Our transformation, our liberation, our human connection aren’t going to happen on deep levels if what we cling to is simplicity. Over simplistic views cause us to lock ourselves in binaries, to look at the world through black or white lenses, and to diminish the truth. If we want to open our minds, to root into our hearts, and to engage our bodies as inseparable threads within the body of the cosmos, complexity is the key.

A couple of years ago I took a business intensive course, trying to gain some knowledge around how to bring my work into the world in ways that would benefit more people, and help me support my family. One of the exercises was to come up with one word that is at the core of our business. This word should have provided clues for what the key message of our business was, and how to develop our work from that authentic place.

There was brainstorming, writing many words down, circling some words around, and then narrowing it down to the one, most potent word that sits at the heart of my business.

My word was…

COMPLEXITY.

There. There it was. If I had to narrow down what my main message was, if I had to simplify the vision of my work into one word, that’s what it was; Complexity. The letters shimmered. I looked down at my page and laughed.

It was December of 2020. There were hundreds of participants on this online entrepreneurial  journey. “Does anyone want to share?” the teacher asked. I raised my zoom hand and was surprised to be called on. My heart beat fast in my chest. I get so nervous to speak in front of people. I know that sounds strange, since I speak in front of people and in front of the camera for a living, but I have the most intense stage fright. 

Regardless of fast heartbeats, sweaty palms, and the blood rushing to my face, I wanted to know… what was I supposed to do with this word? How can I build a business around complexity?

The teacher looked perplexed. She frowned a little, her brain trying to understand what to do with me, how to help me. “Ok, let’s break it down.” she said. It turned into a beautiful session that felt very healing for me, and apparently for others too. We touched on some deep issues, and she helped me see some pathways I hadn’t seen before. It was truly great. 

But that word – complexity – was left behind. The teacher didn’t ask me more about it. She didn’t say anything about it. She worked me away from it, took me into a beautiful process of helping me figure out how to gain more confidence in myself. And that was wonderful.

But my word… It was pulsing on the floor. I wasn’t supposed to pick it up and carry it with me. Complexity isn’t good for business. Complexity doesn’t sell.

But I did. I picked it up. Complexity is the key to everything I think about, feel, ponder, contemplate, and share.

Nothing is simple in this world. Not love. Not war. 

Relationships aren’t simple. Nature isn’t simple. Raising children. Forgiveness. Even breathing isn’t simple. Monogamy. Autonomy. Mortality. Authenticity. Nothing is simple. We are each a complex network of parts and particles, of ideas and genes, of what came before us, and the place we are in. We are all parts and pieces in a wider, more complex fabric of experiences and expressions, of politics, possibilities, potentials, power, and presence. We are each a thread. And no thread can be isolated. Each thread is spun from something greater, something that was nourished by other things, something that was exposed to sunshine and moonlight and winds. Each wind gust comes from somewhere that was touched by many other factors. Each ray of sunlight comes to us through multitudes of processes, barriers, filters, and the interwoven reality of time and space. 

If something is true, it usually holds the truth of its complete opposite within it. Paradox is more often than not, at the core of truth. 

Sometimes when we speak partial truths 

we help weave together a lie

Listen, sister, to the words you resist hearing 

They are the other side of

The reality you claim to stand for

They might be pulsing with

the very same values you say you care about

It just might not be comfortable for you to recognize it

Because it doesn’t fit into the narrative you’ve been swallowing

Following 

Where is this leading? 

Is this where you wanna go?

