I think that you could swap out “spiritual path” with “mental health journey”, or whatever words you want to call it. I think that’s often what these ‘spiritual’ types are talking about anyway.
Oh god my autism is showing but is there a reason there is a buried ladder
The person is your ‘self’ or your mind, the ground is your life, or experience thereof. The thing sticking out of the ground that needs investigating is the start of an addiction, or a negative life path, or a spiral of harmful thoughts and depression, or anything that stops your progress on the path of life and makes you start digging holes for yourself to get stuck in.
Finally one (hopefully) realises that their dug their own hole and sees the solution to get out.
Or something like that. I think that’s the gist of what I felt about this meme or cartoon strip or whatever. Thanks for the creative writing exercise lol.
OH i read the name of the comic but still didnt put it together that he was on a path. Just figured he maybe buried a ladder or was specifically trying to uncover the ladder. I like your interpretation
Spiritual person here. I can only give you my perspective, so grain of salt and all that.
I classify things in four categories, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
- Physical is self explanatory I think.
- Mental is about structure of the brain and touches on things like ASD, ADHD, bipolar, and schizophrenia. It’s about things that are related more to the way the brain is functioning rather than environmental factors (please don’t think I’m equating ASD to mental disorders, it’s about how the brain is working more than the thing itself)
- Emotional is about how a person feels, moods and such. This touches on situational depression, happiness and sadness, PTSD, and other things related to their experiences in life.
- Spiritual is a bit more nebulous but could be summarized as an ephemeral connection to something greater than self. This encompasses all faiths and also other philosophical viewpoints like humanism, stoicism, fatalism, et al. Which is why an atheist could also be spiritual if they are also, say, humanist
So these all interconnect and affect each other. Mental health issues have physical consequences. Physical pain can make emotional health plummet. Feeling depressed can cause someone to doubt their place in the greater whole. And so on
Personally I think you are correct that the picture can describe a mental, or probably more likely an emotional journey. But I think it can also describe a spiritual journey separate from an emotional one. Or both together, since they often affect each other.
Anyway, that’s just my personal take. I’m no scholar or expert. I’m just a man with a sixth grade education who loves animals
