Collected Essays of Valerie Lynn Stephens (Part 5)

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ISBN: 978-1-365-35197-6

©2021 Valerie Lynn Stephens

UNITARY TRANSFORMATIONS: A STRIVANCE

We all battle with the conflicting instincts of Self-Preservation vs. that of what Abraham Maslow coined "Self-Actualization", or that of thrivance over mere survival. And truly, the whole of this human experience is consumed by the search, within each individual soul, for a blissful union of all opposites. Indeed, even much of what we as a humankind have come to discover within all branches of scientific inquiry, those of the hard & soft sciences, parallels this higher, transcendental wisdom. I believe however, not unlike many others, that Science & Spirituality not only must be reconciled to one another, but indeed, they already are. For as the field of quantum or theoretical physics verifies, everything is interconnected at more of a fundamental level than our myopically macroscopic view lends us. It also tells us that we each, in the quantum existential role of "The Observer", co-create what we refer to as "reality" in ways also taken for granted if not completely dismissed by us.

Furthermore, the truths inherent within both Science & Philosophy, despite the bifurcation exacted in the name of each their own enquiry & analysis, are a pre-existent actuality of what physicists refer to as "unitary transformations" which converge to meet their apogee of synthesis upon the steeple of a splendid cathedral of intellective architecture, where the meditations & supplications of both Humankind and its Creator find a sanctuary both celestial and ecumenical. And although we may never, due to our current human limitations, be able to sustain a sense & execution of this wholeness & unification, the laws of both Science & Philosophy concur upon the same observation: "Absence of evidence does not preclude evidence of absence."

In finale, despite our inherent myopia & finitude, we can all nevertheless strive to make a concerted effort towards the extension of ourselves & each our own special blend of character, temperament & abilities, in a positive direction within this world we now currently inhabit. And although the proverbial shadows will make themselves most manifest in contrast to our strivances towards Truth & Enlightenment, loitering as they do about those luminous effulgence which only a human soul in earnest search for Truth can propagate, the very nature & essence of Truth is to reconcile darkness with light, inscience with prescience, the profane with the transcendent, the inscrutable with the lucid, the simple with the profound. In science, this is that old Ockham's Razor & its principle again being employed which states that: "All things being equal, assume no more than is necessary."

And contrary to most worldly wisdom & sentiment, Truth is not more convenient to live by, nor is its path of pursuit the least treacherous or weathering, despite its inherent virtues of Simplicity & Candour. And many of us suffer under the delusion that we must gruelingly earn our keep in this life-that we must painstakingly strive for some sort of Redemption or Salvation. Yet the truth is, we are already saved, in the here and immanent-and indeed, eminent, Now. In the end, all human knowledge speaks, in its own semiotic eloquence of this one truth: Faith in the perfection of all things as they are, is the Master Key to the portal of Heaven above, and Heaven on Earth. But most importantly, the thing we must struggle to remember is that this key lies within each & every one of us. As above, so below? Perhaps first as within, so without.

ORDINARY HEROES

Contrary to our human tendency to romanticize and even idolize mere mortals for their extraordinary feats & accomplishments, we are all mere ordinary people attempting extraordinary things.

We are, in essence, ordinarily extraordinary.

Each and every individual houses latent potential for their own brand of greatness.

Unfortunately, many merely just have not yet realized this upon their own journey of self-actualization and thus haven't and, indeed, may never tap into this potential.

Nevertheless, this egalitarian philosophy 'tis no mere socio-political sophistry, for we are all equal according to the dictates of each our own unique design, abilities & potentiality.

And true & abiding self-esteem rides upon the wings of such a well-balanced worldview.

For a recognition of one's own realistically-based exceptional qualities & one's limitations merely sees what is and allows for these to be as they actually exist.

It needs boast not, for it has carefully cultivated a position of ontological security through wise decision-making & through living a life of moral fortitude & amour-propre.

In truth, I have often observed that the most noteworthy, exceptional people aren't necessarily those who clamour boisterously & bumptiously for the limelight, but those who walk with quiet dignity and inward self-assurance borne of a self-worth cultivated at the divine hand of those things immaterial and intangible.

