Hi, and welcome. I record my own voiceovers. You can listen with the play button link above. It gives you my voice delivering the words I write. At the end, I always play a snippet of a song that spoke to me while writing the piece. The song is linked at the end of every post.
xo - Jeannie Lynn
On Friday night, on Substack and on Instagram, I gave my subscribers and followers a chance to ask me a question- any question at all.
I have selected one question to answer. This question is from Derek.
"The universe - in the vastness is there an intelligent world beyond our visibility? I wonder."
Derek, I have wondered what you wonder.
The fact that you are asking reveals something to me. It reveals something about you.
What you ask reveals what you already know.
Let’s start there.
When you say visibility, I am going to deal with that in the literal sense of the word: eyesight. You are asking about something you cannot see with your eyes. You are asking about something you feel.
So, I respond to your question with a question, Derek.
What do you feel?
That should feel like a loaded question because it is.
Start simple. Start with what you feel in your body. This is where we start in my yoga classes. Noticing how we feel in our breath and our bodies is the quickest thing to help us become present in the moment.
I’ll say: “Bring your awareness to your breath. Start to lengthen your inhale and lengthen your exhale.”
The body settles a bit because new energy is invited in. This new energy tunes the brain into what the body is saying… what the body may be screaming, and we didn’t even notice before because our mind was distracted with outwardly things. By taking the deepest breath of our day and a long, slow exhale, we come back to where we actually are in space. Our mind reconnects to where our feet are, which is underneath where we stand - our understanding, you might say.
We are in danger of thinking we have understanding when we scroll for hours through social platforms, online forums, how-to videos, clipped and time-lapsed reels, and yes, even blogs. Why is this dangerous? It’s dangerous because none of that requires getting up and moving our body to a new space. It doesn’t require interacting with another person. It doesn’t require patience. It doesn’t require hard work. It doesn’t require you to feel any of it in your body. It doesn’t require any sacrifice, so it has no real value until it somehow is put to use, which can only happen with an action.
Derek, if you haven’t answered my question yet, I can start by telling you what my answer would be if you asked me that question. If you asked me what I feel right now, this is my honest answer. I am going to be very elaborate for the sake of the greater point I’m going to make here.
Derek, I feel completely depleted. I am starting to cry because, well, that seems to happen when I choose to be rigorously honest with myself. I told myself I didn’t want to write tonight. I am in another yoga teacher training this weekend, I love what I’m learning, and I am utterly exhausted. I dreaded coming home after training tonight because it’s Saturday night, and that means tomorrow is Sunday, and that reminded me I didn’t have anything written for Seeing Upside Down, and my heart pounded because I just turned on the paid subscription option on my Substack, and how could I even think anyone would want to financially invest in this if I’m too tired and have nothing to give them? I made that a run-on sentence on purpose because that’s what my mind does when it starts to spiral. It runs on and on and on and on and on unless I do something to slow it down.
After I got home from training tonight, I did some physical actions to slow the mind. Yoga was not one of them because that’s what I was doing all day. I ate dinner. I took a hot shower. I put on soft clothing. I pet my cats. I hugged my husband. I hugged my husband for a longer amount of time than usual. I told him I need some time by myself. I went upstairs and wrapped a blanket around myself because my heart was still pounding. I needed something to help me feel safer. I started to cry because the only thing I wanted to do was write, but it felt like a big undertaking.
“Just look at the questions people sent you one more time.”
My eyes were drawn back to your question, Derek. In fact, your question reminded me to connect with the “intelligent world” you ask about in order to answer your question. Yes, it reminded me that I can take a breath in as a way to signal new energy. I closed my eyes and started to pray. I prayed to the source of this energy I was breathing. I told the source I had nothing to give.
I said: “I can’t do this unless you help me. I have nothing to give. If there is something you want to send through, I am willing to be a channel, but you have to send it.”
Then source said: “Yeah, no shit.” : ) Oh yes, remember humor is a sign of intelligence.
I took one more physical action of making a cup of hot tea. If I’m to be this channel, I need to at least feel like I’m driving, so I keep a mug nearby to grab like a stick shift. I take a drink when a cool shift happens. Yes, I’m making the vehicle move, but it has all its own processes happening in the engine that I am not even touching. The engine of this vehicle is this intelligent world you’re talking about, Derek. The engine is there waiting to start, but it’s up to me to turn the key.
