One of the oldest and most persistent patterns in human affairs is the way form begins to replace substance. Something fresh, alive, and meaningful takes shape in the world. Over time, it becomes wrapped in procedures, appearances, and rules. Eventually, the outer form takes on more importance than the inner meaning. The packaging overshadows the gift.
This is not just a quirk of history. We can see it everywhere around us today.
Politics without substance
Modern politics has become a theatre of form. Image management dominates decision-making. Politicians are trained in how to appear confident in a debate, how to spin an answer, and how to turn a crisis into a press opportunity. Meanwhile, the deeper questions – the well-being of citizens, the survival of our planet, the long-term future of humanity – are sidelined.
Substance is difficult. It requires hard choices and genuine courage. Form is easier. It can be rehearsed, polished, and packaged for social media clips. That is why politics, almost everywhere, looks more like a performance than an honest attempt to govern.
Religion and the hollowing out of meaning
The same dynamic is visible in religion. What begins as a profound experience of connection or transcendence becomes codified into rituals, doctrines, and rules. Generations later, many followers go through the motions without ever touching the living reality the founder spoke of.
Religions were meant to guide people toward inner peace, love, or union with the divine. But over centuries the forms hardened. Attendance, ritual precision, and obedience often became more important than whether anyone was actually experiencing the depth of what was promised.
It is not unusual to find more passion in arguments about correct interpretation of a rule than in seeking the essence of the teaching itself.
Even fresh movements are vulnerable
This is not confined to politics or religion. Even movements that begin with authenticity can fall into the same trap.
I have long admired Prem Rawat’s message of inner peace and the possibility of experiencing contentment in one’s own life. His focus has always been on practice, on experience, not on belief or ritual. And yet, around his message, as with any movement, structures inevitably grow. Rules appear, processes are put in place, and before long the danger arises that the form begins to overshadow the substance.
To his credit, Prem Rawat consistently warns against this confusion. He reminds people not to mistake the gift for its packaging. The techniques of Knowledge are simple and direct – but the structures that support sharing them must never become more important than the personal experience itself.
Fear as the hidden driver
Why does this happen again and again? Beyond convenience, there is often a deeper reason: fear.
Fear of getting it wrong. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of standing out or being judged.
Form offers protection. If I follow the rules, then at least no one can accuse me of stepping out of line. I can always say, “I did what was required.” That fear-driven need for safety is what makes people cling to form long after the substance has drained away.
But substance requires courage. To seek truth for yourself, to act from conscience, to choose what is right rather than what is safe – that takes a kind of bravery that form cannot supply. Institutions thrive on control and fear of deviation. But human beings thrive on meaning, which only courage can unlock.
The challenge for each of us
The real question is not only about politics, religion, or movements out there. It is about ourselves.
How often do we cling to form in our personal lives because we fear doing the wrong thing? We follow routines, rules, or social expectations without asking whether they still carry meaning. We avoid decisions because they might upset others. We settle for safety instead of substance.
The challenge is to look beyond form and reconnect with substance. In practice, that means asking: Am I going through the motions out of fear, or am I living with the courage to experience the essence of life?
A call to return to what matters
If we can shift our focus back to substance, the world changes. Politics could become about people rather than image. Religion could become about lived connection rather than hollow ritual. And in our own lives, we could find the peace and clarity that comes not from following form, but from having the courage to live substance.
This tension between form and substance runs through much of what I have been writing recently. In Appeasement Then and Now, I explore the dangers of hiding behind appearances while ignoring destructive forces. In Reality Is a Thought, I look at how our perceptions can trap us in forms of belief, unless we learn to go deeper into direct experience.
The theme is always the same: don’t let fear push you into clinging to form when substance is still available.
So I leave you with this question: in your life today, will you choose safety in form, or the courage to live substance?
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