Musings

The Ideal of Informational Dominance

“Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.”

— H. G. Wells (1898), The War of the Worlds
Image result for christopher wiley today show

Yesterday I watched Savannah interview Christopher Wylie on the Today Show (see https://www.today.com/video/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-says-the-company-worked-with-trump-campaign-strategist-and-steve-bannon-1189326915651).  As he  described the company Cambridge Analytica and explained the “ideal of informational dominance” it brought home the global battle with darkness that we are facing today.  He explained:

“Cambridge Analytica was founded on misappropriated data….I think what is really    important for people to understand is that Cambridge Analytica was birthed out of a  company called SCL Group which is a military contractor based in London.  This          data was used to create profiling algorithms that would allow us to explore mental      vulnerabilities of people and map out ways to inject information into different streams or channels of content online so that people started to see things all over the place that may or may not have been true.  This is a company that took fake news to the next level by powering it with algorithms.”

“You have to understand that this is based on an ideal called informational dominance which is the idea that if you can capture every channel around a person and inject content around them, you can change their perception of what is actually happening.  The fundamental difference between what Cambridge Analytica has done and standard political messaging is that when I show you an ad for a candidate it says, “Hi, I’m so and so and I approve this message.”  It is apparent that they are seeing political messaging.  It is apparent that they are trying to be convinced.  What Cambridge Analytica does is works on creating a web of disinformation online so people go down a rabbit hole of clicking on blogs, websites, etc. that make them think that certain things are happening that may not be.”

When asked if he had a political agenda he replied, “I think we need to step back for a second and de-politicize this because this is about the safety of Americans and the integrity of the American democratic process.  This data was misapproriated and mishandled by this company and I think they need to be investigated for that.” 

The “ideal” of informational dominance is subconsciously hijacking will, psychologically controlling behavior on a global scale.  We might assume that Wylie is initiating a global outrage, a global awareness to set off our current stand up, organize and march paradigm that is creating change.  Activism has awakened and now is a ripe time for people to speak up and speak out against what typically we denied, ignored, or adapted to because there was too much natural information dominance normalizing undercurrents of immorality, hate, and dehumanization.  The question is, “What are we willing to sacrifice?”  Change always requires real sacrifice.  Would we sacrifice social media?

We need to awaken or stay awake!  We are now in an age where we can collectively be held hostage to a War of the Worlds algorithm operating as an undercurrent in our subconscious awareness.  If I heard myself say this two years ago I would think I had gone mad.  In this consumerist society, however, we are now over consuming information, consciously and unconsciously.  The algorithm KNOWS how to engage addictive consumption of information and bring us down rabbit holes of misinformation and complex manipulation.  It knows how to create mass think, mass delusion, mass confusion, mass terror.

In 2014 Elon Musk  (https://www.techemergence.com/elon-musk-on-the-dangers-of-ai-a-catalogue-of-his-statements/)  declared “artificial intelligence (AI) as the most serious threat to the survival of the human race” and guessed that “our biggest existential threat” is AI.  Four years later we learn that Cambridge Analytica allegedly used information dominance to control what people believed and how people voted to undercut the integrity of our democratic process.  Does this constitute enough of a crisis amidst the current political atmosphere?   “I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish,” said Musk.  He goes on to say,  “With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s like – yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon. Doesn’t work out,” said Musk.

October 24, 2014 – MIT’s AeroAstro 1914-2014 Centennial Symposium

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guilt

Guilt is deeply rooted in our psyches and can put the brakes on letting life in when there is no foundation in our formative or current experiences to support the energies of life, thus threatening collapse into obsessions, compulsions, or other unconscious defenses. To hold love, delight, grief, loss….life itself…. we need metaphorical midwives to help us open to the energies and experience the fullness of grace.  702b347e4286a54642022ff6cc7df464--skipping-rope-homecoming-dresses

How Did I Get Here…Again?

