The middle is misunderstood as the space between the beginning and the end. Darkness is underestimated as the opposite of light. Silence the absence of sound. And a crack is seen simply as a rapture that divides two previously united surfaces.
We rampantly rid ourselves of the profound experience that comes from feeling undone. Falling could be seen as an opportunity to - as they say - 'rise up,' or, we could consider the process of falling to be its own unique, necessary and divine experience. The latter creates a space where each part of the process is as sacred as the next. Where falling is as transcendent as flying.
There seems to be an obsession with purity in our communities. By that I mean we tend to celebrate things that are untainted, untouch and virtuous. Whether it's the religious mantra of saving oneself for marriage, or the M’Afrika incantation of rejecting all things that came on a ship, and returning to the ways of our fore(fathers). We pride ourselves on maintaining an inherited sense of originality. An amusing paradox, don't you think? What is strange is that even our perception of origin is shaped by what the human mind can conceive, and after all -- we are spiritual beings simply having a human experience.
We are not of this earth therefore we cannot allow the things of this realm to determine the value of our journey. By doing so we are placing a cognitive limitation on a spiritual experience.
One of my most beloved wordsmiths puts it eloquently. He writes;
“We are coming down to earth, and we will not arrive intact.”
-Bayo Akomolafe
The processes of discomfort, uncertainty, and brokenness are sacred and unique teachers from the spiritual realm. Imagine spending so many years coming down to earth and arriving the same way you left wherever it is you came from. It's like going on vacation and sitting at the arrival airport the entire duration of the trip. The smells, sounds and tastes of the new city will remain a mystery to you.
Our ancestors in Kemet and other parts of North Africa saw the beauty in shattered clay – and created mosaics. The Japanese developed Kintsugi, the art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold. The regenerative process of creation requires us to consistently move through being unsettled and undone. We go through this not with the intention to return to a place of repair, but to create something new out of the pieces.
