humaning.ca

Humaning

A philosophy for being fully alive.

We are: Oceans in a drop.

Biology with a history.

Receivers for an ineffable vastness.

The Problem

The problem with being human is that it's difficult.

Just being alive can be a frightening thing. Nothing is certain. Everything changes. There is nothing "safe" to hold onto. Life is neither just nor fair. Often, it hurts. Sometimes a lot.

Sadly, other humans tend to increase the problem.

For those who are brave enough to acknowledge it, there can also be an underlying sense of emptiness — or fear.

"I will die one day. What am I doing?"

The Invitation We Keep Receiving

It's always been this way.

And part of being human is the tendency to avoid the problem, or convince ourselves it belongs to someone else. We are good at it.

In this particular time, we are surrounded by more invitations to avoidance than ever before. More stimulation, more intensity, more choices, more pleasure.

But it doesn't seem to be helping.

We also have more depression, more anxiety, more loneliness, more emptiness.

The Challenge of Artificial Intelligence

We are also now faced with the prospect of machines doing most — or all — of what we thought made us special.

This challenge leaves us with a stark choice.

Become superfluous, or go deeper.

Humaning: Going Deeper

Being human is not another addition to the to-do list.

It's what you already are,

Minus everything you believe you are,
Or think you should be,
Or wish you were,
Or think other people want you to be,
Or imagine other people think you are…

Humaning is just a kind of waking up from the illusion of you, to the reality of you.

Single leaf lit from within, water droplets, morning light

Stop! Stop trying to be you.
Just Be.
You.

Todd Blattner

Being you begins with what is most immediate — what is happening inside you right now.

The Biology

The nervous system has three main states.

Connection When we feel safe, we are able to be in connection, to create, to be curious, to be compassionate.
Threat response When we feel threatened, we react with energy — to defend, to flee, to survive. We separate, disconnect and polarize.
Shutdown When we are overwhelmed by too much — too much stimulation, too much pain, too much intensity — we shut down, numb, dissociate, isolate, freeze.

And then, cut off from genuine feeling, we reach for more intensity to feel anything at all. More stimulation for less effect. The same cycle as any addiction.

Humaning is recognizing the patterns of your nervous system, sensing them in your body, and learning to ride the waves of emotion without being controlled by them.

Do you know that
Your shadow —
All that you fear,
And dislike,
And blame,
And avoid,
Is also you? Do you know that
It lives in your beliefs,
In your pain,
In the tight knots in your muscles,
In the tension in your stomach
In the bile in your words?

Winter night, diffuse light through trees

Do you know that what you see
Is what you believe
You are? Are you happy? Choose carefully —
Where your life energy goes.

Todd Blattner

Forest floor with pine cones, fresh green leaves emerging from earth

Embodiment

Coming home to the body.

Humaning requires learning to be with the full intensity of living in a body.

At least for now
This body is your vehicle,
Your means of perceiving, acting, and being in this world.

This body is your home — your temple or your prison — as you choose.

Your body is home for all your pain and fear and suffering,
And home for all your joy and love and pleasure.

And… this body you are coming home to carries more than you may know.

Embodiment
Is the courageous journey
Of exchanging fear
For a deeply felt
Sense
Of belonging.

Todd Blattner

The History

We are not separated from our past — or from those who came before us.

Epigenetics — the science of how experience shapes inheritance — has shown that trauma can be passed forward through generations. When we recognize this, we can begin to release these inherited patterns — for ourselves and for our children.

Humaning asks us to face the legacy we were given. We can choose to release old wounds, or to carry them forward. That choice belongs to us.

And the reach goes further still.

You are carrying many ancestors,
Seeking resolution.
You don't have to try
To hold your pieces together.

It's okay
To stand alone
In the dark.

Be still. And wait.

Even now you are not alone.

Todd Blattner

The Foundation

Both ancient teachings and modern physics describe the same thing:

We live in a universe of vibration and frequency, where matter and energy are just different expressions of the same thing.

Recently the idea that awareness, not matter or energy, is the "stuff" of which everything else is made is gaining traction in physics. This idea is also very old — a teaching from the mystics.

Awareness is the foundation of energy and matter. It is the foundation of Humaning too.

In coming home to ourselves, we are also coming home to the universe. We are each the ocean in a drop.

A tiny green shoot pushing up through fallen pine cones and forest debris

In the depths, the ocean is still. On the surface, it churns with waves. We are the waves, and we are receivers for the waves.

Part of humaning is learning to tune toward frequencies that support and expand us, rather than frequencies that contract and diminish us.

