Simply Be There: Seeing Collectivism, Thought, and Intensity

​"Human beings constantly encounter collective thoughts, expectations, identities, beliefs, and ways of living. The individual may feel pressure to follow what others follow, think what others think, defend what others defend, or oppose what others oppose. Yet before any decision to follow or reject such movement, there is something simpler to see: what is actually happening within oneself.​To see collectivism does not require fighting collectivism. To deny going with it does not necessarily mean ego or opposition. A thought can simply be seen as a thought. Even the thought about another person's thought is one's own thought as it appears within oneself. The important movement is not toward controlling thought but toward seeing it.​This paper explores a simple observation: see what is happening, including its intensity, without trying to do anything about it. Simply be there, as it is." Philosophy of