There are heroes among us as we speak. And they are made known through you, me & everyone who takes a stand in the fight to achieve greatness through Humility & a quiet Faith in all things transcendent & just.

For what else could the prerequisites for true heroism be in a world of such pernicious evil, subversion & human debasement?

REALITY AS MYTH: THE NEW ESCAPISM

It seems that Western culture has been undergoing a paradigm shift. It seems to be seeking immersement within fantasy & mythos via the paradoxical conduit of an exploitation of so-called "reality" or "real-life". In essence, the fixation on a more intense realism seems to now serve the function in and of itself, of escapism. Thus it seems, that reality has become myth.

Furthermore, as our society loses touch with the romanticism & idealism of yesteryears, we have adopted an interestingly antithetical defense mechanism to cope with this loss of mysticism & enchantment. It could perhaps best be described as a counterphobic kind of attack against the existential anxieties extant to the increasing cultivation of an acute, almost militant brand of hyper-realism & corrosive cynicism now so insidiously prevalent.

And as sentimentality & the candid expression thereof, loses its laudable place within society and the culture, and hence, within the individual psyche, we might continue to see a compulsive drive to expose the grittier underbelly of every possible circumstance & happenstance. It seems to be built into the very design of human nature I suppose, to strive to seek wholeness & congruence dwelling as we do in a world which has become increasingly fragmented, dismissive-and indeed, even hostile towards the expression of any authenticity of humanity & traditional spiritual values.

Nevertheless, underneath whatever facades we each may feel it necessity to adorn in the fight for the cause of self-preservation & thrivance, we are all romantics & idealists there beneath it all. For the defining characteristics which make us human involve not only those survivalist urges & instincts, but most importantly we must remind ourselves every day, that the most salient essence of that which makes us human is the psycho-spiritual imperative to think, to love and last but certainly not least-to dream & to evolve.

TRUE FAITH

Ascetic abstention & abnegation, in & of themselves, are not a sufficient means towards an achievement of moral soundness or psycho-spiritual edification & fruition. In other words, merely refraining from giving way to a homicidal impulse & committing a murder (of any penal classification), doth not, a saint make. We often like to deceive ourselves that, as long as we have ticked off all the boxes of 'Thou Shalt Nots', that we no longer owe our debt to God & Society. We like to think that we can just fade away into the periphery of the landscape of Life, footloose & fancy-free, once we have met our sectarian obligations.

But of course, all of this religious piety & torpor is revealed to be yet another blunt yet deft tool of Satan's dark craft, weaving the illusion that ritualistic exactitude clothes one in the finest wear, when it in fact, merely succeeds in wearing one down. Faith, by virtue, exacts something from the seeker of it. True moral fortitude requires risk. It embodies both secular refrain & ecclesiastical dynamism. Although this metaphysical phenomenon often happens in a reverse manner. Instead of the methodology through which Goodness can manifest itself being related only to what we do, it seems quite the opposite most of the time, that we feel to have achieved some moral triumph from within ourselves more so when we have successfully resisted an action of potential or assured evil or destructiveness.

Of course, it may seem mere common sense that good must also be proactive and not just passive. However, it is often the simplest truths one most easily becomes blind to. For far less merit & applause are granted to these quieter, subtler & more internal moralistic triumphs. Yet these, of all meaningful & profoundly worthwhile endeavours & victories, are of primary & ultimate significance for the salvation of each & every individual human being. But, of course, this is merely further evidence of the satanic at work as a pernicious & insidious force within the world. For those “dark powers of this world & of the heavenly realms” are surely aware that the most effective way towards the oppression of the virtuous potentiation of a human heart & mind is in keeping them ever distracted & turned away from the very spiritual weaponry of their own salvation, which is always at their disposal through the orthopraxis of both secular abnegation & sacramental fortitude.

