Because true independence is impossible, our society needs to rethink its core values, and find a new, better worldview from which to base them upon; that is, it needs to overcome the illusion of individualism. We can discern that independence, by the nature of things, is unable to be achieved. It is just as Mahayanists tell us, all things which exist are interdependent. All things rely upon each other for their existence. Realizing the fact that we are interdependent and unable to make our way in the world without the help of others does not deny the role each person should have in society, rather, it makes it more abundantly clear. For society cannot exist without the people who contribute to it, while those people could not be who and what they want to be without the rest of society helping them. Each person, because of their unique qualities, has a value all of their own, and society would be diminished without their contributions. Yet they would not be able to achieve all they would want to achieve without society complementing their activity, fulfilling aspects they would have difficulty doing alone. For a society to be true to itself, each of its members cannot be living independent from each other; instead, they must work together for the common good. By doing so, each member of society will be helping themselves as they help others, for when the whole of society is in better shape, then each person will be able to have a better, happier life.
Interdependence is based upon a realistic understanding of life, and it provides a key to success in life. While we might enjoy the feeling of independence, we can know it is only an illusion, and illusions such as it lead us astray. They can mask the situation only for so long, and then, when the illusion falters, we would find ourselves in a mess without any way out of it. It is better to know where one stands than to live one’s life based upon a lie. When we find our proper place in the world, instead of living out the shame of independence, we will find that we are able to achieve a truly noble and noteworthy life. For our mere existence, we depend upon the people and things around us, and in doing so, they have a strong amount of influence upon our life. Certainly we must know that they transcend our person, and so exist in a place which is beyond our total control. While we can have an influence, a tremendous influence, on the world at large, this is not the same as being able to control it. When we examine ourselves, we must look and see how we relate to the whole of society. We are certainly not independent from its influence, and it is not independent from our influence. Anyone who believes they are independent from society, and that they are not being influenced by the world around them, is someone who is truly ignorant of their own self and of the world they live in.
Self-determination, when it seeks to be totally independent, becomes an idol that can not be satisfied. No matter how independent we feel we are, we will know we have not entirely achieved that goal. In order to achieve a greater sense of independence, we will end up sacrificing more of our associations with others, so as to bind ourselves more and more to our chosen idol. By seeking for total individuality, we end up destroying ourselves. We become limited in our perspective, for that is the only way we can feel independent. We must remove ourselves from all contact with the world, we must block any access was have to others, and any access others have to ourselves, in order to maintain that sense of independence. But when we do this, we limit ourselves in such a way we find our life slowing turning to rot.
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