Jordan Peterson has this amazing point about nihilistic punks (musically speaking) who go to concerts and dance with a fervor that undermines their insistence that nothing matters. They’re acting out a primal religiosity, enacting an inescapable meaning. I wasn’t a nihilistic punk, but pretty close to it in my teens and twenties. As a scrawny kid in mosh pits and raucous dance floors, it didn’t make sense that I never got hurt. I wasn’t using Christian language, but I would let go and trust that I wasn’t in danger. I wasn’t thinking, but I was experiencing the Holy Spirit.
That might sound crazy, it might sound one step from snake handling (it probably is), but I now have friends who came out of the Christian and Straight Edge hardcore and punk scenes. There are some serious thinkers in that set. Maybe there are immunities to be found in mosh pits. Exposure to germs, togetherness in beat, individuality in dance, a realization that while you may get hurt…most people aren’t out to hurt you, a letting go of ego…although you are surrounded by people…none are really watching…unless you pose a danger.
Exposure outside your comfort zone. Exposure to death, ideas, varied perspectives, tragedy, and as many dangerous things as you can stand. We each have what we know and it is a tiny patch of light surrounded by darkness. When you step one foot into that darkness, your patch of light gets a little bigger. When you lean into the darkness, you start to learn how inifinitely large it is. That’s scary. No matter how awake you are, there is a new monster lurking in the unknown.
God bless and thank you for reading,
Jason