Author: sonsot

Upon starting my descent, I made general use of the concept of “disengagement”. In all of my prayers and contemplations I acclaimed the need to “disengage” by withdrawing and detaching from second place forms and performances. However, “disengagement” is the incorrect characterization of the descentist form of withdrawal. This concept rested on the notion that… Continue reading Demanifestation vs disengagement

October 6, 2021 I am the essential. I am elastic like clay. I have two shapes. My first shape is shapeless, and the place I awaken from. My second shape is the place I awaken into, and is divided into inner and outer forms. I manifest this second shape through an interplay of inner movement… Continue reading What I know

Through probing, I discover that this unmoving point behind my eyes at the intersection of my thoughts, feelings, and perceptions is actually a much larger environment enclosing the familiar second place. I am not a person within a world, but a place within a larger place. I am experiencing the second place within the first… Continue reading The two places

I will descend, either willingly in life, or unwillingly in death. In my eventual descent, the distortion of the second place will fade and I will see my existence for what it actually is. Descentism is the decision to descend in life, rather than waiting until death. The process of seeing past the distortion is… Continue reading Reorientation

With time and effort, my understanding of the essential evolves from hypothetical to experiential. At the hypothetical level, I suspect the essential is there, but I am unable to visualize it. I will catch glimpses of it that reinforce my conviction that it is there, but I cannot easily confirm its presence in my life… Continue reading Essential detachment

November 7, 2021: I have updated this topic. This post no longer contains my most recent and updated thinking on this topic. See The hierarchy of value-desire See My essential desire In my eventual descent, whether I want to or not, I will see the world for what it is. As a descentist, I learn… Continue reading The hierarchy of desire

I descend because I have to. I have had no other choice. What I now call “descent” began early in my life as resistance. Resistance to adopting social norms. Resistance to doing what I was told. Resistance to embracing values, tastes, and aspirations that were not truly mine. Resistance to being agreeable. Resistance to celebrating… Continue reading Why descend

Until I remembered and directly experienced the essential, I considered the second place to be the basis of my existence. I believed that my existence was a collection of ideas in my mind. My direct experience is the way to know the truth. Not my hypothetical, inessential, suppositional beliefs based on inessential forms and performances.… Continue reading Essential vs inessential knowing

The biggest challenge in overcoming the distortional influence of the second place is to recognize it. A lifetime of exposure to the inessential creates familiarity, which hides the distortion. I can expose and overcome it by rediscovering and anchoring to the essential. The foundational conflict I must confront and resolve before I can begin my… Continue reading The familiarity of the second place

Forms are the inner and outer “things” of the second place. And performing is all the activities and behaviors of the second place. Every one of my open questions or unresolved decisions draws a performance from me.  I don’t need to “know”.  I don’t need to “resolve” open questions. I just need to deeply and… Continue reading Knowing is performing