Have you ever needed to do something that just didn’t make sense yet?
What is that compelling force that’s nudging you towards something different and maybe even irrational?
Despite efforts to suppress it with logic and reason, this is a persisting stirring feeling that your ideal future is already unfolding but your brain and ego need to catch up.
I’ve come to call it the kinetic imperative —a compelling force that nudges us towards something that just feels right despite how our rational brains might argue otherwise.
The term “kinetic imperative” combines two ideas:
- Kinetic: movement and energy
- Imperative: urgency and essential nature.
Together, they form a concept that I hope defines a phase in the important preverbal period between letting go of who you were and understanding who you’re becoming.
We often try to repress these deep truths about ourselves and our surroundings to maintain the familiar surface of our lives.
I can tell you that I fought myself like an insane person when submitting to my transition from soldier to advocate of spiritual / personal development through extreme challenges and initiatory rites. It just seemed… irrational.
In hindsight, validity becomes crystal clear but in the moment, we’re confused and dulled by our rationalizations, comforting denials, and even deliberate ignorance.
Can you relate?
The Western tendency to dismiss such forms of somatic wisdom is phasing out as we begin to realize that this knowledge isn’t mysterious or chaotic.
The chaos lies in our disregard for it.
So, how does one trust moving towards something that just doesn’t “make sense” yet? More on that next week for part 2 of this article.