Spiritual? Not Even Sure What That Means Anymore

[Ravenstar]

Hi all,

 

I wasn't raised christian. My mom was a nominal catholic and my dad was an athiest (and the most moral person I have ever met), but there was no talk of religion in my home, it was a non-issue. I did go to a friend's house after school once a week for while (age 7, 8?) for a Bible study - more just a biblical 'storytime'. I guess I believed in god when I was a child but was that because it permeated our culture? I don't remember or really know.

 

I was always fascinated by mysteries though and by 11 was dabbling into mythology, archaeology and unexplained things. Tales of ghosts, monsters and the such always held my interest, avidly... so I guess there was always the tendency for me to believe in the fantastic, to appreciate myth and all things like that.

 

I do remember when I was 13 trying out some occult stuff, nothing serious, Dianic wicca, seances (ineffective but good for a thrill) etc...

 

However I also had a very analytical mind and science has also been one of my favorite things. I was one of those kids who is always asking 'why?'. Even to this day I have a driving need to understand my world... and myself. Fortunately I also like to research and learn whatever I can. I have always known that real learning requires an open mind.

 

I guess maybe in my heart I am a Gnostic, or mystic. I'm not good with labels though.

 

In my late teens I started to look into christianity a little bit deeper. I went to several different churches over the course of the next 10 or so years, off and on. My life was fairly chaotic due to other issues so I never really committed to any one church. I did however study the ones I did attend pretty thoroughly - and yes I read Dianetics when I was 16! lol I did 'accept Jesus as my saviour', but never went through baptism.

 

I studied with the Church of Christ, The Maranatha church, the Jehovah's Witnesses (wow), The Seventh Day Adventists and several others.

 

I asked hard questions but in most cases did not get the answers that satisfied me - but I was young and never really questioned if god was real, or even Jesus, just the interpretations. Through my studies I was introduced to the concept that it's a good idea to check what the original languages meant and the cultural context as well. I learned about the Council of Nicea... and later when I majored in Art History (for my BFA) I learned about how various cultures viewed their deities (which comes through in their art), the wars that were fought over the centuries, AND I learned about the history of the Catholic Church and the Reformation - now THAT was truly eye-opening.

 

I was still a 'christian' though.. sort of - but my sense that it didn't make sense was growing - and I've always been a bit of a pagan or occultist anyway - funny I never really saw anything incongruent in that.

 

Truly - the only thing that kept me from rejecting christianity outright was the fear of hell, Pascal's Wager, if you will.

 

I knew enough ancient history that much of what I read in the Bible and what I heard from christians began to sound, well, pretty ignorant. I'm no scholar but I was stunned by the lack of basic knowledge of history - especially from people who, if they study as much as they say - should know better.

 

I had some things happen in my life that were painful, I lost a child at 6 months pregnant, and a few years later lost my husband to suicide. Both of these issues opened the way for me to do some deep self-searching on the meaning of suffering, life, death.. all that stuff. I needed answers - and the trite things those around me said just pissed me off. Things like, "It's God's will", "she is in a better place", "Suicides go to hell", "you just need to have faith". blah, blah, blah.. funny - I found that going through deep grief is VERY uncomfortable for others - and they slip quietly away after spouting platitudes. They don't want to deal with real pain and death.. and by 'they' I mean almost everyone, but in my experience the christians most of all.

 

I needed answers... and the ones I could find were horrifying to me - at least the ones in the bible. I turned to the more occult views - which maybe was a way for me to feel more in control, I don't know. I studied Tarot, The Order of the Golden Dawn, Jung, Astrology, all that stuff. I read 'Conversations with God" (which I read as fiction but still more moral than the bible) Emmanuel, The Satanic Bible (interesting read), Nandor Fodor, well, just about everything, the list is enormous - I am a seeker. I was even accepted in the Rosicrucian Order - though I've never taken them up on it.. yet lol.

 

I finally decided neo-paganism was what felt right for me (the New Agers were just too flakey, even for me) - though I felt silly supplicating to an anthropomorphized deity, female or male. and have since developed more of a pantheistic belief - more along the lines of Jung's 'collective consciousness'.

 

BUT - I never really dealt with Pascal's Wager and lately I have been bothered by this, just in the last few weeks really.