On the whole, one seeking true faith must submit to the soulsmithing mastercraftsmanship of God, asking in earnest supplication, for Him to craft oneself into a rare & holy shrine of both venal abnegation & discarnate concupiscence. For as Holt Writ tells, faith without works is dead. And furthermore, reading between the sacred lines, religious ritualism, without some sincerity of feeling behind it, is also dead-or worse yet, a putrefying remnant of the living dead, embedding its stench into the soul's flesh of those who don its regalia as proudly & insolently as the devil, his unmasked self flaunts, on All Hallows' Eve.

In a word, religiosity is easy, but true faith is scathing & arduous. Although in a reverse proportional sort of way, it also possesses the greatest potential for soteriological edificaton in any fully redemptive sense. Indeed, even Christ Himself had to make that descent into Hades before He was fit for Heaven. And likewise, for us, His floundering disciples, our lives are granted to enact this very same drama of the Grande Design, although we keep asking the same tired questions again & again: What is the meaning of this life? Why are we here? Perhaps we need just accept the fact that we already know the answers to these questions. And perhaps, quite simply yet profoundly, the aim of their nagging insistence which seems to be built into the very blueprint of our ontological machinery, is to goad us on evermore, in finding our way towards true faith & towards the answers to all of life's philosophical inquiries. Because, as any true seeker of faith & salvation comes to see, the answers lie only within the search itself.

A SALVATION WROUGHT IN FEAR & TREMBLING

(Philippians 2: 12-13)

“...continue to work out your salvation in fear & trembling, for it is God who works in you according to his good purpose.”

(2 Peter: 8-9)

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Philosophers, and indeed, even many scientists throughout human history have pondered upon that grand enquiry booming from the cavernous void of that branch of academic Philosophy known as Epistemology: “What is reality?” And indeed, although many shun the significance of such an enquiry and a search for its answer or answers, its nagging persistence nevertheless must lend it some credibility and relevance. Moreover, as we are all too keenly aware, we all inhabit the microcosm of the subjective, solipsistic “self” at the same we feel the demand of so-called “civilized society” to reconcile this individualistic nature into that of a more collectively amenable one.

And oftentimes I think that the cultivation of some kind of harmonic existential coherence between Self & Society, or between the “inner” world of subjectivity vs. that of “outer” socio-political forces & phenomena is perhaps the main task of this human existence as it seems to consume so much of our energies. For we are all indeed, individuals with each our own experiences & manners of expressivity, and yet we also inherently intuit the underlying unity which governs all things throughout Nature. For although the Cartesian reductionism still so pervasively entrenched within Western mentality claims that the “inner” & “outer” must ever remain in opposition and an epic battle with one another, the indisputable fallacy of its twisted logic is revealed within its very oversimplification of a design of both biology and ontology evident within all organisms to be much more profoundly complex, immaterial and elusive.

And although many still cling to these rigid, Lilliputian and indeed, anachronistic paradigms, perhaps it is a pardonable sin in the face of our utter human fragility, myopia & inscience. Thus...Can one ring anything but rancid juice from an over-ripened fruit? Can one ring any juice at all from an under-ripened fruit! Ah! It may indeed be over or under-ripe, but it is by far not yet rancid. For as long as one still has the life-blood flowing in them & the spirit of El Shaddai sustains them, there is the ever-immanent choice of repentance & the due diligence of moral submission. Nevertheless, oftentimes in this life, world-weariness creeps into the bones, & that dark light of worldly knowledge seeps all too deftly & deeply into the cracks of the battered & weary human soul. Yet the problem lies not in this phenomenon itself, but in how we often confuse such perspicacity with depravity. In other words, what we know is not necessarily what we are.

Perhaps this is born from the mistaken notion most pervasively expounded upon throughout the millennia by the philosophies of Cartesian dualism & Platonism, that thoughts & feelings, in & of themselves are either completely severed from our behaviour or that mere thought is at best, immediately & quantifiably as affective & effective as actions. Or, as another author put it: “Ontology & epistemology are not independent.” (Paul Alan Wolf, Starwave: Mind, Consciousness & Quantum Physics). Although, for the record, I think he got a little carried away, as we all do sometimes, upon the gossamer wings of esoterica. Not to mention that this particular inquiry of psychological dialectics & its seemingly infinite modalities may perhaps be best left to another essay, where such flights of intellective fancy can best be indulged. However, abstraction is, for some of us, an exercise of affability.

