A sense of place … again and again we return to this puzzling concept. Wendell Berry, America’s best-known bioregionalist, says if you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are. Does our actual physical location determine our ability to construct the life we yearn to lead?
Wandering from place to place, looking for our environment to provide us with the deep inner peace our souls yearn for may be futile. We have been culturally conditioned to look for what we need outside ourselves, making many of us road warriors, devoid of a sense of place and stewardship to the planet we call home. Committing ourselves to some corner of earth we choose to call home allows us to envision the greater sense of connection we share as planetary participants. If we live somewhere long enough, over time we begin to relate to our sense of place, to observe ourselves in the greater scheme of things.
Constant drifting has left many of us with an inner restlessness where we seem unable to sit still long enough to feel the rhythms connecting us with the lifeblood of Mater earth. This mater is substance, earth, our flesh, blood and bones. Place your ear to the ground, and soon you can synchronize your own heartbeat to the pulse of the planet. It is in seeking solitude that we discover this profound connection, not in isolation from our felt sense of connection to the whole.
Feelings of alienation can cause us to move around unduly, to seek a sense of place, purpose and inner peace somewhere outside the self. When we journey inward, the rhythms we attune to in the pounding of our pulse are the same as the tides, as the terra firma on which we place our feet. The isolation many of us feel is a product of a life spent paying homage to our individual nature. And isolation can only have merit in context and relation to other aspects of our being.
On examining the mysterious tarot cards, the solitary Hermit falls between the Adjustment card and that of Fortune. We are not meant to perpetually wander in order to discover that which we seek. This Hermit’s number is Nine, symbolic of turning inward before embarking on something new. Flanked by an Eight (Adjustment) and Ten (Fortune), our Hermit has relationships with both. Eight is the number of transformation and rebirth. Ten represents completion as well as new beginnings.
These Major Arcana cards of the tarot are symbolic of the Hero’s journey we all embark upon to become sentient and fully human beings. Knowing when to retreat seems appropriate only in context to the whole. The Adjustment card speaks to weighing things carefully before making a decision. The Hermit then compels us to retreat within ourselves to find what is true for us at the time. It cautions us not to become distracted with busy-ness or possessions. When we succeed, we move into the Ten card’s Fortune, where we realize that what we have been seeking is not to be grasped through consumption, rather it rests within our quiet imponderable nature. We discover an inner strength we did not perhaps realize we had and discover, often to our delight, that we possess the will to embrace life such as it is with simple and profound acceptance.
(excerpted from Inner Tapestry Journal, Bela Johnson 2005)
I love Wendell Berry’s writing. I used him in my dissertation along with Barry Lopez and Gary Snyder.
Aloha Ivon – I took 2 semesters of Ecopsychology in college and thought I would major in it. Didn’t, per se, though it was always in the background. For how can one understand the study of Depth Psychology (archetypal psych) without considering our relationship to the earth? Thanks for your comment. <3
Bela, m favourite PhD class was Eco-Ethics. Although we did not use Wendell Berry’s work directly, his work was in the background of the course. Our main text was one based on deep ecology, a close relative to Depth Psychology
Yes, wasn’t it Theodore Roszak who was the leader of the Deep Ecology movement? I recall studying that field, in any case. So you understand that relationship 😉 Aloha, Ivon.
In North America he might have been. The idea came from a Norwegan philosopher Arne Naess who drew on Rachel Carson’s work
Yes, familiar with Ness. Roszak’s book “Where the Wasteland Ends” is worth a read, if a bit long. 😉
Interesting and insightful read, Bela.
‘All who wander are not lost.’ 🙂
Yes, there’s wandering and then there’s wandering. And not all who wander are lost, it’s true. Aloha Eliza 🌺
Enjoyed this, as I did part I. Resonating deeply. Eloquent and masterful writing as always, Bela. 💕
Glad it resonates, Betty. Thanks for the kind words <3
Bela, did you ‘swallow’ Hariod and then write this? My goodness! Actually this is a huge compliment – although it might sound a little back-handed, as if you were not capable of writing something so ‘eloquent’ and ‘masterful’ as ‘Betty H A’ says above, without another’s influence.