 

It PISSES ME OFF that in the back of my head there is still this fear of this 'god' - that if I am honest I never really bought into. Not that I think that there can't be a 'god' but the one described in the bible is repulsive to my ethical and moral self. It's so ingrained in the culture I live in that there is no escape - it's everywhere. In the phrases of our language, in the media, in politics, in our sociology, in the very matrix of thought.

 

I've been gullible and trusting, I've been a sincere seeker for truth, but I've never been a dumbass. It just doesn't make sense that an all-knowing, all-powerful creator would create a thinking, rational being and then demand that this being suspend that ability, or be destroyed (or worse tortured for eternity) while professing to be the ultimate expression of love. that's just CRAZY. I don't mean.. a little funny, or difficult to understand.. I mean truly insane, illogical and abhorrent. I see the affect that religion has had on the human race, especially the more ignorant and fanatical and I am disgusted. I don't see where those who profess religion are any better people than those who don't - in fact I see the opposite, generally. The repression of religion seems to create serious mental issues in people. I know - it's an unsubstantiated claim, but I'm sure if I dug I could find some basis for this gut feeling.

 

But obviously there is still that little horrid doubt - and 99% of me rails against this installation of fear and guilt. Death doesn't frighten me - if it's oblivion, what's so scary about that? But the terror of being tortured by an all-powerful being for being what one is?. Sheesh.. I wish christianity could look at this idea and see how incredibly horrifying and damaging it is. It's like an existential form of PTSD/Stockholme syndrome/battered spouse syndrome.. whatever you want to call it.

 

So that's where I am... I've been lurking through the forums, good stuff.

 

Thanks

[Overcame Faith]

Hi, Ravenstar. Welcome to ExC.

 

Your spiritual journey sounds very interesting.

 

I'm sorry to hear about losing your baby and your husband. It must have been (and probably still is) very difficult on you.

 

Concerning dealing with Pascal's Wager and hell, I'm glad that you have begun dealing with that issue. You're doing the right thing. Don't just push it into the back of your mind. Confront it head-on and demand the truth and you will come to see that hell does not exist. I remember when I came to that conclusion, it was a sweet and beautiful moment which came after much study on my part. It was well worth the effort to be set free from that mind trap.

[Ravenstar]

Thank you for the warm welcome I'm glad to be here. I'm glad there is a 'here'!

 

I agree, repressing it will only give it a stronger hold over me. I find it strange that the emotional response to it is so tenacious because intellectually It's ridiculous.

[Overcame Faith]

I agree, repressing it will only give it a stronger hold over me. I find it strange that the emotional response to it is so tenacious because intellectually It's ridiculous.

 

There was a time when I, too, would have found it strange that the emotional response to hell is so tenacious, but then I started paying attention to what a lot of people on ExC post about their emotional experiences concerning hell even after their deconversions. That taught me that it is not uncommon to have a lingering fear of it. But my advice is to address it first from the intellectual sense and if that doesn't solve the problem for you, then deal with the fear in whatever way works best for you. Some people are helped by expressing it on the forums and receiving encouraging feedback, for some it's just a matter of time and the fear dissipates, and for others there may need to be some amount of professional counseling.

[Ravenstar]

You are very kind

 

I will have to seek those posts... wow do people really get counseling for that? I never considered that. I've been in therapy before, for a couple of different issues...I did find it helpful to have that sounding board to help sort out my stuff. something to think about.

 

Selecting a therapist would be... interesting... you sure wouldn't want to go to one who was religious, that could be seriously counter-productive.

 

I'm at the anger phase right now with this issue, but at least I'm aware of it.

 

Cheers!

[Margee]

Ravenstar, Welcome to Ex-c. And welcome to another Canadian!!

Thank you for taking the time to share your story. If you have read enough posts - you will see that you're not alone. Your story is very familiar to me - the questions, the doubts, the seeking,(I even tried to bend forks with my mind!!) and the pain. Oh - the pain that we endure in this life. I've had my share. I'm sorry for yours. Really sorry.

 

And that teensie-weensie bit of doubt that continues to always haunt my mind also!! I have already admitted that I will probably be the 'atheist in the foxhole' who will cry out in the last minute...............'If you really do exist....... Allow me in 'the gates''!!

 

Maybe with a little more time - I will think different about it- but it's where I'm at today.

 

Keep posting - There's a great bunch of friends here to help you along. They've saved my ass in the last few months!!

Best wishes on this new journey! Sincerely, Margee

[Ravenstar]

Margee, thank you for the welcome and your honesty

 

From what I've read so far I really like the people here. Thoughtful, intelligent, honest and not afraid to speak their truth.

