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creativity
December 2009 
existential teen
neverness
our culture of the hyperinflated self does a disservice to all of us. this disservice is no more obvious than in how we deal with our teenagers. the teenage years are one of navigating between childhood and adulthood. as such, the teenager comes face to face with our existential givens, that we age, suffer and die. naturally, the teenager looks around him for guidance, for ways of being with these stark truths.
our culture basically offers two paths -- either to embrace a mythic religion or to embrace the culture of self. many teenagers, see through the obvious contradictions of mythic religions and label them as inauthentic and not a real option. many teenagers, also see the shallowness of the culture of self and reject that as well.
the teenager thus finds themselves cast in this existential minefield, surrounded by their peers, with no acceptable maps on how to navigate it. a subculture evolves around how to deal with these existentials. the answers are usually three -- defy it, cling onto life through sexuality, anesthetize against it.
what the teenager is not aware of is that the adult culture utilizes this teenage subculture to fuel itself. that is, the dominant culture uses the energy created by the teenage subculture to run its culture of the hyperinflated self that buttresses it against the existential givens. thus, the teenagers, who thought they were rebelling against the dominant culture, find that their struggles were the fuel to run that which they rebelled against. that is, the dominant cultures answer to the existential givens is sacrificing their teenagers to the heroic journeys through the existential minefield.
and since, this existential minefield is quite dangerous without a good map, many wounds are accumulated throughout the process. the teenagers after having spent a considerable amount of life energy without discovering any more efffective ways of being with the existential givens besides defying it, clinging to life or anesthetizing against it, find themselves successfully initiated into the culture of the hyperinflated self. that is, the teenagers, now adults, join in the horde of succubi circling the arena of our teenage gladiators, sucking up their lifeblood to keep our aging, suffering and annihilation at bay.
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interesting, insightful and illuminating perspective. so, how do you/would you, support an awareness up to and through this passage in time (of a teenager), that understands this and can find a new way to navigate that is more creative? does seeing this dynamic so clearly as an adult or as part of a culture, enable you to dance with it differently?
one could write a book on the subject of how to support the teenager into authenticity. briefly i will say, that we need to be real to them about the existential givens, and not offer canned answers, but rather a window into the mystery s that life is. additionally, since we are a selffocused culture we also need to offer alternate paths and how to walk them and navigate our culture. two of these paths are a soul path and an integrated path, that is a path of soul and self. finally, i would say that having each teenager grok change and creativity is vital.
and yes, i would say that seeing this dynamic clearly enables one to dance with our culture differently.
I would love to see you write a book on the subject. I agree that being real with teenagers, and not giving canned answers is essential. I think that a powerful support is by example; our own modeling what it is like to dance beyond preconceptions - what it is like to trust/respect our (and their) innate creative intelligence and rest in mystery. I also like the idea of bringing conscious awareness to the cutural focus and offering an understanding, if not an experience of alternatives. Again, I think a powerful application of this that leads to experience rather than theory is living and embodying it; speaking from and to soul, for example.
of course a question is what does speaking from and to soul look like. too often, soul talk gets warped by the predominant self culture, leaving weak strands to build upon. a clear delineation of soul and its relationship with self, of the imaginal and how to navigate is required.
from your blog on soul:
“soul– as the vehicle of the deep within; knows it was created from out of the very substance of the depths; as such the question of its fullness, richness, interconnectiveness, its depths is moot”
by your definition, it would not be soul without the sense of “interconnectiveness”, yes?
you did another post on self and soul …. do you want to add to that to describe what you feel is “a clear delineation of soul and its relationship with self ….”, etc.?
yes a clear delineation is called for. i will write another post on this subject when i get the chance.