This essay is amazing Gregg. I just had a thought that might be relevant:
I've argued earlier that cultural evolution proceeds directionally towards pragmatic "truth", and much of those ideas are based in Gregg's TOK system.
I recently heard an interesting claim, in more esoteric philosophy, that the soul's primary desire is to express itself. And as I'm always trying to relate the subjective to the cultural and intersubjective, the following dawned on me:
As culture and tech evolve towards "truth", the soul's truth is set free to be expressed by the broadening of possibilities towards the infinite as the physical world grows increasingly complex, and as our mental models grow more complex, as transistors shrink, and the web grows, as roads are built, etc.etc.
Evolution, biological and cultural, and every soul's journey, can thus be seen as a thawing of limitations, a liberation of possibilities towards the infinite, an ongoing revelation of what is within all of us and what is truly within the world itself, happening at every moment, right now, in relation to ourselves, like a blooming flower in the case of enlightenment.
Related to my own spiritual struggle I had a thought: to beware the darkness within, or hidden self within, as it all will come to light, and every interlocutor is a reflection of you, and thus potentially the face of God.
Who a person is at any given moment, relating to the world at that moment, also exists in potential with all other situations, and how that person relates to all possibilities seems to be the measure of the person. A fully developed (enlightened) person hits the mark in all situations.
A person might seem an innocent victim in THAT situation, but as I thought about myself and friends (wondering how they'd be if they were rich or powerful, and thinking that their situation is clearly the result of their character) I noticed that everything is always in its right place and there must exist a perfect moral order. Indeed, I think anyone who honestly considers it must find it unbearable to think the world is truly unjust.
My hyper-intellectualism / imagination has made it difficult for me to have faith in myself, and I've built up a huge, fear-based intellectual grip on myself that I'm now trying to dissolve or let go of. Putting on a show for too long outside domain of genuine love can perhaps allow... problematic things to grow inside, only to bloom later unless you do something about it. It has instilled a fear of God, in particular of humiliation.
Jamie