 

I do feel lucky that Canada is not quite as 'christian' as the US... although I did live in southern Alberta for while - probably as close to the 'bible belt' as Canada gets. I was in South Carolina once - I was shocked by the public displays of fundamentalism, couldn't imagine that happening here.

[Margee]

Margee, thank you for the welcome and your honesty

 

From what I've read so far I really like the people here. Thoughtful, intelligent, honest and not afraid to speak their truth.

 

I do feel lucky that Canada is not quite as 'christian' as the US... although I did live in southern Alberta for while - probably as close to the 'bible belt' as Canada gets. I was in South Carolina once - I was shocked by the public displays of fundamentalism, couldn't imagine that happening here.

I lived in Kelowna, British Columbia for awhile - it's known as the 'Born Again' capitol of Canada!! Even the basic, general 'united church' was born again. And I went out there to escape religion!!!

[Antlerman]

Ravenstar, you and I are going to become friends. You are a person after my own soul. Trust me, we will have some interesting discussions. A very warm welcome to the site, BTW.

 

I scarcely know where to begin. That existential pull in you that keeps you looking despite all the ill-suited clothing of religious systems, feelings of hypocrisy being rational enough to recognize the fallacies, yet a desire that cannot be pushed aside and ignored. Surely there must be a marriage of sense and soul, so to speak.

 

As for fear, for me that's completely gone. Not only from a rational level, but in my heart of hearts in connection with reality. It's not just the mind understanding the role of such myths, but in the very essence of my being, grounded in life.

 

I look forward to discussions with you.

[Galien]

Hell? You lost a child and a husband, sounds to me like you have already been there. I don't know how it works for everyone else but I really do doubt there could be any worse torture than losing people you love. As for me and torturing myself with this "what if" stuff, I truly just don't care anymore. It feels like I blew something in my brain ruminating over this stuff for decades. Something inside has just said, enough now.

 

I was a true believer in the sense that I thought jesus was a great life example. Sadly I didn't pay attention to what happens to people who act like him. I am a pure idealist who always wants people to be better than they are. Christianity left me more disappointed in human beings than I could have believed possible. Now all I seek is some inner peace. Took me 48 years of misery to find it Someone asked me the past week what was the most important thing in my life. For my whole life I have always said my family. Now it is mental health and inner peace. Not much point hanging around the planet without it.

 

Welcome Ravenstar

[Ravenstar]

marriage of sense and soul - what a great way to put it!

 

I'm beginning to suspect that 'soul' is a far more natural thing than something that originates from without. Somehow, and I have no scientific basis for this just life experience and subjective intuition, I think that we will discover we are more connected to nature, the universe and each other than we currently can measure - maybe quantum physics will discover this. I don't think this necessarily requires a 'god' - unless that is the sum of the whole - but I'm humble enough to say, "I don't really know". I have no explanation for some things I have experienced but I won't just accept a 'god of the gaps' as a pat answer and a psychological crutch to honest inquiry and maybe uncomfortable realizations.

 

Idealism... yup, me too. It took a VERY long time for me to grasp the concept that it doesn't matter what people SAY - it matters what they do. I think that I saw others to be as sincere as I am... which is a bit self-absorbed really... sheesh!

I've learned a real moral and ethical code will be apparent in one's life, you don't have to search for it, and it's not the province of any particular group.

 

I look forward to discussions also... You have all made me feel very welcome and accepted, it's deeply appreciated

 

Ravenstar

[Antlerman]

I'm beginning to suspect that 'soul' is a far more natural thing than something that originates from without. Somehow, and I have no scientific basis for this just life experience and subjective intuition, I think that we will discover we are more connected to nature, the universe and each other than we currently can measure - maybe quantum physics will discover this.

The interconnection of all things is in fact looked at in science in things within the complexity sciences; dynamic systems theory, chaos theory, etc. These show at least on a physical level the sort of influence and interactions that occur within complex systems that act as a thing in itself. This is a different view and understanding of the natural world from the reductionist view that everything can be understood by analyzing the component level.

 

But what you, and I, are talking about is that internal sense, that internal awareness. The very state and experience of consciousness itself. And within that, there is also greater sense of interrelationship as a whole at a higher, more complex, and subsequently deeper level of that internal, conscious awareness. Not just simply the experience of that awareness within a subjective space, but permeating and radiating outward into the physical, our bodies, our relations, our environment, and the whole world through us, and the whole world to us. It is that that is called "spiritual", because it is not confined to our sense of self in our ego alone. It is conscious identification with the entire universe, both as a physical and spiritual being. My body is the world, my soul the universe.

