Experiencing once again the "poverty of language." I'm so often struck mute by the the deftness with which you wield words/sentences/paragraphs that reveal the depths of being-ness.
I'm enlivened by each of the possibilities you've offered for our work together. I have a deep and abiding appreciation for your willingness to answer the call to facilitate gathering--past, present, and future. I stand in Presence, in wonder, as this question reaches into the depths of me:
"At this still-young hour of the New Year, already calling us into our deepest work on behalf of the Great Work, it seemed important to take a breath and wonder together: what is being asked for in 2026, and how might this shared work take form?" In love.
Becky, thank you for your depths of Presence to this letter, as always. “Poverty of language”: ahhh, yes. Here, we find ourselves “relating within the Silence” together, dear Friend. And so, if the writing gestures toward anything, it is only because it stumbles, pauses, listens, enters into wormholes of inarticulateness, then stumbles and fumbles around more.
Thank you for sharing that you are enlivened by each of these possibilities (me too!), which helps now, as we listen for what comes next. I read your words, “reaches into the depths of me” regarding the questions, I meet you in the poverty of language, sensing the personal significance of what you say.
Beautiful arc traced here. The transition from solitary pilgrimage to shared work mirrors something deeper about conciousness itself, how it needs both withdrawal and communion to unfold. I've expereinced similar shifts where what starts as personal practice becomes collaborative without losing its depth. That line about pilgrimage beginning at home when old patterns tug at new shoots really landed.
Neural Foundry, thank you for this. I am so appreciating your presence here, and I can see by the "likes" that others are, too. What you name is beautifully hermeneutical. The solitude of pilgrimage made something perceptible about solitude itself—that it can be shared, in the sense of solitude as presence to inner aliveness, inner feeling, inner creative essence. The shared work seems to be where that perceptibility is tested in the shared field of becoming. And here, Rilke comes to mind about love being where two solitudes meet, border, and protect one another.
Thank you also for sharing that the line about pilgrimage beginning at home really landed. That tug of old patterns against new shoots continues as a touchpoint of awareness. What you’ve brought to light is that this can be so for us all.
When you summarize the work you've done, the growth you've seen, and the energy you've shared with the world through Beyond the Comfort Zone it is impressive! I know this is not about being impressive though - it is the farthest thing from your heart and mind - yet we all need a leader to nudge us to what is most important. Thank you Renee. Although I have not had an opportunity to partake in as many retreats or online studies as I would like, I got a great deal of value of what I have done so far, just as I do from every essay you share.
Donna, thank you for this generous reflection. Every week (or nearly every week—I don’t want to put you on the spot!), you read these letters and respond. You have been integral to this unfolding, Donna. Your presence—whether through reading, reflecting, meeting for a long walk in your lovely hometown way back when I was on the meander, or joining an online or in-person study if it calls you to it—is participation. Thank you for being here in all the ways you are, and for sharing that these essays are meaningful to you.
Dear Renée, as I read this, I feel myself moving within the arc you paint here …. from solitary fidelity into our shared work that feels alive, consequential, and quietly profound. The quality of listening and devotion shaping this space is palpable. It truly lives from within the work itself, and in that livingness invites something genuinely collective to come into being.
I find myself especially drawn to the possibility you name of a longer-form phenomenological exploration on the unfolding of consciousness at this epochal threshold. Having lived with Gebser’s work over time, and sensing the structures opening not only as understanding, but as lived perception, there is a real desire in me to enter the shared phenomenology you’re gesturing toward, to dwell there together and see what reveals itself.
I’m grateful for this work, for you, and for the people gathered around it. I feel a clear, heartfelt yes to the possibility of continuing the journey together as it unfolds. With love, Toni
Toni, I am touched by how you name the movement—from solitary fidelity into our shared work as consequentially alive and collective. I echo you that the quality of listening and devotion shaping this space is palpable, living from within the work itself . . . the work calling us into it. What is opening through us in this work is not primarily a shared understanding, as you recognize here. It is an enlivenment of shared perception.
And so, that you are especially drawn to a phenomenological study of the unfolding of consciousness at this epochal threshold vis-à-vis Gebser resonates. Recently, we spoke briefly of this possibility. As you name here, it is not enough to have an understanding but to come into the unfolding as a “lived perception” and shared phenomenology, as an emergence, and revelation of diaphaneity. We can begin to sense a readiness here in our shared field, with thanks to you for your reflection, and for your clear yes.
A spiritual travelogue, the image of a blooming white rose: a gift returned, dear Megan. Thank you. I am not surprised that you are called to the desert Silence. Let us imagine this forthcoming.
Julie, thank you for sharing this with me. Words fail to convey how much I am enjoying this experience of sharing in Silence with you, but it touches that aliveness Sardello describes. 🙏❤️
What a gorgeous arc of becoming! As for what's next, I want to cast my vote for this one: A longer-form online phenomenological (lived experience) study on the unfolding of consciousness at this epochal threshold, drawing from Jean Gebser’s Ever-Present Origin, and culminating in an in-person retreat (TBD)
Dear Jenna, Thank you, dear Friend, for being here and for your "as for what's next" vote. There is blossoming interest in this study. I will follow up with you. ❤️❤️❤️
Experiencing once again the "poverty of language." I'm so often struck mute by the the deftness with which you wield words/sentences/paragraphs that reveal the depths of being-ness.
I'm enlivened by each of the possibilities you've offered for our work together. I have a deep and abiding appreciation for your willingness to answer the call to facilitate gathering--past, present, and future. I stand in Presence, in wonder, as this question reaches into the depths of me:
"At this still-young hour of the New Year, already calling us into our deepest work on behalf of the Great Work, it seemed important to take a breath and wonder together: what is being asked for in 2026, and how might this shared work take form?" In love.
