Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Spiritual Growth

Within the realm of the unknown is both the impossible, that which we currently do not have the skill to do, and the potential for positive growth or change. When we approach the chaos of the unknown with care and a plan, the potential within the chaos of the unknown can be turned into a positive learning and growth experience.
Culture, protects us from the unknown. Over protection of culture becomes tyrannical. Suppression of exploration will, over time, lead to a breakdown of the cultural. Now if a Hero, of mythic type, comes and restructures the cultural norms, the pain is lessened because the discovery of the potential, by the Hero, is a deliberate act. And this discovery of the potential growth, while painful, can be incorporated into the culture before it breaks down. This discovery of the potential is deliberate. But if the tyranny becomes too suppressive and the Hero's not allowed to act, painful though their acts sometimes are, then the culture will not grow but eventually shatter. The unknown of chaos will over take the culture and the culture will be violently changed, which is more painful than the Heroic approach. The cultural change will be determined by the chaotic forces and it will become randomly restructured. This often results in war and violence. Myth, religion, and the ritualistic acting out of myth in religious rites, when it becomes an intra-personal process, generates the Heroes that the culture requires. This allows for the culture to evolve over time and embrace necessary change. By doing this at both the individual and social level, embracing change, the culture becomes actually safe both as a cultural protective device and as a place wherein it is safe to dwell.

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