 

What this is, what you are confronting is that stripping off of mythic ways of talking about this. Science helps to demythologize the world, but it does not offer that internal awareness. That requires a different set of eyes, a different tool set, a different exploration.

[Ravenstar]

You have a gift for putting the non-verbal into verbal terms.

 

Consciousness is the key here I think. Example: One of the experiences I have had was during meditation was being able to view myself, from 'outside' myself (not literally as in an out of body experience - but maybe psychologically? spiritually?) Having an 'overview' of the ego and seeing what it looked like, it's desires and fears and how it could be caught up in the matrix of culture and such. The view from there was one of deep compassion and understanding and weirdly.. a gentle amusement..but it wasn't exceptionally emotional, it also seemed 'outside of time'. Subjective? oh yes... fascinating - absolutely. In this state was also a sense of 'no boundaries' - an expansion of being to include everything - the entire universe. I've had these fleeting sensations in various situations including communing with nature. (I've still to get myself a copy of "The varieties of religious experience", I've heard it touches on these subjects)... but, I wouldn't call the experience I had 'religious' though - not in the common sense. Maybe it's just semantics.

 

I guess being here is an attempt to dissolve the obstacles of superstition and fear, but still keeping an open mind to legitimate experience.

[Antlerman]

Beautiful. As I said, we will be friends. To my responses....

 

One of the experiences I have had was during meditation was being able to view myself, from 'outside' myself (not literally as in an out of body experience - but maybe psychologically? spiritually?) Having an 'overview' of the ego and seeing what it looked like, it's desires and fears and how it could be caught up in the matrix of culture and such.

Absolutely wonderful. You practice contemplation. And yes, what you describe for me is the beginning of that awareness opening. Your "self" is an object, and collection of thoughts, emotions, relations, ideas, likes, dislikes, etc, but that is not "you". Who is observing this? Who, or what, is seeing? As I first experienced this "self" as an object, suddenly the relationship became like that of my physical body. The thoughts, problems, responses, self-image, relationships, job, etc, became more like features, that regularly had problems or issues to solve as a task, or simply nurse and take care of like you would a cut on your arm.

 

Your identity is not tied to all those, in the way it isn't to your arm to the point you worry about your whole "self". If your arm has a scratch or a pain, you deal with it without feeling like your world is threatened. This is why once you've experienced what you have described, and especially once you've moved out of that main locus of self-identification, your anxiety level drops out below your feet. It is an incredible freedom.

 

Next, from that state of awareness, especially in meditation, as your mind moves into that clearing where you are the dispassionate observer, there is a flooding of the world into you as you become acutely aware of what was obstructed through that cloud of self-creation of the mind in the ego identity. From that space then, you may experience thoughts arising that may take on deeply symbolic expressions. I understanding this as a symbolic means of our own subconscious speaking to our conscious mind through our superconscious mind. The result is deep insights leading to greater growth through self-healing and movement into the world through that higher mind. It is life-transforming, and world transforming.

 

The view from there was one of deep compassion and understanding and weirdly.. a gentle amusement..but it wasn't exceptionally emotional, it also seemed 'outside of time'. Subjective? oh yes... fascinating - absolutely. In this state was also a sense of 'no boundaries' - an expansion of being to include everything - the entire universe. I've had these fleeting sensations in various situations including communing with nature. (I've still to get myself a copy of "The varieties of religious experience", I've heard it touches on these subjects)... but, I wouldn't call the experience I had 'religious' though - not in the common sense. Maybe it's just semantics.

Believe me, I very aware of this and you are far from nuts. The thing I'll share with you that may help is to understand that we all have those fleeting moments of higher awareness in states of peak experiences. Some of those may punch straight through everything into absolute mind. I have experienced that a few times. These typically just happen without any seeking going on, and hit like a bolt of lightning. They open the mind to what truly is. But then we slip back to where we presently are in seeing the world though the eyes we currently have. We see the world in a mediated manner, through frameworks of language and culture and personality.

