March 2022 Edition
Conquest of an Unknown Territory
“The adventure, the conquest of an unknown territory, the struggle against the impossible — all have a fascination which draws me with irresistible force”
— Sven Hedin
I found this quote in a book by Swedish explorer Sven Hedin that someone gave my Dad for his birthday.
Reading it, a fire was lit inside of me. “I want a life like that”, some part of me was saying. I want to be drawn by that very irresistible force into worlds of adventure, discovery and conquest in unknown, foreign lands.
Another part of me was scared. Wasn’t this the very same impulse that led us Westerners to colonise the world? Wasn’t it playing out right now before all of our eyes with Putin’s conquest of Ukraine?
Eventually what landed for me was that this impulse was not ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ but often misplaced. What if the shift is not to abandon discovery and conquest but to change our compass bearings for the territory we long to explore. Currently, we’re obsessed with the material world. With getting more physical things. More land. More money. We let our urge for discovery and conquest go in that direction and it destroys us and our beautiful planet.
What if we directed this impulse into a new realm: the non-material world. This is the territory of relationship. What is possible in your relationship with yourself? What is possible in your relationships with others? What deeply meaningful experiences can we craft together?
This isn’t the experience hedonism so common in our culture. That’s just one of your gremlin’s avoidance strategies. It’s just your attempt to look good in front of other people.
NO! Setting your compass for the non-material world is about discovering things that are actually meaningful to you. Discovering the value that exists simply through being exactly who you are. It’s about marking out the territory of what you have to offer the world.
Thankfully, in the non-material world there is an infinite space to be discovered. Your ‘conquests’ do not exclude anyone else. Your revelations are there waiting for others to follow you along the path. Inside of us is infinite possibility. Between us is infinite possibility.
What if you lived your life as one giant quest across the non-material oceans?
We can have lives of intense meaning, growth and discovery without destroying the planet.
The first step would be to notice. How much of your life and your relationships do you spend in the known? In the ordinary worlds or spaces that you’ve already been to before. And what does it take to shift into an extraordinary space of discovery of something completely new.
Wishing you favourable winds on your adventures,
Julyan
P.S. Below are my offerings and recent appearances.
I’ve been on two podcasts in the last month.
Most recently, I was on the Jim Rutt Show talking about my essay series “Weaving a Non-Dual Civilization”. You can find the episode here.
Last month, I also appeared on Brendan Graham Dempsey’s Metamodern Spirituality Podcast talking about my essay “Towards a Metamodern Spirituality”. You can check out the episode here.
My Returning to Life Possibility Team is up and running.
This is a team for people who have realised that they are simply surviving and not really living. It’s for people who from the bottom of their heart want something else for themselves and for the world.
It’s an empowerment team for growing up and becoming the creator of your life.
We meet every Friday from 5-6:30 UK.
Email me or message me on Telegram if you are interested.
Come along to this exploration of ‘problem ownership’ during conflicts. It’s about how asking the question “whose problem is this?” can open up the possibility of problem-free relationships.
Become a problem alchemist and learn to transform problems into gold as fuel for your creation.
This Work-Talk is offered in the context of Possibility Mediation.
17th March, 7-8:30pm GMT
Email me if you want to come.
For a sneak peak check out my mini-article: “There is No Problem. There is Only Information”.