“Immanence, in philosophy and theology, a term applied, in contradistinction to “transcendence,” to the fact or condition of being entirely within something (from Latin immanere, “to dwell in, remain”). Its most important use is for the theological conception of God as existing in and throughout the created world, as opposed, for example, to deism, which conceives him as separate from and above the universe.”1
The process through which I write, and generally exist, is to watch where my energy and focus naturally gathers, and take it as a direction. There is a sort of swelling towards an idea, a series of synchronous events, a thought that comes through my consciousness with a certain pitch that forces my attention towards it. This week, it was the idea of immanence. With Thanksgiving behind us, we’re entering the closing time of the year. One more month ahead and many unknowns to follow. Which is nothing new, everything is always uncertain, sometimes we just do a better job at forgetting about that. This moment of the year trends towards a sort of future casting. What do I want to bring about in 2025? What things do I want that I don’t currently have? A newfound determination builds within us to do, acquire, and change.
I’ve entered the phase of post-election grieving where I am curious about my role in the unfolding of whatever comes next. Not because I’m planning on running for office, or becoming an organizer, but because I’m convinced that we all will have to participate more than before and in ways that are not obvious or assumed. Like making eye contact with more strangers, committing to cultivating beauty, or hosting more dinner parties (all clearly part of my plan). It’s apparent that we’re in the midst of big social change and a shifting of consciousness. Why do you think you are here and in the mix?
Thomas Hubl, in his podcast Point of Relation, recently spoke about two different versions of hope.
“What is the difference between when we place hope into the future? We say – hope is that tomorrow will be better than today. I’m hoping for a better circumstance. The other version of hope is that hope is in the agency, in the immanence, in the presence of agency, that I can influence and co-create the world, with others, now.”
He posits that the first version of hope is a cop out of sorts (my analysis). Passing the buck to someone else, hoping a better future will exist, and that you’ll get to step into it. The latter version of hope implicates you in the unfolding of whatever comes next. At first, this can feel frightening, but then a sense of agency follows, which is always a relief.
I’ve just begun reading the book Dancing in the Flames: The Dark Goddess in the Transformation of Consciousness so it is certainly too early for me to write anything about it, but that hasn’t stopped me before. It speaks of the Goddess archetype as an indwelling power compared to the more common understanding of God, the external power set above us, that is perceived of outside of ourselves rather than intrinsic to us.
It begins with the goddess Kali. “The mystery of Kali is that she is perpetually destroying and, at the same time, creating – destroying in order to create, creating in order to destroy, death in the service of life, life in the service of death. Kali is time, immanence, ceaseless becoming, nature as process.” In the emergence from my post-election spiral, I’m approaching a certain sense of neutrality, or trying. We are in our own process of destruction, unraveling, shifting and creating. We are in the process of a becoming. Of what we can’t be sure.
As we begin to conceive of what we want our year ahead to look like, I’m curious what is already within you that is wanting to be brought forward? What stirrings have you begun to hear, that if you got a bit quieter, less cluttered in mind and space, would come through with clarity? What can you release or let die in order for something new and more true to arise from within you?
❤️
Hi Gracie. I have been thinking a lot about this the last couple of weeks. Not so much looking forward (yet) but more reflecting on the year that’s passed and how much I drifted from my intentions. We are heading into the third year of this huge life transition and feeling more burnt out than ever. It’s like the forces we listened to to get us here are clanging an alarm to let go of the expectations and behaviours and jobs that sustained us back there and then and lean into whatever is here. It’s exciting and it’s terrifying. So am dropping the idea of a “safety net”.