“I’m in the bullshit, but I’m not of the bullshit.”

Jesus said, “I’m in this world but not of this world.” Let me rephrase it with a more current version.

“I’m in the bullshit, but I’m not of the bullshit.”

Let me offer a further paraphrase:

“I move through this messed‑up world like everyone else—feeling the chaos, the noise, the absurdity of it all—but I don’t let it name me, define me, or claim me. I can walk straight through the madness without becoming made of it. There’s a deeper place in me that stays clear, sane, grounded, and free.”

To live in this world is to be immersed in its contradictions—beauty and brutality, clarity and confusion, truth and deception. The “bullshit” is the noise, the endless stream of distractions, manipulations, and illusions that try to pull us off center. It’s the chatter of fear, the seduction of ego, the machinery of systems that thrive on keeping us reactive and ungrounded.

But to be *in* it without being *of* it is to recognize that chaos is the environment, not the essence. It’s the weather, not the sky. You walk through storms, but you are not made of storm—you are made of something deeper, steadier, more enduring.

There is a place within that remains untouched by the world’s distortions. Call it soul, call it awareness, call it the unshakable ground of being—it is the part of you that doesn’t bend to the madness.

– It doesn’t get named by labels or reduced by circumstances.

– It doesn’t confuse temporary noise with eternal truth.

– It doesn’t mistake survival games for the essence of living.

This inner sanctuary is where clarity lives. It’s where you remember that freedom isn’t about escaping the world but about not being captured by it.

To walk through the madness without becoming it is an act of quiet rebellion. It’s refusing to let cynicism harden your heart, refusing to let fear dictate your choices, refusing to let absurdity rob you of meaning.

– You see the games, but you don’t play them unconsciously.

– You hear the noise, but you don’t let it drown your inner voice.

– You feel the pull of chaos, but you return to center again and again.

This is not denial—it’s discernment. You acknowledge the mess, but you refuse to be defined by it.

True freedom is not found in escaping the world but in moving through it with unshaken clarity. It’s the ability to stand in the middle of the circus and still know who you are. It’s the power to let the world rage around you while you remain rooted in sanity, grounded in truth, and alive to the deeper currents of existence.

You are not the madness. You are the witness of it. You are not the noise. You are the silence beneath it. You are not the bullshit. You are the clear ground that walks through it, untouchable, unclaimed, and free.

Jim Palmer, Being Jesus in Nashville

https://www.facebook.com/Nobody.JimPalmer

Founder CNRS. Author. Professor. Existential Health Pioneer. Post-Religion Spiritual Director.

Nashville, TNThe Center for Non-Religious Spirituality