Hi Tobias! Greetings from the gym in Riverton where I got ChatGPT to read your post aloud and generate an audio version!
(And then we had a brief conversation about how awesome it was!)
Thank you. Thanks for sharing so openly and vulnerably and giving us as your friends and readers something deep to connect with in the form of your reality.
We eff the ineffable by pointing to it in ways that others can infer 👍
As you described the experience of your youth and your relationship with cynicism, it brought to mind an image from the second inside out movie (the emotion of Ennui)- I’m sure based on your description that you see it somewhat similarly: Perhaps so-called “cynicism” is a burdened ‘Ennui’ manager part- where (as I take it from your story) the exile is pain/hurt from the need for connection not being met (and perhaps other things), hence ‘Ennui’ takes a preemptively cynical/intellectual perspective on things (fuck everything. Everything is shit). The mystery question is: would it have felt that way if society were “well” and full of deep emotional and spiritual connection?
Side note: I’d love to catch up again soon. Your post has inspired me.
Hahaha gee I wonder what ChatGPT made me sound like? 🧐🤔
Thank you for reading! I Loved Inside Out #1 but I haven't yet seen #2 - so I have homework to do before I can give you good response to your suggestion about Ennui.
My immediate response to your mystery question is: No, I don't think it would have felt that way. In fact, I believe we are living in a well-disguised dystopian time in that regard - that we have lived much of our history much more steeped in mysticism, symbolism, meaning, spiritual connection. But equally that there is great hope. I believe, empowered as we by the critical rational scientific mind - if we can learn to Also switch on our more spiritual faculties we may have a powerful time of awakening ahead of us.
This post touched my heart deeply Tobias. Thanks for sharing.
I too, share a kind of hope and faith for what's possible in this human life that we live. Sometimes that can seem downright silly in the face of where the world seems to be heading on the surface of things, but my faith isn't on the surface of things, my faith is in something deeper, hidden beneath the mundane. A kind of buried treasure.
I've never taken ayahuasca in my life, I'm not opposed to it, it just hasn't been my path. My path has been one of spiritual practice and inquiry and growth and development and inner soul searching and healing and changing patterns.
I have had several experiences of the divine, in some ways similar to what you've described in your post, which always serve me well as touchstones to return to when I seemingly lose my way.
Modernity can be a barren, lonely, dark, meaningless place at times and it can be hard to push through the fog and emerge out the other side with a beautiful, fresh, open-hearted view of the world, but I have faith in the depths, I have faith in humanity and I have faith in the emergence of our spiritual truth. As you do. That much is clear to me.
Thank you so much for reading this with depth, and for receiving this sharing as you have. I feel understood and a mutuality that brings me a lot of joy and satisfaction in having shared this.
Hi Tobias! Greetings from the gym in Riverton where I got ChatGPT to read your post aloud and generate an audio version!
(And then we had a brief conversation about how awesome it was!)
Thank you. Thanks for sharing so openly and vulnerably and giving us as your friends and readers something deep to connect with in the form of your reality.
We eff the ineffable by pointing to it in ways that others can infer 👍
As you described the experience of your youth and your relationship with cynicism, it brought to mind an image from the second inside out movie (the emotion of Ennui)- I’m sure based on your description that you see it somewhat similarly: Perhaps so-called “cynicism” is a burdened ‘Ennui’ manager part- where (as I take it from your story) the exile is pain/hurt from the need for connection not being met (and perhaps other things), hence ‘Ennui’ takes a preemptively cynical/intellectual perspective on things (fuck everything. Everything is shit). The mystery question is: would it have felt that way if society were “well” and full of deep emotional and spiritual connection?
Side note: I’d love to catch up again soon. Your post has inspired me.
Hey Shawn!
Hahaha gee I wonder what ChatGPT made me sound like? 🧐🤔
Thank you for reading! I Loved Inside Out #1 but I haven't yet seen #2 - so I have homework to do before I can give you good response to your suggestion about Ennui.
My immediate response to your mystery question is: No, I don't think it would have felt that way. In fact, I believe we are living in a well-disguised dystopian time in that regard - that we have lived much of our history much more steeped in mysticism, symbolism, meaning, spiritual connection. But equally that there is great hope. I believe, empowered as we by the critical rational scientific mind - if we can learn to Also switch on our more spiritual faculties we may have a powerful time of awakening ahead of us.
side-note: 100% let's grab a coffee.
A further thought: perhaps the healthy cousin of cynicism is simply open-minded scepticism. AKA unburdened Ennui intellectual part
Love it Tobias, thank you!
This post touched my heart deeply Tobias. Thanks for sharing.
I too, share a kind of hope and faith for what's possible in this human life that we live. Sometimes that can seem downright silly in the face of where the world seems to be heading on the surface of things, but my faith isn't on the surface of things, my faith is in something deeper, hidden beneath the mundane. A kind of buried treasure.
I've never taken ayahuasca in my life, I'm not opposed to it, it just hasn't been my path. My path has been one of spiritual practice and inquiry and growth and development and inner soul searching and healing and changing patterns.
I have had several experiences of the divine, in some ways similar to what you've described in your post, which always serve me well as touchstones to return to when I seemingly lose my way.
Modernity can be a barren, lonely, dark, meaningless place at times and it can be hard to push through the fog and emerge out the other side with a beautiful, fresh, open-hearted view of the world, but I have faith in the depths, I have faith in humanity and I have faith in the emergence of our spiritual truth. As you do. That much is clear to me.
Again, thanks for sharing 🙏❤️
Hi Maitreya,
Thank you so much for reading this with depth, and for receiving this sharing as you have. I feel understood and a mutuality that brings me a lot of joy and satisfaction in having shared this.
Thank you 🙏💚
Fabulous! Happy healing 🤍.