Writing my way through the A-to-Z blogging challenge, I’ve tasked myself with creating a manifesto reflecting wonders, curiosities, and delights currently captivating me – all through the lens of unusual, obscure, or simply charming-to-me words.
Z is for…
zetetic – (n) seeker; inquirer; skeptic; one of a group of Pyrrhonist philosophers
While I believe a healthy dose of skepticism can be quite useful, and I have nothing against philosophers, including Pyrrhonists, for purposes of my manifesto I’m honing in on the seeker and inquirer aspects of this word.
I sometimes joke that I have an eye for wonders – I see them everywhere. But I secretly believe it has more to do with my heart than my eyes. My heart delights in that feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable. It naturally seeks to slip into that state, and so it leads me places where I can make discoveries.
Perhaps sometimes it’s enough just to be delighted by something, to know that it is a transitory experience, and accept it as such. But sometimes wonder is more akin to meeting someone and suspecting you might like to have some sort of friendship. It takes some work, you need to invest time and nurture.
This is how I think of inquiry – a process driven by curiosity, wonder, to understand something; something that is new or doesn’t make sense in relationship to my previous experience or current understanding. What starts with observation and noticing, continues with action. More observation, raising more questions, rarely a linear path for me, although I imagine it is quite linear for others. Deeper connection, deeper interaction, all increasing the potential for further development of understanding – that in my mind is the work of inquiry.
But what ultimately IS the purpose of inquiry?
In many ways I think of it as the driving force of this Earth walk.
I like playing with the convention of writing notes to myself from some future other version of self. And isn’t that a sort of form of inquiry? I’m going to conclude this traverse through the alphabet, creating my manifesto, and hence defining what is important to me, with precisely that sort of letter.
Dear Me –
What an interesting journey you set upon – forgetting who you were and then embarking on remembering. Your path has been littered with clues, some you’ve missed, but it hardly matters because there was never the possibility that you wouldn’t find others. And it’s been entertaining and interesting to see which ones you did find. Remember when you first read that old book by Alan Watts On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, and it was like some sort of cosmic déjà vu? Each time you’ve been at the end of your rope in despair and uncertainty you let yourself receive a clue. A reminder. A delight that intrigued you enough to stick around and soon get swept up. First you learned to use your eyes, then your ears, then your heart, and now Beautiful You, you trust your own knowing. Your curiosity is a gift, as is your love of beauty; and your ability to recognize the sacred in everyday living is what keeps the Divine up front and center for you. Way to go!
Letting go of the old stories was such a valuable thing to do. Clearing the slate from the pulls of the past, and not projecting yourself endlessly into the future, is exactly the way to keep you anchored in the now, present moment. Available to current wonders.
How wonderful you’ve chosen to embrace beloved Rumi’s admonition to “Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” You embrace the balm of loving-kindness, and you believe you are a powerful co-creator in collaboration with a benevolent universe that wants nothing more than for all of you than to live as yourself full-out in vibrant joy. You know yourself to be a transceiver, sending and receiving your soul’s vibration loudly and clearly and listening for those whose own vibrations resonate with yours. How does it get any better than that?
You will always be a seeker, because that is what you see as drawing you forward into an ever-expanding unfoldment. But when you understood what you were seeking lay not in books or other people, but the teachings of your own soul, you stepped onto your true path.
When in doubt lavish love on everything, but remember you’re a sovereign being and you get to choose what you’ll pay attention to with both your mind and your heart. Laugh more and keep wearing red shoes. And remember as Ram Dass has so profoundly said, “we’re all just walking each other home.”
Love you! Me
As a zetetic, I’m looking for clues to keep my feet on the joy path and my heart attuned to loving-kindness.
What about you? What are you seeking? What inquiries are you undertaking? Do you ever write letters to yourself? Do tell – you know I love to hear.
My thanks to everyone who has stopped by, whether once or faithfully or any permutation between, for listening as I’ve created a manifesto reflecting wonders, curiosities and delights currently captivating me – all through the lens of unusual, obscure, or simply charming-to-me words. Your support and engagement have been fabulous and much appreciated. I’ll be assembling my manifesto, in its 26 complete declarations, as part of my reflections post next week, and hope you’ll stop by then as well.
