The epidemic of ism-itis.

A crisis of identity.

Jacqueline Rendell

Nov 02, 2023

Capitalism

Corporatism

Consumerism

Socialism

Totalitarianism

Veganism

Vegetarianism

Relativism

Feminism

Chauvinism

Sadism

Marxism

Maoism

Fascism

Sexism

Racism

Nihilism

Buddhism

My goodness, the humans are creative creatures, aren’t they?!

I’ve often likened most of humanity to the doozers in Fraggle Rock~ always busy building and constructing something, ANYTHING~ whether it be material things like buildings & roads or more intangible things like concepts & belief systems.

In the historical scheme of things the social construct of language was inevitable. It’s not hard to understand the need for words as labels and distinctions to facilitate true understanding, meaning and communication between us all.

But it seems to me this modern-day compulsion to “self-identify” is getting a little out of hand. I would say it’s becoming a real identity crisis.

Even typing the word “identify” just now gave me a feeling of ick, and me being me, I’m prone to ask why?

the lie of labels

I believe the answer lies somewhere in the realm of TRUTH.

As someone who highly values the pursuit of what is true it’s easy for me to see that there is much falsity, pretense, and straight-out lying involved in the adoption of the labels & ideologies that are considered typical in today’s culture of rampant narcissism.

Normalizing bullshit is a problem. And that’s not the only problem. There are many outcroppings of new issues that never existed before this strange era we find ourselves in.

There is an undeniable onslaught to “divide and conquer” us issued forth from our social engineers who aim to achieve this by campaigning to normalize the politicization of EVERYTHING in our culture. One’s initiation into Club Mainstream requires that one adopt whatever label/s is/are socially acceptable at the time. But it’s not enough to hold them privately~ to be fully accepted by your chosen team, you must then slap them on your forehead to declare publically who you vow allegiance to.

All the while, everyone else is meant to ignore the fact that nobody really means any of it because nobody even knows what exactly they’re identifying as.

It’s all just for show.

undefined definitions

This is one of those “outcroppings” that I mentioned.

Post-modernism, in it’s pursuit to dismantle “oppressive traditions in an effort to instill equality” has thrown way too many babies out with way too much bathwater.

It has made all things subject to the law of relativity~ including the definitions of words.

(AND math, but that’s a discussion for a different day!)

We are living in a time where it’s now more likely than ever for two people using the same word to actually mean different things.

Especially when it comes to any one of the “isms” I listed above.

A few years ago, when all this free-for-all labelling nonsense began, I had to invest a lot of time in studying definitions in order to understand what each of these terms actually mean. It turned out that this was time well spent. Not only did it improve my listening skills, both comprehension and discernment (detecting bullshit!) but it also gave me clarity, accuracy and confidence when speaking about certain topics and issues. It imbued me with a sense of integrity~ to be able to mean what I say and say what I mean. Sadly, far too few are putting in the effort to learn and far too many are comfortable speaking out of their asses.

All the while, the truth of who we are is being heavily cloaked in ideology and hidden beneath a blanket of lies.

The inner light is being smothered and the inner voice of intuition and guidance is being muffled…and goes unheard.

my personal identity crisis

I’ve always been creative. I’ve always enjoyed the thrill of making something that didn’t exist before I gave birth to it.

Being present & focused inside the creative process is my happy place.

And I love playing with sounds the most. As a sensitive creature, making music has long been a way for me to sit inside my feelings, to truly feel them, hear them expressed, and then let them go.

There is such a freedom in allowing oneself to simply Create. Be. Express. Release.

And continue…

It wasn’t until I had experienced a small but exciting degree of public success and support for some songs I had written in my early 20’s that I began to consciously identify as a musician and a song-writer.

Though of course I was thrilled that my songs now had a growing audience who wanted to hear them and that my path forward was becoming paved with stones of clarity and purpose, I noticed something else that was now taking hold~ a pressure to create, to deliver, to perform, that had not existed previously.

Before the adoption of these identifiers, my relationship with music had been entirely private, personal and open-handed, if you will. Whenever I sat at a piano or picked up my guitar it was a joyous reunion and whatever happened between us was ALL good because it was honest, and real and came with no strings attached.

That all changed for me when suddenly the world outside of me had expectations of who I was “supposed to be” and what I was “supposed to do”.

I no longer felt as free to play. I felt stuck in an identity trap.

Throughout my life, I have often suffered bouts of pain from living inside this trap.

At the worst of times, I escaped with work or relationships to numb how painful it was to not be creatively productive, to not be living as a “musician”. At the best of times, I got the hell out of my own way and just let myself play at creating again, like I had as a child.

Freeing myself from the expectations I had allowed labels to impose on me and reconnecting with the heart of who I am (who i believe we all are!) has been the best gift I’ve ever given myself.

I am a creator. You are a creator. We are creators.

I believe the pain we suffer from not being attuned to this fact is at the heart of this current identity crisis, this collective reactive chaotic climate facing all humans.

There is no amount of club-joining, group-thinking, flag-waving, “othering those who aren’t in your club” that will soothe the ache of this separation from Source.

There is only one cure:

To strip away the construct of lies and step fully into what is TRUE.

Dragon Slayer

One day in 2005, after suffering for too long inside a drought of no creativity and crying from the depth of my soul that was yearning to make some music, I sat down with my acoustic guitar, a microphone and my digital 8-track and this song poured out of me.

I gave it no thought, I gave it no questioning. I was merely the midwife as it gave birth to itself.

It won’t be up everyone’s alley…it’s edgy and raw.

I love this piece because it’s an honest expression, mirroring exactly what I was thinking and feeling at the time. (best listened to loudly with headphones;)