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Creating Bridges: Spirituality & Philosophy: The Awakening Generation
On Sheep, Mohawks, and the Greatest Gift You'll Ever Give Yourself
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by Ann Marie Judge |
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Insta-Character
As humans in a global world, we don't have time to understand people; we need our quick one-line descriptions so we can move to the next thing as quickly as possible. It's what I like to call “insta-character.”
I say, “Hi, my name is Ann Marie and I'm a spiritual seeker.” [Label: insert cultural stigmas here about people with little to no grounding in reality, rather crazy, flighty, dramatic individuals who do a lot of drugs, meditate daily, and are seeking enlightenment.] You say, “Hi, my name is Dave and I'm a computer engineer” [Label: he likely makes a good deal of money, but he's boring. He watches Star Trek, is quite realistic about life, and is probably not a very religious or spiritual person.]
Really, Dave is a devout Jehovah's Witness who could care less about Star Trek and actually loves to watch “American Idol” with his pet Chihuahua, Tinkerbell. And I, for one, have never taken a drug in my life save for when I had my wisdom teeth removed and this weird surgery on my tailbone... Don't ask... Not to mention, meditating is not high on my list of fun things to do, and rather than seeking enlightenment, I actually just love being fully human, since that's why I chose to be here after all.
When we set up a world where we only have time to be cookie-cutter versions of ourselves, we created a self-defeating system. We not only don't see beyond other people's titles and labels; we don't see beyond our own little boxes.
As humans, this is partially a very natural tendency. If you were born into a Roman Catholic family, whether you grow up to love it or hate it, it's what you know about the world and thus how you look out at the world. For me, I was baptized in an Irish Catholic church and attended church for many years with my father and my sister. In college, though I had not been a “Christian” for many years, I was naturally drawn to the courses and majors that went in depth about Christianity; I wanted to know the truth behind it all, because growing up, I felt there was something not quite right and I needed to know why. To this day, I still love going to church and listening to the sermons, feeling the community, singing in the choir (and attending the potlucks!).
It's like speaking a language; you communicate with others using the words and colloquialisms you were taught; it's how you take in the world, how you describe everything to yourself and to everyone else who speaks your language.
In short, you can only know what you know.
Pigeonholed
The unnatural part comes in when you want to get out of a persona, and you can't. Nor can you meld two different social groups together, even in something so simple as your clothing style.
As a young person, I see this happen every day. Preppy, emo, hippy, goth, jock, nerd/geek/dork, punk... The list is endless. Any teenager knows that there is simply no such thing as a “emo geek” or a “preppy hippy,” or, all gods forbid, a “gothic jock!” In other words, if you are one thing, you couldn't possibly be another.
We built these boxes so high around ourselves for comfort and security, and now we can't even see out.
Again, it's a very natural tendency of humans to desire family and community, but we're being suffocated in these tiny spaces with too many people, too many fancy perfumes, and in some cases, some dangerously long, pointy mohawks and body jewelry that keeps getting tangled up.
Take a step back and ask yourself, “Why am I calling myself emo?” “Why do I associate with hippies?” “What about being goth do I love?” Yes, I know it sounds tremendously stupid, given that if you do associate with one social community, you probably don't even address it in speech; it's in intrinsic thing.
But if you do try, if you do search within and find that there is something in you that is different from your community, you have to reach for it and not be afraid that you'll be cast out by your beloved social group for deviating.
Easier said than done, as the cliché goes.
Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat
If you find something in you that doesn't follow social protocol, following it is probably not going to be pretty. Sellout, wannabe, poser... No, those terms do not give me the warm fuzzies. Humans don't like it when our brethren rock the boat; we joined these groups in part because we were afraid to not be loved, to not have a “home” in community.
