The Four-Fold Way

Show up, choose to be present.

Listen/follow what has heart and meaning.

Tell the truth without blame or judgement.

Let go of outcome.

— Angeles Arrien

HIRAETH—n. (Welsh) A spiritual longing for a home which maybe never was. Nostalgia for ancient places to which we cannot return. It is the echo of the lost places of our soul’s past and our grief for them. It is the wind, and the rocks, and the waves. It is nowhere and it is everywhere.

“The great medieval composer, mystic and abbess, Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), invented a language called Lingua Ignota. There is all manner of speculation as its purpose: Was it for secret rituals and mystical rites, or for covert communication? Because she was a saint, no one seems to consider the possibility that she was having fun. As I typed the previous sentence, I almost wrote “that she was just having fun.” The just is an automatism or cliche that means “merely,” as though fun would be more important if it had a purpose, were a means to an end. Thus the utilitarian biases of our society. As Westerners we’re culturally trained to ask the question, “Why?”—always looking for a purpose or reason behind things. It’s a peculiar obsession that prevents us from letting a thing, an event, an experience, an emotion, an action exist for what it is: inherently complete.”

— Stephen Nachmanovitch www.freeplay.com/TheArtofIs p. 82