When we witness a story that is brilliant and seamless in its’ writing, we are transported into the worlds of the characters, experiencing our hearts touched in such a way that we are left exclaiming “What happened?!” as if we were touched by the transcendent…..left trembling with a resonance in our bodies….or expanded in such a way that we feel transported to something new, something unexpected or beyond our imagination….as if by magic. Such a story embodies the gestalt of a symbol, a wholeness full of meaning that our soul craves and relentlessly pushes us to know and be transformed as a result.

Within each of us is a writer, a narrator for the story we are living, that may also leave us stunned and asking, “What happened?” or “How did I get here…. again?” or a myriad of questions in this vein that do not feel transcendent, but rather, feel boring, futile, tiring, and meaningless. It is precisely these moments that used to have my full attention…. the moments of conscious awareness that force us to take pause, reflect, take stock, ask new questions, and seek new pathways. I realized, however, that these moments are fragile, easily buried in distraction, comfort, projection, and illusion that seemingly weave a story that is different but, at its core, is the same.

We need to go deeper.

There is a another moment that I have become well acquainted with and is certainly worthy of my full attention and yours. It lies just beneath the fleeting moments and its’ impact is anything but transient. It is the moment we try to bury with comfort, distraction, and illusion. It is the moment when all that is known disappears, including the writer….and there are no witnesses….until a Writer from a different realm appears. It is a moment that is unimaginably terrifying and deep as it fills all of time in an instant. It is a moment that is also eternity. It is both empty and pregnant with life. It is dark night and a dawning of a new day. It is pure paradox. Illusion is absent. Comfort is absent. Exit doors are absent. The Writer is Sophia. She is the container and mantle of Wisdom that lies within. She is beyond reason, beyond rationality. She is everything all at once. She is time, ceaseless cycles of becoming and ending, wholeness, nature as process. The story She reveals is emptied of illusion and dross, the shackles or curses that attach us to the unreal and fuel our addictions to satisfaction, comfort, perfection, self-sufficiency, power, and worldly passions. She is the feminine side of God, the Transcendent.

Anne with an E

A workshop is coming in November to teach women a framework for building the spiritual scaffolding necessary to engage uncertainty, mystery….life itself…and dance in the fire with Sophia, thus allowing Her to clear the dross, transform, and be your midwife.

Life can unknowingly become about addictive efforts to contain, control, regulate, perfect….and therefore end up weakening, frustrating, or altogether annihilating pathways to our True selves…. our awakening, our life force. Existential questions and crises are rampant and the architecture of our communities no longer support, carry, or contain us the way it has historically so that we recognize and go into initiations into rebirth, consciously and willingly.

This workshop is designed to introduce women to Sophia who goes by many names cross culturally, also known as the Divine Feminine. The teaching provides a method of inquiry designed to connect with our symbolic lives where we connect most intimately with Sophia and our spiritual needs, allowing the “lead” of our suffering, the crosses we bear, to become the gold of higher consciousness or the key to rebirth. Understanding patterns inside our psyche is like having a map for entering the unknown, entering the transformative fire. Changes in our outer lives and in our dreams become more evident. These patterns will be outlined, not as intellectual fodder for debate but as a spiritual and emotional meal nourishing healthier relationship with self, organized religion, and community. From there, the skills for discernment of what is unfolding meaningfully or regressing endlessly can be developed. Women will leave with a meditation practice to continue their explorations and deepen the teachings.

Pre-Enrollment Cost: $60

The Soul

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Andrew Cohen

“The soul–which I’m defining as our capacity for these deeply positive human qualities–is something that, in most of us, desperately needs to be developed. Too many of us live in a fractured state, deeply divided against ourselves–often far more so than we are aware of or able to feel. We exist in a self-generated vacuum of moral ambiguity, where everything is relative and our attention is focused mainly on our emotional state. Most of us know a lot more about what really matters than we are willing to live up to. Indeed, we are attracted to that which is beautiful, profound, and meaningful but find ourselves lacking the soul strength to really struggle, to engage in a life-and-death wrestling match with our own division, cynicism, and inertia. The awful truth is that it is just easier for us not to care that much. In order to care that much, we have to be willing to feel a connection with life that is so deep that it hurts. We have to be ready to step onto the field of our own experience in a way that is authentic, unconditional, and deeply committed–to embrace a kind of fearless vulnerability where our transparency is our strength and the living experience of connection is permanent, unbroken, and inescapable.”

