One of the benefits of being older for me is that I do trust myself. And, as you wrote, an essential part of trusting yourself is to understand what you know and what you don't know. And some of what you don't know can be "solved" by asking for help from others who have the experience to fill in your gap.
When my daughter used to call herself stupid, I'd point out that only a smart person could call themselves stupid because only a smart person could know the difference. That worked.
As Denzel says in Philadelphia, “explain it to me like I’m a 6 year old.” The line didn’t mean this, but the anecdote with your daughter really unlocked insight in me somewhere. So thank you! I have a fear that in some afterlife we’ll dispense of our mortal broken bodies but, in hindsight, realize how incredible it was to have a body. Like our souls get one sliver of time to materialize and I’m down here totally blowing it by existing too much in my head. So I’m grateful you shifted my perspective… Trust the somatic experience, revel in the fact that each breath tethers us to the present (for better or worse). And the present is a pretty kickass place to be (again, for better or worse).
Thanks for the openness and honesty of your writing. Your writing, as well as that of some others on this platform (Mohr, Dolezal, Boivin, Kureishi, et al.) emboldened me to proceed with my own Substack, after obsessing over it for the better part of a year. So thank you, and please count me as a fellow traveler. Wishing you all the best.
As kids, it seems that many of us had the ability to feel into what's actually going on in our bodies and emotions, and truly trust our feelings, but then it gets ground out of us as we grow up. Loved this reflection on Trust to kick off our series this week, Latham!
I appreciate the difficulty of trust in our society, and I relate to the treachery of most business environments (although if you think that is bad, you should see what it is like in arts institutions!).
However, I would take a different point of view on mathematics and science. Descartes, for example, provides a way for all to view mathematical points in two-dimensional space. In other words, a common ground for truth and trust.
And in the old days of those who traveled by sea and air, the intricacies of celestial navigation and its underlying trigonometry gave a shared common language and way of viewing one's geographic place. (Although, alas, I fear that those days are over, and celestial navigation isn't even taught at Annapolis or New London now.)
Latham—thanks for the lead-off and NOT the wave-off to our series ☺️
It’s amazing that your six year old can demonstrate the mind/body connectivity better than we ourselves can. When did we lose that purity of being able to feel what we know and don’t know? I don’t know 🤷🏻♂️
Trust yourself. Trust others. Trust God. Whew—we tackled a big one this time around.
"If all we can know is what we directly experience, than everything we thought was more true than our real lives is actually false." Sometimes you read weeks' worth of articles or wander though hundreds of conversations just to be present and available for a statement like this. I wanted you to know that I fully received it, and in fact, aspire to live from it.
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. ~ Arthur Ashe
This is awesome. Thank you for sharing this Daniel. Latham, I haven’t yet had the time to offer a proper comment to such a wholehearted piece. I will soon. I’m excited for the journey you are on. Thank you (and your daughter) for being a teacher.
It's interesting that your path is leading you toward God, while mine has steadily led me away from religion, and yet I feel like we understand each other well. Very grateful for that.
This one sentence, in your tirade and exploration of trust, stood out for me: how many New York Times bestsellers are all written to show you why you shouldn’t trust your mind.
And the awareness in your 6-year-old (and her father too!)
"I feel all tight and black and poky. Like a spiky knot, and I just feel so stupid." she articulates her feelings better than I can, even in the sanctuary of a therapist's office.
Perhaps this is not so much trust, but I did explore my sense of self through the questions, "Who am I? What am I meant to do? Am I doing enough to find my purpose?" that I think of a lot. My therapist told me, "No one has any clue what this is all about. We're just making our best guesses. As humans we may never know what we're doing but we can give meaning to it and tell a story."
One of the benefits of being older for me is that I do trust myself. And, as you wrote, an essential part of trusting yourself is to understand what you know and what you don't know. And some of what you don't know can be "solved" by asking for help from others who have the experience to fill in your gap.
