Essence

Here’s my latest Substack post.

I led a practice the other day with some people who've done the course with me, and I was following the word sense from how the brain wants to make sense of everything, to the way that our senses can help us have a real relationship with the world around us, to how we have body sensations that go with emotions. 

And then there's another word called essence, and the word essence comes from a root which is about being. So, I believe there's something about me, and you and everyone that is our essence. It is our real inner being. And you know what, it gets covered up by all sorts of stuff - lessons we learn as a child about how we're supposed to behave and all that sort of thing - it gets covered up. 

I'm now out in the woods, my walk, and I know I've been a bit quiet with you all. But I'm here now today, and it really reminds me, being here, that this wood has an essence of its own. This wood has the essence of being absolutely, part of nature and the essence of the world we live on. 

Is that wood somehow separate to me? No! At one level, yes, and here I am walking through it, and I will leave it in 15 minutes or so, and go on my merry way. But even then, even then, I'll be able to see it from a distance. Even then I'll be able to appreciate the view and the experience that I've had, even now, just now being here in the wood, the trees, the plants growing up. 

So, although we create and assume there's a big gap between us human beings, and this thing called nature, I want to take another line. I want to say that my essence is deeply connected with the essence of nature, and there is no separation. And same for each of you. And in the same way we've all got this essence, that can be a way of reaching out to each other and being with each other in a different way to the ways we've created. 

So today I simply wanted to put that word essence out there. I might come back to it, and maybe it's prompted a little bit of interest in some of you to look at it a little bit more. I might put out a practice I did about it too. But maybe for now, where's your essence? And if you were able to view life through the lens of your essence, what difference might it make to the life you live and how you live it?

If I was re-recording this a better question would be “what is your essence?” rather than “where is it?” and that might be something worth exploring. I’ll come back to it…