It’s Time to Roll

Orange is the New Black is a series that invites the audience to bring all their judgments into the cells of women prisoners…. written in such a way that the cells of our own lives are revealed, the secret battles to survive our own isolation and find meaning are touched. The writers help us see or imagine how many wrongs are committed in the blind rooms of psyche where soul was violated, the violence of judgment, the chaos of helplessness, the love of mother, the vulnerability of child, the power of unity, the beauty and potential of a repenting heart, the struggle to “make things right”, the horror of evil, the complexities of battling real evil that most of us deny and, in so doing, endanger the ones we love the most……..

Orange is the New Black is written in such a way that the audience falls in love with the women in these cells, celebrating with them, grieving with them, and falling off the cliff with them….and finding strength in the dignity they find as they face their oppression, release from pride, and …stand together…united…weaknesses and strengths unveiled and accepted….facing uncertainty within the certainty of life sentences….at least for a moment.

When they played this song…. the strained voice pregnant with sorrow and labored breath, the escalating rhythm pounding with poignant crescendo alternating with long pauses filled with the raspy stroke of the violin and heavy slow chords that gather speed in the void….until they roll….as they paint the picture of climbing to the top of a tree by the cracks of the skin to see the world….to be blown down by the gusts that come around…and the impulse to hold on ever so tightly to those we love….until all that is known disappears…the time when we know we must leave and turn to dust.

Within each of us is a writer, a narrator for the story we are living. This causes me to pause and ask, “What is my writer revealing, imagining, singing now? What instruments do I hear now?” I know that moment when all that I know disappears…and there are no witnesses….and a writer from a different realm appears….It is a moment that is unimaginably terrifying and deep as it fills all of time in an instant…it is a moment that is also eternity… It is both empty and pregnant with life….it is dark night and a dawning of a new day….it is pure paradox. This song resonates with such a moment….opening the heart to love in the raw space of suffering, to life from a place of hell, to leaving illusions and turning to dust….to roll with the piano chords out of the void again and again and again.

“To Build A Home”
There is a house built out of stone
Wooden floors, walls and window sills
Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust
This is a place where I don’t feel alone
This is a place where I feel at home.
And I built a home
for you
for me
Until it disappeared
from me
from you
And now, it’s time to leave and turn to dust……..
Out in the garden where we planted the seeds
There is a tree as old as me
Branches were sewn by the color of green
Ground had arose and passed its knees
By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When the gusts came around to blow me down
Held on as tightly as you held on me
Held on as tightly as you held on me……
And I built a home
for you
for me
Until it disappeared
from me
from you
And now, it’s time to leave and turn to dust……..

‘Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower’

 

Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.

And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.

 

Rainer Maria Rilke

Translation by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows

Meeting “Unbearable Compassion” On The Quest for Truth

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Martin Scorcese’s movie Silence (2016).

“All our progress has ended in new
persecution, new repression, new
suffering.”   Father Ferreira

Rabbi Alan Lew wrote “In order for Yom Kippur to effect atonement for us, we have to become aware of our moral and spiritual condition; we have to become aware that we are not operating in a spiritual vacuum, that there is, in fact, a transcendent consciousness out there watching us with unbearable compassion as we blunder through the world.  Moreover, we have to become aware of the precise nature of our blunders …”   (from  This Is Real And You Are Completely Unprepared)

Martin Scorcese and Jay Cocks wrote a screenplay for the movie Silence after the book written by Shûsaku Endô, taking us on a conversion of heart journey toward the unbearable compassion Rabbi Lew speaks of.  This historical film invites us into the great mysteries underlying Lent, the Days of Awe, Zen Buddhist self-emptying practices, and Vedanta practices.