 

Those moments of peak experience are then taken by our conscious mind and placed within those current frameworks to try to translate them into present awareness. The point I'm an trying to make that as we grow in our understanding, as those frameworks mature from earlier childlike mythological symbols as literal representation, we actually develop our permanent awareness on levels much higher up and closer to that Satori awakening, that Oneness, where there is no distinction between you and others, you and the world, you and "God". Subject and object dissolve. And for now, we touch the face of that and wonder.

 

I guess being here is an attempt to dissolve the obstacles of superstition and fear, but still keeping an open mind to legitimate experience.

As I said, we will be friends.

[Ravenstar]

Yes... to all of it

 

Query? Do you think that the great teachers of the world were ones who were able to maintain this state?

 

and yes, we most definitely will be friends...

[Antlerman]

Yes... to all of it

 

Query? Do you think that the great teachers of the world were ones who were able to maintain this state?

I assume you mean spiritual teachers of course. That's an interesting question. I'm not sure a good teacher needs to be a master or enlightened themselves, but certainly with enough experience and insight to be able to help translate it to others. But I do believe it is possible to become that and remain that as a matter of growth. Those that do, have to at best create dumb it down and teach methods in guide someone into something which itself can't be taught. It's a realization, not a head knowledge. And yes, I think there are those who live life as Enlightened. The peculiar thing, is that they are imminently ordinary. The fullest knowledge of Life, is in its living. Simple wisdom of profound depth.

[Galien]

 

Consciousness is the key here I think. Example: One of the experiences I have had was during meditation was being able to view myself, from 'outside' myself (not literally as in an out of body experience - but maybe psychologically? spiritually?) Having an 'overview' of the ego and seeing what it looked like, it's desires and fears and how it could be caught up in the matrix of culture and such. The view from there was one of deep compassion and understanding and weirdly.. a gentle amusement..but it wasn't exceptionally emotional, it also seemed 'outside of time'. Subjective? oh yes... fascinating - absolutely. In this state was also a sense of 'no boundaries' - an expansion of being to include everything - the entire universe. I've had these fleeting sensations in various situations including communing with nature. (I've still to get myself a copy of "The varieties of religious experience", I've heard it touches on these subjects)... but, I wouldn't call the experience I had 'religious' though - not in the common sense. Maybe it's just semantics.

 

 

Funny, gentle amusement is far from what I feel. More like nausea when I realise how evil people are prepared to be. I have the brain of an adult but the heart of a child. I simple cannot understand where this oneness with everything and this compassion for ego comes from. Ihate what ego allows people to justify. Maybe I am just not able to disconnect myself from the evil that men do long enough to see anything else.

[Antlerman]

I simple cannot understand where this oneness with everything and this compassion for ego comes from.

Galien, your understanding of Ego is not what we are talking about. You are referring to egotism, or narcissism, arrogance, and the like colloquial use of the word. "He has a huge ego", and whatnot. That is not what ego means in psychological terms. It is the sense of "self", and there are various stages of the development of that ego that begin with that narcissism, all the way up full compassion for others from that sense of 'self' in the fully self-actualized individual. Development of a healthy ego is a positive, and it is always a lessening of ego-centrism. The ego you are referring to is and immature an undeveloped ego. That is not the ego we are referring to.

 

Ihate what ego allows people to justify. Maybe I am just not able to disconnect myself from the evil that men do long enough to see anything else.

You see no beauty anywhere in the world?

[Galien]

 

I hate what ego allows people to justify. Maybe I am just not able to disconnect myself from the evil that men do long enough to see anything else.

You see no beauty anywhere in the world?

 

Fleeting glimpses far outweighed by the opposite.

[Galien]

I simple cannot understand where this oneness with everything and this compassion for ego comes from.

Galien, your understanding of Ego is not what we are talking about. You are referring to egotism, or narcissism, arrogance, and the like colloquial use of the word. "He has a huge ego", and whatnot. That is not what ego means in psychological terms. It is the sense of "self", and there are various stages of the development of that ego that begin with that narcissism, all the way up full compassion for others from that sense of 'self' in the fully self-actualized individual. Development of a healthy ego is a positive, and it is always a lessening of ego-centrism. The ego you are referring to is and immature an undeveloped ego. That is not the ego we are referring to.

 

[

 

Must not be too many healthy egos in this world then. All areas of society seem to me to be overrun by greed, selfishnes and a distinct lack of community. There are pockets where this is not the case but modern society seems to be about looking after ones own backside and being a self interested opportunistic consumer. I may have missed the memo that says this is the new normal, but it will never be normal to me. As long as I live in a world that could feed everyone but refuses to because it is not economically profitable, don't expect me to see beauty in humanity.

