Apathy has been on my mind for quite a while now. It is something that I have been wanting to grasp and understand as I witness it at work in so many lives. Apathy is a spiritual disease. I too have felt that stone cold hand grab my heart and attempt to put out the flame of spirit, but unlike many others, I have managed to break the clasp of that horrid hand and have emerged triumphant.
How do I recognize apathy?
The very word apathy is actually quite misleading. Apathy derives from the Greek roots A-pathos, the literal meaning being “without emotion”, but if you ask those suffering from apathy, there is a lot of emotion; sadness, depression, worry, a sense of fatalism or futility and lack of meaning. Nothing matters and if nothing matters, why should you care?
Apathy is not always obvious at first; it often first shows itself as difficulty at work and in personal relationships. Very often it is followed up with the severing of ties to the job and relationships which cause so much distress, resulting in solitary behaviours. From this proceeds a lack of motivation to take up new opportunities and a disengagement from things and people which once brought joy. This then progresses on to many other symptoms including fatigue, poor choices, avoidance of situations which require deeper thinking and perhaps even the belief or expectation that nothing good will happen in life.
These symptoms are quite disturbing when put together and can put one upon a path of destruction, severing you from the very things that nourish you and provide you with the very foundation that you need to live your life.
What exactly is apathy?
Metaphysically, apathy is the opposite of passion. It is the dull, grey, uncaring and indifferent disease that penetrates directly to the core. Coming from an astrological and magickal background, apathy results when we lack passion or in other words, when we lack the element of fire in our lives. Fire provides the spark which nourishes passion, creativity, love, caring and excitement – without fire, the colour fades and with it, all of these wonderful aspects of life that give us joy.
With that lack of fire our creativity diminishes, and we may initially try to cling to drama and dramatic situations in a poor attempt to bring that fire back into our lives. The “excitement” of human drama simply cannot fulfill that which we lack and eventually, we shy away from the drama – not from a place of wanting to be healthy, but because we simply stop caring…and this my friends becomes the crux of the problem.
How to win the battle with apathy
We already have the key right above! If apathy results as a lack of passion and elemental fire in our lives, then we already know how to combat it! The question is how to start bringing passion back into your life…
Having worked with a number of people who are dealing with apathy, I often ask them what they are passionate about. I have yet to receive a serious answer. Part of the issue is that most people misunderstand passion – they believe that passion is something you are born with; it is something innate within you that has to pre-exist in order to be valid and real.
The truth is that passion originates with an interest. Through exposure and working consistently with our interests we begin to develop a new appreciation for them and over time we develop expertise and with that expertise we build our passion.
So my first answer on how to fight apathy is to pursue your interests! Engage them to whatever degree/level you can and build from there. The more you explore your interests, the more you will find that heavy grey cloud lightens up.
The second issue with apathy is that it dulls us to life. We simply don’t care what life has to offer anymore and so we stop appreciating what is offered to us on a daily basis. When was the last time you really enjoyed your food? When was the last time you were intoxicated by the smell of flowers, an oil or even a perfume? When was the last time you snuggled into a blanket because it was so soft and cozy?
These are really simple things but as we begin to appreciate our physical senses, we begin to restore the colour to life and cultivate appreciation and passion. To taste our food, to smell the beautiful scents, to appreciate the wonderful feelings, sights and sounds that are available to us (often at the touch of the fingertips) this is how we reclaim passion, fire and the sacredness of life.
Take the time to truly engage your senses and appreciate the world around you!
Purpose – the final blow to apathy
These little tips that I have given you above are a good first step. They help to stimulate life again so that you can begin to address why your passion died. You can’t stop here though…your journey to healing is not complete at this stage!
To be apathetic is to live a life without MEANING! If nothing has meaning to you, then the choices you make don’t matter which means that suffering is definitely an option! If you’re going to suffer, then it had better serve some greater purpose for you in your life!
But what is your purpose?
There are so many great tools out there that can help you understand your purpose…the Life Activation, the Purpose of Life reading, Astrology readings, the Empower Thyself class and Initiation – these are all tools that can help you to embrace meaning and purpose in your life. Whether it is your own purpose or a greater understanding of the general purpose of human life, once that meaning starts to sink in you will start to care about the choices you make and the behaviours you engage in.
If you need help with this, reach out to one of the certified guides in your area who can help guide you back towards that life of purpose and greater meaning. I could write so much about all of these tools but that would defeat the very need for you to act and to challenge the assumption within you that nothing will work to “fix you” or go right again.
Apathy tells you that a leap of faith is going to fail, be a lot of effort and not worth the pain…but I’m telling you to leap anyways and do things that you doubt or have never done before because it was the only thing that once snapped me out of that cold, dark and miserable place.
So is apathy beatable?
Yes! Absolutely!
Hit apathy at its three weak points:
- Cultivate your interests and turn them into passions
- Engage your senses and live a sensual life
- Develop a deeper understanding of purpose in your life
This will require you to challenge that awful mental construct in your head that makes you believe that nothing will work or is worth the effort. Shush that horrible voice in your head and push along these three lines…wonder, passion, creativity, joy and love can be yours once again!
