Complexity?

Recently I was told by a close friend that I quite possibly am one the most complex people he knows, which is odd to me cause I think i'm really simple. There isn't that much to me, you meet me and you essentially get what you see. I don't really hide anything, yes maybe people don't know about my life experiences but that is usually gained through time and some sort of relationship. I didn't and still don't get how i can be complex. My friend says that compared to most people what I want out of life or how i approach life is entirely different. Most people would be satisfied with financial security, a nice loving family and a stable and successful career, maybe he is right about that. I on the otherhand would not be content or satisfied with that, there is soo much more out of life that I want or expect.

Human beings have to a have a greater purpose than simply to feel safe and perpetuate our species. Whether or not you believe in a higher purpose isn't the point here, the point is that we as evolved entities have the ability to create a purpose for ourselves that is beyond ourselves. Other animals cannot do this, they are guided by their basic instincts and drives. We are the only animal that can contemplate ending our own existence and do it, suicide. Why is it that we don't care to try and develop a higher purpose for ourselves. We look for contentment not peace and it is always self contentment. We pass through life looking at people around us who clearly are crying out for help or simply need some emotional or mental support yet we turn our backs to them because they don't fit into our lives, we live simply for ourselves. Don't get me wrong there are a select few that genuinely live to help others and through that help they fulfill themselves and find the peace that most of us spend our lives searching for but never find.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna says to Arjuna "Bahunam Janmanam Ante Jnaanavan Mam Praparyathe, Vaasudeva Sarvam Iti Sah Mahaatma Surdurlabhaha." What this means is "At the end of many lives that person situated in knowledge sees Vaasudeva (Krishna or God) in all things, such person is indeed very rare." The rarity here isn't that people cannot reach this stage it is that people don't care to reach this stage. This stage requires us to see in all things the same thing we see in ourselves, that spark of life, the dignity and respect we give to ourselves, the divine that we respect is present in us just as it is in your best friend, wife/husband and even that person that you loathe or find disgusting. Once you reach that level, how can you disassociate yourself from all those around, how can you let the plight of others go ignored? You can't, it is compassion, the same compassion that Buddha preached. Compassion isn't merely giving money to some charity it has to be much more personal than that. Maybe I'm a hypocrite because i haven't totally given myself to all this, i've done such work but not as often as I should or even want to. I think we can even make it simpler than that, just reach out and give a shit about the people around you, even the ones that you don't like so much, never leave anyone hanging, don't turn you back, put aside your own ego for a while and just be.