Renée, we continue to have the most synchronous overlaps. I just posted last Sunday an In defense of Not Knowing, and had I “known” this were on its way, I’d have footnotes the entire piece!
You ask: If you and I were sitting face-to-face, knee-to-knee, and I were to ask you what certainty you grab for in times of uncertainty, what would you say?
And I reply, shin-to-shin, with silence, stillness. For in that space, uncertainty is grounded in an unfathomable certainty.
Kimberly, it is no small wonder about these synchronous overlaps, and I'm so grateful to you for sharing "In Defense of Not Knowing." As I shared in comments there, you give us the embodied direct experience of unknowing, and you leave no questions about 'how' we might unknow: wide-eyed with wonder like a child SEEING for the first time.
I join you whole-heartedly "shin-to-shin, with silence, stillness . . . in that space [where] uncertainty is grounded in an unfathomable certainty."
I love the pictures of nature that you paint with your prose. In order to protect and restore nature, humans must conceive of ourselves being part of nature, not above it. Have you ever considered joining with others in a growing movement, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature?
Michael, thank you for your kind words and for turning my attention to GARN, which is new to me--the Alliance, that is, not the movement to recognize the rights of Nature. I'm so glad to know of this organization, thanks to you, and I echo you: "humans must conceive of ourselves as part of nature, not above it." 🙏
You ask what certainty I grab for in times of uncertainty…
…where krisis lives in my flesh and marrow and fluid interstices…
… what would be the inner experience…
I feel curious in the sense of awakened alertness, interest and inquisitiveness, my mind open to things and phenomena unfathomable for now, while holding myself in the all important sense of unknowing.
Uncertainty, the twin of unknowing, always stirs an excitement within my tissues, blood and bones, a curiousness, as in eagerness to learn something new. Uncertainty and unknowing are two wings of a portal leading ~ when open ~ onto the path of venturing into whole new spaces of being and potential becoming.
Curious in the original sense of careful, diligent, thoughtful ~ although not ‘filled with thought’ but rather filled with at-tention and in-tention ~ where the tension is palpable inside and all around.
Veronika, thank you for living into these questions and sharing your practiced unknowing, the awakened at-tention and in-tention of the felt-sense of curiosity and openness you experience. I appreciate your careful attention to curiosity in its original sense. You also write that you 'hold' yourself in the sense of unknowing, which suggests to me a quality of disciplined at-tention with potential and perceptivity of the tension. In reading you, I get the sense that uncertainty is an enlivening, awakening cue. What if everyone awakened to the experience of uncertainty in this way?!
Yes. the funny thing is, I only gradually realised that this is what I do naturally. In a recent conversation with friends who are very much 'into certainty and having to control everything in life' something clicked in my mind and I knew 'Ha, uncertainty actually feels good to me.' 😅
So it's not a 'disciplined attention' in the sense that I have to work hard at it, but rather a genuine spontaneous curiosity. Yes, what if... I can wholeheartedly recommend it!
Veronika, I join you (!) in the freedom in uncertainty, and that once in that raft, the 'disciplined attention' is not something to work at so much as it is enlivened with-in the moment-by-moment world.
how delightful 🎶 ♪ ♬ l look forward to getting together in uncertainty and comparing notes ✨ 🪶 "enlivened with-in the moment-by-moment world" sounds good to me.
Dear Renée, I woke at an unusual hour this morning (scarcely 10 a.m. in Portugal, so very early here) like a monk keeping the Hours. Your challenging and beautiful essay fit seamlessly into such a morning. I will sit with it yet, but wanted to let you know I’m here reading, grateful for the marvel of you, sending love, in real time. ❤️
Dear Tara, dear monk keeping the Hours, thank you for letting this essay dwell in the dreamy underworld of night. It belongs there, really, where the neon light of discursive thought is not yet. And it was so good to receive your love, in real time, here in Portugal, as I sat in a cafe, drinking café zinia (espresso) with a small glass of port, as the old Portuguese men do in the morning, even as I lament on your behalf your loss of sleep. ❤️
Renée, we continue to have the most synchronous overlaps. I just posted last Sunday an In defense of Not Knowing, and had I “known” this were on its way, I’d have footnotes the entire piece!
You ask: If you and I were sitting face-to-face, knee-to-knee, and I were to ask you what certainty you grab for in times of uncertainty, what would you say?
