What Wants To Rise Inside You? A Thought on Power and Healing

The Haven (Private Podcast): (Protected Content)

Some things feel impossible until one day, they feel inevitable. We might turn our back on a particular idea, possibility, or invitation for a long time. But then something changes, and it just makes sense.

Can you think of a time this happened to you?

This week’s Theme-Kota (Inspiration) discussed how inspiration emerges through cycles and how there is a time to push and a time to pause. Sometimes inspiration arises from a chance encounter or an overheard conversation. Other times it is a series of small actions with plenty of space in between.

“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”

Donald Hebb

Inspiration doesn’t arise in a vacuum. Even if our best ideas occur in stillness and solitude, they bubble up after encounters with the world around us. They are forged from the flow of air that fill the lungs of our inspiratory system.

What is rising in you?

I’m considering this question after watching the documentary “Sensitive Men Rising” yesterday. The film is narrated by Peter Coyote, who describes the potential impact on a world where “sensitive men have confidence and rise into their natural authority”.

One of my struggles with the term “highly sensitive person” comes from the word “highly”. First, it speaks to me of a piercing “too muchness” rather than an enveloping depth. And secondly, it paints a hierarchical social picture where “I’m the king of the castle, and you’re the dirty rascal”.

When I heard Peter Coyote describe the movie’s vision, I sensed a slight shift in my perspective. The psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman suggests that by integrating the trait of sensitivity (one of two evolved survival strategies) into the whole person, you are optimising human potential. He reminds us that sensitivity is an invaluable tool in our survival kit, both as individuals and in society.

“Having the fodder of sensitivity and being able to use it in a disciplined way (with self-controlled and purposeful direction) is the height of strength.”

Scott Barry Kaufman

We don’t need to look far to see the damage done to a world where sensitivity isn’t given the respect it needs. When we value perceived individual power in a world of anonymising systems, we advance a chaotic project of endless growth and ultimate self-destruction.

Healing and Wholeness

There is a difference between cure and healing. We might think of a cure as identifying, rooting out, and fixing a problem. On the other hand, healing is about making space for the whole being to become and be what it is.

In the case of the rise of sensitivity, it is not a tool or weapon for destroying a problem. It’s a trait that exists deep within the natural makeup of humanity. We find it in individuals because it’s important to the collective.

Healing (wholeness) requires us to integrate the trait of sensitivity into the whole body. Sensitive Men Rising is not about a particular group of people rising to compete for power and control. It’s about all of us recognising and embracing the role of sensitivity as we survive and thrive as a species.

What role does “power” have in a healthy healing world?