In the past, like most folks, I think I was mirroring people a bit when I talked about the need to get away from worldly thinking. The experiences of the last six months or so have wrought a bit of a change in that (and, perhaps conclusively disproved the notion that language is merely a game that one could play as if one played no other).
The people caught up in the world are drawn into the energy of the social form, and have their being by fulfilling the purposes of the social form. It is possible to be in the place where they are, surrounded by the things that they are surrounded by, and not be caught up in these social forms. It is possible to have a consciousness that is sized precisely to the dimensions of a single person. (Cf. Epictetus?)
The visitors from the East have sensed this, I think. Hence the emphasis to American students on dispassion and freedom from desire. "Be here now," etc.
We speak of what we know, and testify of what we believe.