Yes, this had me thinking! I had a friend who used to live on a council estate here in the UK, and the surroundings were not idyllic, but she said that once she opened her front door and entered inside, she was perfectly content – whatever was happening outside did not affect her at all. She has moved away (for reasons I wont speak of here – far too long to go into), but she is equally happy in her new home and the surroundings are much better. Your post brought this to mind, and it made me think that happiness and contentment are indeed inside yourself – wandering around looking for circumstances to improve your lot does not always work, although it can do in some cases.
And another friend who always talks about her body ‘vibrating’ (when she makes a kind of deep spiritual connection with places, people or things) – something I don’t fully understand – often lies down in a park(nearby her home) so that she can be in nature and feel at one with the earth. And that of course resonated with me after reading your third paragraph.
I think your final paragraph is spot on – ‘… where we realize that what we have been seeking is not to be grasped through consumption, rather it rests within our quiet imponderable nature. We discover an inner strength we did not perhaps realize we had and discover, often to our delight, that we possess the will to embrace life such as it is with simple and profound acceptance’.
Like I said, your post has me thinking, and I shall no doubt read it a few more times. Aloha, dear Bela.
Aloha, sweet Marie 😉 Maybe Hariod swallowed Me, as I wrote this over ten years ago for publication on the east coast of the US – one of many articles I submitted back in my professional heyday. Nah – Hariod is one I greatly admire – I am SO glad he developed his senses in this life to contribute to the collective, which sorely needs his sort of awareness. (You do me great honor, thank you.)
I, too know when I’ve connected with a place to call home. I’ve moved a bit in my 64 years, but have remained in three locations for decades each. I think it takes years to fully integrate oneself into the land and the community. Though surely I have traveled and felt an instant kinship with Place, depending. Ireland was like that for me most recently. But I was not tempted to leave home and try it out, long term.
When I wrote this article, I was thinking of people who are constantly on the move, as many in the US are for whatever reason, often for a job somewhere – but this is often an anxiety remedy of sorts. Perpetually unsatiated, the people I was thinking of are rampantly consumptive looking for ‘the next big thing,’ which perpetuates the anxiety and unease they are attempting to resolve – and so they move. And move on. The US is a place where folks kept pushing the frontier until it hit the Pacific Ocean, as you are well aware – and we know how many indigenous people were displaced and eradicated, as a result. So this kind of territorial consumption is in our history, as well. I don’t believe it’s healthy, but we are a (very) young nation yet.
Anyhow dear Marie, thanks for your thoughtful comment, and for appreciating our dear Hariod, as do I.
Love ❤️
You’ve made me laugh! I think what I was trying to say was that there was a similarity in your writing styles. Had I ‘met’ you first, I would certainly have thought that he had swallowed you when I eventually discovered him. As it is, it happened to be the other way round. I’m glad you put me right there and appreciated my small joke.:)
I’ve certainly learned something new today reading your post and thanks for enlightening me a bit more.
Hope you’re having a wonderful day dear Bela. ❤️
I am. And about to get my biweekly massage, so I’m in top form 😉 Or will be shortly! xoxo
What the heck! You two both write more elegantly and adeptly than I ever do or could — that’s the truth. And Bela’s correct, Marie; she’s an inspiration for me, the capacity she possesses to bring words to life. I don’t have the creative spark in anything like the same degree. I swallowed her whole, to borrow your phrase, and which, coincidentally, echoes this tune that’s been echoing ’round my house for a few days of late:
https://youtu.be/YMn6x-ilMoI
Thank you Hariod, but I’m afraid I just don’t swallow this. I am no way in yours or Bela’s league when it comes to writing, but I’m happy to bask in your praise. That way, I hope to absorb some of those sparks. What timing with that tune?! 🙂
I’m “liking” this comment so you know I read it – and deep thanks for your high praise, truly – but Marie honestly, your writing is rich and interlaced with deep meaning. I don’t know how any of us can do better than that. Love to you, dear one.❤️🙏🏽😘
Bela, you’ve changed your gravatar!!! Did you think I wouldn’t notice? 🙂
OK, I believe you about my writing and thank you very much, but your expansive vocabulary and depth of writing is definitely on another level. That’s the truth, Bela..❤️
Hahaha! No, I just needed to change things up a bit 😉
I am glad you accept my praise of your word work, Marie. So glad Hariod connected us! I’m not sure comparisons are even possible – we all possess our own richness that is in the process of unfolding, if we but allow it. 💜 Again, many thanks!
