Notes on the unseen
Quotes and a poem for pondering and inspiration
One of our favorite descriptions of dreamwork comes from Toko-pa Turner, who calls it “a medicinal practice of reciprocity between the seen and the unseen for rehabilitating our imaginal capacity.”
Today I wanted up share a few favorite quotes and passages I have come across recently on the unseen, for inspiration and pondering…
“You need to trust the invisible to make the impossible possible if you are working in an entangled way.”
-Vanessa Andreotti on The Great Simplification podcast
We reference Vanessa Adreotti Machado de Oliveira’s work frequently here at Prism of Wisdom, and her concept-practice of hospicing modernity has been very helpful in our lives and our thinking around dreamwork as a decolonial praxis (search that phrase in our Substack and you will find the many posts in which we have referenced it!).
What I love about this quote (and I highly recommend listening to the whole interview) is how it helps me think about change. From within modernity, we can only see so far, and we are likely to keep replicating patterns from it, even when we are trying to imagine beyond it. In many social movement spaces, we can think about change in very linear ways - we do X and Y happens. We take action and we get the result we want (or not). Rarely is change so simple or linear!
This quote reminds me that when I am working in an entangled way, with an understanding and awareness of the interbeing1 of all of life, then there will always be forces at play that I cannot see. This opens the space for possibilities beyond my imagination and what I can fathom. Trusting the invisible and making the impossible possible are ideas that excite me!
“When we feel alone, it is important to remember that we are joined by many others who share the vision of a culture coming alive. It is also important to trust the support we cannot see.”
- Jenny Finn, Consider the Source
On my recent trip to the US, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Springhouse Community School, an intergenerational place-based learning community that practices vitality-centered education, rooted in a vision of a world where all life thrives2. The quote above comes from founder Jenny Finn’s book Consider the Source, which articulates Springhouse’s design principles, practices, and lessons learned over the past 10 years of their experimentation. This quote resonates a lot with what Vanessa shares above.
Finally, I wanted to share a Rumi poem which I had heard before, but was reacquainted with on the wall of the Springhouse Sourced Press bathroom wall. The poem is also featured in the book mentioned above, and I will share a photo of it here to encourage you to buy a copy of the beautifully hand pressed copy:
What do these quotes and poem bring up for you? Consider choosing one to journal about. Then see what the unseen has to share with you tonight, in your dreams and beyond :)
Sweet dreams!
Stephanie
Stephanie Knox Steiner, PhD is an enchantress, mother-scholar, dreamworker, community weaver, professor, and peace educator who currently lives and teaches at the University for Peace in Costa Rica. She has been writing down her dreams since she was a teenager, and studied community dreamwork as part of her doctoral studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute. She writes prolifically about enchantment, interbeing, and re-imagining education at her other Substack, Enchantable.
Thich Nhat Hanh
I wrote about Springhouse as part of my doctoral dissertation, but I’d recommend checking out their books and press linked above. The dissertation can be found here: https://www.proquest.com/openview/6512059ab1d555764e1e1eef894b6316/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y