Now is the time for writers and artists and musicians and chefs and teachers and ministers and philosophers to step out from the shadows and shine their light to illuminate the good and true. We need the subtle but durable power of aestheticism and depth of virtue to guide us as our nation is being overrun by ego-centric hucksters held captive by the grip of greed. Those who understand that neither beauty nor tranquility arise from the deposits of transactions may help deliver us from the cruelty of navel-gazing, wallet-clutching baron-barbarians whose see-through characters require the sword of deceit and the shield of darkness to survive. And while I expect those currently experiencing an orgasm of power will turn on each other soon enough to become the last baron-barbarian standing, we must prepare ourselves for the vast collateral damage they will leave in their wake.

The baron-barbarians (Trump, Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, et al.), while profoundly rich in monetary wealth, have impoverished souls that could all fit on the head of one pin. There is an inverse relationship between the size of ego and the size of soul. Their profound wealth has made them ghost vessels of the dark moral void; not even their rockets can save them. The scholar and journalist, Anne Applebaum, recently labeled them as members of the “New Obscurantism” movement determined to create “a society in which superstition defeats reason and logic, transparency vanishes, and the nefarious actions of political leaders are obscured behind a cloud of nonsense and distraction.”  They have zero interest in our welfare, which is substantiated by mountains of evidence including the tread marks they have left on the backs of those who dared ask they conform with norms and laws designed for the common good. It is bizarre how Trumpland has managed to turn honesty and compassion and mercy into sins, but such is the corrupting nature of power. Among other things, the second coming of Trump may produce a very different and twisted kind of rapture theology. But, I digress.

The beauty of aestheticism and the plenitude of virtues offered by the artists and philosophers among us are our best source of kryptonite to slay the poet W.B. Yeats’ “rough beast[s] …slouch[ing] toward Bethlehem [Washington D.C.] to be born.” Although this collective of right-brain artisan liberators seldom practice assertion, preferring to let their creations and teachings speak for themselves, if we have any hope of restoring the soul of our society, we would be wise to pay more attention to them. They will not be able to stop the megalomaniacs, but they will provide the comfort of calm with glimpses of serenity, like well-placed rocks in a river allowing us to safely cross the torrent of bullshit cascading down from on high without being swept away.

As the philosopher Simon Critchley wrote recently in introducing his fine book, Mysticism,

The pact that I would like to make with the reader of this book is to see if we can transform our misery, woe, and doubt with a wealth of words and sounds that might permit us to push back against the violent pressure of reality and allow a richness of life and a possible transfiguration of self and world.

Nowhere in the book did he recommend we spend more time with our news feeds, or on social media. The liberation-through-mysticism Critchley offers may or may not be achieved but, at the very least, we can embrace the fact that how we see our world is, and always will be, up to us. We simply have to focus our intentions in the proper direction—intentions of clear-eyed energy aimed at, and captured in, the salutatory idiom, “you and yours.”

First, you.

As sentient human beings, we enjoy the great blessing of agency—of deciding how to deal with the past, present, and future. The first lesson of achieving a state of equanimity is to understand, however, that our agency only applies to the present. It is a simple and evident truth that it is impossible to affect the past (other than manipulating our memories or rewriting history), and while we strive to guide the outcomes of future events, it is also an evident truth that we cannot directly impact things that haven’t happened yet until, of course, the present arrives.

So, what can be done about the present in a world that looks more uncertain—more threatening—every day? Of a world that seems to scream at us every day?

The first thing to do is acknowledge and accept the gift inherent in the reality described above: we can let go of the past and largely suspend our efforts about the future to focus on just one of three, the present, reducing our workload by two-thirds. The second thing to do is to recognize that while we cannot control what happens, we will always have control over how we respond to what happens, which allows us to have determinative control of our mental and emotional states that impact our wellbeing. As an extreme example, the best illustration of this is Viktor Frankl’s contemplations drawn from his time in a Nazi concentration camp in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning.

The next thing is to take care in how we conceive of and define the “you.” The you is made up of competing interests we must manage: the ego and the soul. As I have illustrated in the past, we are born with a soul and no ego. The ego is then crafted and curated throughout our young lives until it dominates the soul which is, in the first three-fourths of our lives, both appropriate and beneficial. The ego allows us to both differentiate ourselves and find a basis to belonging to self-selected social groups. It functions as our principal vector of decision making. It escorts us through the life phases of preparation, achievement, and actualization, but is a liability when seeking transcendence in the fourth phase. As we age, if we hold tight to the demands of our egos, we will follow a path to certain suffering that will only be liberated by death. If, on the other hand, we switch seats—from the ego to the soul—the prospect of transcendence (liberation before death) is available.