💜
The Ouroboros song 😉
Hariod, I will echo what I just wrote Marie – we each possess a unique tapestry that we have the opportunity to unfold. Yours is no way less magnificent than (ours). I Love your writing and am astounded each time at the depth and richness of your offerings. Many, many thanks. 🙏🏽
Love your piece that you published in The Inner Tapestry Journal. Such a meaningful piece on finding simplicity and purpose in our lives. From the first part, I loved this: ‘the difference between being alone with ourselves and being alone with no sense of place or belonging.’ I think a lot of us don’t like being alone and fear it for one reason or another – perhaps we want support when we’re lost or having other around makes us loved, which ultimately gives us a sense of belonging. It’s a reason why so many of us wander and flit from thing to thing.
From observing many around me, a lot of them seem to move around lots: move from job to job, move from social circle to social circle, party to party, and the list goes on. Sometimes I wonder if they will ever find what they are looking for. But another part of me also realises that the more there is change and the more we move, the more we learn.
I like how you touched upon knowing when to retreat. There is much to be learned when we choose move away from the spotlight and take a back seat, and I guess that’s when we observe, listen more and reflect.
Aloha Mabel – as once again I thank you for your kind words and deeply reflective comments. And I agree – many to most humans do Not like being alone – witness the mass urbanization of the planet – necessary to its burgeoning numbers, yes, but also a collective desire for distractions of every kind.
Your words “perhaps we want support when we’re lost or having other around makes us loved” point, at least to me, to the basic human drive for family and friends, affirmations of our “Isness,” an existentialist term meaning “the quality or state of elemental or factual existence.” Is this simply how humans are wired biologically? I mean, if we didn’t desire the things you mention, would we ever have had the desire to perpetuate our species?
And yes, if you read other comments to this post, you’ll see I’ve touched upon our basic Hunter/Gatherer instincts as well. Yet we have become far removed from wandering with our feet to seek food we catch ourselves – and thus our connection to earth and its rhythms and other life forms – and thus are more challenged to reconnect with purpose as part of the scheme of life on the planet.
And yes, job to job and party to party is one thing; moving out in the world to explore other ways of life, other cultures and places – this, I think can be beneficial, especially to those who reside in their fear bubbles. We realize in so doing that others are more like us than we formerly might have thought.
Retreat and reflection is easier for those of us who seek it naturally, yet far more challenging for those who are in an avoidance/distraction loop. Yet it has been my experience that unless we take time for these things in a fundamental way, we become radically disconnected from some essential factors of being in bodies here on this amazing planet earth.
Thanks again, dear Mabel – hope you have a wonderful weekend! 💓
I think a lot of us are social by nature, be it wanting to be with people all the time or with people for a few certain moments. It’s also how we get by and survive. The Hunter/Gatherer theme is an interesting one, and I think it also touches upon going from place to place, trying to search for something that soothes the soul. In the early days, it was hunting for food as you mentioned. Today, maybe we are all too much distracted. As such, we need to slow down and take time to reflect. Have a wonderful week, Bela <3
You too, Mabel <3
Loved this Bela. Such an eloquent and thoughtful piece. I do wonder if being born in the “new world” adds to this wandering and seeking. I feel drawn to Scotland in a way that no other physical place does, although I call Newtown Square PA home!
“When we journey inward, the rhythms we attune to in the pounding of our pulse are the same as the tides.” is beautiful. 💕
Aloha Val – I cannot help but wonder about this ‘new world’ as well, based as it was (still is!?) on conquering frontiers – then once the frontier hit the Pacific, and not too long ago in this country’s history either – what then to do with those impulses?
I trust you get back home whenever you can – I loved Scotland (part of my heritage, as well), but haven’t visited since the ’70’s. I was in Ireland most recently (also in my blood) and I fell in love with the place and the people. I came back here to tell locals that the Irish are like white Hawaiians – so filled with good humor and Aloha. So even far afield, I felt a sense of place there, though I could never do the weather 😉
And yes, you’ve got the crux of it there, Val – it’s the journey inward that we have come to explore, I have no doubt. Perhaps the rest is simply distraction, though I learn through every experience. And so on we go, eh? 💗
We go on and we explore with a curious open heart. That’s what life comes down to in many ways.
