I used to consider myself a free thinker because I was godless- and viewed anyone who associated with the term God as a sheep who was being culled by the shepherd that is the church. Today- though I still recognize the church as misguided doctrine, certainly; I sit comfortably between the parables of these two worlds, having experienced the extremes of both sides. You see, in the realm of thought, especially surrounding atheism- there are no free thinkers. The concept itself was derived from a source, and this concept had to gain traction among individual groups and grow as a seed in the collective consciousness to be recognized and "peer-reviewed" by other logic-driven thinkers. So therein, we establish that to think for oneself, truly- we can not listen to abstract opinions that lack direct experience and context. The very nature of the existing concept implies individuals that have adopted this belief actually did no thinking at all. They discovered an already existing concept, and adopted it as a part of their personality because most have not had direct experience with the divine. If one's life has been mundane and has not pushed the individual to the threshold of human emotion; of course they would scoff at the Divine Idea. How does one convince another to see magic where they have experienced none? When I was 28 I experienced a loss that flipped my world upside down, and completely changed the direction of my life. At this point- I had found stoicism, and was heavily aligned with the concept of divinity; though I had not yet realized I am that I am. I was still externalizing my own divinity to a source outside myself. However, following the break up, a steady decline in my mothers health, and the loss of my career up to that point- I hit a wall. Or the floor, I suppose. Carl Jung describes this floor as the process of Individuation. The Dark Knight of the Soul. It is recognized as the soul's initiation into it's higher calling. It led me to 10x my meditation practice for nearly two years, in almost complete social isolation. Following this, I chased my divinity and drove 5500km across country in my VW Jetta with my husky to the Fraser Valley in beautiful British Columbia, where I spent another year and a half or so continuing my practice in the mountains whilst pushing my musical abilities, nurturing my body, growing my discography, and sharpening my brand. (This is coming full circle I promise.)