The Global Identity Crisis: A Great Unmaking

Apr 14, 2025

Right now, I see the world as experiencing a massive identity crisis—one that is not just social or political, but spiritual. It mirrors the Dark Night of the Ego on a global scale, where long-held assumptions about who we are—as individuals, cultures, and nations—are being torn apart.

The insistence on Identity as absolute and unchanging is not just a symptom of this crisis—it is one of its core barriers to transformation. Many believe they fully “know who they are” from an early age, denying any possibility that growth, experience, or revelation could shift their understanding of self. This cultural rigidity is locking people into a cage of “yesterday,” making true evolution nearly impossible.

But if there’s one thing the Dark Night teaches, it’s this: the identities we cling to most fiercely are often the very ones that must be destroyed. A Dark Night is, above all else, an Unmaking. An Unmaking of that which is false.

Identity Crisis: A Society in Fear of Change

At the most obvious level, today’s identity crisis manifests in:

• The belief that identity is absolute and unquestionable—as though a person is born fully aware of their deepest truths and will never change.
• The expectation that identity must be universally affirmed, turning disagreement into an existential threat.
• A rejection of personal growth and transformation, because admitting change means admitting that one’s past identity was incomplete.
• The rise of identity theft and cyber crime, which mirrors a deeper, symbolic loss of self in the digital age.

But this identity crisis does not stop at the personal or cultural level.

It extends to all of humanity—affecting the very structures, beliefs, and institutions that we have relied upon to give meaning and order to our lives. The same forces that seek to lock individuals into rigid identities are also dismantling the stories, systems, and paradigms we once used to navigate the world.

The Fracturing of Our Collective Stories

Every civilization is built upon stories—shared narratives that act as guideposts for decisions and actions. Today, those stories are breaking down, revealing the cracks in our foundational beliefs. Some people will be deeply enmeshed in one set of crises, while unaware of the others. Here are the various crises that I could think of off the top of my head, but it’s by no means a complete list of all the stories and relationship that are breaking down.

• The Disregard for the Earth – We treat the planet as both an infinite resource and a dumping ground, polluting every corner of the world—however remote. Microplastics in fetuses, endocrine disruptors affecting fertility, and the contamination of our air, water, and soil all tie into the larger health and ecological collapse.
• The Crisis in Agriculture – Decades of chemical farming, monocultures, and industrialized animal husbandry have led to soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, fragile ecosystems, and declining food nutrition. Humanity’s disconnection from the land is no longer a philosophical concern—it is threatening the future of food itself.
• The Crisis in Health – A culture of quick fixes and pharmaceutical dependency has led to skyrocketing rates of chronic illness, obesity, and mental health disorders. The body, once respected as an integrated system, is now treated as a machine to be chemically manipulated—with dire consequences.
• The Climate as a Weapon – The Earth’s natural, cyclical climate shifts have been hijacked as a tool of fear and control. Instead of seeking genuine environmental balance, the conversation has been twisted into an artificial crisis narrative that feeds dependency on centralized power.
• The Crisis in Religion – Many are experiencing a deep questioning of faith, while others insist their belief system is the absolute and only truth. The tension between spiritual evolution and rigid dogma is intensifying, forcing people to confront what they truly believe.
• The Crisis in Consciousness – The materialist worldview is dying, forcing us to confront consciousness being the foundation of reality, rather than a byproduct of it.
• The Crisis in Finance – The divide between haves and have-nots is being exploited to push false solutions that further centralize control.
• The Crisis in Meaning – People have more comfort than ever, yet feel more lost than ever—a sign that modern life is failing to provide true fulfillment.
• The Crisis in Free Will – The rise of technocracy, AI-driven decision-making, and digital surveillance threatens human autonomy at its core.
• The Crisis in Humanity Itself – Trans-humanism is not just about technology—it is about rejecting the natural human state entirely.
• The Crisis of Disclosure – Enough said.