When you get a group of people together based on fear, that fear's going to come out in the form of anger if you try to leave it, or even change things up a little. Yes, a great many groups are based on love. But think of this: if you normally associate yourself with a punk crowd at school, how warmly would you be received if you came in with Brittany Spears blasting in your headphones? Or, what if you were a jock who decided you just had to have a nose ring? Or, for a more extreme example, what if you are “straight” and realize you have fallen in love with another man or woman?
In most cases, you're facing mild to harsh criticism at best, and the far end of the spectrum is the stuff of the evening news. When fear is involved, anything's game. Middle school and high school cultural warfare is one thing; the extreme end of this continuum usually stems from religious and ethnic fighting, gangs, homophobic persons and groups, and other discriminatory organizations, all of which are most directly based on fear and thus react with the most force out of that fear.
Now, I'm not one for scare tactics, and I recognize that most of this is just petty squabbling. But why would you want to base your life on a simple human tendency that has the power to create enough fear to start international warfare?
There's something else at work on an even deeper level, too.
It's the person that makes the clothes, not the clothes that make the person.
What everyone needs to do is step back and look at why they do what they do. If you wear studded belts and tight t-shirts because you love the feel of it, perfect. If you wear Hollister and Abercrombie because you love their sense of style, awesome. If you are a vegan and wear hemp jewelry because you enjoy knowing you're being kind to the environment, great.
Do what you do out of love for yourself and your life. Once you do that, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of you.
But if you're doing it as a status symbol of how much money your dad makes, or because you think those whiny emo kids are ruining rock music, or those preppy idiots ruined your life in middle school and now you're deathly adverse to anything remotely “mainstream,” it's time for something new. Instead of being who you are in opposition to something, divert your energy, choose another path.
The point of all of this is that anything that keeps you from seeing beyond yourself, anything that you do that keeps you from being who you truly feel you are inside, anything that keeps you from seeing someone else as a credible and worthy human being is going to get in your way very soon. It's too easy to give in to fear; that's the common road.
“On the path of learning, try not to rely on crutches - they may get in your way when you have to run.”
To Run
My challenge to the world, especially young people—myself included—is to realize that there is a time to be loved and surrounded by community and comfort, and a time to step outside of it.
One of my favorite songs lately has these lyrics: “...Mine is a generation that circles the globe in search of something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation; never resist the unfamiliar; never fail to be polite; and never outstay your welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience, and if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it.”
New generations always go beyond the boundaries of the last, but we have become so intent on showing the world that we are different when really, we're still getting stuck in the same boxes, only with different paint on the front.
The real change is not what happens externally; it's entirely internal.
Truly and honestly, wear the Abercrombie, eat that vegan stuff, listen to Brittany Spears, wear ten foot tall mohawks... Hell, join the circus for all I care. But be REAL about it. Sheep never aspired to greatness—believe me, we own a number of them and my father doesn't call them “space cadets” because of their vast knowledge of aeronautical physics.
And even more than just living for some nebulous notion of greatness, there's too much life to live out there, plain and simple. To spend your whole live re-living someone else's original idea is like never stepping off the sidewalk to smell a flower, never craning your head around a corner to look at a beautiful passer-by, never mixing a little hot sauce with your food for some kick... There's too much color out there to only perceive someone else's palette.
Everyone chose to be on this beautiful earth to learn something new, to overcome even just a little pain, to re-shape something within. The line that sticks out most in that song I mentioned is, “Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience, and if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it.”
It's definitely worth it.
Yes, deviating from your comfort zone is not fun.
Humans have an intrinsic ability to make the best of every situation, to learn to live with just about anything; stifling the self to stay in a semi-happy place, or even just an easy place, is a prime example of this. It's the proverbial, “I'll quit smoking tomorrow” you hear so often. Your body has learned to live with the toxins you're taking in, and even though sometimes you feel sick, it's livable.
When you finally do quit, it's painful. You wonder often why you're even doing it when you actually feel worse than before you decided to go through with it.
But if you have experienced coming out on the other side of the pain, you know it was... more than worth it.
