The TV series 'Westworld' grabs our attention with more than just its twists and turns; it makes us look closely at what it truly means to grow and change as individuals. At its heart, the story is all about development, about change, and the sometimes difficult path to a new way of being. This is something many of us think about in our own lives.

The Mechanical Self vs. The Developing Being

'Westworld' shows a stark contrast between a life of growth and one that feels purely mechanical. It suggests that if we live without really growing or making conscious changes, our existence can become like a machine, just running through motions. In this view, someone who isn't developing isn't much different from the robots in the series, who simply follow their programming. On the other hand, an artificial being that learns and develops starts to seem truly alive, like a person. This makes us think: maybe we should see people not by whether they are human or android, but by whether they genuinely want to change and grow, or if, for some reason, they don't or can't.

Think of development as moving forward, step by step, towards a goal. Every living thing is meant to develop. But what if we take that development away from life? We’d just be treading water, going in circles instead of heading towards our aims. All that’s left is an endless loop. 'Westworld' shines a light on this possibility in our own lives: we live, and sometimes it feels like nothing changes. We do the same things, and the same kinds of events happen to us over and over. Life can start to feel mechanical, and we can seem like robots, playing out the same scenarios, acting according to a kind of program.

Signs of an Inner Program

So, how can we tell if we're acting from our own free will or just following some internal script? The series hints at a few signs:

• The first clear sign is cyclicality. People often do the same things repeatedly without even noticing. Others might see it, but it’s very hard for a person to see it in themselves because they're living inside that script.

• A second sign is blocking. This is when the "program" stops you from doing something, or even from seeing something. It’s like an invisible barrier.

• The third sign is stimulus-response behavior. In certain situations, we just react in the same way we always have, almost automatically. This also includes obeying commands, sometimes even when we don’t want to. Have you ever found yourself unable to say no to someone, acting against your own wishes?

When these patterns take over, instead of evolving, we end up in a repetitive cycle. Our actions become simple reactions, and internal blocks stop us from changing these reactions. We can become like a machine, just obeying a program.

The Illusion of Freedom and the Path to Awakening

If someone is just acting according to a program, are they really free? Of course not. That’s why the show also explores the theme of freedom. Living by a script is like being in a dream where our choices and actions don’t change what happens. The way out of this is to wake up, and waking up brings freedom.

What does it take to wake up and break free? An error has to happen in the program. More to the point, we might have to cause that error ourselves. An error means stepping out of the programmed scenario, doing something unusual instead of our typical action. In the series, an error is a positive thing: it’s because of an error that it’s possible to reach a new level, and therefore, to develop.

But the program tries to protect itself from mistakes using its own "locks" or defenses. To overcome an internal block, you need to make an incredible effort. And suffering often helps us make that effort.

The Transformative Power of Suffering and Memory

Suffering by itself doesn’t mean much. If a person or an android suffers and then just forgets about it, their program stays the same. The person stays in their comfort zone, and the android stays unaware. This is where memory becomes really important. Memory lets us see the cycles in our lives. When we suddenly realize that what’s happening to us now is a repeat or a variation of something that already happened, we understand that we’re being “pulled by strings.” Memory also helps us build up the energy from suffering so we can overcome those internal blocks.

And here, we need to talk about one more idea – the ideal. In the series, the word "beauty" is used for this. The ideal is what we compare things to. Suffering often comes up because we compare what we think should be (our ideal) with what we actually have in our lives. Then, memory helps us gather the pain from seeing how imperfect the world is, so we can make the effort to break the blocks and get out of the programmed scenario.

As we can see, the TV series "Westworld" acts as a reminder to us about our own potential for mechanical behavior. It offers a way to think philosophically about suffering and is a call, an encouragement, to reach for a new level of development.