Not Above the Mess, But Through It

We humans do seem to have a natural drive to grow.

To evolve.

To reach for something more.

But somewhere along the line, especially in this modern, hyper-optimised world, our growth started to take on a strange shape.

Instead of becoming more human,

we started trying to become less so.

We track our sleep like machines.

Optimise our breath with apps.

Hack our bodies, our habits, even our thoughts.

We hand ourselves over to gurus, gadgets, and grand promises of transcendence.

We entertain transhumanist dreams, uploading consciousness, perfecting the body, escaping the limitations of flesh and mood and mortality.

It’s like we want to be more…

but not more human.

More efficient. More clean. More elevated. More perfect.

But not more tender.

Not more contradictory.

Not more embodied.

Not more messy, wild, breakable, present.

It’s such an odd paradox.

We long to grow,

but in growing, we often run further and further from ourselves.

And maybe, just maybe, the real invitation isn’t to transcend our humanness,

but to return to it.

To remember that being human was never the problem.

That growth isn’t about escaping who we are…

but becoming who we already are, more fully, more truthfully, more lovingly.

Not above the mess.

Through it.

With grace.

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