Empire Consciousness:
Necessary and Unnecessary Suffering
By Dr. Michael Obsatz – July 2025
Professor John Brantner was a brilliant faculty member at the University of Minnesota. When I was preparing to teach my “Death, Dying and Bereavement” class at Macalester College, I sat in on his “Death and Dying” class at his home near the U about fifty years ago.
One of the most powerful teachings I learned from him was that there were two kinds of suffering — necessary and unnecessary. The first is about the pain we experience from loss. We lose everything ultimately, and that hurts us. We eventually lose our health and our lives — some sooner, some later. We can’t do much about necessary suffering. Suffering is related to fear, loneliness, and loss.
These days, we have seen how many people have died in Texas river flooding, and how many have lost loved ones and all of their possessions. Is that necessary suffering or unnecessary suffering?
We create situations in life that produce suffering. One of the greatest causes of suffering is environmental disaster. If we don’t take care of the earth, the earth won’t take care of us. So, by neglect and abuse, we create suffering for ourselves and others.
Part of Empire Consciousness is a heavy denial system that masks the truth about how much fear, domination, hierarchy and scarcity thinking create suffering in the world.
Empire Consciousness pervades all cultures and has been around since the beginning of time. It is a destructive force that relates to abandonment and Trauma Consciousness. As newborns, infants, and babies, we soon learn to conform to the expectations of family and society. We give up our authentic selves and become scripted into roles, behaviors, and feelings we are taught are the truth. If we don’t conform, we fear we will be left out in the cold to die.
The pain and suffering of the loss of our true selves causes many people to move to Empire Consciousness which causes more pain and suffering. “Being in Control of Others” is a temporary fix for some, and never fully deals with the loss of one’s wholeness.
We need to apply Ruiz’s agreement to “take nothing personally” and detach from worldly definitions of who and what we are supposed to be. Abandonment was never about us — it happened to us and left lasting fears and scars.
Healing from unnecessary suffering is moving from Trauma and Empire Consciousness — to Oneness Consciousness — based on abundance, equality, compassion, empathy, cooperation, and love.
We cause each other so much pain and loss by focusing on our own misinterpretation of who we are. When we survive the empire; we can transform our own consciousness and then be a light for the emotional and spiritual transformation of others.
© 2025, Dr. Michael Obsatz, all rights reserved, https://www.lifesjourney.us
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