Suppose that we said yes to a single moment, then we have not only said yes to ourselves, but to the whole of existence. For nothing stands alone, either in ourselves or in things; and if our soul did but once vibrate and resound with a chord of happiness, then all of eternity was necessary to bring forth this one occurrence—and in this single moment when we said yes, all of eternity was embraced, redeemed, justified and affirmed.
— Nietzsche
To be alive, “to be most vividly, most perfectly alive,” is to say YES to life in the face of all its beauty and brutality.
To be a yes-sayer is to be liberated from the “narrowness of perception” of our day-to-day worries so as to gaze upon the larger reality. It’s to have the courage to stand on one’s own two feet as a passionate being, one who holds on to that inner flame despite the bitter winds of life.
Much of the havoc we see in the world is provoked by people who’ve said NO to life. People who are afraid to let life flow through them.
Bitter, alienated, and resentful, the no-sayers have lost their sense of individual meaning and worth. They are victims of their own self-induced malaise. People who’ve been cut off from that lively connection with the transcendent powers that lie beyond the masquerade of the illusory world.
Senseless violence and seething animosity are manifested out of feelings of emptiness. Often these no-sayers, incapable of creating a purposeful life, indulge in behavior that causes harm to themselves and others. The act of destroying compensates for their impotence and feeds their frantic desire for power and esteem. If one cannot create, one destroys.
As the great social psychologist Erich Fromm reminded us: “The more the drive toward life is thwarted, the stronger is the drive toward destruction; the more life is realized, the less is the strength of destructiveness. Destructiveness is the outcome of unlived life.”
Many of us in the modern world are entirely out of our minds. We’re angry, choked with stress and anxiety, and culturally divided to the point of violence. Road rage, suicide, obesity, depression, and a vast array of addictions are all on the rise.
Urbanization, information overload, and global competition have given birth to a frantic culture of “hustle” that prioritizes productivity over reflection, leaving little room for stillness.
We live in a distorted daze, disoriented and uncentered. Our spirits have become disenchanted through habit and repetition. We are smothered and restrained by an excessive reverence for the inauthentic. We do not know ourselves in a more profound sense.
We are still clinging to the rules of a rigged game, mindlessly repeating prescribed mantras, unable to think or reason outside the group or faction we belong to. Relinquished into the masses, we lose sight of our cosmic nature and readily fall prey to external expectations that are contrary to our life’s calling.
The repression of our intrinsic life force is the root of much of our despair. We are still in the womb. Unborn. Not yet ready to emerge and face reality on its own terms.
We are afraid to say YES to life. Afraid of the cultural consequences of becoming who we truly are. But as D.H. Lawrence warned, “We can't go on as we are. Poor, nerve-worn creatures, fretting our lives away and hating to die because we have never lived.”
Dear reader, sit down quietly and listen to the blood and breath of your body. Ask yourself, what is it all about?
Are you acting from your own center or merely going through the motions of your social role? Are you living in harmony with your own nature or have you been lulled asleep by the comforts and daily routine of modern life?
The days are ticking away and soon you might come to ask: “How did it get so late so soon?”
“This is your life and its ending one moment at a time.” ― Chuck Palahniuk
Perhaps it’s time, my friends, to dismiss the deluge of nonsense brimming from this self-obsessed culture. And be still. Listen. Blood and breath. Do not defile your life with excessive noise, consumer-driven pursuits, and frantic hurry. The aimless enterprise of busyness chokes the deeper aspects of our lives and leads us away from our hidden energies. As Dr. Alexander once wrote:
”If we are afraid of being, of life, we can mask this fear by increasing our doing. The busier we become, the less time we will have available for feeling, being, and living.”
We have a choice between two modes of living. Either we live with a life-affirming attitude or we choose the opposite—life-denying.
As one writer put it:
“From an objective perspective, then, we can make a distinction between two broad patterns of activity. One kind of pattern is life-affirming, meaning that the activity promotes the growth in power of forces and drives, and possibly generates new forces and drives.
The second kind of pattern is life-denying, meaning that the activity diminishes the power forces and drives. In short, sometimes there will be life and growth, and sometimes decay and death. A gardener can survey the garden and make sound judgments about which plants are flourishing, which are getting in each others’ way, which are sick, and which are dying.”
You are the caretaker of your life, solely responsible for clearing out pests and weeds to allow your garden to thrive and reach toward the light.
Turn away and discover in solitude the stillness that brings forth your own essence. Forget the gurus and the pundits and the preachers and start listening to the whispers of your own blood--the neglected intuition within.
Take your eyes off the screen and pay closer attention to the sun, the night skies, and the eternal pulse of life around you. Shun the algorithm and open your inner eyes to see beyond what you’re supposed to see.
Don’t let the social mask eat away at your face. Don’t become what’s expected of you. Don’t let the intellect triumph over the soul. Don’t surrender your dignity to the crowd. Never cling to certainties and try to leave a little room for doubt, especially regarding your strongest beliefs.
Take a digital detox from the cybernated circus and get on that open road to the unknown—a road without end. Build strong bones, a resilient mind, and a fiery soul. Never let your curiosity die or your blood become tepid.
Wander. Read. Adventure. Go at it alone if you must.
In the words of the great Henry Miller: “Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls, and interesting people. Forget yourself.”
Fear and struggle are inevitable for anyone who embarks on their own path. Don’t turn away. It’s how we confront the difficulties in life that truly show us who we are. Persisting through struggles and trying times can lead us to live a more meaningful life. The great Joseph Campbell once said, “Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.”
The more centered you become, the easier it is to let the outer façade fall away —the cultural identity. Fight like hell not to get bogged down by ideologies, debt, rigid relationships, and soul-crushing obligations. Break free from these worldly traps and heed the call.
Man, who has moved away from his center, is now imprisoned in an area where time reigns. He will never again be able to reach the unique point where everything is viewed in its eternal appearance.
--Rene Guenon
This is the aim of life, my friends.
To hurl yourself into the cosmic seas of the sublime. To hoist your consciousness out of the muck of everydayness. To explore the deeper dimensions of yourself. To cease suppressing the magical powers of your divine darkness. To fully embrace and explore the fallen world you were born into.
Uncivilize a bit and reconnect with the marrow of your being. Enter the dream and dance. Frolic with the few who understand.
With little, you are more. Don’t look for praise and validation from this stagnant generation. Have the courage to shake off the heavy burden of obligations that do not contribute to living your life.
Find your own personal myth. Become the artist of your own life. You don’t need permission or a diploma from an institution to take on this endeavor. It’s already inside you. The wisdom. Listen. Blood and breath.
“When the path we are on is right for our souls, the energy is there.” — Dr. James Hollis
Deep inside all of us lies an unrealized potential. Tap into it and bring it to the world. That is the supreme goal of the endless journey —to discover truly what it means to be fully alive as a human being.
To be vitally alive is to accept a certain amount of risk and danger. Say yes in the face of it all. Say yes to life.
In the poetic words of Nietzsche: “I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all… I wish to be only a Yes-sayer.”
Thanks so much for reading.
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