But none of these many crises are actually the root issue.

They are all symptoms—manifestations of a much deeper fracture in how we relate to ourselves, each other, and the world. They are indicators of a larger unmaking—a process designed to strip us of false certainty and force us to rediscover what is real.

In every facet of our existence—our bodies, our beliefs, our relationship with the Earth, even our place in the galaxy—we are being asked to see clearly and remember who we are.

This is where I believe that symbolic sight becomes essential.

The Liberty Bell Dream

In a dream, I witnessed the signing of the Declaration of Independence, watching the debate over its wording. Someone pointed out that slavery must be addressed, arguing that a nation founded on liberty while allowing human bondage was a contradiction. While the idea was hotly debated, it was tabled for a future time (always kicking the can down the road…), and the document was signed.

The dream fast-forwarded to the forging of the Liberty Bell, the national symbol of freedom and justice. Let Freedom ring! But the moment it was unveiled, a thunderous crack split through it.

I woke up thinking, “Of COURSE the Liberty Bell cracked.” It had to. It was the inevitable manifestation of contradictions woven into the foundation itself, a fracture waiting to be revealed.

What does this tell us?

• Contradictions always surface—whether in nations, cultures, or personal identity. The truth cannot remain buried forever.
• Symbolic sight allows us to see the cracks before they break us, to recognize what has always been there rather than reacting with shock when illusion shatters.
• The crack is not a flaw—it is a message. A sign that something within the structure was never whole to begin with, and an invitation to see what must change.

Right now, the cracks in modern identity discourse are revealing flaws that have existed for decades. The illusion that identity is absolute and fixed is breaking apart, and we must choose whether to cling to the shattered pieces or embrace the transformation ahead.

Let me give you one example of how to use symbolic sight to see a deeper meaning in a few of the crises going on. Look at the crisis in health, the explosion of chronic illness, metabolic disorders, and autoimmune diseases. We now understand that our gut microbiome—the very foundation of human health—is deeply interconnected with the soil microbiome of the Earth. As industrial agriculture depletes the land, stripping it of its microbial life, our bodies suffer in tandem. The sickness in our soil IS the sickness in ourselves. This is not coincidence. It is a message.

Ok, one more. This is fun! Look at the crisis in finance, the rising tensions between the haves and the have-nots. The old stories tell us that money is a scarce resource, something to be fought over, seized, and hoarded. But what if finance, like energy in a living system, was meant to flow rather than concentrate? When money stagnates in centralized control, whether political or economic, the system becomes fragile—just as a dammed river eventually erodes its own foundation. The turbulence we see is the breaking of the dam.

Do either of these examples invite you to see things differently? Do they open up new possibilities for how you might approach these situations? If so, this is why I find symbolic sight so crucial—not just for seeing beyond surface manifestations to the deeper stories they spring from, but for maintaining my footing when those around me are lost in panic. When all they see is surface issues, symbolic sight helps me locate the underlying patterns, cutting through illusion to expose the real forces at work. It allows me to ask the right questions instead of chasing distractions

The Dark Night of the Ego

The Dark Night is a stage of deep spiritual crisis where all the stories we once held as Truth—our sense of self, meaning, how the world works, and purpose—all collapse. It is as if the grand library of our identity, once meticulously curated, is set ablaze. This process is not an error but a necessary destruction, reducing the old volumes to ash so that the blank pages can be written anew. It is an unmaking—not as an end, but as the clearing of space for a deeper, more authentic becoming.

I have experienced two such unmakings.

The Cosmic Enema – was a complete external destruction, stripping away everything I had built, leaving me with literally nothing but uncertainty.
The Emotional Blender – A brutal internal breakdown, forcing me to confront illusions I had about myself and the world.

What did these experiences teach me?

• I do not fully know who I am.
• There are truths about myself that will shake me to my core.
• Resistance only makes the process more painful and longer.

If we apply this spiritual principle to society, we see the same process unfolding on a massive scale.