The engine is beyond our visibility. It’s under the hood. It’s inside. It’s the source of our true power. We think by turning a wheel, moving a stick shift, and pressing buttons, we’re driving a car. Yet if that’s all we did, the car wouldn’t move. The car wouldn’t move if we didn’t take the action that turns on the engine. Going through the motions produces nothing if those motions are not connected to their source of power.
The engine of this vehicle is this intelligent world you’re talking about, Derek. The engine is there waiting to start, but it’s up to me to turn the key.
Let’s pretend I have never seen a car. Now imagine I am seeing a car for the first time. What a cool piece of very large, abstract art. That is the only explanation I have for the way these sheets of glass are perfectly placed between these geometric chunks of metal, all balanced on these circular wheels made of rubber. I have no idea that the front section is a lid which covers a very complex series of energetic systems that ultimately has the power to make this a moving piece of art.
Now, I might be standing next to someone who has seen a car before. They know this chunk of rubber, metal, and glass can move. They know it because they have experienced it. They have explored the car. They even climbed inside. They eventually found the key and the opening inside the vehicle which was designed for its exact shape. They put the key in the opening and turned it. They felt the large, abstract piece of art start to rumble. They saw lights come on. They heard the sound of it. They realized it wasn’t an external force, like an earthquake or someone else shaking it. It was coming from inside the engine, which they also eventually found.
Okay Derek, let’s come back to your question.
"The universe - in the vastness is there an intelligent world beyond our visibility? I wonder."
Derek, let’s come to my answer.
My answer is yes. You are right. The universe is vast. There is an intelligent world beyond our visibility because it is like the car. It is under the hood. It is inside. It’s why people see it when they close their eyes to dream, or pray, or meditate - many words to say very similar things. I think your question could potentially imply to someone that this intelligent world is separate from where we are now or separate from what we are. In a physical way, yes, I suppose. The same way a car won’t start unless a human inserts and turns the key, the human won’t start unless the source of life inserts and turns the breath. A car is nothing but interesting shapes of metal, glass, and rubber without the engine inside and the key that turns it on. A human is nothing but interesting shapes of tissue, bones, and liquid without the force inside that brings them to life.
Nonetheless, I would argue there is no separation between these entities because of their interdependence. One does not move without the other. There is not creation of new energy without the other. The human with the invisible life force, just like the car with the hidden engine, IS the vast universe of endless intelligence. It’s why at some point in many people’s lives, they give up their search for meaning in the external world. They reach the end of themselves. The only way they can physically stay alive is if they find something invisible to believe in. Something inside. Something in the vastness. It’s there they start to build their engine again.
They start to put pieces of themselves back together again by following more of what is happening underneath the hood of tissues, bones, and liquid. They find the key and turn on the engine. They feel something. They do their best to describe what it is and where it’s coming from. The more they keep fueling this engine, the more it takes them to new and beautiful places. They feel the engine wherever they go as long as they stay connected to it and keep turning the key.
Derek, you may still be wondering.
I am personally not wondering as much as I feel wonder. I feel wonder about what I know. I could have written this whole post trying to explain to you what I know. All that would do is explain my vehicle to you. You still must explore your own vehicle to find the key and choose to turn that key. If you do, then you will know too. Then, there will be no wondering in the sense of doubt. There will be wonder in the sense of awe of what you know.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re realizing you already feel this knowing because you are the universe - you are the vastness… you are an intelligent world beyond your own visibility.
It is often not what you see, but what you feel which leads you to the answers you so earnestly seek. Following what you feel requires faith in something invisible. Many of us try to explain it to each other, some with good intentions, some out of fear. I have a theory that the most passionate explainers don’t realize they’re doing that for themselves (I’ve been one). All their explaining only reveals to me that they still don’t fully understand the source. True, quiet, honest faith leads us to the source of life. It is where we connect and understand each other, not by explanation but by experience.
Thank you for your question, Derek. It was a key I could pick up tonight. I made the choice to turn the key, and… well you see what happened when I did that.
How timely that tomorrow is your birthday. I am so grateful you were born, that we could meet, and that all of us could connect in this moment together.
What a gift.
I like your birthday, Derek. We all get a gift? Dang, you are vast.
Love, Jeannie
I can relate with the feelings of being completely depleted to the extent of crying. But also doing what you're passionate about and feel called to do. I own a small farm. I feel passionate about being as self-sufficient as possible. Living with and among nature. So we have to remember when we're crying and depleted, it's because of that passion and nothing else. My answer to the question is yes.