It's the same with all of life. You can't even imagine how amazing the world looks if you decide to dive into that which gives you pain, and commit to actually emerging out on the other side. That's the beauty of it; if you could perceive already how incredible it would be, there'd be no point in trying to get there.
That's also what makes it so frightening. But to be afraid of the unknown is such a beautiful thing! It's something real, it's the indicator that things are moving, things are happening, change is occurring, growth is imminent. Embracing all of the human drama, frightening or not, is the beauty of living.
It's the muck of the in-between, ho-hum life, settling for less than you're worth, learning to “live with it,” staying in the same place because it's kind of warm and the food's always on the table that's going to be the killer. You can stay there now, it will work for a while; it might even work well.
But the world's not going to be a place for that much longer.
When everyone around you starts to shed their titles, all the insta-labels that used to make them who they were, all the things that kept them from creating their own color palettes, diving into their pains, and emerging into the sunlight, what will you do? Will you shed your crutches and run, too?
I can't convince you of anything, but somewhere within you, you know you are worth every bit of the beauty that can be found on the other side of the pain, of living each day like the last and trudging down the road of life. Even the pain itself becomes beautiful; it's the Technicolor of life, and you are worth every shade and hue it has to offer. But first, you have to let go of the fear; the fear of not finding love when you allow yourself to emerge; the fear of losing your home and your “place” in society. Your true home is always within; I know it's a cliché thing to say, but it's not stuck around this long for nothing.
Shed all that keeps you boxed and suffocating, fearing and hiding. Dive in, emerge into the sunlight, and just... breathe. I promise it will be better than you could ever imagine.
That's the beauty of it.
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Ann Marie Judge
Crystal Child, Student of Life, Spirituality, & Writer
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Ann Marie graduated from high school in 2005 and is currently at a crossroads in life. She is currently pursuing her love of photography and when she's not photographing, she spends most of her time doing internships and volunteering at local art galleries. In the fall, she plans to attend a massage therapy academy.
Not yet old enough for acronyms at the end of her name, she considers herself a student of life, and has been deeply involved in the spiritual community since her first awakening at the age of twelve. Since then, she has had much education in the metaphysical and spiritual arts by a wide variety of teachers and healers. She was very quickly recognized as a Crystal and Indigo child, as well as a clairvoyant and intuitive.
Because she was able to begin living for the spiritual at a young age, her dream is to reach out through her writing to other young people that are experiencing similar awakenings while still being within the educational system and a society that often does not recognize or nurture young, spiritually-gifted ones. Her vision is to form a community of spiritually-minded young people so that the younger generations will be prepared to be guides and teachers as the spiritual consciousness of the world continues to rise.
Though much of her life is still largely potential, she feels this time in her life is the first step in fulfilling her dream of becoming a published writer so as to serve the children and young people of the world that feel the spiritual stirring within. As well, she hopes to educate parents on how to nurture and understand what is going on in their children's minds from a young person's perspective.
Visit her website at
www.RandomActsof
Literacy.com
to read her works, view
her art, and gain insight into the spiritual experiences of an Awakened young person."
This Month at Random Acts of Literacy
This month at Random Acts of Literacy:
The forums (www.RandomActs
ofLiteracy.com
/forums) are taking off, with many intelligent and diverse minds already sharing their truths and experiences. Come by and read what young people are really saying about the world today, and add your voice to the mix! All ages, beliefs, and walks of life are encouraged to join us in our discussions and sharing.
There is also a new gallery that can be found at www.RandomActs
ofLiteracy.com/gallery. If you or someone you know is looking for a way to display his or her artwork online in a clear and easily-navigable format, we will soon be adding a section to the gallery of other people's artwork. Contact Ann Marie at ann@randoma
ctsofliteracy.com for more information.
Find the forums at
www.RandomActsof
Literacy.com/forums, as well as a link to it on the navigation of the RAOL homepage.
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