Becky, thank you for your depths of Presence to this letter, as always. “Poverty of language”: ahhh, yes. Here, we find ourselves “relating within the Silence” together, dear Friend. And so, if the writing gestures toward anything, it is only because it stumbles, pauses, listens, enters into wormholes of inarticulateness, then stumbles and fumbles around more.
Thank you for sharing that you are enlivened by each of these possibilities (me too!), which helps now, as we listen for what comes next. I read your words, “reaches into the depths of me” regarding the questions, I meet you in the poverty of language, sensing the personal significance of what you say.
Beautiful arc traced here. The transition from solitary pilgrimage to shared work mirrors something deeper about conciousness itself, how it needs both withdrawal and communion to unfold. I've expereinced similar shifts where what starts as personal practice becomes collaborative without losing its depth. That line about pilgrimage beginning at home when old patterns tug at new shoots really landed.
Neural Foundry, thank you for this. I am so appreciating your presence here, and I can see by the "likes" that others are, too. What you name is beautifully hermeneutical. The solitude of pilgrimage made something perceptible about solitude itself—that it can be shared, in the sense of solitude as presence to inner aliveness, inner feeling, inner creative essence. The shared work seems to be where that perceptibility is tested in the shared field of becoming. And here, Rilke comes to mind about love being where two solitudes meet, border, and protect one another.
Thank you also for sharing that the line about pilgrimage beginning at home really landed. That tug of old patterns against new shoots continues as a touchpoint of awareness. What you’ve brought to light is that this can be so for us all.
When you summarize the work you've done, the growth you've seen, and the energy you've shared with the world through Beyond the Comfort Zone it is impressive! I know this is not about being impressive though - it is the farthest thing from your heart and mind - yet we all need a leader to nudge us to what is most important. Thank you Renee. Although I have not had an opportunity to partake in as many retreats or online studies as I would like, I got a great deal of value of what I have done so far, just as I do from every essay you share.
Donna, thank you for this generous reflection. Every week (or nearly every week—I don’t want to put you on the spot!), you read these letters and respond. You have been integral to this unfolding, Donna. Your presence—whether through reading, reflecting, meeting for a long walk in your lovely hometown way back when I was on the meander, or joining an online or in-person study if it calls you to it—is participation. Thank you for being here in all the ways you are, and for sharing that these essays are meaningful to you.
I am thrilled we found each other the way we did...way back when our newsletters (at least on Substack) were babies.
Me, too, Donna. A special bond formed. How fortunate are we.
Dear Renée, as I read this, I feel myself moving within the arc you paint here …. from solitary fidelity into our shared work that feels alive, consequential, and quietly profound. The quality of listening and devotion shaping this space is palpable. It truly lives from within the work itself, and in that livingness invites something genuinely collective to come into being.
I find myself especially drawn to the possibility you name of a longer-form phenomenological exploration on the unfolding of consciousness at this epochal threshold. Having lived with Gebser’s work over time, and sensing the structures opening not only as understanding, but as lived perception, there is a real desire in me to enter the shared phenomenology you’re gesturing toward, to dwell there together and see what reveals itself.
I’m grateful for this work, for you, and for the people gathered around it. I feel a clear, heartfelt yes to the possibility of continuing the journey together as it unfolds. With love, Toni
Toni, I am touched by how you name the movement—from solitary fidelity into our shared work as consequentially alive and collective. I echo you that the quality of listening and devotion shaping this space is palpable, living from within the work itself . . . the work calling us into it. What is opening through us in this work is not primarily a shared understanding, as you recognize here. It is an enlivenment of shared perception.
And so, that you are especially drawn to a phenomenological study of the unfolding of consciousness at this epochal threshold vis-à-vis Gebser resonates. Recently, we spoke briefly of this possibility. As you name here, it is not enough to have an understanding but to come into the unfolding as a “lived perception” and shared phenomenology, as an emergence, and revelation of diaphaneity. We can begin to sense a readiness here in our shared field, with thanks to you for your reflection, and for your clear yes.
This was lovely to read Renée. Like a spiritual travelogue evoking the sense of a blooming white rose. Desert silence calls to me🙏🏻💕
A spiritual travelogue, the image of a blooming white rose: a gift returned, dear Megan. Thank you. I am not surprised that you are called to the desert Silence. Let us imagine this forthcoming.
Loved reading this summary of your journey here, Renée. I’m so glad I joined your Silence reading group. It’s enriching my life in measureless ways.
Julie, thank you for sharing this with me. Words fail to convey how much I am enjoying this experience of sharing in Silence with you, but it touches that aliveness Sardello describes. 🙏❤️
What a gorgeous arc of becoming! As for what's next, I want to cast my vote for this one: A longer-form online phenomenological (lived experience) study on the unfolding of consciousness at this epochal threshold, drawing from Jean Gebser’s Ever-Present Origin, and culminating in an in-person retreat (TBD)
❤️❤️❤️
Dear Jenna, Thank you, dear Friend, for being here and for your "as for what's next" vote. There is blossoming interest in this study. I will follow up with you. ❤️❤️❤️
Adding my vote for this one. ☺️
How deliciously delightful, Julie. Thank you for chiming in with your vote. More on this soon. . . ☺️
Just getting to this Renée. All of it sounds full and good. Blessings on you in this newish year.
Emily, thank you for reading and for sharing. "Full and good." Yes. I hope your newish year is blessing you with full and good. 🙏
Thank you, Renée
... being new to your circle, I'm appreciating hearing/feeling the longer arc of the journey that I am now on with you...
deep bow of gratitude, dear Stuart. 🙏
Emily, thank you for reading and for sharing. "Full and good." Yes. I hope your newish year is blessing you with full and good. 🙏