Recently, when I scroll through social media and see everything happening in the world, the phrase “soul-less ones” just keeps crossing my mind. This phrase is so intensely real now. It’s because across the world, we have been witnessing the obvious rise and reveal of a part of humanity that seems hallowed of all inner light, moral compass, spirituality, or lasting purpose. We see them in the architects of genocides and wars, in leaders and institutional systems so corrupt, and even in everyday injustices. Here in the Philippines, they wear familiar faces — powerful yet empty — drawn to greed, vanity and domination — most especially in places where power is unchecked and conscience is silenced.

I believe that the soul-less ones now are proliferating and are everywhere. While I cannot label myself as an intensely religious person, it is clear to me that we are in the time where the Bible states: “separation of the wheat and the chaff.” Mass media makes this clear, too. See how much stories there are about the duality of good and bad and in between these two states, is the seductive play of the illusion of power, money, image.

The idea that some people carry no inner light — or have extinguished it — is not new. In mystical traditions, spiritual teachers speak of dead souls, inner voids, or inner darkness in those who have disconnected from the divine. In our daily world, we can say these are the people who have no empathy, remorse or conscience.  

For many of us who are in our own spiritual journeys, we understand our inner presence, or our “soul” as connected to something higher, to a Divine force or the Christ-light, in a space which is open to higher truth and meaning. And we also know through our own experiences, that when we deny or neglect the connection to this inner world, that we become like shells of ourselves. Disillusioned, empty, tired and alienated.

We are in a time of great unveiling led by the cosmic energies of the planet Neptune, presently under intense scrutiny in astrological circles. Neptune governs dreams, spirituality, illusions, the unseen — and the boundary between truth and deception. March of this year, Neptune entered the constellation and sign of Aries. This impulse turned toward individuated awakening — piercing illusions, forging authentic identity, asserting moral purpose. But it’s a volatile period because the energies can go two ways: either sharpen our discernment or mislead us into deeper self‑delusion. Under Neptune’s influence, the soul-less ones may pretend deeper purpose, virtue, or transformation, when in fact they only shift the theatrical mask. Just watch the daily revelations and movement in the corruption story locally. The government is imploding in itself in its terminal cancer stage. Or check social media where much content is created by the soul-less ones. Daily content becomes more seductive with a real direction to confuse and move the world away from anything sacred. Mainstream has forgotten the unseen realm of Spirit that gives life its true meaning. And we must recognize that more of these soul-less ones are in positions of power now, make our world a terrible space. So we are all forced to see them and ourselves, and choose to be empowered and awake!

How then do we awaken? We awaken by choosing time to be in silence and prayer to learn discernment. Understand, heal and embrace our inner world. We awaken by choosing integrity over compromise, service over greed, truth over illusion. In the smallest acts of compassion, in the daily return to gratitude and presence, we fan the embers of our inner flame. We awaken by entering deep into the experience of our bodies; or into relationships that forge our hearts to grow in love. We awaken with our beings to a connection to our outside world and Nature’s spirit, too. Awakening is not an escape but an embodiment of Spirit in the world — an act of courage to live as luminous beings amid the shadow plays of our world today.

To be awake also is to learn to discern the real light versus the false exterior echo. We should ask ourselves when we seem seduced by the world… is this for the good or just for show? Can we choose to stand our moral ground when it comes to seeing suffering around us, dignity lost and fight for justice? Can we move in a daily space with integrity… giving to other that quiet healing understanding, assistance and service with no reward?

When we cultivate these small steps daily, we expel the darkness brought by these soul-less ones and bring in more positivity and transformative changes in this volatile world.  Beyond the illusions of matter, each of us carries within the spark of the Divine — the eternal light of our own soul. Our task is to stand up for what is right and just, and more importantly, to guard and express our own inner flame. For in doing so, we build Light together collectively and reclaim not just ourselves, but the possibility of a more luminous world we must co-creating together. Because when enough of us awakens, the shadows created dissolves and they loose their grip… just as light dissolves darkness. This is the real play of our world today.