Thank you Renee for this eloquent and elaborate response. I'm going to meditate on this for a long time. I couldn't have asked for a better response. This answer resonates within the knowing in my heart on so my levels. Thank you for being a role model and showing us how disciplined compassion can open up the portals of creative power.
Thank you so much. And thank you for asking the question and giving me the opportunity to dive into an answer. I hope to add to this response in the near future as practical applications are so very important. You write and articulate so masterfully! I hope you have a new article coming out soon :)
I'm truly delighted Renee. I feel privileged to be amongst such wizards of words. I found much courage after reading your post. My next post will hit your inbox in a couple of hours. <3
Thank you for this insightful sharing, as resonant with the essential truths of human experience as it is powerfully innovative and deeply your own. Your writing is so quotable but this gripped me the most: "we can only do so by merging to the sound of compassion’s silent call that echos in our bones. To allow compassion to breathe us into her center-less center of her heart." 💖
Your beautiful response really does keeps the wind in my sails. I love how readers and writers give to each other. I look forward to your story next saturday!
Wow, Renee. Such beautiful words—I can hardly articulate how they spoke to me. They went deep into my core, and I now feel absolutely pulled towards that "still point." I recognise that both grief and joy allow me to create. I guess being at one with this and sitting within this, is key. In particular, I keep thinking about how "silence between notes creates music." So much to ponder and consider. Your words bring depth to my day. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Alice, for sharing and for being such a beautiful compass-holder. In the mindfulness world, they call it non-resistance to whatever is arising--such a profound, yet challenging practice to stabilize. I, too, think about the silence between the notes so often. My dad taught me that concept when I was a teenager and it has guided me, even when I didn't know it, through all these years.
"Non-resistance to whatever is arising." Yes. I needed words for this, thank you. I'm learning this practice, but being kind to myself when I often fail. How wonderful your dad's teaching has been. And now you are able to spread this knowledge out towards others. Grateful.
It's nuts how long it's taken me to realize that *stillness* is the key to living a fulfilled and joyous life. All the going, the business, the chaos - I love it because it keeps me from having to turn inward and find self compassion. With stillness comes breath. With breath comes calm. With calm comes quiet. With quiet comes creation.
I love this post - NEVER doubt your abilities as a creator, a writer, or a woman. You are so strong and it's so brave of you to allow us to learn from your experiences.
Thank you, Adrian, for such kind words. I will hold these words close when next I feel those stings of doubt.
Sometimes I forget myself to find the stillness. Maybe it's better to say, I find myself swimming in distractions, knowing I'm avoiding stillness! That's why I believe so much communities help us to remind each other of these things.
I really appreciate this post. Chaos was one of the first things that drew me to meditation, mostly because I was constantly living in it and grasping for anything that offered stability.
I learned that chaos is a law of nature, a place of phase change. To exist in chaos is to exist at the edge of change. The change exists to ultimately bring balance of energy, like being at the surface of a pot of boiling water - slightly one direction leads to high energy gaseous state, lifted to the clouds; slightly cooler settles back into the liquid water that sinks to the surface.
My personal experience taught me that true chaos was a life without meditation or study, fumbling through life simply surviving. Every day was a struggle to grasp anything. To be honest, it *felt* creative. I truly did have to be resourceful and creative, just to gather necessities for survival. But that wasn’t creative growth, just creative maintenance.
Having found meditation and contemplation was an accidental by product of one grasp for stability, which ultimately lead to a settling of internal chaos. The creativity that flows through me now is more subtle and more supple. No longer am I scrambling to find a safe place to sleep, but instead and experiencing creativity that contributes to humanity, even if only in my small life-unit.
The internal chaos has settled, but chaos continually swirls around me, just like in your analogy of the eye of the tornado. Chaos of others, society, the planet, weather, animals, and other natural struggles of life.
When I contemplate chaos, these things resonate come up:
On an individual level - chaos is internal and interpretive.
For some, chaos seems to spur creativity. So many artists thrive in chaos without any launchpad. Although they frequently fizzle and burn out early, their impact on society is felt long-after they are gone. Often most appreciated by those who experience(d) similar chaos.
