Architecture of Meaning

Cultivating Meaningful Engagement for the Highly Sensitive Person

Whether it is the meaning and value of a “no”, or the gift of rejection, family, school, work and cultural norms fail to assist us in appreciating the value of the no….

As children, if we grew up in a family or culture in which we were not seen or valued, we may have unknowingly adopted a false self. If we have a strong will, there are few ways for this persona to be penetrated. Often, the rejections are the chiropractic adjustment that force us to examine what we value, or what we have attached ourselves to, that may not be from a place of alignment. The more we slam our head against closed doors, the more likely we are to be willing to ask if that direction is our true path. The no’s and rejections may be the only path to our authentic self.

Just as we orient ourselves by the dependable rising and setting of the sun, or the geology of the place we call home, we used to orient ourselves by the rhythms of seasons and the patterns of rain, winds and annual cycles. We have lost one of our compass bearings. As the needle spins more and more wildly, and weird is the only thing we can depend upon, how do we orient? What is it in the human psyche that is being fractured as we are forced to surrender notions of external stability? How deep do those fracture lines run and what do those subterranean reverberations invite us to open to?

The image of the towers falling was the visual image that broke something in our collective psyche and opened us up to this next phase of evolution. Each new, impossible to digest reality - be it the collapse of our economic system, the loss of environmental stability or the failure to be able to imagine our futures, requires a kind of dieing to our concept of what is so, of the world we live in, of what we can count on.

Many are reacting to the sudden accumulation of never before experienced realities by jumping on the bandwagon of green building, or carbon footprint reduction. While all these efforts are commendable, the problems and realities are much bigger than all our actions. Governments, economies and climate responses we can not even envision are shaping our futures.

If you are compelled to evolution, there will most likely come a time where you feel kicked out of life. It is not merely that you have to change your diet, or give up drinking, or change careers, or give up exercise, or let go of a mate. You find that the world no longer holds any interest for you.

You will probably spend awhile trying to kick start yourself into wanting to want the old things - certain friends, or activities or life goals. However, at some point, you will realize it is not going to happen. Then you may spend a period of time frightened and afraid that you are going crazy. If you are lucky, during this time you will stumble across an author (if you have not given up reading) or meet someone who validates this disinclination to the culture as part of the evolution into a creative and authentic life.

We have inherited schools of thought and modes of teaching and instilling knowledge that may have worked in other cultures or other times. However, they do not fit the requirements of this age. Our commitment to learning - our belief that knowledge holds the key - leaves us vulnerable to avoidance of deep matters of the heart….

If the capacity to be present in one’s heart, to gain greater and greater depth in one’s ability to show up to oneself feels like the way to true presence- then the road home leads in, not out to some spiritual philosophy.