Calcination, Fire That Frees
[00:00:00] Fire That Frees
Power and force are not the same. Hear me.
Force pushes. Power stands.
Force screams to be obeyed. Power is quiet enough to be trusted.
Force needs an enemy to exist. Power needs integrity to endure.
What we often call “power” in America isn’t power at all; it’s force in a suit, ego with a microphone, a shaky hand clutching a lever. Force exposes disconnection from true power, because true power doesn’t need to bully, doesn’t need to lie, and doesn’t need to threaten to prove it’s real.
We are living in a season where too many in high places honor neither clear reason nor spiritual principle. [00:01:00] They hold office without authority, status without substance, noise without wisdom. The result: camps harden into walls, neighbors become targets, and truth gets traded for team colors.
In psychology, there’s a name for what’s happening to us: affective polarization, not just disagreement on policy, but rising dislike and dehumanization of “the other side.”
And the trust that holds a people together? As of May 2024, only about 22% of Americans say they trust the federal government to do what’s right most of the time. That’s near historic lows.
Meanwhile, loneliness and isolation are cutting us apart and killing us slowly. [00:02:00] The U.S. Surgeon General reports social isolation increases the risk of heart disease by 29% and stroke by 32%. Disconnection is not abstract; it’s deadly.
A tree cut off from its roots is dead.
This is a time for a different fire, not a blaze that devours people, but a refining heat that burns away what’s false so what’s real can finally breathe. “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious,” said C. G. Jung.
So I say: let the ego’s costume catch flame. Let the addiction to being right turn to ash. Let superstition, propaganda, and performative piety lose their shine in the heat of honest truths. Let the knockoff called force fall away, so true power can [00:03:00] rise in us. This isn’t theory. It’s heat you can feel from the doorway.
When a nation runs on force, families go quiet. Schools become battlegrounds. Faith becomes a costume. And the timeline turns into a courthouse with no judge, only a crowd with torches.
When a people choose decadence over discernment, here’s how it shows up:
A stadium gets new turf while a bridge rusts and a classroom leaks.
Payday lenders line the block, but there’s no bank for miles.
Sugar is cheaper than water in certain ZIP codes, then we blame “choices.”
The algorithm babysits our children and sells them outrage as identity.
Lies go viral. Corrections barely crawl.
Apologies become brand management instead of repair. [00:04:00]
We humiliate for clicks and call it accountability.
We protect a building’s reputation before a child’s safety.
We mock conviction as naïve and crown cynicism as wisdom.
Politics turns into pro wrestling... all spectacle and no spine.
I’m not asking you to be soft. I’m asking you to be true. There is nothing soft about truth, and there is nothing weak about love. Love is a verb with a backbone. Truth is a light that doesn’t flinch.
So let’s name what must burn.
Let the scapegoating burn.
Let the conspiracy fever burn.
Let the cult of personality burn.
Let the pay-to-play politics burn.
Let humiliation as policy burn.
Let the clickbait outrage burn.
Not people, hear me... patterns. Let the patterns burn.
Not your neighbor, the lie that says your neighbor is your enemy.
This work starts in your words: say what is so, without spin.
This work lives in your heart: [00:05:00] acknowledge the limits of what’s healthy for you, set a boundary without hate.
This work sharpens your mind: check the story before it writes your script.
This work trains your body: breathe... choose the next step that doesn’t make it worse.
Power and force, loved one, are not the same.
Force performs for the algorithm. Power serves the common good.
Force is addicted to applause. Power is anchored to truth.
Reason steadies the mind. Spiritual [00:06:00] discernment keeps the heart clean.
When the junk burns off, what’s left is what we can build with: humility, courage, reason, spiritual principle, the kind of power that doesn’t have to shout to be heard.
“No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.” — C. G. Jung.
So, if this spoke something real in you, I invite you to join the Quiet Rebellion. Share this with one person who needs it. Like and follow so the message travels. If you’re up for it, leave a brief review so others can find it.
And here are a few affirmations I leave with you and my loved ones in the L.I.T. Community. Say these with your chest:
I choose light over a heated lie. [00:07:00]
I choose truth over teams operating on groupthink.
I rise in power. I refuse force.
I align clear reason with spiritual discernment.
My fire refines... never consumes.
And if you’re tired of being managed by fear, tired of being harvested for outrage... step into the flame that frees. Name it. Face it. Fire it. Free it. Not tomorrow. Right now, in this moment, for this is the only moment that exists.
And when you speak, speak from power, not force. When you stand, stand in truth, not spectacle. When you love, love with a spine, because love is not weak. Love is not docile.
Let your home, your block, your circle be the first place the [00:08:00] temperature changes.
Whatever name you give this refining work... this is the work.
Stay L.I.T., Live In Truth. Mad love and respect.
