In this stormy age that we live in, it is easy to get caught in the eye of the storms moving around us, and get stuck in fear, anxiety and frustration.
To live wisely requires calling in forces greater than ourselves, forces that have the power to awaken our imagination beyond the mundane day-to-day.
One of those forces is Soul. In our modern world focused on the bottom line, scientific progress and rationality, we wither. We dry up like fruit unpicked on the tree.
To give us the motivation and nourishment that we need to move forward in this chaotic world, we need to taste the transcendence of Soul. Touching our Soul is what nourishes and waters cracked earth that has grown dry after drought.
Without connection to Soul and all that it relates to — love, authentic connection, beauty — we seek fulfillment in ways that are always fleeting (e.g., music, drugs) or numbing (e.g., social media, TV).
And it’s only in awakening to our Soul’s unique desires, gifts and genius that we can have the clarity to understand what is ours to do and experience in this world. It sparks imagination of mythic proportions. It may not be an easy way to live, but it is certainly a more alive one.
But nourishing soul is a hard thing to do in this unbalanced world. In traditional societies, shamans watched out for the spiritual health of their communities. They tended to the balance of larger forces, including the tending the gardens of community members’ souls.
Shamans may no longer make sense in our modern world. But there are lessons we can draw. Specifically 3 things are required to nourish our Souls.
At Hestia, these are our core pillars:
1. Connection to nature & the elements.
Our Souls are already connected to the natural world. When we are in connection with nature, we connect more deeply with who we truly are. And because nature carries no judgments about us, we feel safe to bring all parts of us and connecting to nature allows more parts of us to come back home so that we can live in greater alignment with Soul.
2. Creative expression of the Soul’s authentic desires.
Soul is infinitely imaginative. And to let Soul speak with us, we need to give it expression. The creative arts are a powerful access point to the Soul’s deep desires.
3. Friends of the soul.
We may have 1000s of friends on Facebook, but Friends of the Soul see us for who we truly (beyond the glossy pictures we post on social media) are and still love us. Being seen for who we are, and having those friends bring out our gifts, is one of the highest expressions of love.
We believe that while many traditional institutions are crumbling, we are creating space for imagination of the Soul to be nourished. Because when our individual Souls are nourished, and when in this test tube something new can be born, this is the foundation for broader cultural change.
The most powerful transformations of culture have all been borne by people who chose to care for their most authentic expression. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat not because she was merely physically tired, but because she said “No more”. No more would she act in a way that contradicted her inner truth; no more would she act as less than the person she knew herself to be inwardly. And choosing to live undivided is a radical act. When individuals claim their true selves, their decisions ripple out into the rest of the culture, and serves the soulfulness of all others.
Additionally, in service of this desire for broader cultural change, we are also committed to inter generational community. Youth needs elders who can help them see their unique gifts and channel their dreams in ways that they can become reality. Elders need the energy of youth’s dreams to help re-ignite their imagination. For a community and culture to be healthy, all segments of that community need to be healthy. And to turn around our culture around, we need all parts to bring their gifts forward. Youth without eldership often brings change that doesn’t last; and elders without youth may get stuck because of inertia.
