Finding a quiet voice
A slightly odd relaunch post
There is a Whisper in each and every one of us. A Whisper of something divine or magick. Something that defies explanation.
Sometimes we see it in people who do not see it in themselves. Sometimes they see it in us when we seem to have lost it. It is found everywhere, if you look for it. Not only in people but in nature, in the world too, in the coherence of all things which are not reducible to their definitions.
The Whisper makes everything make sense. It brings us into that ephemeral state of being we call The Moment, when all that is false washes away and the path becomes improbably clear. Bhakti, the Holy Spirit, Satori, Flow, The Light Side of the Force, the inner child, (or just the parasympathetic nervous system doing its thing,) from where it comes from doesn’t matter. Where it takes us is what matters…
From the vantage of The Moment, from where we see the spark in all things; that all things are in some way, if only by the smallest bit greater than themselves; we see in-turn that we are a reflection of something greater. This does not come from perfect understanding or having the correct philosophy but by being open to possibility without trying to collapse everything into Theory. The path cannot be described, it can only be walked.
Yet in spite of its glorious power, the calling to the correct path is so very very quiet. In fact, it may well be the quietest voice of all. My absence over the last year has in large part been the result of me trying and failing to find a consistent way to listen to this Whisper. All too often I’ve ended up amplifying something else instead.
You see, anyone who has a voice can serve as an amplifier for any of the signals that swirl around and make up the universe. All of us, including myself, will have amplified false callings at some point or another. To do so is a natural part of growing up, particularly when you live in a forgetful Lifeworld and everyone around you is suffering so.
Yet, it seems inappropriate to keep doing that just because it is what everyone else seems to be doing. No, It seems incumbent upon each of us then to correct our past errors and amplify the Whisper instead.
We must each become a gentle reminder to the world that there is Something Greater.
Even after nihilist post-modernity has swept everything away, this ‘minimum viable dogma’ seems to be the only thing that remains steady and unwavering. A simple assertion that can be supported and reproduced by anyone who just takes some time to experience the world unmediated. The simple fact that you cannot describe everything opens the door again to the possibility of Something Greater and makes it damn near impossible to close it again.
Because the world so easily forgets itself, I view the existence of this possibility; this tiny, ajar possibility; to be the mustard seed which provides a path out of our current malaise.
There is much work to be done in getting the world to remember itself. There are two areas where the calling has become particularly loud for me: Embodiment and Amplification. Embodiment is the inner struggle to crowd out the louder voices and nurture, kindle, the spark of the quietest Whisper. Amplification is the practise of living boldly according to the will of that Whisper; becoming a loud reminder of that which resides within you; one who calls others to the path.
Embodiment is basically the foundation of the modern wellness industry, but I think that amplification is a more unique area that is perhaps less well covered because it places upon us a set of obligations and duties which are not necessarily, in the consumerist sense, conducive to good mental health. i.e. it is much harder to sell to desperate people. Embodying practices are nevertheless important, and it is worth banging-on about them to the point of sounding like a broken record. That said, embodiment, I have started to find, is only half the equation.
Finding stillness and quiet is a means to an end but not an end in itself. The closest I’ve ever come to enlightenment comes from the dancing. From moving in tune with the calling, not according to your own will but according to that higher will within you.
By articulating and ‘actualising’ the power, we can make it more real for others to see, we encourage and ennoble others by it. We should build things not to glorify ourselves, but to reveal the possibility of glory in a world that seems to have forgotten it. We should dance our embodied truth in order to extend it into the world.
Talking from my own experience, this makes it a lot easier to stay with The Moment and keep up a strong and committed practice. After all, it has never made sense to me to be an ascetic, when the path to The Moment is always shifting.
Think in your own life about the rare instances where you have touched upon it. Think upon how fleeting they always are! The moment of bliss and the despair at its loss. Accompanying every Moment is an attendant pain which can sometimes make it painful to remember ourselves. It is almost as if The Moment hides from you if you seek it too eagerly.
Thus, it seems that we are more likely to return to The Moment in the midst of a dance than in the darkness of a remote cave. It has the habit of striking at the most inopportune time! Learning how to dance this dance, how to embody the calling, is perhaps the most important thing we can do.
I have become reasonably adept at dancing and still it remains much too easy for me to forget. It is incredible how even the most trivial bits of business can do it to us!
It is with that weakness in mind that I should like to find fellowship. A community of ‘Reminders’ who live to nurture this something greater in everything they touch. A community who work together to remember themselves and one another, without any grander pretensions or doctrines.
This publication, which I am relaunching now, is an instrument to building that end. It is an amplifier of sorts, it is also a way to find and connect with other amplifiers; to try and get a positive feedback loop going.
In the meantime, while I get used to posting regularly, there will be a free weekly post that will go out on Saturday Mornings, which is the time when it is easiest to remember.
These will be ‘reminders’ in quite a literal sense, that contain some kind of exercise or encouragement which you can employ to step back into your true calling. Rather than writing detailed academic essays (of which there are plenty enough on the internet) the idea is to provide reproducible experiments which you can repeat for yourself or link back to your own experiences.
Short and punchy and practical, a brimful of Asha to set you right.
I’m not here to tell you your truth, but I can certainly prod you to go out and find it for yourself. That, at least, is my intention.
Once this thing is established. I will start providing more in-depth content, probably in about 2-3 months time. A good chunk of which will focus on building that community, and will really be a kind of enterprise where we try and find new ways to really amplify our Whispers at scale.