A small topic, this one… The funny thing is that at one level it does feel small – essential, pure and simple.
It has been a blessing this year to be running two year-long programmes where a small group meets monthly to inquire deeply into some core principles and explore what it means to live them. In those conversations, as we look to name the essences, although the words sometimes differ, I feel we always end up in the same place. That suggests to me that we are touching something essential.
Essential. From the Latin, esse, “to be”. The Latin essentia was used philosophically to translate the Greek ousia (οὐσία), meaning something like “being”, “substance” or “that which something fundamentally is.”
The kind of essential insights we keep coming back to are things like “it’s just about simple being, in the moment, as that is all there is”, or “it feels like when I let go into the present, I am deeply connected to everything around me”, or “when I am fully present I feel so much love”. Presence, connection, love. And we nearly always conclude “it’s really all so simple”.
At the same time, we are not static. We are alive. Things continually flow through us and we seem to change, as does the world around us. This aliveness, vitality, connection to a life force seems to increase relative to the depth of our presence. So the more we just are in the moment, the more we become a vehicle for the creative natural intelligence that brings potential into form. It feels effortless.
More than effortless! It is a joyful experience of magic, flow and synchronicity as our life purpose weaves into the higher purpose of Life itself. It is love in action. It feels immensely liberating. At one level there is a place of deep stillness, a constant source of loving kindness, and on the surface there is dance, flow and effortless manifestation. This is the co-existence of the Absolute one and the Relative many in a non-dual embrace.
It is a deep experience of inter-being, the co-arising of all of life in an ex-static dance of weaving connections and crystallising uniqueness. It is existence itself – from the Latin ex-sistere, “to stand forth, emerge”. The existence of life emerging out of the essence of being.
It is the dance of presence, love and interconnectedness with the eros life force, a dynamic balance of, on the one hand, equanimity and relaxation with, on the other hand, compassion, passion, emotion and profound alertness.
Our intention participates in the co-creation of existence and our attention connects us to the moment. All we have to do is be present, pay attention to the moment, notice life’s impulse and choose to act or not.
Maybe simple, not always easy. There are many things in our inner and outer worlds ready to distract us. But that’s the practice. Noticing when we slip away, gently bringing ourselves back with a little smile and, when the time is right, reflecting on what it was that distracted us and why.
When we are present in thiis way, heart full of loving kindness and mind clear of distractions, we can access the insights we need. Just ask and pay attention. When we are connected to the natural intelligence of the life force, those insights can find their way into the world with grace, joy and amplification in ways we could never have thought up ourselves.
It feels to me that this is the essence of how we can best engage the inner and outer suffering of today’s world. Simple, not easy, but what better way could there be than love and life?
The Leading from the Field year-long programme will start again in January. There are 8 places available, to keep the intimacy and depth of exchange. Click here for more information.
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