Buffalo seasons Awareness in life
Amor Fati: Nietzsche’s Call to Love Our Lives Entirely.
One of my favorite German philosophers is Friedrich Nietzsche—a man whose psychological and physical ailments often served as co-authors to his illuminating, existential writings. His work is not only intellectually rigorous but also deeply personal, a philosophical excavation of what it means to be human. In this post, I invite you to walk with me—barefoot and blistered if need be—into the burning heart of amor fati, Nietzsche’s wild summons to love what is, as if we ourselves had chosen every twist and tremble of it.
The Inner Map: Gray Whales, Coyotes, and the Solstice of the Self
As the longest day of the year stretches across our skies, the summer solstice invites us to pause—not just to mark the season, but to orient ourselves anew.
What if, like the gray whale, we possessed a hidden map within us?
A deep, fluid geography not etched in ink but felt in bone and breath—drawn by light, pulled by inner knowing. In this moment of maximum solar radiance, we’re reminded that we, too, are creatures of migration and memory, guided not only by visible landmarks but by the invisible tides of the psyche.
Understanding Persephone’s Journey.
As spring nears, one of the most profound myths of transformation might come to mind: Persephone’s descent into the Underworld and her return to the living world. Through a Jungian, feminist lens, this myth is not merely a tale of abduction but a rite of passage—a journey into the unconscious, a confrontation with the Shadow, and a rebirth into sovereignty.
On Earth Day, The Minds of Gray Whales & Our Shadows
Nature is our teacher, every day. We only need listen, smell, taste, touch, and observe. On this 53rd Earth Day, reading our profundity can lead us into a verdant chartreuse and emerald-painted forest, where we can chase our Shadow amidst spring’s dew drops and cadmium yellow rays of sunshine.
Coming to understand the self in connection to our natural world and to others is an enlightening journey into waters and forest floors that we inhabited eons ago. Well before the study epigenetics, Carl Jung posited that a hidden and repressed part of the self, aka The Shadow, “reach[es] back into the realm of our animal ancestors.” [2]