An Old School Ramble on Worldliness

Most people in the world live in a tension between fear and pride. They are painfully aware of their own vulnerabilities and weaknesses and are driven by the world around them to create a persona that is free of these problems, one that may even be the opposite of them. These personas can take several shapes. In some cases, people parade their weaknesses as strengths, as in gang culture, or vivid counter-cultural styles of dress. Others strive each day to use socially accepted "badges" as a way of creating a stable persona: a job, a degree, a car, a dress code, all this to communicate an order and "togetherness" that is completely absent from their spiritual lives. Still others develop a "zero" status: they give nothing and they take nothing. The bare minimum is what society can demand and little else. This is just another twist on the basic pattern that all have in common: they create a barrier between the world and themselves so that they can exist with an easy view of who they are.