This hit my inbox very soon after I received word that I was no longer in the running for a job that I really felt pretty confident I was going to get. So, wonderful timing. I will keep going. Many thanks for this.
Glad to hear that Shawn. I had a similar experience about a decade ago when I applied or was sought out for three different roles, all of which I felt I had good chances for. None of them worked out, and I felt really stuck. It was around then I realised I needed to leave my job and start my own thing- which later became Perspectiva.
You’ve assembled a roll call of Krishnas to speak softly to an entire readership of Arjunas. To lay out the dharma across such a range of karmas is a gracious feat.
Thanks for this Jonathan. So much in here as usual! Your overall point reminded me of the 2 key rules of the spiritual path - 1. Start. 2. Keep going. That's pretty much all you need once the heart connection is true.... And yes, wholeheartedness... there are levels and levels of Being in that, an ocean of courage and resilience is available to us through the heart and we are really going to need it..
And speaking of levels of Being, that 'pull' image is horribly resonant, I've actually been trying to write a post about this recently but its difficult to articulate - that image really does it! The internet is the next level down in terms of Being, its a shadow or reflection of our natural level of Being. It's a small dark shadow, with various practical applications. It also runs on attention, in the same way that our level does (it's just easier to see this online because it's much cruder and not subtle) The barzakh/ liminal zone is the screen.
Humans are the liminal animal, we are supposed to be active (with our attention) in the upper barzakhs, using prayer, meditation etc... and we actually do have an inner pull towards the liminal. However, we have hacked ourselves..we have hacked our own liminal inclination... and in the West particularly we are making the terrible metaphysical mistake of putting the main beam of our attention into this lower level. We are climbing down a level, which is much too small for us, and then wondering why we feel constricted, tired, drained. It's running off our life force, and the vitality of our level. Which is not to say the internet is bad per se.. but living in it, allowing it to dominate us, letting it swallow our lives, relationships, is... well... that image.
Similar thoughts/feelings visit me often. I tend to end up with 'keep going on your own terms'.
The vision I serve is a simple one but in practical terms achieving it seems pretty much impossible. I try to draw solace from this impossibility - failure will be no disgrace.
I like your observations about subjugation to the demands of Capital. It's a gordian knot. And in a sense I'm blessed that - despite its apparent impossibility - should I ever achieve any sort of scalable success with our Church's mission and manage to align it somehow with the 'for-profits' - then it'll be a photon torpedo right down the exhaust port of Capital.
The future depends upon us how we are with money, today. Change that - cut the knot - and you change the entire game.
Lean forward and listen carefully because "the challenge of paying for work that might act as countervailing power to the forms of power that appear to be destroying the world" is definitely worth a wholehearted struggle. Perspectiva is something to be very proud of! As David Whyte's best friend, John O'Donohue, would have told him, "As the wind loves to call things to dance, may your gravity be lightened by grace." And "as time remains free of all that it frames, may your mind stay clear of all it names."
Thank you Jonathan. Your writing is often to me like a Nick Drake song... it never fails to connect with me, often in small ways, but ways that matter somewhere deep in my body tissue... a feeling of knowing I'm not alone, a little moment of intellectual clarity to urge me on, finding me at the right time when otherwise my inclination is to drop on my knees and make a plea to a childhood God who I don't believe in.
Thank you, Kate. I am afraid I had to look up Nick Drake(!) but I very much appreciate the gratitude and recognition, and I'll enjoy getting to know Nick Drake, and see if his songs are anything like The Joyous Struggle Substack...
Please DO keep on going, Jonathan, both in what you call your "day job" which makes great books and ideas available widely, and in your extra-curricular personal interests, which continually provoke thought and wider vision. I loved your reference to the Spirit of Hope. Partly because the UK Consortium on Sustainability Research (UK-CSR) is hosting a symposium in Canterbury in September entitled "Spirituality and Sustainability: Building Ecologies of Hope" and I am working on a paper on the Spiritual Responsibility of Secular Leaders.
I have a problem, however, with the word "build", which I see as fundamentally "mechanistic" - since all our attempts to transform this complex world we emerge from and inhabit are made as participants, rather than external creators. It shows how deeply we buy into the "bifurcation of nature" - and that is itself a part of the challenge. But many of our linear concepts of "progress" carry similar implications.
The first half of this is exactly what I needed to get out of bed (and out of my phone) this morning. Onwards to coffee and figuring out what this day wants from me, in The Spirit of Hope (+1 for that book) . Thank you:)
C.f. Dory's 'Just keep swimming'
That, and this slightly darker version: the song "The Next Right Thing" from Frozen 2
Good piece! keep on writing!
Thank you, Ria.
This hit my inbox very soon after I received word that I was no longer in the running for a job that I really felt pretty confident I was going to get. So, wonderful timing. I will keep going. Many thanks for this.
Glad to hear that Shawn. I had a similar experience about a decade ago when I applied or was sought out for three different roles, all of which I felt I had good chances for. None of them worked out, and I felt really stuck. It was around then I realised I needed to leave my job and start my own thing- which later became Perspectiva.