And I reply, shin-to-shin, with silence, stillness. For in that space, uncertainty is grounded in an unfathomable certainty.
Kimberly, it is no small wonder about these synchronous overlaps, and I'm so grateful to you for sharing "In Defense of Not Knowing." As I shared in comments there, you give us the embodied direct experience of unknowing, and you leave no questions about 'how' we might unknow: wide-eyed with wonder like a child SEEING for the first time.
I join you whole-heartedly "shin-to-shin, with silence, stillness . . . in that space [where] uncertainty is grounded in an unfathomable certainty."
I love the pictures of nature that you paint with your prose. In order to protect and restore nature, humans must conceive of ourselves being part of nature, not above it. Have you ever considered joining with others in a growing movement, the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature?
Michael, thank you for your kind words and for turning my attention to GARN, which is new to me--the Alliance, that is, not the movement to recognize the rights of Nature. I'm so glad to know of this organization, thanks to you, and I echo you: "humans must conceive of ourselves as part of nature, not above it." 🙏
Was
Exquisite!
Alisa, thank you. 🙏
You ask what certainty I grab for in times of uncertainty…
…where krisis lives in my flesh and marrow and fluid interstices…
… what would be the inner experience…
I feel curious in the sense of awakened alertness, interest and inquisitiveness, my mind open to things and phenomena unfathomable for now, while holding myself in the all important sense of unknowing.
Uncertainty, the twin of unknowing, always stirs an excitement within my tissues, blood and bones, a curiousness, as in eagerness to learn something new. Uncertainty and unknowing are two wings of a portal leading ~ when open ~ onto the path of venturing into whole new spaces of being and potential becoming.
Curious in the original sense of careful, diligent, thoughtful ~ although not ‘filled with thought’ but rather filled with at-tention and in-tention ~ where the tension is palpable inside and all around.
Veronika, thank you for living into these questions and sharing your practiced unknowing, the awakened at-tention and in-tention of the felt-sense of curiosity and openness you experience. I appreciate your careful attention to curiosity in its original sense. You also write that you 'hold' yourself in the sense of unknowing, which suggests to me a quality of disciplined at-tention with potential and perceptivity of the tension. In reading you, I get the sense that uncertainty is an enlivening, awakening cue. What if everyone awakened to the experience of uncertainty in this way?!
Thank you!
Yes. the funny thing is, I only gradually realised that this is what I do naturally. In a recent conversation with friends who are very much 'into certainty and having to control everything in life' something clicked in my mind and I knew 'Ha, uncertainty actually feels good to me.' 😅
So it's not a 'disciplined attention' in the sense that I have to work hard at it, but rather a genuine spontaneous curiosity. Yes, what if... I can wholeheartedly recommend it!
Veronika, I join you (!) in the freedom in uncertainty, and that once in that raft, the 'disciplined attention' is not something to work at so much as it is enlivened with-in the moment-by-moment world.
how delightful 🎶 ♪ ♬ l look forward to getting together in uncertainty and comparing notes ✨ 🪶 "enlivened with-in the moment-by-moment world" sounds good to me.
Veronika, I'm hoping for soon. I'll message you. 🙏
Dear Renée, I woke at an unusual hour this morning (scarcely 10 a.m. in Portugal, so very early here) like a monk keeping the Hours. Your challenging and beautiful essay fit seamlessly into such a morning. I will sit with it yet, but wanted to let you know I’m here reading, grateful for the marvel of you, sending love, in real time. ❤️
Dear Tara, dear monk keeping the Hours, thank you for letting this essay dwell in the dreamy underworld of night. It belongs there, really, where the neon light of discursive thought is not yet. And it was so good to receive your love, in real time, here in Portugal, as I sat in a cafe, drinking café zinia (espresso) with a small glass of port, as the old Portuguese men do in the morning, even as I lament on your behalf your loss of sleep. ❤️
No lament needed. I am accustomed to unpredictable hours. As long as I don’t have to make a long drive (as the driver), I’ve learned to roll with it.
I am glad to hear you are cultivating your old-Portuguese-man side. It sounds beyond my comfort zone. Espresso and port! Wow. That’s bracing! :-)
Bracing is an apt description. No doubt the two send the mind on a walkabout.
I join you in the [unpredictable] Hours.