It might be argued that the greatest epiphany anyone might ever have in this realm, is the epiphany about their own mental and spiritual fallibility.

Refugees from exploitive cults, generally, have found their way to the conclusion that they have been lied to by the proverbial wolves dressed in sheep's clothing. The realization that things they have based their most important and impactful choices in life on, are false, is excruciating. They, perhaps as much or more than any others, come to appreciate the adage, "The truth, will set you free, but not before it really pisses you off".

The greater epiphany, however, is not that what they have been told is false, important though that may be, but rather, that they bought it, despite the fact that it was false. They sincerely believed something that they incorporated into their lives and made great sacrifices for, that was false, and that stunted their spiritual growth and likely their economic prospects in the process. Continuing the tragedy, they probably perpetuated the same falsehoods with false certainty of the truth of those falsehoods, and so, contributed to obfuscations and the same inevitable heart break from exploitation of others.

That they had the vulnerability to be so deceived.... that they were so deceived...that they perpetuated such deception... is the most important epiphany of their lives at that point...(if they are humble enough to understand how huge grasping that particular revelation is)... because no problem will ever be resolved and corrected until it is acknowledged to exist. They must see and acknowledge that their epistemology (the method by which they ascertain something to be true) has been dangerously flawed and is unreliable until those flaws are addressed and corrected.

Tragically, the majority of life's refugees from one deception or another never have the larger epiphany. They simply jump off one bandwagon and quickly on to the next with no better intellectual or spiritual vetting than the last ride involved. No actual healing has occurred in the attempt to outrun foolishness. Usually, they are filled with false hope born of some over estimation of some social glitter that is not actually the gold it purports to be. Relatively few grasp that the mother lode is found within, beyond self-delusion, and once found, provides an incomparable abundance that puts every other value in an entirely different perspective.

Life anew requires a rebirth. This rebirth begins with humble acceptance of the folly as folly, and the death of the ego that requires it. Speak the words that may apply... "I have been wrong. I have allowed social pressure to infect my conclusions. I have valued approval and acceptance over reason and truth. I have professed to know things that I do not know. What I don't know, I don't know. Ignorance is more honorable than false certainty. Ignorance is worthy of more respect than false certainty. Ignorance can be overcome, if self-delusion is cast aside and forsaken. If I am forced to choose between friendship and clarity, I will choose clarity. If I am forced to choose between family and clarity, I will choose clarity. If I am forced to choose between my home, and clarity, I will choose clarity. If I am exiled for the pursuit of clarity, so be it. I will find new friends if I must. I will find new family, if I must. I will be without a home, if I must. I will find peace in clarity. I will accept peace on no other terms."

Can you? Is the price of clarity too high?

The propensity for self-delusion evaporates as ego-based attachments are discarded along the sobering climb to clarity like the irrelevant baggage that they actually are. Lives, once constrained by artificial parameters advocated and enforced with social pressure by the ignorant, find liberation. The spirit is unshackled from ego attachments to social orders that require self-delusion and deferential submission to fools dressed in princely robes, royalty without common sense, presumptuous pastors, and wizards hiding behind curtains, as the price of membership.

Once unhealthy ego attachments are broken, the natural unfettered curiosity and creativity of the soul is unleashed together with clarity of mind that is liberated from the constraints of the social approval born of hidden agendas and exploitive interests.

Trust this... All the life that remains will be infinitely better with clarity. If no life remains when you find it, or it costs you your life to grasp it, the next life will be infinitely better for having arrived with it.

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