“…’Transformational Spirituality’ is not seizing some moral high ground. It is the capacity to lead out of darkness with authenticity and lived truth.…”
The Professor
The Latin derivation for education is ‘e-duc-ere,’ meaning to lead out of darkness. I had the meaning of this word etched in my memory at an early age.
I was seven years old. My father was an aspiring university professor and needed maximum space in our small home for his office and most importantly his books. My father annexed my second-floor bedroom for this purpose and relegated me to the basement where it was cold, dank and frighteningly dark. To make matters considerably worse, at night, I heard noses that sounded like a man with a pegleg was coming to get me.
I just knew I’d be murdered in my sleep by whatever was out there and certain it would come for me. My father didn’t know it, and I suspect he didn’t care either, but he was teaching me an important life-lesson. No, it wasn’t not to be afraid of the dark. It was that…
“…Hell, the dark ain’t a place to be afraid of; the dark is the best damn place to lead out of…”
Hunter
The dark can be where we experience the storms of life as empowering conflicts that enrich struggles and stories.
“…Hope is on the other side of the danger that lies in front of us…”
CT Vivian
Fast forward 30 years, I’m leaving my home, soon to be lost in foreclosure, in the spring of ’98. I’m carrying a 9-millimeter Glock on my hip. There’s a warrant on my head out of Delaware for a rental scam gone bad. I bring the car to a stop at the light on the boulevard. “…Stop!! Don’t you move motherfucker. Put your hands on that damn steering wheel and don’t you move god-damnit or we’ll blow your fucking head off…” These were the commands of Atlanta PD’s finest, the FBI, and Federal Marshalls as they surrounded my vehicle guns drawn.
I’m still the crying kid in the basement, now confronted with real danger, but I’m not afraid.
I reluctantly respond to the orders barked at me but not because I’m scared. In the moment, I’m disgusted they have the drop on me and my plans for getting laid that evening are obviously screwed, pun intended. But, The Darkness, the danger and the criminality, hell, they’ve helped me find a level of courage and intestinal fortitude I never knew I had.
“…An empowering step in transformation is when we stop placing expectations on other people, places and things and instead place them on our inner characters…”
The Professor
“…Ironically, sometimes the correct path is the tortured one…”
Yalie
Read more about Hunter, The Professor and Yalie and tell your story. Listen to Hunter’s Podcast. All on wreckedamerica.com. In Wrecked America, #TheDarknessMatters
The Struggle Continues…