Hari OM
To have that sense of ‘who, what why and when?’ is an essential part of growth. If we do not engender a sense of inquiry how would we ever learn? How could we ever be open to receive? What is it that kickstarts that inquiry? A sense of doubt, a comparison of experience, a touch of the child within… scriptures both East and West make it clear that we must make of ourselves such pure, such innocent beings if we are to truly rise in our power of Self – regardless of our frame of reference. Importantly, the inquiry must never stop, even when we think we have ‘arrived’.
Thank you, fellow seeker, traveller of the Light – onward and inward! See you after the ‘recovery’ &*> YAM xx
I don’t think there’s a chance of arriving Yamini – to my mind the path is an infinite spiral.
Thanks for your continued thoughtful comments and engagement. And yes, yes, yes, to a nice dose of “recovery.”
Yay to finishing the A to Z! I LOVE your journal pages. Another good word, zetetic. Writing a letter to yourself is a good idea. I’ll have to do that once in a while. Thanks, Deborah!
Writing a letter to yourself is a wonderful journal exercise Janet – you should definitely give it a try. And yes, yay for finishing – cheers all around.
I think writing to oneself sounds like a very sensible thing to do. It brings you face to face with your inner mind.. A thought-provoking piece indeed, and a perfect way to end the month!
A-Z of My Friend Rosey!
Thanks Keith. It’s been great fun playing in this challenge hasn’t it?
It has been a delight finding you through the AtoZ challenge. I have loved the posts I did read and will probably go back to read some more in the coming days. Your posts have a way of speaking to my heart. I am still on the journey of inquiring and figuring out who I am and what I want. And the more I think about it, it seems like I am a lot of different things and sometimes nothing, if that makes sense at all.
Congratulations on successfully completing AtoZ, Deborah.
Thank you for your kind words and your visits Namy.
We are indeed complex and nuanced creatures, and knowing ourselves is a life-long prospect I think. But each time we can claim a little bit more clarity, a little more understanding of who we truly are, it’s like we’ve allowed our inner light to show more completely. It’s always a delight to see each other shining brightly.
Congratulations to you as well for completing the challenge. What a fun, and somewhat exhausting April it has been.
Hi Deborah – the words you’ve chosen for your A-Z have been really eye opening and I must rewind to remember them … love this last one though ‘zetetic’ .. the inquirer, or seeker – that would suit me … and then lead me to look at what I see properly in its full glory, not necessarily skeptically – that route is easy to go. Cheers Hilary
Zetetic indeed suits you Hilary. I’d say to a T, except I think we’re all perhaps a little weary of the alphabet at the moment. 🙂
I don’t write letters to myself, but I am by nature and education a person who is curious. Must find out the things. Kind of the subtext of my life.
Congrats on finishing the challenge. I’ve enjoyed your choices of words for your letters. Thank you.
I love your curiosity Ally, as well as your humor. Saying you have a life subtext strikes me both as highly amusing and utterly true – and that’s one of the best combos in my book.
Congratulations on finishing the Challenge! I enjoyed your entries, and look forward to going back and re-reading a few of them. So many blogs, so little time….
Thanks for your kind words, and your visits John. So many blogs indeed!
I’m seeking to enjoy as many moments as I can, to try to live in the moments, and to let go of as many worries as possible. (while still loving myself for who I am)
Very nice Margaret – you know I wish you great success in creating that for yourself.
Wow! You made it t Z and such an interesting set of posts. Thanks for visiting Buttercupland and please come back again.
Thanks Buttercup, and I’ll definitely visit again.
Thank you for your words Deborah: the unusual ones and the usual ones that you garlanded together so beautifully that it felt like I was walking on dewy grass every time I visited you.
I should be putting this up on my fridge: “Clearing the slate from the pulls of the past, and not projecting yourself endlessly into the future.I think I will:)
I have savoured my time here. And only when I had enough un-cluttered time did I come here, for I knew I’d want to wallow in the dew for a bit longer–just a bit more.
Thank you. Thank you.
Z is for Zaroorat and Zahrah
Your kind words fill my heart Arti – thank you. I had such fun this month, and feel like I filled my well with all kinds of delights and treasures that I will continue to unpack for quite some time. I look forward to more of your posts, knowing that they’ll arrive in their own right time, and knowing they’ll be exactly the delight I need.
Congrats on reaching the finish line once again in your own impeccable style! It’s made for some amazing and thought provoking reading. Thoroughly enjoyed my visits here this month! Thank you.
