Issue #19: What's in a "Yes"?
After our last issue’s focus on No, it’s only natural this issue is about Yes. While No needs something to negate, Yes stands in its own autonomy. We hope you’ll enjoy exploring the ways of saying Yes as much as we did.
Essay // Yes // by Rosslyn
Essay // Yes // by Daryl
Practice // Self-Observation
May you be refreshed by the arrival of spring.
Warmly,
Rosslyn & Daryl
ESSAY // by Rosslyn
YES
is a prayer that holds our gratitude to life and our request for blessings as we move from this point—here—where we stand and breathe, where our warmth radiates out from our core. It is our humble receipt and reverence of the life we are blessed with.
Yes is latent in every inhale coursing through our veins. A declaration arising from an ongoing conversation within to live. Drink from this vessel thirstily and gratefully; drain every drop of it. An exhortation for life to fill the whole of us; shower in it, bask in it, indulge in it, and feel the Yes reverberating through every cell of our body.
A readiness to assert our presence, Yes palpitates—in a courageous cocoon ready to hold life; in a solid, erected pillar ready to face life; in a compassionate sword ready to protect life; in a joyful bundle rolling down the rabbit hole ready to discover life.
While its counterpart seemingly creates a sense of safety, on its own, Yes exists as a boundless space holding the potentiality to grow beyond our physicality to be larger than life. A deafening echo in a dark night, Yes resounds in the velvety stillness as we walk this Earth to meet what comes before us.
The path to an oak is strewn with Yeses to the soil, the sun, the rain and frost, the squirrels and birds, and our crushing footsteps; each Yes bearing the hope of a possible future. Yes is an expression of faith and the creation of new pathways.
The sweet nothings we whisper to welcome the first sprout of spring, and the salute we raise to bid farewell to the fading ginkgo leaves. With Yes, we embrace all of Nature, and we surrender, allowing the seasons to move through us, leaving marks of holy affection on us.
ESSAY // by Daryl
YES
is the moment Existence gets elevated to Life. As assent, it is my act of inserting myself into the unconscious World and gracing it with a self-conscious witness. No longer does the World’s beauty and majesty go unnoticed in its unconsciousness but gains an immediate stature in my acknowledgment of its grandeur; the once oblivious World is now a meaningful entity within the personal context of my life.
As much as Yes meaningfully inserts my Self into the World, it, too, is an assertion of my Self by my Self. Essentially, Yes is the primal roar of my being that I, who stands here in this moment, see and recognize all that is before me as agreeable to me. The World is measured against the standards I possess and judge accordingly to: the universe, vast as it might be, can only be deemed worthy of the title “Beautiful” by someone puny as I. Through my judgment, I have named and determined what would ordinarily not have had an iota of significance. The lifeless now come to life in its relation to me.
Lest one begins to think me a narcissist, Yes also humbles me. A truly intentional Yes represents my willingness to take seriously that which I grant my assent to; if it is of sufficient import, it deserves my wholehearted consideration, and I dedicate my attention to it. And attention is only present when I am truly attend-ing and being a humble servant.
Yet, through the process of attending, I slip into the stream of Life. Proper attention is had only when I am attuned to the nuances that lie beneath my experiences and thoughts; my relation to that which I serve is not lifeless and static, but alive and dynamic. As I attend to the majesty of the mountain range, it washes over and through me, imbuing me with the sense of awe that swells my heart while inducing me to hold my breath. I have come alive in my service. At the same time, because I stand there as a witness to the natural beauty of the World, I am living proof the World is alive!
Only through the moment of the Yes does Life come on the scene. Its facets of insertion, assertion, and attention indicate the presence of entities whose identities have been thoroughly reified despite all their manifold differences. And this is something its counterpart can never accomplish.
PRACTICE
Self-observation
Observe yourself over the next two weeks, consider and journal on these questions:
How is it for you to say Yes to yourself, and to others?
Observe: What happens within your body? What emotions are you feeling? What thoughts are you having?
What are the easy Yeses; what are the difficult ones?
Dig deeper: why and how did they come to be?
What are you learning about yourself? What do you intend?
MORE READINGS
If you’ve not read our issue on No, head over here.
Latest essays by Rosslyn:
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