Silence takes place in the 17th century and is based on the true story about two Portuguese missionaries, Rodrigues and Garupe, who are both seeking the “truth” in Japan while believing they are delivering “The Universal Truth” of God’s love and forgiveness.  Caught in the mystery of their missing beloved teacher and the desire to “save” him from damnation, in haste they blindly walk into foreign territory, soon realizing how naked and vulnerable they are inside….inside this land, inside themselves, and inside what they believe is God’s plan for them.  They do not know the land, they do not know the culture, they do not know the language and they arrive with their escort, the only Japanese person in China who has clearly been drowning himself in alcohol for years.  

The two missionaries arrive on the ocean shore of Japan in the dark of night.  They are brought into the lairs of suffering unimagined and their agony is met with the seeming silence of God.  They “did their exercises” and “asked God for this,” cries out Rodriguez to quiet Garupe’s emotional storm filled with anger, doubt and blame.  Despair, nevertheless, sweeps them both up and they begin their descent into fear, finding reprieve only in opportunities to love, teach, pray, and nurture the peasants in captivity with them.  Their capacity to stand inside the Universal Truth, to love and forgive like Jesus did, to love those who betray us, to “love those who scorn us”, and to love the “wretched” are….the REAL TESTS where comfort is all but elusive inside the heavy weight of terror and our true relationship with suffering is revealed.  

Scorcese’s portrayal leaves enough ambiguity throughout the movie to challenge the audience in their belief and unbelief.  He weaves the truths common to both religions throughout the script,  inviting the viewer to identify with and project two psychological reactions to suffering, isolation, and confusion.  If one takes Scorcese’s invitation one is likely to feel discomfort….the discomfort of the paradox of holding and surrendering….of belief and unbelief….of light and darkness.  

Throughout the film the dialogue between enemies calls us into reflective discernment of knowing paradox through the lens of the intellect and knowing paradox through the lens of the intellect and heart together.  Two different experiences with two different outcomes.  How many of us are capable of the latter?  Ultimately, the capacity to arrive at equanimity amidst the paradox and alongside the horrors of crucifying the innocent….. is left as a question.  Our capacity to discern if the “fallen priests” arrive at the apex of equanimity or whether they become slaves to a master is also a question.

In the story the missionaries identify with their teacher, the Church, and Jesus. Kichijiro, the Judas of the story, identifies with the missionaries.  Like a mirror.  Everyone is facing an identification with someone or some story, like a room of mirrors, perhaps reflecting the “illusions” reflected in our attachments.  “You cling to your illusions and call them faith,” the interpreter proclaims to Rodrigues.   An anguished Rodrigues screams in reply, “You use the Truth like poison!”  When we hold these two mirrors up to face one another there is another dimension to be revealed inside of them….perhaps, the real enemy that cannot be seen in the reflection of a single mirror.   

In the beginning, the priests  judge Kichijiro, the Judas character, when they are unaware of his history.  Their minds change minimally when they are told.  There is something repellant about Kichijiro.   As the story unfolds, Kichijiro asks Rodrigues for absolution again and again and again, for publicly surrendering his faith rather than facing certain death in defense of it….. for being “weak”.  He seemingly trades his soul to evade certain and horrific death (Luke 9. 25 – What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?).

The first time Kichijiro asked for absolution was for renouncing his faith eight years before instead of being burned alive.  Rodrigues absolves him and becomes intoxicated by the power and glory of forgiveness in taking part in restoring Kichijiro’s soul.  Later, when Kichijiro approaches him yet again for absolution, for renouncing his faith, Rodrigues prays:

“‘What you will do, do quickly.’  Your son’s words to Judas at the last supper. Was he angry when he said them or did they come from love?’”  

He proceeds to absolve Kichijiro, acknowledging being between anger and love.  Later, Kichijiro asks for absolution again — this time, for betraying Rodriguez himself by turning him in to the Inquisitor to face the very situation Kichijiro faced and was judged.  Specifically,  Rodrigues must face the Inquisitor and decide whether he would renounce his faith….from inside the ring of terror.  As he sits in captivity, Kichijiro approaches him yet again for absolution.  This perplexes Rodrigues who asks, “Do you know what absolution is?”  Rodrigues then silently prays,

“Father, how could Jesus love a wretch like this? There is evil all around in this place.  I sense its’ strength, even its’ beauty.  But there is none of that in this man.  He is not worthy to be called evil. I fear. Jesus forgive me, I may not be worthy of you.”  

