But then i thought: what if it isn't in spite of, but BECAUSE of the beauty that they've experienced, that they've become such assholes?
Possibly think about these so called spiritual issues as psychological
That's it, and is a little scary, because it's really hard to confront. Some of the worst ones have a lot of defenders. A lot if these people pull off the 'ultra spiritual',thing really well, a lot of them are narcissistic sociopaths, some are both.
The really bad ones know that they are in a place rife with lost people seeking guidance answers and truth. Offer a little, wear some white and beads and Bam! Instant shaman.
Sham-men like that Trinity deGuzman guy pop up like weeds in this environment, it's up to us to self police this thing and call them out. Responsibly of course, without personal agenda.
Maybe I'm getting to the place where I'm second guessing everything, re analyzing my intentions and the community I'm involved in because I've been in long enough to see the dark corners. Which is a good thing. I just feel like I'm beyond the apologetic phase and don't need to over amplify all the shiny good stuff, but begin to look at some of the not so great parts to see what can be done.
I do think there is unquestionably a renaissance, a resurgence, a reawakening, paradigm shift, awareness, whatever you want to call it. Finally, psychedelics will be at least partially available legally through therapists' offices pretty soon. The legalization of weed I always point to, and a general about face in the public conversation about drug use and abuse, as well as drastic improvements in the quality and accessibility to treatment and change in policy away from harsher sentencing guidelines are all signs.
The community here at the nexus is highly equipped to be on the front lines of this shift and indeed I think it is. The conversations here have gone on to become The Conversations around some of the concepts, attitudes and behavior in the larger community. That's big responsibility, folks!