Switching seats from the ego to the soul is like a snake shedding its skin. Letting go of the demands of ego, which are principally defined by our desires (both wants and not-wants) requires work. The snake generally achieves this while in hiding to protect itself from predators in its moment of vulnerability. Similarly, we humans need solitude occupied by meditation and contemplation to build our capacity to notice ego-driven thoughts and demands and to learn to let them go—to shed our own skin. Think of it as losing the self to gain a new life. Yes, losing to gain. Breaking lifelong habits isn’t easy, but the payday is heaven on earth. Learning to relax and release to rise—to hover above the mayhem with a curious and knowing grin. To create a sort of inside-out virtual cocoon of bliss where the cocoon is not shielding us from externalities; rather, it is shielding us from the self, or ego.

The unfortunate reality of the pursuit of transcendence is that it is made easier if one has endured devastation. For me, it was born from the necessity of transforming devastation into liberation due to a combination of divorce and cancer—a nasty duo. Properly considered, if one faces devastation with discipline, humility, and learning, it can become a fast lane to liberation. Whether or not you endure this dubious advantage, if you just recognize the opportunity and commit yourself sincerely (which many call, “doing the work”) you can succeed in transforming your life; in liberating yourself from suffering. Ridding yourself of desires, conflicts, dependencies, and obligations are all important steps. But the biggest step is the first one: simply becoming aware that the voice in your head needs to be tamed and redirected away from egoic ambitions in favor of simple awareness. That voice can be your best friend and your worst enemy. To bring your conscience back to the clean slate you were born with—to what many describe as childlike innocence. To enjoy the quietude. Evidence of success will arrive in glimpses of pure tranquility, which become metaphysical rungs on the ladder to enlightenment.

Now, yours.

“Yours” generally refers in the American colloquialism as family. Family in the modern era is, however, up to you. Bloodlines don’t rule; curation is both appropriate and recommended. Family is dynamic; as life progresses it starts out small, gets bigger, then gets smaller, again. First members are indeed granted through bloodlines, then we get to choose and we accumulate members, then in later life our choices naturally become more discerning. Once choice enters the picture things can get tricky. We inevitably make mistakes. If we learn, we get better about who occupies the circle as we age.

Our obligation to family (however defined) is simple: it is love. Familial love is a duty of care that is unaffected by contingencies. A sincere presence. Interacting and serving family also requires the suspension of ego. Your desires are not relevant. In fact, they are impediments to forming the secure and genuine bonds that affect cohesion. There should be nothing transactional about family relations although, as we have all experienced, some don’t honor this code. The truth is, some just can’t.

In my own experience, those who suffer from feelings of inadequacy and insecurity (in the extreme, self-loathing) cannot form secure contingency-free bonds. They generally present as those we might call a hot mess, or perhaps narcissistic. But some are worse. Some become masters of concealment—a stealthy mess—which is to say, traitors to family, but also more dangerously traitors to themselves. Their entire world is an artifice of deceit. They are the ones who, in later life, cling to their egos. Plastic surgery—a tuck here and lift there; new partners; faster cars; hair plugs; always chasing satisfaction that seldom, if ever, arrives. Most remain on a path to suffering. That doesn’t necessarily require that you discard them as members of the family, but you must take care to avoid being sucked into their wallow. Your duty of care does not extend to joining them in suffering.

Until the baron-barbarians turn on each other, wear themselves out, or get thrown out, “you and yours” are where we need to spend our time and effort to preserve ourselves and those we hold dear. Our comfort and inspirations may be aided by the artisans in our lives, but the responsibility for our wellbeing remains where it should be, with ourselves. We don’t have to stop the madness, but we must keep it from polluting our lives. The human spirit never responds well to oppression; it is meant to soar, not plummet. The strength of authoritarian regimes tends to be intense, but short-lived.  A sense of calm, compassion, and confidence for both you and yours goes a long way to affecting liberation. What matters is the real life right in front of us (not on a screen). It is at home, in nature, at school, the town park, and the corner cafe. It is where people know our names. All of that will remain long after the titans of noise fall mute.