It’s a fundamental fact of human life that we want our lives to be under control — we develop plans, goals, routines, systems, tools, schedules, structure to our lives.
But while developing some structure is a very helpful thing for most of us … the truth is, there’s so much that we don’t control. Life is sometimes chaotic.
It's what Pema Chodron calls “goundlessness” — the feeling having of no solid ground under our feet. Other Buddhists might call it impermanence, which is a basic fact of life that we very often don't want to accept. It's why we procrastinate, put off healthy habits, get angry at others' behaviours, and feel so much anxiety.
So what do we do when life feels out of control, groundless?
We need to open up to this groundlessness.
Normally, we seek ground: some kind of control or solidity. The routines and systems, the hardened opinions about how the models of designed ideas should've worked. How people should act, the comfort zones and distractions, any kind of semblance of certainty and comfort.
What if, instead, we could embrace the groundlessness?
What if we didn’t have to run, but instead learned that it is a beautiful thing?
What if we opened up to its spaciousness, its deliciousness?
Because when we open and embrace the beauty of groundlessness, we see that it’s peaceful and relaxing to be just there and not panicked or in anxiety and holding onto things.
This is important for humankind and as we are moulding our governance more towards being human and working hard on ethics and community.
As Pema so eloquently says: “To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh.
To live is to be willing to die over and over again.”
Pema Chodron
Acknowledgements
This blog was written with the support and insight of one of our contributors. Thank you, Divya. As an MBA student specifically interested in marketing and culture, she is a contributor to the Perrin Carey blog. If you would like to contribute to moving governance forwards towards a more ethical and human centric framework, please contact Perrin.
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