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Why would you assume they are unwilling? Maybe they just found what works for them. I don't know what you mean by staying in the problem. A person can't help but to heal once they stop poisoning themselves, it's natural. Are you are speaking of the 30% of addicts that have underlying mental health issues?
She's speaking to me because I said I smoke grass daily. Well, more specifically, almost every evening.
So therefore, in Tzaphland, I am an addict and require help.
Harridans live to scold. I understand her compulsion.
But I do hope she'll stop trying to derail the thread.
That quote (which I'd not read before) puts me in mind of the Fool in the Tarot. (Probably to no one's surprise, I relate strongly to him.)
The Fool is often depicted happily setting forth with his trusty dog companion on his journey towards Knowledge/Wisdom/Growth/Fulfillment etc. cheerfully unaware that he's about to step off a cliff.
The Fool, like all of us, has much to learn. But he's eager to do so and game to take a risk or nine in order to further his quest. So, yeah, arming yourself with optimism, good humour and trust in your abilities (or your dog's or your god's) ups the odds of reaching a satisfying destination post-journey.
I thought the fool was actually pretty wise already.
You gave me a big sync moment with the white dog. So, in light of Jung, the Fool would be one of The Self Archetypes:
9. The Jester
Motto: You only live once
Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment
Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world
Greatest fear: being bored or boring others
Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny
Weakness: frivolity, wasting time
Talent: joy
The Jester is also known as: The fool, trickster, joker, practical joker or comedian.
I thought the fool was actually pretty wise already.
You gave me a big sync moment with the white dog. So, in light of Jung, the Fool would be one of The Self Archetypes:
9. The Jester
Motto: You only live once
Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment
Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world
Greatest fear: being bored or boring others
Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny
Weakness: frivolity, wasting time
Talent: joy
The Jester is also known as: The fool, trickster, joker, practical joker or comedian.
Well, I DID say I identify strongly with the Fool...
And no, he doesn't start out wise. That's why the Fool card is the first of the Major Arcana. In effect, he's "newly born," without artifice or much in the way of knowledge. He represents the first step in the journey towards self-actualization but has a long road ahead.
Well, I DID say I identify strongly with the Fool...
And no, he doesn't start out wise. That's why the Fool card is the first of the Major Arcana. In effect, he's "newly born," without artifice or much in the way of knowledge. He represents the first step in the journey towards self-actualization but has a long road ahead.
Why would you assume they are unwilling? Maybe they just found what works for them. I don't know what you mean by staying in the problem. A person can't help but to heal once they stop poisoning themselves, it's natural. Are you are speaking of the 30% of addicts that have underlying mental health issues?
no i'm speaking of people who think when they stop using that they "are healed" because "it's natural."
because they're not.
"helpful friends" don't cure addiction any more than they do brain surgery or amputate necrotic toes from diabetes.
the substance itself is the smallest part of the problem. addressing the addictive behavior is the larger part of the problem. it is the patterns of behavior that led the person to start using in the first place. that addictive behavior continues until someone seeks professional help.
I'm very fortunate I didn't have to shed the shackles of long-entrenched indoctrination. Although my parents were strict Catholics in the 1950s and 60s, I softened 'em up over time. They tolerated arguments. Which was good because many went on long into the night.
I know they were extremely disappointed that I stopped believing and attending church as a teen. My father, after all, had attended Seminary and was chairman of the local Catholic School Board. He went to Mass nearly every morning before work. But I never once considered that they would stop loving me as a result. And the concept of shunning would have been totally foreign to all of us.
It's why I admire the heck out of you two and any others who had the courage and tenacity to come out from under the smothering, crushing weight of fundamentalism. And to do so without becoming cynical, or carrying grudges, or wallowing in regret is a sign of a truly advanced spirituality.
I don't see spirituality as existing on a linear scale so 'progression' is not a relevant term in my worldview. That is one of the reasons I don't relate to the word 'path' which is frequently used in pagan circles.
For me, spirituality manifests as experiences (feelings), relationships (with various natural/metaphysical phenomena), and actions/behaviors (morality/ritual). And the instances of these categories vary in quality, strength, presence, frequency, and/or duration at various times, but there is no forwards or backwards.
I don't see spirituality as existing on a linear scale so 'progression' is not a relevant term in my worldview. That is one of the reasons I don't relate to the word 'path' which is frequently used in pagan circles.
For me, spirituality manifests as experiences (feelings), relationships (with various natural/metaphysical phenomena), and actions/behaviors (morality/ritual). And the instances of these categories vary in quality, strength, presence, frequency, and/or duration at various times, but there is no forwards or backwards.
I may agree with this...
I do think it's possible to progress in the ability to be more consistently aligned with who we really are, spiritually. But I don't think there's an end-point or final destination.
I do think it's possible to progress in the ability to be more consistently aligned with who we really are, spiritually. But I don't think there's an end-point or final destination.
Is that close to what you mean?
I think so.
You could say there is a sense of linear progression with respect to my experiences and research that influence my spiritual worldview and practices over time, but those are extrinsic to spirituality itself and outside my focus.
Earlier I mentioned how many pagans use the word path to describe their perception of personal spiritual development. In my worldview, I prefer to not think of it as development, but as change (or becoming or wyrd). Change is a manifestation of will filtered through past experiences and can occur on different scales and aspects and can be progressive or regressive (ignoring the value judgments those latter terms may connote.) and every change can open multiple threads (paths) to the point where the concept of path becomes irrelevant to me.
In other words, change or wyrd, loosely related to the concept of fate, is really a liminal state constantly verging on the present moment that is defined by past experiences and influences how I will use my will to manifest future practices, being the combination of behaviors, morals, and rituals that reflect my spiritual worldview as defined by my wyrd.
In my worldview, instead of a path, I analogize changes in my spirituality as being like a large painting that I am constantly working on; adding layers of paint here and there, scraping paint off in other sections, redrawing large areas, changing the focus, or even the subject, changing the palette now and then, experimenting with different brushes and ways to apply paint, studying other painter's works, etc.
Of course there was a day I started the painting, and on the day I die the painting will be finished, so there is linearity in the temporal aspect, but I am all over that canvas in between. sometimes paying more attention to the shapes and figures than the color, other times building up texture with layer after layer of paint. other times I may be carving the frame itself.
In retrospect, one might be able to discern a 'path' in much the same way an art critic tries to discern the motive of a painter through analysis of his work, but really I am just wandering.
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