My Own Exploration
Does anything truly go well when we try to figure it out intellectually—beyond purely academic or analytical tasks?
This month, I want to share a moment where I surprised myself by exploring something out loud on a retreat.
Recently, at our Day Retreat, I was sharing how I scared myself as a seven-year-old child while trying to comprehend eternity. The idea that something could “go on forever” used to keep me awake at night.
The idea that something will always be the same scares us (and nothing is ever always the same).
Nothing is ever quite as we think or anticipate it will be. Trying to grasp life (or death) with the intellect alone doesn’t go very well.
That led me to a deeper question:
Does anything truly go well when we try to figure it out intellectually—beyond purely academic or analytical tasks?
And then another:
How would my life be different if I stopped trying to do that?
Am I “fooling myself”?
(This is something clients sometimes say to me when they begin to relax into the now.)
In fact, it’s the opposite. We fool ourselves when we believe we can grasp the nature of life through old neurons firing in the brain—when we think we are our past, our future, or our “me” thinking.
I already knew this intellectually. But this time, I saw it deeply.
And now I feel genuinely open to life surprising me.
Constantly.
And to actually enjoying the ride.
Emma x