[Antlerman]

As long as I live in a world that could feed everyone but refuses to because it is not economically profitable, don't expect me to see beauty in humanity.

You are humanity too. If you describe what see what as ugly, then you must have a sense of what is beautiful in yourself in order to recognize what is not. Don't look to the world to give you what you already have regardless of them. Find it and embrace it in yourself, then give it to the world and make it beautiful from within you. Heal the world.

 

This is what we are talking about. Not finding it in others to give to you, but in yourself and then through that seeing beauty in others laying behind their masks, even unrecognized to themselves. This is what I see in others, as in you.

[Ravenstar]

hmmm.... I see what you are saying and having MUCH experience with malignant narcissists as well as the common garden variety, I agree that ego run wild can be extremely damaging.

 

maybe I can be a little clearer... what I experienced, when it felt like I was observing the 'self' or 'ego' that is the part of me that is immersed in the day to day struggle of living, little worries, drama, the lessons I was learning (ie: this was about a year after I lost my husband) the ways I tried to 'fit in' in society...my fears and anger, desires and 'thoughts', all those things which I had thought before were 'me', well the only me I had ever known. This view was apart from that, like watching a loved one. Objective, almost impersonal... divorced from the actual experience of being me... the 'watcher'. I can't think of a better way to put it.

 

Do you know 'the critic'? That's the thoughts we have about ourselves that run constantly in our heads.. the ones that say, "geez, that was dumb", or, "I should be able to do better", or even the part that runs scenarios through one's head when a difficult situation come up and we kind of 'rehearse' how we will handle it, either in fantasy or reality. This experience was of watching THAT part. It is really hard to describe, but the 'gentle amusement' though still a little baffling, seemed to come from a deep understanding of being human..deeper than I can claim... like a parent watching a child learning to walk, we know they will learn and master this in short time, and sometimes it looks kind of painful and difficult but if interfered with could be detrimental to their growth.

 

I have some ideas of what this experience is and Antlerman's use of the superconscious is probably pretty close. I've heard the term 'higher self' used as well. I don't claim to understand it, and I wouldn't say it was supernatural, it felt more natural than my regular everyday experience of being, more real.

 

I hope I was able to describe it better

[Antlerman]

That was perfectly described. You have to experience that to be able to do that. As you said almost dispassionate, that describes it well. It's not like you are unaffected or unemotional, but that there is a center of clarity that you take joy in what arises without yourself being affected by it. It is a joy in joy itself, so to speak. It's really difficult to describe.

 

One thought I'll share with you is that as you describe witnessing the child, I've found myself in this place you describe for a long period of time now, and as I watch those things in myself, I see them more as learned patterns, habits, and less so choices. This is very hard to describe, but the overall impact is taking that sort of 'higher view' at it, and bringing those patterns and habits into a new place. It is a question of what is their purpose here? I hope this might make some sense for you.

[Ravenstar]

I think so

One gets the sense that a large part of one's life is lived in 'reaction' coming from a place where the things learned, absorbed, etc.. including the cultural matrix and the pressure from the tribe become almost automatic, even when you think you are making choices rationally and autonomously you really aren't but acting out scripts burned deep in the subconscious. Archetypes.

 

Real awareness, hence real ability to choose is a very elusive thing... true freedom is the hardest, and most fleeting state. I suspect that only in the 'flow' can you actually make any truly free choice at all. The state you describe as dispassionate but joyful (yes I understand that having experienced it - the gentle amusement) seems to be the state of real choice.

 

But even what we do here, by challenging the old ideas and memes is a step in the right direction.

[Antlerman]

But even what we do here, by challenging the old ideas and memes is a step in the right direction.

I referred earlier to our present framework of understanding. That's what I see happening in this challenging. I refer to it as a sort of iconoclasm. We smash the old idols that failed the system in favor of the new. But in a sense we are smashing the old idol without a clear direction. Not that this is bad, but an almost essential stage of evolution of the whole the same way an individual child will cast off the parents in trying to define itself in its emerging adulthood, having no clear direction of what that looks like yet.

 

All our experimentation in searching out our place in a modern world is ultimately all driven from the same pull, to evolve towards something higher, a greater self-realization; a realization we are more than just immediate gratification.

 

I want to share one thing with you to ponder before heading off for the night. It's something worth the listen, and I'll be interested in your feedback. I think it will resonate with you: