Dear
reader,
We are
entering the second month of 2026, and here is a reflection about the current
events that are creating much chaos in the world and especially in the USA. I
am following the teachings of Michael Meade, the mythologist with much wisdom.
“While
often being considered the leading nation in the world, the United States
increasingly finds itself on the cutting edge of cultural upheaval, political
polarization and increasing violence that includes mass shootings and
politically motivated killings. The recent tragedy of a political activist
being shot and killed by a radicalised young man, while appearing distinct in
the sense of being a political assassination, can also be seen as part of the
larger tragedy of young men acting out cultural violence.
Whether we
like it or not, young people tend to manifest, express and even act out the
psychological and emotional symptoms of the culture in which they must grow. If
young men are not fully invited into social life and given a genuine sense of
meaning and purpose, something volatile and potentially destructive inside them
can drift towards the darker areas of the psyche and in the modern world, can
pull them into the darkest parts of the World Wide Web.
While
specific causes and motivations for shootings by young men are complex, there
are familiar patterns to the trajectory that leads to acting out violently.
Research indicates that there is often a strong sense of grievance that comes
from a disconnect between the lives they lead and the lives they think they
should have. This inner disconnect can lead to fantasies of having unlimited
power along with intense desires for recognition and admiration. Aided by the
extremes of social media, their sense of grievance and their violent visions
take up more and more of their mental and emotional lives.
While
modern societies lack clarity, understanding and wisdom when it comes to issues
of men and violence, traditional cultures developed rites of passage in order
to directly engage and temper the wild energies of youth and the reckless urge
to battle with both life and death. For there is an inner volatility that
cannot be denied or be ignored without consequences that can turn inward as
depression and self-harm or erupt outwardly in violence and destruction aimed
at the society that failed to recognise, accept and include them.
It seems to
me that in this group, we also have to include those who appear to be grown
men, but who demonstrate untampered emotions, reckless, immature attitudes
about violence that contribute to the tearing apart of society. In many ways,
we are all during a collective rite of passage that requires that we awaken to
the deeper issues that can turn a society against itself, while leaving young
people in growing gaps of isolation, alienation and despair.”
The author
is also a very positive person and gives us all the HOPE we are looking for:
” Each
personal crisis and life transition can evoke the esoteric pattern of the soul
and the deep Self waiting to awaken within us. The presence of the greater self
is what shifts the ground of trauma and heals the aching soul. As things fall
apart all around us, the deep self seeks to awaken our primary impulses towards
creativity and the essential urge to become who and what we are at our core.”
