ALL-ONE-SPACESHIP-EARTH!!

I've been using Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap for more than a decade.  It's the bomb. I use it for shampoo, but you can also use it for body wash, mop floors, clean clothes, even brushing teeth. One drop and it lathers up like crazy, smells fresh and tingles.

And then of course there is that infamous label.

You start reading it and you're like, 'wow this is really wild stuff who is this guy?' It kind of sounds like profound moral/spiritual statements, you're squinting along but when you take a step back you wonder 'am I missing something? am I the unenlightened one here?' and when you take an even farther step back and you realize it's really just kind of ranting nonsense and you're deep in the rabbit hole. That's because Dr. Bronner makes awesome soap but he was a literal madman! People certainly aren't buying it for the message.

When I read some of the things I wrote when I was going through periods of mania, it is like reading a Dr. Bronner's soap label. The brain isn't firing on all cylinders, but you think you're a creative genius. You justify imbalance--not sleeping, unhealthy habits--because the ends will justify the means. It's nonsense, but you feel like you're just on the brink of something great. Something great that never comes. Thank God I never took anyone down with me.

When I was on campus at the library a few months back, I came across a book in the stacks about religious communities (nuns and monks) in the Middle Ages who had gone astray. A charismatic leader claiming some divine spiritual insight comes along and everyone gives it credence. It's attractive because it's new and gnostic, not old and traditional and stodgy, and promises something great. Sooner or later their community is in strife, not living in truth, and far off the mark. Think Catholic Waco, a la David Koresh.

Be careful who you listen to, because it's a fine line between heresy and truth. The Devil comes to divide and sow confusion, feeding us not just lies, but half-truths that sound right. I like what my friend said about understanding spiritual truths recently, "I just let the Church digest it and feed it back to me." Very un-sexy sounding, but I have more of an appreciation for that kind of cautious staying power then the Next Big Thing.