The insistence on rigid identity is a defense mechanism against the terrifying truth of self-discovery.
The emotional volatility surrounding identity debates is a sign that many people are not actually secure in their self-knowledge—but rather, are desperate to hold onto something familiar.
The collapse of outdated paradigms is not a catastrophe—it is an invitation. Just like triggers are an invitation.

The world is in a Dark Night. And like any Dark Night, the ones who cling to false certainty will suffer the most.

The Shock of True Self-Discovery

A friend of mine once insisted there was nothing she could learn about herself that would disturb her.

Both my husband and I, having been through serious Dark Nights, warned her otherwise. She scoffed. She ridiculed the idea that there were truths about herself she could not yet see.

Then, a year later, it happened.

She was confronted with a truth about herself that shattered her worldview. It broke her. It sent her spiraling into a Dark Night she never believed she could experience.

These are the biggest illusions in modern identity discourse:

• The belief that identity is a certainty.
• The belief that self-discovery is optional.
• The belief that we are already whole, rather than in a constant process of becoming.

The truth is this:

• No one is immune to self-revelation.
• No one is fully aware of the entirety of Who They Are.
• The moment you insist you know yourself completely, you have just guaranteed you are blind to something important.

If this is true at the individual level, how much more true is it for an entire society? For Humanity as a whole?

A Path Forward: The Leap of Faith

The Dark Night is upon us. There is no way around it. It is the ultimate exhale, the moment of letting go of that which no longer serves, whether we are ready or not. And though it may feel like destruction, it is, in truth, a rebirth.

The only way through is to let go.

I’ve been there, a few times in fact. What it will require is resilience, openness, and trust in ourselves as we step into the unknown. To trust that no matter what is found, I would survive it. That is the Leap of Faith. Not faith in an external force to ‘save me’, but faith in myself.

The fire does not destroy the Phoenix—it burns away what is dead or dying before setting it free.

Even when emotions feel unbearable, trust them – but make sure you understand the real message before taking action. They are guiding you. Even fear—the loudest voice in the Dark Night—is not here to harm, but to ask, “Are you ready to face what has been long avoided?”

Use your symbolic sight to see beyond the noise—to locate the larger truths, the connected stories, and the real asks of what must be unmade. When everything else feels like it’s unraveling, this is what will keep you grounded.

The ones who have walked through the flames will tell you:

• You will not be the same on the other side.
• You will be unmade, forced to release all that is false.
• But you will survive.
• And you will be better for it.

The Dark Night does not wait for permission. It will take us. The only choice is how we meet it.

Let go. Trust yourself. While you may feel lost for a while, you will ultimately step up to become more of who you were meant to be.

TL;DR

The world is in a Dark Night of the Ego—an identity crisis unraveling all we knew. Let go, trust yourself, and rise from the ashes like the Phoenix.

About the Image

I find inspiration all over the place. No, this is not an AI image. I was going through a car wash with a friend who’s car had a moon roof. As the colored soap for the wash got dropped onto the clear moon roof, I thought it was so pretty! I whipped out my camera and started taking pictures, leaning back to look straight up at the roof. The suds splattered onto the glass, then melted into each other as we moved through the car wash. As I was pondering which of all my images might actually work for this topic, this image came to mind. Wash away the untruths, the illusions, and the pretty lies we have lived by for millenia.

Audio

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and more. Like what you hear? Share it and leave a review. It means a lot and I believe that the message of owning ourselves and our potential is what this world needs right now. When we are individually standing in our power, we have the make the real choices which lead to a better, more authentic world for all. Every review and like helps others to find the message, one more voice asking others to bring forth your light!

Video

Video is also available through the YouTube Channel. The background features one of the almond trees in my yard in bloom, with pollinators buzzing around it. I chose this video for this post because a blooming almond tree is used in the Bible as a metaphor for awakening after a spiritual dormancy. Seemed rather appropriate!