Finding aether in the everyday

It is described as spirit, the heavens, a shining fluid substance.

Capturing this element and naming it is like waving an empty butterfly net in the wind. The net swipes with vigour but comes back empty.

We know something else is there, an ethereal element that makes life radiant.

Aether is nothingness, the sky beyond the sky.

If we believe that existence forms an interconnected web, can any single part truly be out of reach?

Many have appointed themselves the role of sky-keepers in response to this question.

The sky-keepers have sought to keep humanity in their chains and mind-forged manacles.

Their power is secured by the erosion of trust over time. Our minds are like flint, once sharp to create fire, over time worn to smoothness and compliance by their messages:

You are neither loved nor born equal.
Your neighbour is a threat, a competitor.
The earth is a resource to be ransacked, not holy ground.
The more things you snatch from the earth, the more important you are.

The secret but pervasive teachings of the sky-keepers keep individuals, enterprises, and whole cities tethered to destructive and self-destructive habits. Extraction, manipulation, money, and fame are the virtues they venerate while wisdom’s frowned upon. They seek to keep all who disagree outside the city walls, ostracised from the centres of power.

Their stewardship reminds us of the holy men who claimed that God spoke only in their language, words that few could afford to read and understand. Their lie was that aether, the magical essence of life, was a privilege to be paid for.

Aether is the most subtle of all the elements. It speaks to us through our extra senses, through our intuition and feelings, through subtler ways of listening.

It’s time our minds unbind themselves from the thoughts the sky-keepers want us to think. It’s time we find our own reserves of aether.

What if each of us, in our own time,
discarded the nets of words and explored quiet places outside?

What might we discover of aether then?
Eyes closing to the breath of the wind, imagination and senses beginning to heighten.

We can begin here, on the steady ground of asking what aether is not.
Aether cannot be found in:

A windowless room,
cruelty,
wearing the same uncomfortable uniform as the person next to you who you do not know,
concrete poured over fresh earth,
shame,
a hospital lightbulb,
cramp that comes from a repetitive and tedious movement,
a street where people are closely-packed but indifferent to each other’s presence,
the feeling of being buried alive.

Aether may be found in:

The space between your shoulder blades when it touches warm earth,
a true breath when you have not been breathing,
opening a room to the morning air following sleep,
silent mutual understanding in a friend’s eye,
noncompliance, when necessary,
hope, even without cause,
the generosity of sunlight,
breathlessness that follows dancing or laughter.

Though aether’s vastness extends beyond our bodies, it is deeply personal.

Aether mirrors and connects to the essence in each of us. It has innumerable expressions.

An invitation:

As above, write two lists of where aether may and may not be found, for yourself. Notice how your body feels (how the aether within you rises and falls) when you read over each list.

If you would like to send me your lists, I would love to read them.

zoe@zoewoodhealing.com