About six months ago I posted the first two articles in my What’s Going On? series. After a fulfilling period of trying (not always successfully!) to put it all into practice, I read my articles again to see how my thoughts held up. At this time I am comfortable with what I wrote, meaning I won’t change the original posts. It’s clear, though, that I need to elaborate on what I am calling the three levels of awareness—Amusement, Disillusionment and Clarity.
To make the point clearly, I summed it up below as briefly as I can. I also created three simple graphics and some lists of characteristics and a few examples to better explain these thoughts.
The main point
We should not deal with our disillusionment by simply seeking more and different forms of amusement. Instead we should work through the disillusionment and, with God’s help, we will find true life by seeing all its aspects from the deeper perspective of clarity.
The Characteristics of the three levels of Awareness
- We focus on activity. Doing becomes more important than being.
- We desire experiences, especially new ones.
- “Fun” is our unspoken motivation and the standard by which all things are measured. (“At least you had fun.”)
- Amusement is characterized by a consumer mentality—things, experiences and people should meet our needs and we move on when they fail to or they stop doing so.
- We expect circumstances to change to continually provide Amusement.
- Amusement is concerned with “me” and “mine”. This may extend to other people (my family, my friends) and thus has a degree of love, yet it is limited in scope.
- The things that used to provide amusement do not, but we cannot replace them or do not want to.
- We experience boredom, emptiness and depression in varying degrees.
- We feel the pull (from our habits and from social pressure) to seek amusement (fun) in new forms.
- We are very aware of what we do not have.
- We are very self-focused as we become more aware of our emptiness.
- We feel out of place, as if everything is very wrong, and we wonder why others are finding enjoyment while we feel empty.
- Our strength and purpose comes from God and a spiritual focus.
- We focus on being rather than doing.
- Contentment replaces the never-ending search to meet our needs.
- We trust God to lead and to give us what we need.
- We let God change us.
- We look for ways to give rather than to get.
- We are grateful for the blessings that we receive and we fulfill the obligation that comes with them. (We realize we are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others.)
Examples of the three levels of awareness in different areas of life
Here are three main areas of our daily lives and how we can view aspects of each from the three levels of awareness. Please understand that I speak of Clarity as an ideal. I have not mastered the art of seeing my life from this perspective. I provide these examples based only on the hints that I have so far been allowed to experience.
Our Jobs
Amusement – Ideally we all look for a job that fits our personality and that we find fun. If that doesn’t work, we hope to at least find some fun at work while we do the job. Even if we can’t do that, though, we expect the job will provide enough money for us to have fun outside of work. The job becomes a means to keep us (and usually our families) sufficiently entertained.
Disillusionment – Work becomes grueling. We feel trapped in a meaningless job that we do not enjoy. It doesn’t provide enough money to keep us entertained.
Clarity – Our jobs are an opportunity to give of ourselves. We trust God to show us the many opportunities we have each day to give in meaningful ways. We find strength in Him to do so. In this we find blessings (including the paycheck) and we accept and use them knowing them as blessings.
Our Leisure Time
Amusement – We probably think of leisure time as synonymous with amusement. Above all else, we expect fun for ourselves and our families. Good use of leisure time means each moment has something enjoyable to do.
Disillusionment –Things that were fun aren’t so enjoyable. Weekends feel like a waste of time. Due to a lack of resources, it’s hard to find something enjoyable to do.
Clarity – Leisure time provides an opportunity to reflect on our lives and improve our relationships with others and with God. In it we are renewed. The entertainment we enjoy in these times provides us with opportunities to give to others (possibly then or maybe later). As a simple example, I might deeply appreciate a good movie as good art. In it I see truth conveyed in a language that I could use to communicate that important truth to others.
Our Intimate Relationships
Amusement – From this perspective, a close relationship focuses on dating, feelings and most likely meeting the superficial needs of one another. Of course, physical attraction and sex takes the forefront.
Disillusionment – It gets harder to maintain the relationship as the experiences are no longer novel. Unattractive characteristics in a partner and the relationship become apparent and they are difficult to ignore. We might think we find what we are missing in other people. In varying degrees of interaction, we seek out a new partner in order to find what we are lacking.
Clarity – The relationship is built on a true love where each partner simply gives to the other. Deep needs are met through deep, sacrificial love. Partners are committed to each other and to God and the result is a union that blesses them and others.
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