Furthermore, Saint Jerome coined the term “synderesis” to denote that innate moral cognizance evidenced within man. And later on, of course, that prolific & ubiquitous Saint Augustine further differentiated Jerome's “synderesis” from what he termed “conscientia”. Augustine's “consciencia” denoted the purely intellectual realm of moral discernment, deduced from human reason or intellect alone. Thereby, did Augustine also conclude this purely human phenomenon of moral prescience to be both fallible and, although not altogether useless, incomplete. Moreover, Augustine was keen to dichotomize the “knowledge” of man vs. the “wisdom” of God thus imparted to man. He believed the “synderesis” of Saint Jerome was never in err, as it was possessed only of the very wisdom, omniscience & absolute moral truth of God Himself.

He also compared, if only by analogy, these “metaphysical” laws with the invariancy of those “physical/natural” laws which govern our universe. In a word, Saint Augustine classified the mind of God (Logos) from the mind of man (Conscientia). Augustine understood that the conscience is always subservient to the “logos” due to its need to struggle against that of its inherently human & creaturely limitations in order to discern & actualize “synderesis”. In essence, he clarified for many, how the “conscience” of a man in & of himself, is not only incomplete in its intelligence, but is, by virtue of its entrapment within a mortal & creaturely (rather than demi-deific) incarnation, utterly lost without the inerrantly edifying teachings & scourges of the Spirit. Otherwise one rather shamefully lapses into digressive discipleship with such empty, vapid philosophies (if they can be called that) touted by the likes of those insidious imps called “Atheism” & “Agnosticism”.

Without further ado, (and it is, in this case, much ado indeed about quite something), in regards to the lattermost proclamation, it is my own conclusion after many years of grappling with the same issues of theological and philosophical contention myself, that agnosticism & atheism are essentially one & the same doctrine cleverly camouflaged in the doublespeak of sophistry (and yes, atheism, especially, is a doctrine of dogmatistic fervour unparalleled). Agnosticism & Atheism, therefore it seems, are feeble-minded concepts & terms of redundancy. To put it in less fanciful terms: You either believe in God or you don't. One cannot half believe these postulates which most directly & violently subdue & subjugate the “other”-being faith, with equal devotion. Thus yet another tautological & especially, ontological inconsistency lies inherent within this state of esoteric negation, rotting out the very prefrontal cortex of mens sana.

I, too, finally had to come to terms with this truth. One cannot, indeed serve two masters, namely as we are speaking of here, the master of Doubt & the Master of Belief. To be sure, it ain't over 'til it's over as the old battle hymn goes, & we will continue to wrestle with some doubt about ourselves, but thank God Almighty I have doubt about myself alone being up to the Sisyphean tasks of this life. Quite frankly, because I, myself, alone would and have already merely floundered in such staunch self-sufficiency (or, self-insufficiency is more like it)! As Gilbert Keith Chesterton once noted of that most ignoble doctrine of self-reliance: “Shall I tell where the men are who believe most in themselves? ...They are all in lunatic asylums!” Of course, we today might brandish the verbal swordplay of our forthwith idioms of discourse, nevertheless, philosophical & theological truths always transcend politics.

Or even better, as G.K. Chesterton keenly & in his delightfully playful style once observed: “It would be much truer to say that a man will certainly fail, because he believes in himself.” Yet, should one cloister oneself away from the world in order to avoid one's own nefarious actualization? Or is this merely, the null exchange of one sin for another? And is this is so, which is a worser sin? For after all, virtues, when overextended, become sins, although all sins will always remain, sins. Good can be transformed into evil, but evil, never into good-at least not by the will of man alone. But perhaps this is that paralytic agent thus identified, of the human soul, as its makes its perilous way towards its fullest potentialization. Perhaps it is crippled by its very own discernment of the nature of good & evil, hence, the Edenic scene.

