I appreciate it’s been a while since I wrote, and amidst my business, I’ve had to try and take care of myself, to consider where my energy is going and how tightly I am holding onto things. Back in advent my friend Brian Draper wrote about the idea of ‘standing down the soldier’, the notion that when we feel ourselves carrying negative emotions and rising to a situation to take a breath and ask ourselves why we might be responding in such a way. For me, that usually involves looking inward, to consider why my capacity is more depleted and what I can do to find some restoration and clarity.
This reminded me of the concept of ‘Inscendence’, a philosophical concept coined by Thomas Berry. Rather than transcendence, which is the idea of rising above something, transcendence is embracing the impulse to go into something and focus on its core, to find deeper connection within the immediate reality. It’s an invitation to tune into our intuitive self to explore our place within the world.
Each of us will find different things when we tune into that intuition, but for me it helps to consider the things which might carry me towards that place, the things which aid me to ‘stand down’, to help me see a fresh perspective on my life and aid my to know and express who I am.
For me, it’s about engaging with the things which make me feel ‘softer’ - art, music, conversation, nature, certain people, spaces, architecture, to embrace them and know that I am more likely to resonate with myself and others in these environments. This in itself is an act of inscendence, to think about what your body tells you, to ask what life might look like you if we let your body lead, rather than our brains, which are so susceptible to exterior demands.
It may be that in this exploration we feel the need to express it but don’t know how. Maybe we can’t always tell someone how we feel, but we can play how we feel, paint or photograph how we feel, write it in abstract words, shapes, scribbles. Walk how we feel, dance it, shape, fold, craft or bake it.
Many of us have an expectation of steadiness, of stability. The idea of being comfortable is a concept which doesn’t even have a word in other languages. As we grow softer in heart, we stand on firmer ground, knowing that we are better centred in ourselves, and in being softer, we are more prepared for life in an unsteady world.
So in moving forwards I gently ask two questions of myself, which you are welcome to ask yourself....
What are the things that you already do that make you feel ‘softer’
What are your daily expressions of self? - Perhaps they are built into daily life and don’t feel separate from your other responsibilities. Or perhaps you have to be highly intentional to include them in your every day.