Hello beautiful human,
In the description of this Space, I start by writing “possibility and wonder are our birthright” - a passionate belief I hold. But it might be just as accurate and honest to say “this is where I show up to say each day, I don’t know.”
We live in a world woven out of knowing. We live in a world that values expertise, mastery, the ability to consume and spit out fact, figure, opinion. We reward people from age 5 on for how much they can prove they know. It’s a noisy place. It’s exhausting.
I probably can’t change that.
But in here, we can, for a few minutes anyway, admit we don’t know. We don’t know so much. We don’t know most things, actually. And while that can be scary, it can also be a relief. We don’t have to fake it in here. We can just be. We can ascertain, all over again, what we can know. Where we touch the floor. How our bodies feel. What our breathing tells us. What are the sounds around us. What direction the breeze comes from. We can practice that most human of all our gifts and inheritances: curiosity.
And then, if we find another willing to say I don’t know, there’s a chance we can discover something together. to explore the boundaries and edges of our not knowing, where it creeps up against experience, where it spills into story. I don’t know, you don’t know, but what we don’t know may be different and isn’t that fascinating.
The world is full of wonder, full of strange, full of beauty we have not yet considered because we’re using lenses we inherited from old ways of thinking and not thinking. We find ourselves living in a moment of shift, when many of the old ways and old institutions will no longer suffice. We are called on to get curious, to imagine, to re-think.
What do we know. What do we not know. Where is the play between those two poles? Liminal spaces are the most fertile. What feels like chaos might simply be Next and New.
We get to have a hand in determining meaning. What a thought. We do that through our actions and our choices. It’s my hope that we will be mindful of this extraordinary power we have, that we will hold the questions tenderly and show up humble and curious and willing to re-think, to examine feeling, to be curious about each other.
“How do I know what I think til I see what I say?” - E. M. Forster
I spent yesterday clearing space and re-visioning rooms around the house. Again. Notably the Writing Room and the undefined room in the middle, really a glorified hallway with laundry. Clearing and cleaning and opening up corridors for movement and light. I wasn’t planning on taking a day for that work but I believe in following the energy. This is work that could go on for days and I would happily do so, but I’ll take what I can get.
Now this morning is a lesson in how to fry an egg before we head off into the workaday world. I do think I know how to fry an egg, but then again, there are undoubtedly whole worlds to the art and science of egg-frying I have barely scratched the surface of. Imagine the truth of that. The world is vast in every direction. Eat breakfast though, that’s a good idea.
Today’s invitation: what does curiosity feel like to you? when you’re curious about something, how does that feel, physically, in your body? Do your toes curl? Do your legs get restless? Do you start to rock a bit back and forth? Take a few minutes and feel into your curiosity. Notice what happens.
Looking to grow the connection and the energy? Here are some possibilities:
Your attention and time are the true gifts. Thank you. xoS
I truly enjoy your writing so much. Thank you for sharing this gift with me ❤️
I love your mention of curiosity. It has occurred to me that curiosity and observation are key to both art and science. Probably trite but it seemed like a kind of discovery.