It knows all-too-well that evil, or the darkness, once fully embraced is that much more harrowing to be released from. Thus we fear our own actualization towards the light & towards good, for we know how impotent we often are in the face of our own temptations towards evil. However, we are not completely helpless. For after all, the very fact that we exist to be gripped & plagued by such anxieties must mean that there is a sovereign & benevolent Deity there to sustain & guide us, for we certainly did not create ourselves & cannot manage of our own accord. The old argument from ontology might be perceived as some, as a weak argument, nevertheless I would then concede that the doubt & even hostile refutation of the agnostics & the atheists is bound by the same phenomenon of consciousness.

And, paradoxically & amusingly enough, it often seems to some believers that atheists and some agnostics seem even more dogmatic in their convictions than the average Christian. As a matter of truth, most believers & practitioners of Judeo-Christianity are rather even-tempered. The very submission to both Old & New Testament principles in fact, provides the perfect synthesis & balance for the human soul. Judaism is a perfectly edifying tool for the Intellect, & Christianity, for the Spirit. Yet, regardless of all esoteric musings, I think it comes down to allowing God to train us in not only the way that we should go, but most importantly, in the way that we should think. And sometimes I think that we've got it all wrong. Instead of overly focusing upon the methodology through which Goodness can manifest itself being related only to what we do, it seems quite the opposite most of the time, that we feel to have achieved some moral triumph from within ourselves more so when we have successfully resisted an action of potential or assured evil or destructiveness.

Of course, virtuous actualization must also be proactive and not just passive as in the latter sense of self-restraint. Yet, rather unfortunately, far less merit & applause are granted to these quieter, subtler & more internal moralistic triumphs. Yet these, of all meaningful & profoundly worthwhile endeavours & victories, are of both primary & ultimate significance for the salvation of each & every individual human being. Yet this is merely further evidence of the satanic at work as a pernicious & insidious force within the world. For those “dark powers of this world & of the heavenly realms” are surely aware that the most effective way towards the oppression of the virtuous potentiation of a human heart & mind is in keeping them ever distracted from & turned against the very spiritual weaponry of their own salvation , which is always at their disposal through the orthopraxis of both secular abnegation & sacramental fortitude.

Satanic principalities also attempt to oppress the healthiest aspects of human thought, emotion & expressivity, because they are aware also, how these things are a human individual's most superconductive conduit for holy communion as it relates to the self & God, & towards fruitfulness within the world as it extends in full faith from God to self to other human beings. Furthermore, we also tend to think about spiritual phenomena in the wrong way as well, as being something not only wholly quantifiable, but as something that is permanently fixed or static. Yet in fact, because physicists have now verified this to be the ultimate nature of subatomic physical reality, all is in a constant dynamic of flux, or in the process of some kind of energial transformation according to the first law of thermodynamics & the various laws of symmetry.

Evil can also, as a metaphysical phenomenon just as quickly transform into good with the catalyst of the right choice made by a human individual. And good, in turn, can also quickly become evil if the wrong moral choice is made. And, not unlike the electron-positron pair annihilation observed by physicists being in a steady state of activity, the epic battleground of Good vs. Evil also plays out on a more metaphysical scale. Indeed, there are some, myself included, who have pondered whether or not subatomic phenomena itself is not perhaps those “unseen principalities” (see Ephesians 6:12) referred to in Holy Scripture. Of course, even the so-called “hard sciences” can never compare, in their proclaimed sacrosanctioning, to intellectualis Dei (the Mind Of God). Most of what we think we know is still mere postulate.

In essence, what I am relaying is that we must all each continue to “work out our salvation in fear & trembling” (Philippians 2:12-13) as there is no fixed guarantee that any one person can rest on their laurels, or indifference about their fantasized “goodness” or “badness.” The only thing which truly & ultimately exists is personal accountability & the choices wrought from either an embrace or an abnegation of this golden principle. It is our choices, and only our choices which determine both our earthly & celestial reaping & merits in the eyes of the Lord God Almighty.