Thank you for sharing your special connection with Hawaii, Ireland and people of good humor and aloha 💛
I feel it too. Aloha Bela 💕
So glad! 🌈💗
Bela, I have returned to understand your thoughts and reflect upon them. What you write always calls for pondering.
There is no doubt that our physical location determines our ability to construct the life we yearn to lead yet we wander or remain rooted for earning a livelihood, the basic requirement of our existence. We look outside ourselves only when our basic needs are fulfilled. Contentment and happiness for what we are and what we want to be, comes from within, but it has to be nurtured and learned only with many years down our life. Loved your philosophical thoughts, deeply embedded in real comprehension of what life should be…read it three times to fully grasp this brilliant excerpt.
Thanks for sharing. Stay blessed.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Balroop. Much appreciated. Your words made me wonder as well about our basic Hunter/Gatherer nature – perhaps that impulse to wander lies deeper than we even know. So now instead of wandering to meet basic needs, we wander as a luxury once those needs are met! Yet another way to examine restless feet. Still, back to the purpose of my post, we have largely lost our roots to Mother Earth due to mass urbanization and further, the displacement of indigenous tribes. So the once-necessary act of moving on to obtain basic needs (Hunter/Gatherer) has been supplanted by The Job – usually in The City. And the restlessness that is subsumed due to these changing circumstances plays out in myriad ways, some truly harmful (to ourselves as well as others) and others benign. My point I guess is that the mass human negligence to our precious home the earth is the result of this disconnect between feet and ground, quite literally. And then there’s the disconnect between hands, hearts and heads and our sources of sustenance. But that’s for another post to ponder. Aloha and again my thanks! <3
So true Bela…the disconnect is growing wider due to self-centred tendency and negligence of the forces that sustain us! 🙂
Another excellent post, Bela.
Our very essence is waylaid by a forced need to prove a point to a person or group swimming the sea of mediocrity. We are not ready or prepared to want to answer the call of our quintessence. Running away from the self quenches the collective thirst of our civilization.
I was reading this: “When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know exactly what it was that gave you that feeling. And always think of other people.” xo
Mahalo, Mahesh. And yours, “We are not ready or prepared to want to answer the call of our quintessence. Running away from the self quenches the collective thirst of our civilization.” Bingo. How astute. This planet is lucky to have people like you who demonstrate wisdom at such a young age. It will need more of your kind as time goes on – such strange days to be living. Bless you <3
Another excellent read Bela… It is interesting, how we, me in particular will one day want to greet the world and the next retreat from it.. I have never wandered far in location apart from holiday travelling.. My roots are set firmly as the Taurean part of me connects to Earth.. My mind however is constantly travelling.. Questioning, exploring.. both outer and inner realms..
So your sentence here spoke to me.. “When we journey inward, the rhythms we attune to in the pounding of our pulse are the same as the tides, as the terra firma on which we place our feet.”
And that I feel is where I feel most at home… in the solitude of my BEing… I never feel alone, ever.. even if I have not spoken to anyone other than my hubby in a week.. lol.. I speak more often to those who I know are listening to the silence spaces between thought.. And I listen intently back for their replies and signs..
A thoughtful well written post, still so very topical and I am pleased you shared it here..
Love and Blessings dear Bela… I am so wanting to retreat again.. The world is crying for so many once again. And we both know I feel deep down yet more tears are to come.. <3 xxx <3
Aloha Sue – thanks for your kind comments and yet another affirmation that we have much in common, you and I. And yes, I do believe those of us who employ our Taurean energy (mine is Venus only, but that’s Mother Earth!) in being close to the earth do feel her vibrations. It’s why, in these rapidly changing times with increasing planetary disturbances attributed to human disregard that we feel we must retreat now and again to remain sane. If everyone felt things as we do, perhaps needed adjustments would already have taken place, but they somehow are able to disregard. In any case, we do what we must, and I totally support whatever you need to do in order to remain sane and grounded. Our connections to others of like vibration is crucial in holding the web together energetically.