When my daughter used to call herself stupid, I'd point out that only a smart person could call themselves stupid because only a smart person could know the difference. That worked.
As Denzel says in Philadelphia, “explain it to me like I’m a 6 year old.” The line didn’t mean this, but the anecdote with your daughter really unlocked insight in me somewhere. So thank you! I have a fear that in some afterlife we’ll dispense of our mortal broken bodies but, in hindsight, realize how incredible it was to have a body. Like our souls get one sliver of time to materialize and I’m down here totally blowing it by existing too much in my head. So I’m grateful you shifted my perspective… Trust the somatic experience, revel in the fact that each breath tethers us to the present (for better or worse). And the present is a pretty kickass place to be (again, for better or worse).
Thanks for the openness and honesty of your writing. Your writing, as well as that of some others on this platform (Mohr, Dolezal, Boivin, Kureishi, et al.) emboldened me to proceed with my own Substack, after obsessing over it for the better part of a year. So thank you, and please count me as a fellow traveler. Wishing you all the best.
Here's a link to my post from this morning. https://halgrotevant.substack.com/p/seeing-the-whole-person?utm_source=substack&utm_content=feed%3Arecommended%3Acopy_link
As kids, it seems that many of us had the ability to feel into what's actually going on in our bodies and emotions, and truly trust our feelings, but then it gets ground out of us as we grow up. Loved this reflection on Trust to kick off our series this week, Latham!
Great to see you back, Latham.
I appreciate the difficulty of trust in our society, and I relate to the treachery of most business environments (although if you think that is bad, you should see what it is like in arts institutions!).
However, I would take a different point of view on mathematics and science. Descartes, for example, provides a way for all to view mathematical points in two-dimensional space. In other words, a common ground for truth and trust.
And in the old days of those who traveled by sea and air, the intricacies of celestial navigation and its underlying trigonometry gave a shared common language and way of viewing one's geographic place. (Although, alas, I fear that those days are over, and celestial navigation isn't even taught at Annapolis or New London now.)
Latham—thanks for the lead-off and NOT the wave-off to our series ☺️
It’s amazing that your six year old can demonstrate the mind/body connectivity better than we ourselves can. When did we lose that purity of being able to feel what we know and don’t know? I don’t know 🤷🏻♂️
Trust yourself. Trust others. Trust God. Whew—we tackled a big one this time around.
"If all we can know is what we directly experience, than everything we thought was more true than our real lives is actually false." Sometimes you read weeks' worth of articles or wander though hundreds of conversations just to be present and available for a statement like this. I wanted you to know that I fully received it, and in fact, aspire to live from it.
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. ~ Arthur Ashe
This is awesome. Thank you for sharing this Daniel. Latham, I haven’t yet had the time to offer a proper comment to such a wholehearted piece. I will soon. I’m excited for the journey you are on. Thank you (and your daughter) for being a teacher.
“Are you willing to be open to the idea that the only thing you’ll ever know is what you feel and what you sense?”
And the scene just sitting and laying on hands with your daughter. That shows it right there ❤️
It's interesting that your path is leading you toward God, while mine has steadily led me away from religion, and yet I feel like we understand each other well. Very grateful for that.
This one sentence, in your tirade and exploration of trust, stood out for me: how many New York Times bestsellers are all written to show you why you shouldn’t trust your mind.
And the awareness in your 6-year-old (and her father too!)
"I feel all tight and black and poky. Like a spiky knot, and I just feel so stupid." she articulates her feelings better than I can, even in the sanctuary of a therapist's office.
Perhaps this is not so much trust, but I did explore my sense of self through the questions, "Who am I? What am I meant to do? Am I doing enough to find my purpose?" that I think of a lot. My therapist told me, "No one has any clue what this is all about. We're just making our best guesses. As humans we may never know what we're doing but we can give meaning to it and tell a story."
Excellent. Meditation leads to self trust, aka letting go.