Navigating the depths

I grew up discontent with much of the story I was told about human beings and the cosmos. It felt like a flattened caricature with little appreciation of the inner depths I spent most of my days exploring.

At some point, I felt called to the depths. Through a mix of wonder and frustration, I began inhaling esoteric content and practising meditation.

These practices changed me, but there were many questions left unanswered, many undesirable ideas floating around these communities and little shared language for articulating these experiences.

I see many people go through a similar process:

1. Life feels increasingly fragmented and shallow—a kind of low-contact living that only skates over the surface. They feel anxious and alienated.
2. They’re called to the depths. They yearn for something deeper than the mundane routine of our lives. They pursue wisdom through mindfulness, spirituality, psychology, self-help, psychedelics and philosophy.
3. They are changed. They find something vital in these practices. But things now feel more ambiguous. The standards of truth shift. They know they’ve struck something important, but it’s difficult to articulate. What’s more, there don’t seem to be many lines of communication between the Material Mundane and This Inner Stuff, not to mention the shadow sides of some of the communities dedicated to inner work.

Full-contact living is my ongoing commentary on what comes next. Not another narrative that balks at the shallows, but a set of ideas to help us skilfully navigate the depths. A holistic rigour.

We need more people fluent in this weirdness; able to navigate the depths without sacrificing intellectual integrity, to realise the liberating truths without resorting to magical thinking.

To be able to inhabit this life with wonder and wisdom.