Ep. 17 When Nothing Saves You

Explicit content warning

03/27/21 • 15 min

One of the things that has been pried from the grips of my poor ego through the processes of alchemy and spiritual maturing is the idea that I could crack the code. That I could somehow figure out how to save myself from the perils of life. That somehow, my righteousness, my chosenness and my wisdom set me apart from the rest of humanity, and I wouldn’t have to suffer in the ways other humans suffer.
The idea that being “good” and doing the right things was somehow related to my level of suffering was deeply, deeply embedded in me. But honestly, what a fucked up idea.
Exploring in this episode:

Deprogramming the idea that we can be saved from suffering if we do the right things
The soul cannot be healed and discovered solely through healthy living
The role that danger, the abyss, the edge, and the nothingness have in awakening the soul
Coming to the place where nothing saves you and how important this place is to magical alignment and magical will
How there is no Philosopher's Stone, no creating with magical will without giving up every notion of what we think it might mean to do so

At 10:46 I do a reading of my piece "When Nothing Saves You" with impromptu piano music in the background. It just felt right.

With love from one magical abyss to another,
McCall
Thank you for listening and supporting the show!

Support the show

Read The Terrible, Beautiful Truth on Substack
Stay connected through my Email List
Get a copy of my NEW book Down from the Mountain directly from me
Read or listen to my new book Down from the Mountain
Read or Listen to my first book The Second Half of the Mountain: A Guide to Personal Alchemy after Awakening

Deprogramming the idea that we can be saved from suffering if we do the right things
The soul cannot be healed and discovered solely through healthy living
The role that danger, the abyss, the edge, and the nothingness have in awakening the soul
Coming to the place where nothing saves you and how important this place is to magical alignment and magical will
How there is no Philosopher's Stone, no creating with magical will without giving up every notion of what we think it might mean to do so

At 10:46 I do a reading of my piece "When Nothing Saves You" with impromptu piano music in the background. It just felt right.

With love from one magical abyss to another,
McCall
Thank you for listening and supporting the show!

Support the show

Read The Terrible, Beautiful Truth on Substack
Stay connected through my Email List
Get a copy of my NEW book Down from the Mountain directly from me
Read or listen to my new book Down from the Mountain
Read or Listen to my first book The Second Half of the Mountain: A Guide to Personal Alchemy after Awakening

Previous Episode

Ep. 16 Spiritual Margaritaville...and Beyond

Spiritual disillusionment is a huge part of soul awakening. But it's not always easy to decipher whether spiritual practices, rituals, modalities, and beliefs are helping or hindering on the path of soul growth.
In this episode I explore Spiritual Margaritaville--the "love and light" base camp we encounter upon spiritual awakening.

What is Spiritual Margaritaville?
What roll does it play in the journey of spiritual and soul awakening?
What are the pitfalls of Spiritual Margaritaville?
Is all that "love and light" stuff just a bunch of woo woo?
Easy quick tests to discern the good shit from the bullshit there
What comes after Spiritual MV on the alchemical journey and does it work to go back there after moving beyond it?

And the most important point of the alchemical journey:
Figuring out what form(s) your particular gifts/creativity/life force wants to take in this life. (HINT: it's not always what we're sold by spiritual culture and culture at large.)

With love to all on the path of spiritual discernment and soul awakening.
Thank you for listening and supporting the podcast!
McCall
Quick quotes from this episode:
-There’s no right path, way, or blanket truths for every step. There’s only what holds the most meaning and growth for you now. And every “now” might call for something different.
-There's no amount of enlightenment or spiritual awakening that can keep us safe from life. Life isn't meant to keep us safe. It's meant to keep us open.
-Not subscribing to any truth or way other than the pull of your own soul is perhaps the most thrilling, terrifying, and important thing in the world.
Click here to read or listen to my book The Second Half of the Mountain: A Guide to Personal Alchemy After Awakening-->Click here for 20% off audiobook

Support the show

Read The Terrible, Beautiful Truth on Substack
Stay connected through my Email List
Get a copy of my NEW book Down from the Mountain directly from me
Read or listen to my new book Down from the Mountain
Read or Listen to my first book The Second Half of the Mountain: A Guide to Personal Alchemy after Awakening

Next Episode

Ep. 18 Becoming Nothing (Song: Nothing At All)

You can know you are free when the alchemical journey of transformation has successfully turned you into a nobody and delivered you to nothing. Wait...what?!
In this episode:

Why we have to become nothing in order to know our true nature and to activate the soul codes of purpose within
The dismemberment journey it takes to get there
Reincarnating into your own life
The magic and usefulness of the Nothing Space
Hint: Becoming nothing is not the end, it's the truest beginning, the center of the spinning paradox, the core of the philosopher's stone.

Performance of my original song "Nothing At All" at 13:35
Quotes from the show:
“If you were not friends with the vast nothingness inside, why would you keep casting your net into it and waiting so patiently” Rumi - Coleman Bark’s translation
“In our culture with the level and degree of societal conditioning, the only way to heal and be free is to first be totally destroyed. Once we’ve been wiped out completely (all that conditioning wiped away clean) we discover we are an animal whose nature is in synch with all.” Monica Cassini“The symbolism of having the limbs and intestines taken out and later replaced reflects the experiences many people go through over a period of ten or even twenty years....during such difficult times, you are forced to undo yourself, to go to pieces, to free yourself from the tendency to think of yourself at any given time as one type of person with one type of task. Either you become fluid or nature erases you in its own way.” The Shaman's Body, Arnold Mindell
Click here to read or listen to my book The Second Half of the Mountain: A Guide to Personal Alchemy After Awakening-->Click here for 20% off audiobook

Support the show

Read The Terrible, Beautiful Truth on Substack
Stay connected through my Email List
Get a copy of my NEW book Down from the Mountain directly from me
Read or listen to my new book Down from the Mountain
Read or Listen to my first book The Second Half of the Mountain: A Guide to Personal Alchemy after Awakening

Falling Into Soul - Ep. 17 When Nothing Saves You

Transcript

We want something to save us, save us from ourselves from each other, from the pain and unpredictability of life, from suffering, illness, aging, and death. From vulnerability and heartbreak, from failing being the fool, the outcast the idiot. Save us from our deepest wounds and greatest fears. From our boring mundane existences. From feeling worthless, meaningless, and purposeless. Save us from whatever it is, we dance so intently and avoidingly around. But at last, when nothing saves us,