Here’s a sentence with how, why, and what in it. How do we describe why we do what we do? This search to find the words goes deep, where words intentionally do not go, but can connect you to the core of a place where it all comes from. Your best actions come from your deepest reasons for existing. You come alive in what you do for others, and that frontier is meant to challenge and break open your most sacred qualities.
In starting this conversation anew, two sources were of great help: Simon Sinek and David Whyte’s books. Defining it is fun, but the definition is meant to be lived. I love to encourage people to follow their voice, and entice the imagination that’s needed to make it real. The short exploration below is one way to feel for those words in the dark, and my statement of purpose in how I can help.
Why I do stuff
To usher people through, in trickster like fashion, bring them to a new realm where things are quite unknown, and they come to know a different part of themselves.
To viscerally, physically move them. Get their insides to squiggle and squirm around and be affected so they move to new places in themselves. Life is to be everyday new, or it is stagnant, rigid, apathetic. Fearful. The interior landscapes are explored and celebrated in art.
I want to take you to another world so you can transform any time, any place. Travel all you want, I am changed when I feel I have sovereignty over myself. We pretend to be shaped by norms instead of taking responsibility for what we want. Our education system has made us obedient at an early age, later replaced by an inner police force. We should think about finding ourselves again.
I want you to feel safe and playful enough to take that inner leap. I’ll be a buffoon in the process. It’ll be fun.
My nervous system rewired, a gut I’m actually connected to, and the barometric pressure matching the outside I’m in tune. And I go out tuning things, releasing the pressure everywhere else.
I like the physical, emotional connection that makes people feel good in themselves, not about themselves. Not like “I’m sure your boss doesn’t hate you, don’t think like that” kind of reassurance, but something more primal, that reaches through your chest and grabs you by the shoulder blades to lift you back into place. When you live from that place, it all feels good. Even challenge and danger can be met head on, so physically engaged its as if through muscle memory.
It is hard to go looking for our self. We are biased in the directions that feel safe, more adventurous routes secretly call to us and we try hard not to see them. We know we must meet with the unknown- inside and outside ourselves. To venture too wildly is to tempt the gods of destruction. Nature is much more powerful than we are, and we only need to spend one night camping in the cold to be reminded of our vulnerability. That’s where a guide comes in. To take you safely outside of your comfort zone. We want to meet even the oddest parts of ourselves, so follow that guide.
“it is injurious to the soul to remove portions of our life from exploration.” -David Whyte
The first sense we learn is touch. Our contact with the physical world makes us feel most alive, for me at least. So that’s the domain I choose to work in. Imagination helps make our experience our own. Some artists show others a picture full of symbolism that stirs a deeper part of the psyche. Others make music to rouse your soul. An actor invites you to walk an allegorical path with them, in a strange realm, in a strange way. These guides, archetypes, representatives of all the pieces of you, keep you safely in your place of viewing. All the danger is inner, but suggests real and daunting paths. It’s fitting that it’s never totally serious. The unconscious is playful as it is dark. We are at the mercy of an impersonal nature, our rational mind giving it categories. Entertainment is of our own choice and making, to keep the game fun. We can enjoy being at the mercy of the game if it’s a fun one we feel reasonably safe in. Movies can bring us that fun and safety, and remind us to bring lightheartedness into the rest of our life. The minute it becomes too serious to lose we sacrifice others in order to win. Entertainment is for others. Reminding us of our infinite connection to each other, and to help others play the game.
Originally published at medium.com