“...being confident of this one thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

BLESSED ASSURANCE

Sometimes we must tap into our own loneliness before we can find completion in Christ alone. It is often when we feel the least truly seen by others that we come to a higher and much deeper understanding of ourselves. Our view sharpens most in clarity when we feel mired within the murky uncertainty of our existence. Tethering our intentions and channeling our energies becomes both much harder and much easier in the face of life's vagaries, the indifference and often cruelty of others, and in the face of our own overwhelming ennui.

But thankfully, our Heavenly Father always provides for us, something to renew our spirits so that we can continue on in the uniquely calibrated and fated purpose for our lives. We may never be able to predict with specificity what form that empowerment and encouragement may come in. But we can rest in the knowledge and in the hope that if we persevere, it will come. Resilience in the face of opposition is more a matter of determination and self-respect, both of which have been finely cultivated through all of our trials and travails.

He indeed shall perfect His works both without and from within each of our individual souls and bring it all to completion some fine day. And then, we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt what it has all been for. And not being certain but choosing to trust in an Almighty and Holy God is the root of true faith. And He shall also continue refining that as well. We only must choose each new day to move forward in self-actualization and courage.

THE HIDDEN SINS OF BLIND CONFORMITY:

SELF-ACTUALIZATION AS A MORAL IMPERATIVE

Psalm 51:6

Surely you desire integrity in the inner self, and you teach me wisdom deep within.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.

I find it absurd how many self-professed ‘Christians’ demonize those individuals who take full accountability for their own individuation instead of merely ‘fitting in’. It’s rooted in a false doctrine that to be ‘obedient’ is to be totally devoid of any individual characteristics or discernment! This view is, in fact, not supported ANYWHERE in the Holy Word. I like how David Schrock put it when he said: “The body of Christ calls for individuality, not individualism.” Although he was addressing another issue. We are each called by our Father Creator to develop each our own unique personalities and gifts so that we can put them into proper service in His Kingdom. If we don’t develop self-knowledge, we will not know how to grow and learn as disciples, but will instead be tossed about by the waves and will remain double-minded and digressive.

Furthermore, speaking of 'blind conformity', I am addressing the kind of blind obedience which certain people might use as justification for malfeasant and/or socially harmful actions and/or inactions. The positive and pro-social kind of conformity is, of course, a necessary societal construct in maintaining moral order, etc. Yet, while conformity certainly has its virtues and I am not disputing that, there are many ways that it can also be harmful and unhealthy when it is the kind of conformity adopted blindly.

Each individual person has a moral imperative to develop each their own talents and interests in order to better serve the collective. Individuality must be honoured to a certain degree so that this synthesis and symbiosis between the individual and the collective can thrive best. Now, I am not speaking of the generic kind of 'individuality' spouted by popular culture, the likes of which David Schrock's words were addressing that I mentioned earlier. This kind of individuation is shallow and facile. In a word, we are all inherently 'different', so any kind of forced cultivation in most cases is false. The kind of differentiation of which I speak is that spoken of by Abraham Maslow and Carl Jung in particular.

Maslow, who was a North American born psychologist active mainly during the early part of the 20th century, developed the theory of a 'hierarchy of needs', which explored the necessity of what he coined 'self-actualization' for each human individual to achieve maximum health and happiness. Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss born psychiatrist who is considered the 'father of modern psychoanalysis.' Jung also recognized, as an ontological necessity, what he termed 'individuation', to be a part of any human being's mental and what he called 'psycho-spiritual' health. In this brief article I will be outlining what I consider to be the benefits of self-actualization and individuation, as well as briefly touching upon the more deleterious or harmful effects of a neglect of one's own unique design.

Primarily, the first benefit is pretty basic and speaks for itself. When an individual works to develop their own identity and skills even at the expense of becoming 'cast out' by the social majority, society as a whole is much better off for that individual's efforts at sharing those abilities and talents within it. Furthermore, when we 'take up our own cross' of individuation, we are generally much happier, healthier and productive and pro-social beings. Therefore, contrary to the misconception, the cultivation of each our own happiness and contentment and success in life is not an ANTI-social act, but rather a decidedly PRO-social one! And it is not 'selfish' in the way that most people classify it.

