what is Essence?
"Christianity, Judaism, and Islam called it Spirit;
Buddhism calls it Buddha nature;
Taoism calls it the Tao;
Hinduism calls it Atman or Brahman.
The various traditions differ in how they conceptualise essence and how much they emphasise it in their teaching, but essence is always considered to be the most authentic, innate, and fundamental nature of who we are."
A.H. Almaas
Essence is not alive; it is aliveness. It is not aware; it is awareness. It does not have the quality of existence; it is existence. It is not loving; it is love. It is not joyful; it is joy. It is not true; it is truth."
A.H. Almaas
"The spiritual teaching attempts to show people that they have within themselves already what they are looking for on the outside — the aliveness, the peace, the sense of deep enough fulfillment is already present in every human being as their innermost essence."
Eckhart Tolle
The way of essence..
Each tradition that speaks of essence also speaks of its way.
The Tao flows through the ten thousand things.
Spirit breathes and animates with the Hebrew word ruach means both spirit and wind.
Buddha nature is already present in every being, waiting to be recognised in the ordinary moments of life.
Hinduism honours the senses as instruments through which the divine knows itself.
What is common across all of them is that essence is not static. It moves. It expresses. It becomes knowable through form, through nature, through the senses, through the way life shows up when you're present enough to notice.
Click here to read more about the way of essence:
Coming to my Essense’s
When I first came about my essential nature, I was not aware of anything about essence in the way it is spoken of above.
I was in pain. I was seeking refuge, calm. I had asked “whatever might be listening” for more gentleness. I didn't know it then, but I was asking for an essence quality. And gentleness responded. It began shaping me slowly to deeply know, and be it.
It was through slowing down in nature, reconnecting to my senses, and noticing what I was naturally drawn to from a more relaxed place. As I became more still and curious with what drew me - the blue sky, flower petals - I noticed they emanated qualities.. Qualities like spaciousness, depth, vastness, and aliveness. Qualities I intuitively called essence qualities.
The pivotal moment was when I deeply knew that the essence qualities I was seeing were also the qualities of the ground from which I was seeing. The essential ground. The place I was seeing from, was spacious, vast, and had infinite depth, the very thing the sky was emanating.
I knew this essential nature was the essential nature of all being, now experienced through this unique prism named Jasmine. Essence was showing up in the way I was seeing, and also in the way essence expressed through life.
I would later come to know, in an even more embodied way, that these essence qualities were not just emanating through what I was drawn to, but through everything at once, as a vast essential field, constantly expressing.
There is a quote that I came across much later that is attributed to Suzuki Roshi that says:
"Enlightenment is an accident. But we can make ourselves more accident prone."
My slowing down in nature and reconnecting to my senses was making me accident prone and I welcome you to become accident prone in this way too.
Essence qualities
Essence qualities are the recognisable, nameable aspects of essence expressing through life. They are qualities like spaciousness, aliveness, warmth, clarity, freshness, and many others unique to your own experience. These are qualities that express with a deeply intelligent timing.
You might notice spaciousness in an open sky, aliveness in the birds, clarity in morning light.
And you may notice that you're sensing these qualities, with these same qualities.
Spaciousness meeting spaciousness, aliveness meeting aliveness.
This is how essence knows itself through form, and essence qualities are the language of that knowing.
The Essence-Way is learning to recognise these qualities, name them, and let them become the ground from which you live.
What becomes possible
In coming home to essential ground, a sense of wholeness comes on board. Whole-creativity. Whole-health. Whole-relationship. Whole-nature.
Each is what becomes possible when essence leads and expresses.
When operating from ones essential nature one can participate in life more fully. Instead of contributing to more density one can contribute more cohesiveness.
Pathways
This Essence-Way informs all of my coaching and companionship offerings, creating containers where this recognition can deepen and become more embodied in your daily life.
Those seeking to recognise and live from,their own essence qualities.
Therapists, coaches, spiritual directors, and teachers, wanting to weave essence quality recognition into the work they already do.
For those working with the living world
Regenerative agriculture, ecological practice, and land-based work, with an essence aware base.
The invitation
If something here speaks to what you've been noticing moving toward, longing to trust more fully I'd love to explore what might serve you.
What others are saying
QUESTIONS? LET’S CHAT.
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