As I’ve mentioned in multiple posts before, I treat life like a mirror. Of course I have no way to prove this but my life has consistantly shown me that my inner experience and outer experience will reflect each other.
So I often look at what is going on in my life or in the world, words I come across and artistic messages in media, similar situations between friends and strangers. I examine to see what kind of paraellels I can draw, what kind of lessons are hiding in plain sight and and also to see how different things evoke different emotions and bring up different memories.
Recently two things struck out and I got an inkling of what they may be telling me.
The first is in a game I have been playing for a long time now to study Japanese, Persona 5. This game is a gold mine of symbols, cultural references and deeper themes. The influence of Carl Jung and Tarot is not hidden.
The story is about a team of high schoolers who can access something like a collective unconscious and manipulate it in order to save people and expose crime and corruption. Basicaly they need to fight with shadows in order to heal the perpetrator so that they can feel remorse for their crimes.
It’s a really fascinating premise that reminds me a lot of both Carl Jung and many Shamanistic practices, as well as my own way of seeing the world.
One of the students classmates who is helped by them stars a website where people report crimes and request the the Phantom Theives (the team of students) to fix things. Big criminals with severe distortions have their own palaces which serve as the games main dungeons while anyone with any minor distortion in their heart can be faced in something called Mementos which is effectively the wider collective unconsious, the place where all hearts are connected.
On TV, some people debate the ethicacy of such behavior. Is it ok to manipulate people’s desires and change their personalities to prevent crime?
Throughout the game you see a popularity meter as public sentiment changes. As you gain more popularity you are able to access deeper into the collective unconscious.
The way in which you can access deeper levels of the collective unconsciouss really struck out to me.
We all have an effect on the world, usually much bigger than we realize. The more people trust us, the more we rally support, the bigger effect we can have.
This is also why politicians and celebrities are often probe to scandals, criticism and other kinds of drama. The deeper you go into the collective conscious and unconscious, the heavier things get, the more temptation, the more traps there are. You really need to be ready, with the proper skills and a high HP meter.
This felt like a sign to me that I may be reaching a deeper level of the collective, that I may start to be faced with new challenges and to see new levels of success.
The timing is interesting because I have recently been focused on trying to find ways to express myself more honestly, and speaking about things I was uncomfortable speaking about before, letting myself feel old anger and frustration, and not letting my fear of consequences prevent me from doing what I need to do.
I have felt very clearly that my voice can be heard louder and wider than a few months ago. I’m aware of a very clear change in the way people recieve me.
A second thing that stood out to me was a tweet about how the first $100,000 is the hardest, because after that things compound much easier.
It was a reminder that I have still not seen the fruits of my labor and that they haven’t been robbed of me, they just haven’t been born yet. A lot of the most thankless work will pay off much later, and I am nearing a kind of tipping point.
This feeling is only made stronger by the realization that one of my new favorite bands hang out 2 minutes from my house and are connected to some of my friends, or when one member added me back on social media. It’s only made stronger when I see that my friends from three countires met by accident at a festival in Thailand, by chance!
The feeling increases when I realize I’ve been functioning at 20% of my full energy and that I am getting stronger and healthier by the day. What used to be a struggle for me will become effortless.
I see a similar pattern among friends and strangers, that feeling of reaching a new level or stage. I wonder if anyone reading this can feel it too. Something is in the air.
Somewhat unrelated but if you enjoy my posts, check out my first Vlog in Japanese (english subtitles):
日本に住むの一番慣れないところ The hardest thing to get used to in Japan
