"...becoming an adult is not so much a forging a new identity as it is discovering an identity that was already imprinted on one’s soul by a Creator that placed you here, in this time and place, for a reason. This is why it is so necessary to withdraw and clear the noise away...Some people never find that calling and live their lives doing what society tells them they should do, working unfulfilling careers and having families they never really wanted."
What an insight! I've often lamented in my heart the lack of rites of passage because of the way we lose our sense of being part of and responsible for a community which is equally responsible to us, as well as the sense of coming of age that you touch on. But I had never connected it to the sense of purpose we may or may not experience--and how we may verge off into lives not intended for us because of it. It's mind boggling to me to think of how many quiet rebellions against the empire, intended merely as living within our purpose, would create a society of, as you say, "more grounded, spiritual, responsible adults who feel up to the task of confronting the day’s greatest struggles." (And how the empire, with all its inequality and inequity, thrives off maintaining a struggle that prevents people from being able to slow down, detach, focus, and discover their Creator-given imprint.) What a vision-a society of "grounded, spiritual, responsible adults" working in tandem to bring the earth back to her intended state!
So. GOOD.
"...becoming an adult is not so much a forging a new identity as it is discovering an identity that was already imprinted on one’s soul by a Creator that placed you here, in this time and place, for a reason. This is why it is so necessary to withdraw and clear the noise away...Some people never find that calling and live their lives doing what society tells them they should do, working unfulfilling careers and having families they never really wanted."
What an insight! I've often lamented in my heart the lack of rites of passage because of the way we lose our sense of being part of and responsible for a community which is equally responsible to us, as well as the sense of coming of age that you touch on. But I had never connected it to the sense of purpose we may or may not experience--and how we may verge off into lives not intended for us because of it. It's mind boggling to me to think of how many quiet rebellions against the empire, intended merely as living within our purpose, would create a society of, as you say, "more grounded, spiritual, responsible adults who feel up to the task of confronting the day’s greatest struggles." (And how the empire, with all its inequality and inequity, thrives off maintaining a struggle that prevents people from being able to slow down, detach, focus, and discover their Creator-given imprint.) What a vision-a society of "grounded, spiritual, responsible adults" working in tandem to bring the earth back to her intended state!