His prayer brings us into the heart of Rodrigues as he grants Kichijiro absolution yet again.

From where do we judge Kichijiro? This is a question for  Rodrigues and for ourselves.   As we take this question on Father Fereira reminds us, “Only the Lord can know your heart.”  

In the end, the psychological manipulation twists Rodrigues’ anguished mind to the point that they seem to convince him that he, in fact, is the executioner. They shame him into submission, for lacking in mercy, and he is encouraged by his teacher who implores,

“There is something more important than the judgment of the Church.  You are now going to fulfill the most painful act of love that has ever been performed.”  

Rodrigues publicly surrenders his faith, his self, his glory to save the lives of those the executioners were torturing.  It is then that he hears the voice of Jesus who says,

“Come ahead now.  It’s alright.  Step on me.  I understand your pain.  I was born into this world to share men’s pain.  I carried this cross for your pain.  Your life is with me now.  Step.”  

It is here that Scorcese seems to insinuate that the two religions converge, an intersection where he abandons self, sees his nature, and enters an intimate relationship with God.  Father Fereira states,

“There’s a saying here. Mountains and rivers can be moved, but man’s nature cannot be moved. It’s very wise, like so much here. We find our original nature in Japan, Rodrigues.  Perhaps, it’s what’s meant by finding God.”  

In the end, is the heart or nature of Buddhism and Christianity so different?  Is the heart or nature of Rodrigues and Kichijiro so different? 

In the last decades of his life, Rodrigues routinely walks the path of Kichijiro, willingly and quickly stepping on the face of Jesus and helping the Inquisitor rid the country of any and all Christian artifacts.   When he finds an artifact, torture resumes against the beholders.  In the end, he finds comfort in Kichijiro’s company, perhaps a signature of realizing his nature and, in doing so, realizing a deeper faith in God, reflected also in the wife who showed “no indication that she wept” when he passed….knowing he was in Paraiso.  The last words we hear from him are inside his prayer to Jesus,

“Even if God had been silent my whole life, to this very day, everything everything I do, everything I’ve done…..speaks of Him.  It was in the silence that I heard your voice.”  

Realizing the Mystery

14681011_1111414725617135_1597016279709385524_o“Free from desire, you realize the mystery.  Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.”    Lau-tzu, Tao Te Ching

Within the mystery lies wisdom, discernment, and free will.  Tapping into the mystery requires removal from all that we desire, if only for a moment at a time, to see and truly understand.  All schools of thought in modern psychology would agree about the blinding nature of desire, destining us to repetitive patterns and creating illusions until they become conscious in the heart and expand our attitude toward our human experience and fellow man.   As for the existence of the “mystery” or unknowable something beyond what we can observe with our senses…..

Lao-tzu goes on……

“Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source.  This source is called darkness.  Darkness within darkness.  The gateway to all understanding.”

Arriving into that moment where mystery lies can take a catastrophic event that shatters the legitimacy of our safety nets, plunging us into bleak darkness or a state of mind wherein everything feels unreal, pointless, hollow.  It is in this darkness that we need a practice, a foundation, preferably built before the tragedy, that will reveal Truth, a higher knowledge than that which enables social adaptation and re-engages the bondage of desire, dependency, and/or attachment to our safety nets.