Sometimes when we share partial truths, we cause harm 

We didn’t think we had anything to do with

The spreading of fires

But we blew on the ambers with each 

Word

With each like

Listen, daughter, to the voices reverberating from across the road 

You might learn the humility of a cloud

Whole and ephemeral 

Here and then not 

“Once I was a stream” it gurgles 

And if I rain not 

My moisture might coalesce on 

Leaves 

Or in minds ready to

Keep on moving 

Minds ready to shift perspectives 

Around

Sometimes when we hear partial truths 

Words resonate and fill us with 

Purpose and passion and mission 

But listen, brother, to the holy wholeness 

That you may never fully hear

But you know is here because 

Sound is multidimensional 

And your heart recognizes the vibrations 

Of what’s real 

Your heart knows 

Whatever flows must move 

In 

And out

Toward

And away

One direction isn’t enough to

Hold the truth 

Sometimes when we read partial truth 

our whole body screams with agreement 

And we lean into belief 

not

Recognizing that behind what veils more truth

There’s propaganda and agenda 

And the bigger picture is hidden 

Purposely 

Your emotions manipulated 

And you feel in your bones that

You’re on the right side 

But listen, son, there are wrongs done

When a song is sung in only one tune

And it jumps into conclusions so soon that

Our system cannot digest a vision of

Complexity 

And then we are swallowed whole

Sometimes when partial truth are told

The mind narrows

The eyes narrow 

Blindness blends into bone marrow

Into what seems

Awake 

But if the hidden voices aren’t heard

We won’t ever be able to hold the

Truth that must be told about

What must unfold in us

The heart that pulses the blood of a reality

Much more nuanced than what is 

Spoken 

In the circles you think you belong

So please, beloved, take in the 

Breath that calls us together to 

Listen to the wind that blows off

your belief in one limited view

Shed the over simplistic skin

And breathe with me here in

The wounded core of our 

Humanity 

Breathe with me here as

Tears of grief fall to the earth

Listen to my breath and I’ll listen

To yours 

We cannot fix it, beloved

We can only breathe here together in 

The space of loss

And together if we dare

To cross through midlines and edges

back and forth

And breathe

In 

And out

We might be able to weave

A wider net of

Truth 

We live in a time that lacks nuance. We, as beings glued to phones, scrolling through echo chambers, lack the ability to hold the multiplicity of reality, the layers and pieces that comprise the whole. 

And we forget that the whole still keeps breaking itself, making more of itself. More layers, more levels, more pieces are added to the tapestry of reality that is ever becoming. 

Now more than ever, it is important that we sit with complexity, and not simply believe the little pieces of information that stand without ground, creating bodies of misinformation, that end up promoting more violence, more hate, more war. 

I urge us all to sit with the pain, with our broken hearts, and allow grief to be our teacher. 

Hashtags, memes, and over simplistic views only add more to the tragedy. Both the media and social media are hard to trust right now. So let’s not follow blindly. The over simplistic views we are each fed by because we hover over a video, will only lead us in the same direction faith has always led humanity – into certainty, which is the womb of tyranny, where all religious fanaticism comes from.

Pick up complexity from the floor, and put it in your pocket! Don’t forsake it. We need it! 

It does feel difficult right now to promote the next Somatic Ceremony, but I actually think it is a helpful one for this time. It is a sacred, secular sanctuary of complexity. 

Samhain, pronounced Sa-win, is the origin of Halloween, it is a celebration of mid-Fall, and it is rooted in rich, deep, and powerful traditions that honors the dark time of the year. It is a festival of ambiguity as it invites us into a holy relationship with death, reminding us that no life exists without decay. 

Samhain can be a transformative moment if we choose to embrace the teachings that hide in the shadows, and a profound portal sending us into the depth of wisdom that can only be integrated if we let go of over simplistic perspectives, and move around so that we can learn to see more. 

In the Samhain Somatic Ceremony we explore archetypes, mythology, symbols, and metaphors related to the season, we use breathwork, yoga poses, hand gestures, and chanting to bring the season into the body and into our lives through ritual. 

If you feel called to create a temple for working with the complexity of your own being and of the world, this might be what you need. All the details are here.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

And check out this FREE practice if you need a gentle, slow, meditative experience to help you get grounded through this time of upheaval. 

If this message speaks to you, please share it with your people.

So much love,

Hagar