⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

🎨 Non Finito Life: In this article, Irene K. explores the concept of "non finito," which translates to "unfinished" or "incomplete" in the realm of art. The article discusses how this concept extends beyond the artistic realm and resonates deeply with the human experience, where imperfection and ambiguity pave the way for growth, interpretation, and self-discovery. Read it here.

😊 How do we go about finding a meaningful life, not just a happy one? Life's meaning comes from assembling past, present and future into a coherent story, linking you to people close and distant. Though happiness is fleeting, pursuing a meaningful life through purpose, values, efficacy and self-worth provides a basis for more lasting fulfillment. Read it here.

🌲 A Walk in the Woods May Boost Mental Health: Many physicians are prescribing time in nature as balm for the brain. Read it here.

🎇 Image of The Week

​The Darvaza gas crater, also known as the Door to Hell or Gates of Hell, is a large flaming crater in the Karakum Desert of north-central Turkmenistan. The crater was formed in the early 1970s during a Soviet gas drilling expedition when the ground collapsed, revealing an underground cavern filled with natural gas. To prevent the spread of the gas, scientists reportedly lit the massive hole on fire, and it has been burning ever since.

👁 Seeing The Invisible

"A falling tree makes more noise than a growing forest." - African Proverb

I've adored this proverb from the moment I heard it.

I find too often our collective attention is fixated on conflict, both genuine and manufactured.

Sure, conflicts need to be addressed but a consciousness only riddled with resolving fights and settling feuds misses something essential.

By bringing light to the trees growing in the background, we encounter a space of nourishment that can imbue us with the strength and resilience to navigate the falling wood.

Making choices and attempting transformation from a place of fear and hatred begets more fear and hatred.

By seeing beyond the front and center, we find an abundance of reasons to love this world as it is, despite its flaws.

By seeing behind the curtain, we find pathways to greater significance.

Then we can reckon with our own imperfections, instead of projecting our perceived lack of wholeness onto the world.

This isn’t about fabricating something from nothing or perceiving what isn’t there.

It’s about seeing what is there that we no longer notice. Countless treasures get rendered into the background as we age and our constructs of the world solidify.

Other things have always lived in the background. That is because we are much more prone to notice the dynamic aspects of our “salience landscape” rather than the still and silent ground upon which they rest. The things that remain pervasive are often left unconsidered. That which is ubiquitous becomes invisible.

Bringing these things into focus can serve as a profound wellspring of gratitude and wonder.

💬 Feeding Your Thoughts

Digest these words of wisdom from the enigmatic Chogyam Trungpa:

"When you relate to thoughts obsessively, you are actually feeding them because thoughts need your attention to survive. Once you begin to pay attention to them and categorize them, then they become very powerful. You are feeding them energy because you are not seeing them as simple phenomena. If one tries to quiet them down, that is another way of feeding them."

"Many people try to find a spiritual path where they do not have to face themselves but where they can still liberate themselves--liberate themselves from themselves, in fact. In truth, this is impossible. We cannot do that. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to see our gut, our real shit, our most undesirable parts. We have to see that. That is the foundation of warriorship and the basis of conquering fear. We have to face our fear; we have to look at it, study it, work with it, and practice meditation with it."

"As long as you regard yourself or any part of your experience as the "dream come true," then you are involved in self-deception. Self-deception seems always to depend upon the dream world, because you would like to see what you have not yet seen, rather that what you are now seeing. You will not accept that whatever is here now is what is, nor are you willing to go on with the situation as it is. Thus, self-deception always manifests itself in terms of trying to create or recreate a dream world, the nostalgia of the dream experience. And the opposite of self-deception is just working with the facts of life."

🤓 Learn This Word

Inscendence: the impulse not to rise above the world (transcendence) but to climb into it and seek its core.

⏳ From The Archives

A hand-picked classic HighExistence article.

Midnight Gospel: Being, Doing, and the Search for the Self

I recently watched the brilliant philosophically provoking, psychedelically animated Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel.

The show was created by Pendleton Ward (Adventure Time) and Duncan Trussell (Duncan Trussell Family Hour). Researching, I learned that the show was based on Duncan’s podcast.

In the final episode of the series, Duncan has a conversation with his late mother, Deneen Fendig. She was a psychologist. He is a standup comedian.

In the conversation, they talk about her impending death, grief, attachment, relationships, change, resistance, suffering, personal work, and inner growth. It is insightful, thoughtful, and filled with tenderness, a dying mother, and a grieving son, discussing life, death, and everything in between.

The words that follow are partially inspired by the topics discussed in that conversation in addition to my own meandering thoughts and experiences with mindfulness, the self, being and doing, dating apps, therapy, and inner growth.

I discuss ideas from books and talks that I’m currently mentally ingesting as well as personal stories. The quotes from Duncan and Deneen are all from the podcast episode.

I hope this resonates with you in some way, shape, or form.

​[Continue Reading]​

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With Wonder,

Mike Slavin