There are two kinds of 'self-centeredness'. One is narcissistic and pathological and the other is empathic and healthy. As the adage goes, “One cannot serve from an empty vessel.” And to that I would add, “One cannot serve from a shattered vessel.” Thus, we can see how we are actually called by our Father God and Creator to develop our gifts and unique interests and talents to better serve Him and our fellow human beings. In essence, when we 'love' and respect ourselves enough to embrace our own development, we are also in turn, heeding God's very command to love and serve others as we love ourselves, and to love and dedicate our lives to honoring God with our devotion, time and gifts.

The world is so much better off and much more interesting and challenging with each our own truest selves being deployed in it! And although this journey can be frightening and arduous more often than not, at least we have paved the way for the next brave soul who follows in our footsteps on their own path to self-actualization.

Furthermore, let's explore the 'dark underbelly of the beast' known as blind conformity. During many dark periods of human history, many individuals, full of malice and motivated by all sorts of reprobate and evil ideologies, have caused unimaginable suffering to the human race, all rationalized and indeed, even championed, under the guise of nationalistic, religious or otherwise general communal 'solidarity'. And as Oscar Wilde once observed “Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious.”

Although I personally think the word “nationalism” to be more apt, what he was getting at was, that the 'majority rule' does not preclude a system of moralistic checks and balances which needs to be operant in order to ensure less abuses of power. In fact, many would surmise that, the more people who seem to be blindly and vigorously jumping on the bandwagon about something, the less likely what they are supporting is both rationally and/or morally sound. Thus, bringing me to my main point concerning blind conformity as an inadequate and actually sinful substitute for individuation.

The main ways that blind conformity contributes to more evil rather than good in society is that it interferes with the mental, emotional, spiritual, social and vocational health, genuine self-esteem & wholeness of each person who adheres to it. Societal evils such as physical, sexual and mental/emotional abuse, especially of children become prevalent. Many do not see the connection between this, but I guarantee you, there absolutely is. One's own personal accountability for one's own life trajectory are essential to each our own ability to proceed in a positive and pro-social manner towards psycho-spiritual growth and functionality.

In finale, many character disturbances and disorders are both directly and indirectly the result of neglect of one's own spiritual, moral and general existential responsibilities to the collective AND the individual. Moreover, a daily application and practice of self-reflection and examination are moralistically imperative towards the proper development of our innermost being and character. In essence, we must first 'Know thyself,' if we are to be able to contribute in any healthy and robust way to those persons and causes whose paths we will cross and whose tasks we shall undergo out in society.

Cultivating self-awareness is also elemental to our ability to develop empathy towards others as well. On the whole, all human beings, despite our inherent uniqueness, share a common enough psychological makeup to be able to understand one another. And all that is required for the most part to understand another, is to reflect honestly upon ourselves, as we are fundamentally and philosophically similar. Thus, we can see how the striving for self-actualization and individuation enables us to be the best that we can be both for ourselves and for others. For every person who chooses the long, hard and often lonesome road of inner truth, that many more choose the wide and smooth road of blind conformity, and the world does suffer for it.

We are all so valuable to our Father God that He calls each and every one of us to develop each our own talents, skills and personalities not only for others' benefit, but also because He wants us to be happy and fulfilled. And the only way towards an authentic sense of deep and abiding peace and joy is by compromising the illusory pleasures and glittering generalities of 'fitting in' at any cost. Because in the end, 'fitting in' with ourselves is what we all desire deep down.

Each individual is a part of an irreducibly complex matrix of give and take. What I have to offer others and the world at large may not seem to always carry that much weight considering the vastness of our universe and the ever-increasing human populace, but I can at least take assurance in the fact that what I contribute is helping someone out there and is coming from an authentic place. The mysterious and wondrous workings of metaphysical mechanics have always been calculated to be a quality over quantity equation anyhow.

1 Peter 4:10-11 (NIV)

10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

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