The first experience I’d like to talk about is an experience I had at a music festival called Ohmstead. At this event, I was having telepathic conversations with several other empaths that were there. Each day I was tested for spiritual growth and learned more about our multidimensional experience we are having. I was informed through the music at points, things I had been missing out on about love, the matrix, and the shamanistic experience I was having. At one point I was walking through the field with a bag full of food(which looked sketchy because no one was carrying bags and I got the impression that people thought I was carrying a bomb, so as I was trying to not freak people out I tried to pull out some food out of my purse and be as lovely as possible while carrying it to my friends car). As this was happening, an empath who was watching me said I ‘was doing that all wrong’. I asked him if that was why I broke a fingernail and he told me no, I succeeded. I carried my food to the car happily after that after having had my telepathic communication with other empaths confirmed. I had a short interaction that day with someone who I’d had sex with and later on would be sexually assaulted by and was spending time with him this day. Afterwards,  I met the man who told me I was 'doing it all wrong’ and asked him how he knew what I was doing. He responded that he was an empaths and that I was surrounded by them. This was the first time I had considered myself an empath. For about a month or two before this I had been hearing 'voices’, hearing animal noises, and was very connected to dogs barking, horns honking, birds cawing, hooting, and singing and was able stop crows from cawing, stop the dogs who were barking, stop a truck’s backing up sound, and other sounds that symbolize a spiritual backfall/mess up(I will include what I’ve wrote about this below). I had also had several past life memory recalls(one of which I recalled was my friend’s who was with me). Empaths who were in tuned with me wondered how I knew such things. I talked to this man for a minute about how the mound on my palm lights up blue when I’m following my intuition and he showed me pressure points on my hands that would soothe my anxiety. After all of this I spent countless hours looking for him and finally I got his number from one of his friends I’m pretty sure. I ended up going to colorado with him for a short time, again going to another music festival where there were tons of empaths. I had several telepathic experiences with his friends. I went home with a new perspective on life, though I ended up in the hospital shortly after having gone slightly crazy with all the information I was receiving. Since,  and with the help of medication, I’ve learned how to protect myself and have built my will and integrity to a new level that promotes the healthy and sensitive life I attempt to live.

I think the conflict perspective describes our society the best, but the functionalist perspective is what it’s presented as. Ever since we started going to school they tell us about how we go to school so we can learn how to be a functioning member of society, they tell us that every job(from the paper pusher to the trash man to the business executive) plays an important role in making the world go round(one might use the argument of “somebody has to do the jobs that nobody else wants to do!” So basically, there has to be a bottom in order to have a top). When in reality, from the moment we are born, everything is a competition. From grades, popularity, occupation, status, wealth, style, even finding a partner. It’s every man for himself, you can’t get to the top without pushing people out of the way or stepping on another’s toes. You either have to compete like everybody else(which the perceived “success” isn’t even guaranteed), or get eaten alive(figuratively speaking), or you have to work the system(which is probably the smartest and most effective way, but involves stepping on toes and exploiting people in the process). Our society forces you to play along and there’s really no way you can win. There’s a reason they call it the rat race.