Time and self-transcendence
I have been contemplating self-transcendence a lot these days. Experiences of self-transcendence are central to my life in general. But in addition to that, several days ago a paper of mine was accepted where I reflect on self-transcendence as an essential part of being in the world differently. I wrote this work a while ago and recently had an opportunity to read it again and see if my thinking changed in any way. Sometimes fellow humans say to me that they have no time for self-transcendence. Their lives are of course different to mine in many ways. Some have children, pets, other caring responsibilities, larger (and more) homes to take care of, busy social lives, demanding hobbies, more items to care for and so on. In my life, I decided to forego many of those commitments for different reasons. Some for ecological, aesthetic and spiritual reasons (not sharing my life with many things and not having a large house), some due to responsibility (it would be irresponsible for me personally to have children in my situation). As anyone else, I have multiple responsibilities, but I try to make time for doing the things I love, such as walking, sitting in the sun, sitting by the sea, being with nature. In my experience, self-transcendence is not something that is additional to doing these things. In other words, it's not beyond, but rather within all of these things. It is most easily experienced in basic acts such as walking, sitting, sleeping, eating. I don't need to go to an exotic destination, to speak to any particular fellow human, to acquire a special set of items to experience oneness. It is enough to relocate to a different part of the room (where there is direct sunlight), or outside, and to spend time with the moss.