Normal Human = Sublime
Story, State, Action Diary 04
Today we will continue the conversation from Diary 03, unpacking what I mean when I say that a Normal Human can engage and relate with the sublime.
Here is a Reference table for previous chapters in this series
Introduction to the model: The Story, State, Action Model
Story, State, Action Diary series
Diary 02: How Your Senses Have Been Colonized
Diary 03: How to Become Normal Human*
Decolonization & Animism is... Resting in Nature/Darkness
Our Capacity to Rest.
In.
Darkness.
We have to break that down a bit, define these terms.
First, Our Capacity.
This is potential that must be (re)learned, and once it is learned we discover it is inherent. It seems crazy to have to work for something that is inherently free and innate, but that’s the rub. The learning is a discovering, but it can’t be “given” by anyone else. Even these words I’m saying can’t give it to you. Knowing about it, thinking about it, conceptualizing it, etc.… aren’t it. What is useful is being introduced to the capacity for capacity itself. Sometimes you exist within a framework that has led you to be unaware that you have certain options.
Next, Rest.
Resting does not necessarily mean sleeping, going unconscious or closing the eyes. Resting could mean “relaxed focus”, “open awareness” or some other combination of such terms. Settled, chill, resting. TRANQUILO. It is a liminal state that is between extremes. It is between highly alert/adrenalized and totally sleeping or unconscious. There are many methods by which to train this kind of resting state. It is not mystical or supernatural, but to colonized/modern people with aggressive agendas, it is often co-opted to mean becoming exceptional/special/powerful, etc. Normal people should not crave exceptionalism. They should be able to see exceptionalism for the slippery slope it actually is.
Next, Darkness.
I am making the claim that Nature and Darkness are the same.
Darkness is a thing that’s not a thing. From a dualist-materialist perspective, darkness is nothing, or a state of the absence of light.
However, this is not the complete story.
We have to come to terms with how we categorize reality. Let’s use a metaphor.
Let’s say that a person “feels hopeless”. They cannot “feel hopeful.” Using this kind of language, there is a thing called hope, and if you have it (feel it), then that’s good and you are called “hopeful”, and if you don’t have it, that’s bad and you feel "hope-less”. Going further down this road, hopeless is equal to something else, unwanted, like despair, depression, etc. that you do feel, which is “the opposite” of hope. The English language, everybody. Exhaustingly deceptive. Deceptively exhausting.
The perceived absence of hope is not fill-in-the-blank-atrocity. There’s no “opposite” of your favorite feeling.
What’s going on when we can’t locate or feel the intense feeling that we want to feel is the sublime.
The sublime is naturally obscure. Naturally hidden and mysterious. To the colonized, cartesian mind, it is the sin of sins: confusion. Feeling “lost”.
To the mind of the nondual animist, confusion is the substrate of creativity. It is the space that allows for rest — generation & re-generation.
Confusion or chaos is not a problem to be solved as much as it is an invitation into nature’s truth. That is why it is Darkness. Darkness is not merely the absence of light, it is also the down-ramping of the part of the mind that is hellbent on targeting, labeling, naming and describing everything it perceives. It allows us to sleep, it allows us to limit sensory stimulus.
This is why it is sometimes also called Emptiness.
It is the natural hidden nature of Nature. The darkness that allows light to play a magic show. Darkness is Space, the space to exist without reasons, meanings, and the constant thingification process of the survival-oriented physiology.
Now, in today’s modern world, darkness and confusion tend to lead to panic. Intense states of Fear and reactions to that fear to try and solve the fear and the perceived cause of said fear. To “shine light on the darkness”. However, this is misinformed and merely reinforces our addiction and fear. We have not related honestly with the root process.
The true “solution” (if we can even call it that) is to rest in darkness, as darkness. Or I could say, rest in nature as nature. Or I could say, rest in confusion as the base of creativity. Or I could say, relating with the sublime.
This is Right Story.
I haven’t told you how to train Resting in Darkness yet, but I’ve introduced you to Right Story and that in itself should elicit a kind of transforming of relationship.
You shouldn’t skip over this part.
Really. Go outside or do something else and then come back and continue reading tomorrow.
Housekeeping
This WEDS May 7th, premium subscribers will meet live at 10am PST to learn the auspices and animist behaviors of the 4th Moon: The Snake Moon. You can find the link in the Premium Subscribers Tab when viewing this substack in a browser (not the app).
2nd and 4th WEDS the patreon cohort will meet to further learn about Daoist Dream practice. Class is ongoing and you can join anytime and watch recordings at your own pace.
This month the extra workshop is on beginning to work with the yijing (i ching). RSVP for that is linked here: THURS MAY 29th.
Stay tuned for another Story, State, Action workshop in June 2025!
Introduction to the model: The Story, State, Action Model
Story, State, Action Diary series
Diary 01: Dying on that hill, Falling on that sword
Diary 02: How Your Senses Have Been Colonized
Diary 03: How to Become Normal Human*
Diary 04: Normal Human = Sublime
Diary 05: Normal is not Normalized, Normalized is not Normal.
Diary 06: Chaos, Our True Home.