You are a highly sensitive
And delicate
Transceiver
Through which
The infinite broadcast
Plays.
Choose your channel.

Todd Blattner

If you understand
That YOU are the Everything,
Looking through your eyes
Then you begin to know
The Seer
Who cannot be seen.

Todd Blattner

The Discovery

Humaning is a simple thing, but not easy.

It's just letting go of everything you are not, in order to relax into the vastness of what you are.

This is the discovery.

Your own life, fully inhabited, is the adventure you have been looking for.

A single chair in a sunlit birch grove, long shadows on grass

Excitement can be found, fleetingly, in more intensity, more adventure, more experience.

The pain can be dulled by scrolling on your phone, plugging in to never-ending media, living through a screen so you never have to really feel, giving your power to others by not thinking too deeply, not asking why…

You can hide from your fear by chasing money and power, believing you are better, feeling important.

But joy, and purpose, and meaning that fills the emptiness require none of these things.

What we are all looking for, in the end, is simply here, in the commonplace, in the subtle, in the extraordinary beauty of letting everything be as it is.

Unlearn Unthink.
No system, no path.
Nowhere to go, nothing to do.
Nothing to avoid, nothing to seek,
Nothing to achieve.

Peace is not a state,
Not a sensation,
Not a thought.
Peace IS.
You ARE.
That is enough.

Todd Blattner

Trust Is only finally understanding
That you were never
Other
In the first place.

It's time to wake up.

Todd Blattner

Coming Home

Like you, perhaps, I started out just wanting to hurt less, and live with more peace and grace. I'm not someone who has "arrived" — there are always challenges. But the territory is worth exploring.

Your path is your own to walk, but I've been exploring the territory for a while now. I can be a helpful companion along the way.

I call this territory Humaning. It is the philosophy behind my work and the foundation of my practice, Integrationpoint Counselling Services, and it brings life and meaning to every method I use.

If something in these words recognizes itself in you — please let me know.

Get In Touch

Free Resources

Humaning Tools: Seven Practices for Coming Home to Yourself

Download the Humaning Tools

Humaning: An Affirmation for Being Human

View, Download or Share the Affirmation

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Whereas:

We observe that our attention is a commodity, that our media is engineered to distract us, numb us, and dumb us down, in order to retain our attention,

That

Our children are suffering from rapidly increasing rates of mental health issues, attention issues and suicide rates.

And

That AI makes it possible for our beliefs to be individually manipulated by the media we are served.

Whereas:

Notwithstanding that AI is extremely useful and can be helpful in our lives, we also observe that AI is becoming capable of doing most of the tasks that we once thought were the exclusive domain of humans

And

Is now, or soon will be, doing most of our jobs.

Whereas:

We observe that social media has become the first line on which wars are fought,

And

That it is systematically used for manipulation of minds, to polarize opinions, to turn us against each other, to destabilize countries and manipulate elections.

Whereas:

Observable, verifiable truth has become obscured

And

Truth is now determined by the loudest, most confident or most powerful voice.

Whereas:

AI now shows us that knowledge, intellectual intelligence and productiveness are no longer exclusive and defining factors of being human,

We Affirm That:

We do not need to fight against any of these things. This would only continue the cycle of blame, fear, polarization and violence.

And

AI, and these issues, create a compelling and useful backdrop that shows us what we do NOT choose to define us.

We also Affirm That:

This backdrop shows us that looking only outward is no longer working,

And:

We now must focus our energy on what we have power to change, and this is ourselves.

Accordingly, we affirm that:

We now need to turn inward,
To face ourselves,
To learn who we really are,

And

To develop the courage, compassion, integrity, and determination
Needed to redefine our understanding of
The meaning of being human,

In order to:

Navigate this current time
Without losing ourselves.

We cannot survive the coming time if we are divided, demoralized, and purposeless.

Now is the time to learn to create the peace inside that we seek outside, and in doing so, we will be building a structure for peace that will radiate beyond us. Our point of power is no longer external. It is internal — but this is how the external will also begin to change.

Humaning is not a new way, or an exclusive way. It has been known for millennia, and called many names, by all cultures.

Humaning is simply one way of remembering a path for coming home to who we already are.

You can find more information about Humaning at humaning.ca.

If you would like assistance or guidance on your humaning journey, humaning.ca also offers resources and support for healing old wounds, managing issues that are holding you back, and nurturing the unfolding of your natural self.

May you be well, in all ways,
Todd Blattner
Humaning.ca

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