Soul Compass

Physiological insights to restore agency and possibility

Fragmentation is endemic within our society. It is visible in the mental health crisis of young people, the atrophy of social and conversation skills, the impact of social media as a medium of “likeable” yet functional alienation. Within the arena of ‘health’, a physio-medical model has separated the human being not only into mind and body; it has operated in a complete social vacuum. The individual whether as ‘patient’ or ‘customer’ or ‘client’ may have taken on the appearance of a discrete and objectified ‘thingness’.

Yet, like the proverbial iceberg, what is presented in the material form and presence of any single being is but one facet. What of the more discrete or hidden zones of the personal, the relational, the social, the spiritual etc. – how we talk to ourselves and perceive the world?

What of our immediate environment and living situation – is this also supportive of ( or detrimental to ) health and wellbeing?

Beyond a model of health ( which is sometimes regarded very conservatively as the absence of disease ) – there is also the vast realm of human potential and hidden capacities, gifts and talents of each one of us and the fact of our presence.

I am excited about the potential for radical transformation through the shift in perception and understanding of how we as human beings can thrive – as creative and relational beings, fundamentally woven into the fabric of life, and not separate. Ever.

There is a performative conceit in the duality that is hard wired into the selfhood that is implicitly constructed through passive consumption. As humans, we can only really have five very close “friends”. Our capacity for “tribe” also has a limit – yet multiple networks can and do intersect, affirm and support one another.

There is an irony then, when social media spaces offer the possibility of “a million friends” and the hidden tragedy for those who suffer such afflictions.

Rates of depression and anxiety have statistically been shown to rise among those with over a thousand ‘friends’ on social media.

Our nervous system is at the centre of our capacity for social engagement. Babies and children need to ‘co-regulate’ with their parents or care givers. They learn, not cognitively or through a mentally orientated top-down process but, in an immanent and resonant way through the nervous systems of others. How you are in your ‘being’ – the quality of your presence REALLY MATTERS.

If one can dare to speak of PEACE or note the trajectory of current socio political crisis – the capacity to meet such challenges and possibilities must be informed also through awareness of this physiological foundation.

In a world out of balance, dangerously disconnected from the reality of the natural world – the invitation is to step back into an affirmed and implicit rhythm and resonance with the Infinity of which we are part.