Love the questions in the visual – all great, but I’m working on ‘what poem will I write with my life today?’ 🙂
Best wishes always,
Nilanjana.
That’s one of my favorite questions Nilanjana.
I appreciate your kind words and thank you for your visits. I’ll be listening to quite a bit of the fabulous music you introduced me to, and you’ve added a number of authors to my reading list – so know that as with all good guides you’ve inspired continued exploration in the beautiful lands of Africa.
loved it zetetic – feels a fit to me- the letter is powerful – I also do this – write from my future or from the past to myself – I find it healing and inspiring. I find it quite mind blowing that we set out on a journey from the oneness to come and forget only to then try to remember – and everywhere there are clues for us to trip over to spur us on .
what a treasure to find you deborah , great insight and ability to communicate it..
I look forward to going back and reading the posts I have missed and now at the end I see I have missed so many and yet at the same time have met some kindred spirits…
blessings
I’m grateful the A-to-Z challenge provided the breadcrumbs leading our paths to cross Sandra. Meeting kindreds is such a wonderful thing.
I’m welcoming the opportunity to return at a leisurely pace to posts I’ve missed – this challenge’s fun extends far beyond April for me.
Beautiful words Deborah thank you – and for your all your wondrous posts during this A-Z. Each of them was a joy, so gently and poetically written, an acknowledgment of each from my heart to yours. With the accompanying art work which many times were your own creation.
Your letter to yourself was very special as is the picture heading your post – again, I suspect created by you?
Curiosity – about the world, others, ourselves, Mother Nature, the mysteries – is what keeps me alive and zestful.
I’ll be looking forward to your Reflections post. Happy May Day.
I hold your kind words in my heart Susan – thank you. One of things I’m hoping to lean more into this year is writing and creating more art, and the A-to-Z was a nice supporting challenge.
Curiosity is such a wonderful thing – and certainly a catalyst for vibrancy and zestfulness. May it always be a close companion!
Sending you best wishes for a wonderful May Day as well.
yes, we need to be zetetics to become the best version of ourselves. Thanks for sharing some amazingly insightful and inspiring posts, Deborah. Loved connecting with you through this challenge. Cheers ♥
Thanks Shilpa – I certainly loved traveling with you through April.
Congratulations on completing the challenge! Your posts were lovely, I learned a lot of new words, and mused a lot about many things 🙂 Definitely stopping by for the reflections!
The Multicolored Diary: Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales
Thanks! It may make amuse to know that Diamond Prince in his rubber suit made a guest appearance in one of my dreams last night. You’ve planted some pretty unforgettable seeds. 🙂
This is a new word for me, but I think I’d fit into this category of thought. I’m always looking things up and using reason to come to what I think are better conclusions than I’m often offered. I agree that wonders are everywhere if we keep our eyes and minds opened.
Congratulations on making it to the end of the 2018 Challenge. You chose a great theme.
If you haven’t done so yet, please fill out the survey on the A to Z Blog page.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Thanks Lee, and I appreciate you stopping by. Once again it was such a delight participating in the challenge – I love April! Kudos to the entire team.
That’s exactly what my art is for me: something delights me, I want to learn about it more deeply, spend time with it, and then share it with everyone else. So I make a piece of art that I hope will lead others to delight, as well.
Thanks for all the wonderful words! Your manifesto is a recipe for finding the better world and living it into being.
Thanks for your kind words Anne. I love your process and how you hold your art. And just for the record, I find it delightful indeed. 🙂
I like your letter to yourself. I was actually trying to comment on some of your earlier A-Z posts but the comment box doesn’t seem to be appearing, so perhaps you turned them off?
Oh you’re right Tizzy, I’d forgotten about the automatic closing of comments feature. Thanks for the reminder – I’ll tweak that.
In any case, I appreciate your visits – thank you!
Dear Deborah,
It has been a delight to read your A-Z manifesto. Learned a lot: new words, about you and about myself. The 26 reminders of what is important in life, in our world, much appreciation and gratitude for your willingness to share. Big hug, XxX
Thank you Patty – what kind words. And it delights my heart what you’ve taken from my A-Z manifesto. I think underlying everything is my hope that we each all continue to learn about ourselves, each other, and this beautiful world we live in.