Beautiful piece Jonathan. Thank you!
You’ve assembled a roll call of Krishnas to speak softly to an entire readership of Arjunas. To lay out the dharma across such a range of karmas is a gracious feat.
Thanks for this Jonathan. So much in here as usual! Your overall point reminded me of the 2 key rules of the spiritual path - 1. Start. 2. Keep going. That's pretty much all you need once the heart connection is true.... And yes, wholeheartedness... there are levels and levels of Being in that, an ocean of courage and resilience is available to us through the heart and we are really going to need it..
And speaking of levels of Being, that 'pull' image is horribly resonant, I've actually been trying to write a post about this recently but its difficult to articulate - that image really does it! The internet is the next level down in terms of Being, its a shadow or reflection of our natural level of Being. It's a small dark shadow, with various practical applications. It also runs on attention, in the same way that our level does (it's just easier to see this online because it's much cruder and not subtle) The barzakh/ liminal zone is the screen.
Humans are the liminal animal, we are supposed to be active (with our attention) in the upper barzakhs, using prayer, meditation etc... and we actually do have an inner pull towards the liminal. However, we have hacked ourselves..we have hacked our own liminal inclination... and in the West particularly we are making the terrible metaphysical mistake of putting the main beam of our attention into this lower level. We are climbing down a level, which is much too small for us, and then wondering why we feel constricted, tired, drained. It's running off our life force, and the vitality of our level. Which is not to say the internet is bad per se.. but living in it, allowing it to dominate us, letting it swallow our lives, relationships, is... well... that image.
Thanks for sharing this.
Similar thoughts/feelings visit me often. I tend to end up with 'keep going on your own terms'.
The vision I serve is a simple one but in practical terms achieving it seems pretty much impossible. I try to draw solace from this impossibility - failure will be no disgrace.
I like your observations about subjugation to the demands of Capital. It's a gordian knot. And in a sense I'm blessed that - despite its apparent impossibility - should I ever achieve any sort of scalable success with our Church's mission and manage to align it somehow with the 'for-profits' - then it'll be a photon torpedo right down the exhaust port of Capital.
The future depends upon us how we are with money, today. Change that - cut the knot - and you change the entire game.
Eloquently written, Jonathan. Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions were no strangers to The Joyous Struggle. https://youtu.be/HSJYjmiwhIM?feature=shared
Lean forward and listen carefully because "the challenge of paying for work that might act as countervailing power to the forms of power that appear to be destroying the world" is definitely worth a wholehearted struggle. Perspectiva is something to be very proud of! As David Whyte's best friend, John O'Donohue, would have told him, "As the wind loves to call things to dance, may your gravity be lightened by grace." And "as time remains free of all that it frames, may your mind stay clear of all it names."
Thank you Jonathan. Your writing is often to me like a Nick Drake song... it never fails to connect with me, often in small ways, but ways that matter somewhere deep in my body tissue... a feeling of knowing I'm not alone, a little moment of intellectual clarity to urge me on, finding me at the right time when otherwise my inclination is to drop on my knees and make a plea to a childhood God who I don't believe in.
Thank you, Kate. I am afraid I had to look up Nick Drake(!) but I very much appreciate the gratitude and recognition, and I'll enjoy getting to know Nick Drake, and see if his songs are anything like The Joyous Struggle Substack...
Please DO keep on going, Jonathan, both in what you call your "day job" which makes great books and ideas available widely, and in your extra-curricular personal interests, which continually provoke thought and wider vision. I loved your reference to the Spirit of Hope. Partly because the UK Consortium on Sustainability Research (UK-CSR) is hosting a symposium in Canterbury in September entitled "Spirituality and Sustainability: Building Ecologies of Hope" and I am working on a paper on the Spiritual Responsibility of Secular Leaders.
I have a problem, however, with the word "build", which I see as fundamentally "mechanistic" - since all our attempts to transform this complex world we emerge from and inhabit are made as participants, rather than external creators. It shows how deeply we buy into the "bifurcation of nature" - and that is itself a part of the challenge. But many of our linear concepts of "progress" carry similar implications.
The first half of this is exactly what I needed to get out of bed (and out of my phone) this morning. Onwards to coffee and figuring out what this day wants from me, in The Spirit of Hope (+1 for that book) . Thank you:)
A bit off topic but is anyone familiar with the copious writings of Gunther Anders? His writings are muchly relevant to the now-time situation.
http://www.guenther-anders-gesellschaft.org/vita-english
A good introduction to his work was written by Christopher Miller. It is titled
"the world without us Gunther Anders & humanity's exile in technology"
It is on the Australian ABC Religion & Ethics website.
Gunther was a member of the dreaded Critical Theory group. As was Theodor Adorno.
Please check out an essay by Adorno titled
"Freudian Theory & the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda"
It is muchly relevant to the now-time situation in the US under Trumpty Dumpty