12 Years Ago

Darin Stevenson updated his status.

Oct 01, 2013 10:29:25 pm

I had the kind of ‘awakening’ experience that anyone would dream of. A nightmare, too, to be sure. But it forever changed me and my life. But then, and this was promised to me, came a man capable of slaying it. Completely. He believed -nothing- of what I was saying, or selling. And we became friends, of a sort. For the first five years, I presumed him an aggressive, bullying, idiot who was incapable of entertaining imaginative views. So I shut up and listened. Around year 6 I -began- to understand what he was talking about. And it was sobering, useful and absolutely crucial to my own path. It took -me- 6 -years- to -begin- to understand him. And as I did, my fairy-tale ideas about myself, spirituality, and even my own experience began to fall away and change. And that is what I wanted. Because -I had to escape my own religion-. And to do that, I needed -the most powerful adversary I could find-. Somehow, that was provided. We think we want to be with others who agree with us, and there’s a place for that, it’s true. But it isn’t everyplace. We might think we need to become healthy, wealthy, and famous… that this looks like success. There’s an element of that in those things. But it isn’t pure. Popularity. ‘Financial freedom’. But I’m telling you, cultures of agreement and our personal religions are a deadlier cage than those we flee into them from. So, if you want to wake up, find someone with absolutely no patience for your personal style of lying. Especially to yourself. Especially about wisdom and our nature. Or anything important.