For others, chaos is terror. It causes a great deal of crippling fear, and leads them to seek refuges, trying to hide away from all things unstable.
For those in the middle, who have relatively stable lives with bouts of interaction with chaos, it causes a phase shift. Like a tornado destroying a structure will lead to a new more-stable structure being built.
On a larger societal level - Chaos shifts, forms, and destroys nations, communes, and religions. It shifts the global consciousness perspectives slightly one direction or another.
On a planetary level - Chaos is global heating, or a large meteor collision, & other mass extinction events. Supernovas, galactic collisions, etc.
Chaos is everywhere. It is quantum. It is universal. It is a method for establishing balance, a swinging of a pendulum.
Having studied these things about chaos and meditating frequently on them helps me settle the chaos within that stirs periodically. Something about seeing the larger pictures makes my internal chaos so much more minute and manageable. This is the result of the contemplative-meditation portion mixed with the study portion that enables me to sit in the eye of the storm.
Phia, your wisdom shines so brightly, and I am very grateful reading your words, which expands my own understandings of chaos. Swarnali, who writes Berkana on Substack was the person who asked how to create in chaos, and I think you may like what she writes. Her link is above your comment here:)
There is so much wonder to respond to within your comment, but I'll touch on the truth that many artists do create with the hands of chaos without any launchpad. In fact, when I was writing this post, this idea was a fuzzy point in my mind, never rising to the surface. I appreciate you highlighting it. I think that creating without a launchpad in chaos is pure, beautiful expression. Creating with a compassion compass is a different form of expression that gives emotional stability to the spirit. Yet, I wonder if those that create in chaos would lose their genius if they stabilized in the eye of the tornado?
I don't think that they know they are genius. I believe that when someone is involved in that much chaos, the universe uses them as a vessel, like Bob Kaufman.
That is so kind! I am not a writer on Substack. I would be terribly inconsistent and it would probably end up turning into a journal of sorts, a repository for random poetry and contemplations.
Thank you Renee for this eloquent and elaborate response. I'm going to meditate on this for a long time. I couldn't have asked for a better response. This answer resonates within the knowing in my heart on so my levels. Thank you for being a role model and showing us how disciplined compassion can open up the portals of creative power.
Thank you so much. And thank you for asking the question and giving me the opportunity to dive into an answer. I hope to add to this response in the near future as practical applications are so very important. You write and articulate so masterfully! I hope you have a new article coming out soon :)
I'm truly delighted Renee. I feel privileged to be amongst such wizards of words. I found much courage after reading your post. My next post will hit your inbox in a couple of hours. <3
I just got home and saw your post! So looking forward to reading. :)
Thank you for this insightful sharing, as resonant with the essential truths of human experience as it is powerfully innovative and deeply your own. Your writing is so quotable but this gripped me the most: "we can only do so by merging to the sound of compassion’s silent call that echos in our bones. To allow compassion to breathe us into her center-less center of her heart." 💖
Your beautiful response really does keeps the wind in my sails. I love how readers and writers give to each other. I look forward to your story next saturday!
Wow, Renee. Such beautiful words—I can hardly articulate how they spoke to me. They went deep into my core, and I now feel absolutely pulled towards that "still point." I recognise that both grief and joy allow me to create. I guess being at one with this and sitting within this, is key. In particular, I keep thinking about how "silence between notes creates music." So much to ponder and consider. Your words bring depth to my day. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Alice, for sharing and for being such a beautiful compass-holder. In the mindfulness world, they call it non-resistance to whatever is arising--such a profound, yet challenging practice to stabilize. I, too, think about the silence between the notes so often. My dad taught me that concept when I was a teenager and it has guided me, even when I didn't know it, through all these years.
"Non-resistance to whatever is arising." Yes. I needed words for this, thank you. I'm learning this practice, but being kind to myself when I often fail. How wonderful your dad's teaching has been. And now you are able to spread this knowledge out towards others. Grateful.
It's nuts how long it's taken me to realize that *stillness* is the key to living a fulfilled and joyous life. All the going, the business, the chaos - I love it because it keeps me from having to turn inward and find self compassion. With stillness comes breath. With breath comes calm. With calm comes quiet. With quiet comes creation.