As Albert Camus pointed out, “there is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.”  He examined the tragedy of Sisyphus and realized the tragedy was that Sisyphus was conscious of his torment, pondering how many live as Sisyphus without knowing it.   As Lao-tzu points to the blinding nature of desire, Camus imagines Sisyphus using tragedy to silence “all the idols” wherein the mystery could be heard.  He describes the mystery as “the myriad wondering little voices of the earth ris[ing] up. Unconscious, secret calls, invitations from all the faces, they are the necessary reverse and price of victory. ”

Camus leaves us to ponder:

“Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

Faith and the Women’s March

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What do I mean by Faith?  We should all pause and ask ourselves this question and attempt to answer.  When I speak of faith I am not talking about sitting back and waiting for something or someone more powerful, smarter, stronger, or better than me to handle things.  That is magical thinking, not faith.  To be clear, I am not saying I am immune or anyone is immune for that matter from falling into magical thinking, regardless of age, intelligence, education, and life experience.  Rather, we are far from immune and are all inclined toward magical thinking in its many forms throughout our lives.  It doesn’t end when we stop believing in the tooth fairy.  In fact, we evolve out of magical thinking into spiritual faith only through active intention and EMBODIED experience of suffering, our own and others’….. as well as EMBODIED trust, compassion, and forgiveness toward ourselves and others.   EMBODIED….not dissociated through the myriad vices of the mind that can twist anything in and from the light into darkness. EMBODIED.  PRESENT.  ALIVE.  The act of distinguishing in our minds between magical thinking and faith needs to be routinely performed, adjusted, and remembered,  lest we quickly fall into the blissful trap of magical thinking where we can be lost for seconds, to hours, to days, to years, or to a lifetime.  

Facebook posts have remarked to “Move on” and what is wonderful is that this movement is about something even better.  It is about Moving Forward….marching together and out loud for human rights, getting informed versus hazily aware, and getting involved in what makes America great…..OUR democratic process. Practicing our right to vote every four years is not sufficient….and relying on those voted in to do the work and do what is right…..is not sufficient.  Let us all remember……. “A democratic process is a practice that allows democracy to exist. Democracy is based on the idea that EVERYONE should have equal rights and be allowed to participate in making important decisions.”  (Wikipedia)  And so, may EVERYONE share their voice without fear of retribution.    

Focusing on impeachment, who lost, Trump’s appearance, Trump himself, our anger……. is too narrow a focus….Whether he is impeached or not, tweets or not……FOCUS on getting involved and organized to productively share your voice and share your principles out loud versus reacting to others.  Make your voice heard for justice and peace WHILE MAINTAINING OUR COLLECTIVE DIGNITY AND INTEGRITY……refraining from seeking the pleasure of anyone’s demise and focused on seeking the reward of human rights being protected….. THAT IS THE HIGHER CALL.  Dare to become a part of the government versus complain about the government  and do the laborious and humbling personal work against power highs, anger, distraction, mirroring hate, etc.

May this Movement inspire people to exercise their voices in a positive, peaceful, intelligent and reverent manner….proceeding with patience, humility, and calm…….TOGETHER WITH OTHERS, knowing that no single person is greater than a critical mass of people behind PEACE AND JUSTICE and no bigger than God.   This is a spiritual practice. 

May we come to know that the President is not more powerful than the people, a fear currently being battled…and fading.  In order to know this, the people have to speak versus sit and wait for more outcomes, helpless and hopeless, complacent, passive, or……….overly optimistic, in denial of all the warning signs. Keeping the balance, on either side, is a responsibility….and learning we are all ONE, impacting the other, and that the separation is only an illusion….learning the true meaning of respecting differences and living with one another without sacrificing life…….

The level of organization behind this march is unprecedented and positive, not to be confused with the agitators or those who are focusing too narrowly on Trump. This march, that quickly became a movement, IS about unifying people’s voice in favor of human rights. We must all be aware that some are involved for the wrong reasons and may get high on hate and all of its’ rhetoric. That too, is the enemy. In the end, we are all human and have to find out what we stand behind…especially when the sensationalism fades or when the chaos or terror presides.  The capacity to sustain attention to the work ahead will require reprioritization of our lifestyles …which is the real test.  

Rachel Magnell

At the moment of awakening…

At the moment of awakening,

we have to ask real questions

and be prepared to take real action.

It doesn’t matter any more

what mother did to me,

what father did to me.

Shall I stay in this job?

Shall I stay in this relationship?

The real question is……..

Am I going to live even if I don’t know what that means?

– Marion Woodman