Let's Try This Again (and Again)
This newsletter is now a channel to crystalize and clarify elementary.
The world is changing fast.
Faster than we can keep up.
As the world changes, we have to change too.
Specifically, we have to change our way of being with the world.
The dominant way of being in the world today is aspirational.
We want this and that. And we strive to get this and that.
We also want to be wanted — to be valued and well-regarded.
We grow, we make progress, and we develop ourselves and the world.
We’re not entirely certain that everything is actually improving, but surely many things are getting better, at least for many of us.
So let’s keep flowing forward.
Life is flow. Flow is ordered chaos — otherwise known as complexity. The degree of order can vary, but life doesn’t exist without it.
The freedom to flow is desirable. But we don’t want the flow to be seamless. We want challenges and the excitement of uncertainty. These are provided by orderly bits of the flow that stagnate in helpful and unhelpful ways.
Order is limitation on the flow. Limitations can be felt in terms of hindering, holding back, and holding in… But they can also be felt as containing, carrying, and channeling.
In an aspirational way of being, the starting point is how you want life to flow. Then you work to create the limitations (order/re-reorder) that will help you realize what you want.
The alternative is a devotional way of being, where you start by becoming aware of and present to how life is flowing. Noticing that the flow is ordered chaos, you become aware of the limitations in place — both the ones imposed on you and the ones you’re imposing. You ask yourself…
What’s holding my unfolding?
What’s supporting, nurturing, or enabling the unfolding of my life right now? How is it doing that — in what manner?
And what’s holding me back or holding me in? What’s limiting or constraining my unfolding? How is it doing that — in what manner?
What’s unfolding, that I’m holding?
Or simply — what am I holding? What am I supporting, nurturing, or enabling? How am I doing that — in what manner?
And what am I holding back, holding in, limiting, or constraining? How am I holding it — in what manner?
You’ll see at once that there are ready answers to all these questions — both in the immediate moment and when you zoom out to look at the bigger picture.
An aspirational way of being is centered on attention to desiring and being desired.
The devotional path shifts the mode of being to an awareness of holding and being held. This includes the aspirations we hold as well.
So the devotional approach includes and transcends the aspirational approach. They are not in opposition, but the former encompasses the latter.
Now, you might be starting to feel the vibe of what I’m saying…
Stay tuned, there’s more to come.