Growing Down

“One way or another we are inextricably drawn into the deep. It is here that we begin to… “grow down” into our lives. Here that we have the possibility of discovering within us what is most solid and sustaining while slowly learning to embody such presence in the daily round of our lives. Some would call this Soul. Call it what you will. Whatever it is, intuitively we know its absence and its presence in our lives. But because this reality cannot be seen, quantified, or described in our usual modes of analysis, it has been dismissed and thrown into the black box of irrationality.”

     When he uses the term “grow down,” author Saki Santorelli posits that there is a reality beneath our everyday consciousness, one that eludes our usual awareness, one that is our most essential self. Many do call it Soul as he states, others refer to it as True Self, Daemon, God, etc., but no matter what the name, we are the poorer for not being in touch with this sacred depth as we go about the daily round of our lives.

     What is it that inextricably draws us into the deep? What life experiences pull the rug out from under our tendency to skim the surface of our own and life’s depths? What makes us drop to our knees with the realization that we cannot manage to continue living in the way we’ve become accustomed? As I ponder these questions my mind goes to things like falling in love, the loss of health, the death of a loved one, the breathtaking beauty of nature, the heart breaking image of a hungry child, the orchestral performance of a Beethoven symphony; it is different things for different people, different strokes for different folks.

     No matter the catalyst, the “place” we are invited to enter is the same for each of us; it is the divine depths that, when acknowledged and yielded to, enables us to live a more meaningful and liberating existence. Soul cannot be “described in our usual modes of analysis,” but “intuitively we know its absence and its presence.” In the quiet of our hearts we know when we are in sync with the sacred within or resistant to it. I understand resistance, for who wants to cede control of their life when life itself is so unpredictable? But that very unpredictability will inevitably, inexorably, inextricably continue inviting us to “grow down.”