little interest and gray.
Thus, the writer and literary critic John R. R. Tolkien, the creator of a series of books about fairytale reality, even considered it useful to read novels with a happy ending and unexpected rescues of the heroes, considering them as a consolation for a creative person, for whom a boring routine is a stressful factor. Until now, millions of fans are happy to immerse themselves in the fairy-tale world of his books, living the lives of fictional characters, practically creating a parallel reality.
A special flowering of various techniques to improve life … in the imagination is also the result of the escapist activity of people with a visual vector. Positive thinking, visualization techniques are the arsenal of those who are inclined to paint their life as it should be. "Everything will be fine!" is the favorite motto of such spectators who prefer to dream of a beautiful and fulfilling future life instead of taking real steps to realize it. There, in their dreams, they have eternal love and amazing adventures and travels. There, but not here. Surprisingly, some of them even say: "Let this never happen, but my dreams warm me."
What is escapism? Consumption and extreme
The life of a modern consumer society and high speeds is absolutely complementary to the properties of people with a skin vector. They are the ones who can get the much needed drive from social realization today. Managers and bankers, inventors and engineers, athletes and dancers - all these are people with a developed skin vector, which are in great demand these days.
However, they also have stress and setbacks, mainly due to underdeveloped properties or overestimated ambitions, when they pretend not to their role. They also have a desire to leave for a more attractive world. One of the ways of escape for them is precisely consumption, when their whole life turns into a race for material goods. The leather worker drags everything into the house. Depending on the degree of development and realization of the skin vector, it can be any rubbish that fills the entire space of the apartment to failure, or there can be fashionable things and technical innovations. When shopping becomes a drug, and home becomes an exhibition of the sophisticated achievements of modern civilization, it's time to think, but am I so happy in reality? And what is this if not escapism, when I "bury myself" in a pile of things in order to somehow relieve the stress from life?
By the way, the theme of escapism of well-off financially people who can afford to create a "parallel world" is often reflected in the literature. An example is the work of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky "Predatory Things of the Century" and the novel by the French writer Joris Guismans "On the contrary".
Another way to forget the leatherman is extreme. Dangerous sports associated with great risk to life; racing a car at a speed much higher than the permitted speed; entertainment that allows you to look death in the eye - all this provides the necessary adrenaline, which is not enough in the ordinary life of a bored skinner. Only movement along the razor's edge, between life and death, becomes the only pleasure for him when he feels the real taste of life. Everything else seems insipid and uninteresting.
What is escapism? Departure into oblivion
Another great master of escaping reality is a man with a sound vector. I must say that the existing material reality does not attract him in principle. These are its properties. It is aimed at knowing oneself, at finding the meaning of life, at connecting with the root cause. The external world is illusory for him, and the internal states are extremely important. All these properties create an excellent basis for the search for a "parallel world" where his desires could be realized. And there are a great many ways to do this. For example, computer games. Some online RPG games force players to immerse themselves completely in a fictional world. Those who are carried away by such games can hardly distinguish where the real world is, and where the virtual one. Another way is drugs, which give the experience of states unattainable in ordinary life. The methods of escape of a sound engineer from the world are one of the most destructive, because he has no value in life, in which there is no meaning. A sound escapist is a person unique in that he has the psyche of an absolute introvert, that is, he seeks to "escape" from other people much more often than others.
Not finding answers to his questions about how this world works, he tends to go into states resembling nothingness. It can be a dream life, reclusion, meditation. He rationalizes that all these phenomena are part of his search, but in reality they only break the already thin thread of connection with reality. Think of the dreamers in the novels of Carlos Castaneda. For themselves, they were "great magicians", but was it really so? All their greatness remained in the "parallel world".
What is escapism and how to avoid escape from reality?
Escapism is not a disease. This concept is not found in medical reference books. But under certain circumstances, he can become a mania, which, on the one hand, will create a feeling of illusory happiness, and on the other hand, give an unpleasant aftertaste that life is passing by.
Of course, in the last stage of fascination with fictional worlds, when a person finally loses touch with reality, he may well be satisfied with a surrogate for happiness. However, while there is still a vague dissatisfaction, the desire to live has not yet gone away - so that "so that it would not be excruciatingly painful for the years spent aimlessly", you need to realize the futility of dreams and withdrawal to the "parallel world".
You need to understand your desires and start realizing them in reality. The happiness that a person receives from this process cannot be compared either with the most beautiful picture that we can draw in our imagination, or with the “divine” state obtained in a drug addiction, or with the drive from another useless feat.
Let us persistently want to remain in our illusion, but once we taste the taste of live communication, live work, live knowledge, the illusion will crumble under the onslaught of real feelings. And we will touch the mystery of life as it is - complex, multifaceted and full of meaning.