I love this post - NEVER doubt your abilities as a creator, a writer, or a woman. You are so strong and it's so brave of you to allow us to learn from your experiences.
Thank you, Adrian, for such kind words. I will hold these words close when next I feel those stings of doubt.
Sometimes I forget myself to find the stillness. Maybe it's better to say, I find myself swimming in distractions, knowing I'm avoiding stillness! That's why I believe so much communities help us to remind each other of these things.
I really appreciate this post. Chaos was one of the first things that drew me to meditation, mostly because I was constantly living in it and grasping for anything that offered stability.
I learned that chaos is a law of nature, a place of phase change. To exist in chaos is to exist at the edge of change. The change exists to ultimately bring balance of energy, like being at the surface of a pot of boiling water - slightly one direction leads to high energy gaseous state, lifted to the clouds; slightly cooler settles back into the liquid water that sinks to the surface.
My personal experience taught me that true chaos was a life without meditation or study, fumbling through life simply surviving. Every day was a struggle to grasp anything. To be honest, it *felt* creative. I truly did have to be resourceful and creative, just to gather necessities for survival. But that wasn’t creative growth, just creative maintenance.
Having found meditation and contemplation was an accidental by product of one grasp for stability, which ultimately lead to a settling of internal chaos. The creativity that flows through me now is more subtle and more supple. No longer am I scrambling to find a safe place to sleep, but instead and experiencing creativity that contributes to humanity, even if only in my small life-unit.
The internal chaos has settled, but chaos continually swirls around me, just like in your analogy of the eye of the tornado. Chaos of others, society, the planet, weather, animals, and other natural struggles of life.
When I contemplate chaos, these things resonate come up:
On an individual level - chaos is internal and interpretive.
For some, chaos seems to spur creativity. So many artists thrive in chaos without any launchpad. Although they frequently fizzle and burn out early, their impact on society is felt long-after they are gone. Often most appreciated by those who experience(d) similar chaos.
For others, chaos is terror. It causes a great deal of crippling fear, and leads them to seek refuges, trying to hide away from all things unstable.
For those in the middle, who have relatively stable lives with bouts of interaction with chaos, it causes a phase shift. Like a tornado destroying a structure will lead to a new more-stable structure being built.
On a larger societal level - Chaos shifts, forms, and destroys nations, communes, and religions. It shifts the global consciousness perspectives slightly one direction or another.
On a planetary level - Chaos is global heating, or a large meteor collision, & other mass extinction events. Supernovas, galactic collisions, etc.
Chaos is everywhere. It is quantum. It is universal. It is a method for establishing balance, a swinging of a pendulum.
Having studied these things about chaos and meditating frequently on them helps me settle the chaos within that stirs periodically. Something about seeing the larger pictures makes my internal chaos so much more minute and manageable. This is the result of the contemplative-meditation portion mixed with the study portion that enables me to sit in the eye of the storm.
Phia, your wisdom shines so brightly, and I am very grateful reading your words, which expands my own understandings of chaos. Swarnali, who writes Berkana on Substack was the person who asked how to create in chaos, and I think you may like what she writes. Her link is above your comment here:)
There is so much wonder to respond to within your comment, but I'll touch on the truth that many artists do create with the hands of chaos without any launchpad. In fact, when I was writing this post, this idea was a fuzzy point in my mind, never rising to the surface. I appreciate you highlighting it. I think that creating without a launchpad in chaos is pure, beautiful expression. Creating with a compassion compass is a different form of expression that gives emotional stability to the spirit. Yet, I wonder if those that create in chaos would lose their genius if they stabilized in the eye of the tornado?
I don't think that they know they are genius. I believe that when someone is involved in that much chaos, the universe uses them as a vessel, like Bob Kaufman.
I think you are right that if the chaos settled, the would settle into a wordly complacency and lose the otherworldly insight.
That is so interesting. I'll be chewing on this for awhile. May I ask if you are a writer on Substack? I'd love to subscribe if you are.
That is so kind! I am not a writer on Substack. I would be terribly inconsistent and it would probably end up turning into a journal of sorts, a repository for random poetry and contemplations.
If you ever do feel the pull to publish your poetry and contemplations, make sure to tell us all here!