Felicity and Madness
My fascination for the paradox never ceases.
It’s almost midnight in Japan, and I’m perched on our red lounge chair ruminating on the state of being that I’m in. It’s felicity. It’s a word I haven’t used in a very long time, which doesn’t necessarily mean that I haven’t felt this way before. It’s just exactly where I am right now. In deep satisfaction and contentment of life as it is, right at this very moment. Felicity in life’s perfect imperfection. I’m utterly grateful, sensing a little melancholy, but in totality, I am at the boundary of felicity and joy.
Photo by Kasia Sikorska on Unsplash
What’s the difference? Felicity is an inner, much quieter sensation of happiness - still and full of fortitude as I recognize that life always has its ebbs and flows. Joy is more dance-y, bubbly and energetic. Both beautiful, nuanced, yet a tad different.
In the digital age, it’s very rare to get into this state, and it has become even harder to pause and recognize what’s going on in our inner beings.
Amidst the turmoil that’s raging externally, and the chaos that’s unfolding within, there’s felicity seated at the center of it all. Just being. Just sitting. Just breathing, happening and pausing. Observing, watching and allowing. Not waiting, but witnessing.
It’s madness to even carve out the time to write this piece. With the wars happening around, what could a short text do to change anything? It won’t, and that’s not the goal of expressing this now. I’m called to let this out, albeit the constant attempts to turn in early. After all, it’s way past my bedtime. My heart tugs to share this now, in the same way that my heart breaks to witness acts of creulty and indifference.
But you know what? When we share our inner thoughts with the world, at least one person will be positively impacted by it. That’s you, the writer. The artist, the creator, the engineer, the poet, the lover, the being, the entity. You, in your rawness. As you express, the soul is fulfilling its mission, or a part of the bigger vision. You are letting out a part of you, and that act in itself is not just fulfilling, but also healing. None of the work we do goes in vain, especially the kind of work that comes from our inner knowing. You are alchemizing pain into something valuable, and hopefully it ignites an act of kindness or movement towards a major change.
Photo by Duncan Kidd on Unsplash
To be felicitious and mad at the same time is rebellious. And by “rebellious” I mean going against the convention, not necessarily inciting a negative reaction. In an era of uncertainty, it bodes well to be creative in our ways to find meaning in everything that’s happening. It’s confusing out there if you easily consume or believe the first news you receive, be it from the internet, any kind of media, or from people around you. Intelligent machines are on the rise, and while I think that’s beautiful, it’s not the most popular perspective right now. I see current events as essential, wondrous parts of the bigger whole, of a magnificent future that’s being built as we speak. And this is coming from a place of knowing that there are people doing gorgeous work in the world, projects aimed at retaining humanity and unity, and visions of a wild, abundant future.
Take the case of artificial intelligence - it’s so hyped up it’s becoming old as it is everywhere. There’s more pessimism than optimism thrown around so casually about it that day-to-day conversations are so polarized. I’m getting tired of it, but at the same time excited because people have only scratched the surface. There’s more happening within, beyond and above the realm of AI. I’d say wait and see, but it’s also “go-time” now. No more waiting, no more dilly-dallying. If you want to join the AI revolution, do it now. If you want to know what’s truly happening below the surface, the answers are staring back at you. You don’t need permission from anyone. Giving yourself the gift of action anchored in your curiosities could yield big gifts sooner or later. Because as long as you act out of your heart’s desire, you are creating the space for goodness to come through and emerge. In turn, you’re also helping the collective to move into a state of inspired action.
Photo generated by Open AI’s Chat-GPT
We haven’t even talked about other things yet. There’s singularity, plurality, decentralized systems, artificial life, space technology. The list goes on.
How ready and excited are we for this new world in the present and future?
Life is a paradox. Life’s a game, and a paradox. What could be wilder than that? And what could be more radical than being intentional in living this life full of questions, adventures and lessons? The experiences can go as wild as the limits of our imagination, and it’s up to us how we’ll choose to respond to life’s curveballs, gifts and surprises.
It’s a good time to re-assess, re-evaluate and re-skill. Reinforce that body and mind to have higher capacity and wider bandwidth to hold more skills, endure longer adventures and carry out more intense skills that abundance could thrive on. We might benefit from scaling, upgrading and pushing our minds to going beyond the norms of learning, working, loving and living. Felicity and madness could be some of the ingredients for an upgraded being. They are their own separate games in themselves, and life could be sweeter and less challenging if we can enforce a shift in our paradigm.
May we all muster the courage to open up to life’s surprises and the inevitable future we are all co-engineering.