Many blessings to you, dear Sue, and know you are not alone in this, to be sure. <3 <3 <3
Many thanks dear Bela for that confirmation Yesterday the energies were too powerful, I had to sleep and then slept another 12 hours.. A bad migraine I had not had in years decided to take me out of it.. And still a bit wishy washy today.. and I feel another sleep looming and still not half way through answering my comments.. But they will be waiting.. Much LOVE dear Bela… May we keep on keeping on.. and remember to keep nurturing ourselves.. xxx
Yes, Sue, do what you must. The world needs you <3
Beautifully resonant and evocative writing, dear Bela. I was thinking about this sense of place business you write of, and it occurred to me that when I think back to times when I’ve been impacted — how to put it without being pretentious? — transcendentally (instant fail!), then most times it’s been very intimately bound up with a sense of place, of my full participation within it, my presence fully married to it, or engaged with it, seamlessly. What I’m trying to say is that it (the transcendence) never felt like it were something going on in my mind and body alone, but rather was a full embracing of the environment — whether it be a busy street, an airport terminal, a deserted beach, or whatever. It’s as if awareness (can we call it that, rather than consciousness?) is set free, and the point of centrality (i.e. ‘me here’) dissolves, and I’m no longer the subject projecting out, or channeling inwardly, the objects of otherness. The sense of place, the intimacy with the environment (again, of whatever type) somehow appears to overlay or sublate the play of consciousness and its objects, even though the senses take them in as objects interpreted by the mind — that’s all automated processing, as it were. Yes, it’s that thing a lot of people call Presence, I suppose, and which isn’t so much any knowledge of one sensing oneself ‘here’, but is that intimate connection with place, with borderless or infinite space, but very much less so with time. I love your writing Bela, and I think I’ve just proven the point I was making above to you and Marie! Blathering away as usual, Hariod. <3
I really want you in my parallel universe template I am currently laying down. I hope we meet there one day when we figure out these sliding doorways 😉 As I understand you and ‘it,’ I just do not know how one can disregard these amazing bodies and how they interact with this miraculous physical universe we currently call Home. Of course nothing is separate, but the idea of taking one’s consciousness ‘into the light (of understanding)’ as if that place exists somehow in space or apart from the earth in any way is, to me anyway, quite insane. Yes, temporality as we can collectively conceive of it now/in ‘this’ reality, includes physical decay and death. And that’s neither here nor there – not good or bad – that I can label it, anyhow. Yet there are more expansive conceptions of reality as we know it in what has been described as nonordinary reality. So. If we disregard the potential for conscious animation of the atoms that reflect ourselves as discrete to other eyes, well then, we are missing the boat entirely, at least in my knowing. We have incarnated here to discover. And some have construed this as discovering physical frontiers – conquering them, for example. And some have construed that as conquering ‘the other,’ as if this could possibly even Be. Sidetracking seems a favorite human pasttime. Move Into it. Be as One with nature. Quaking aside, miracles spill into awareness like so many kids stacked behind a closed door, spilling into the room once that doorway is opened. Yes, it can be overwhelming, even to one who practices it. But once enlarged, the capacity for awareness expands beyond what we formerly conceived. And on it can go, if we but cultivate and allow it.
So in my own blathering way, I am agreeing with your own assessments. I agree as well, if I understand you correctly in one of your last lines, that as we assume a new ‘baseline reality,’ we lose (appreciation?) (the sense of amazement?) regarding these perceptions as we acclimate to our new sense of ‘normal.’ Thus our own internal boundaries are continually challenged, if we rise to it. And one does get tired from time to time.
I am so so so glad we met here on WP. You are one of life’s treasures. ❤️🙏🏽
THE BLESSING
We may choose
Among seven directions
Of travel and exploration
Before, behind, left or right
Above or below, or the one
That is less travelled
The inner journey
My heart glows
To see your resolve
To explore them all
But let us not overlook
The eighth direction
The one over which
We have no control
– Inexorable time
I am powerless
To stay your journey
Your choices are yours
Even that tragic eighth
Yet may at least give
My heartfelt blessing
That you will always
Enjoy seven gifts
Marvellous Mondays
Tremendous Tuesdays
Wonderful Wednesdays
Thrilling Thursdays
Fabulous Fridays
Stupendous Saturdays
Stunning Sundays
In sum, my love
Wish-fulfilling weeks
Forevermore
And it is this illusory notion that we can capture or manage time at all that most confounds, especially these days. 2017 will too soon become memory, as will my own life! So I will gladly accept your loving blessing-poem. Aloha, and thanks BN! 😘
PARADIGM PARADOX
Up where we truly live
Time and space are phantoms
What we do; what we say
Already history
🙂