To Be Non-Human: Embracing the Essence of Otherness
Art by Oma
Within this reality of embodiment, to be non-human is to be spirit-first, to be spirit-centered and to be spirit-based. It means to live with the consciousness and knowing that your existence did not start here. That you are rooted and anchored in the beyond, no matter how much of it you remember, that it is there always; breathing through your mouth, hissing through your teeth and constantly turning in your belly.
When I was asked this question, the person who asked it said they were "trying to settle with their several selves and simultaneously not feel shame." That is, they are trying to come to terms with 'being' as they should be, like the rest of us. I bring it up just to say, this feeling of conflict and what appears to be some sort of internal conundrum is a bridge every single one of us has to cross. You are not alone. It is a part of the work of unburying and remembering that comes with human embodiment. By the time you would have come to terms with it (yourself), you would have gone mad (constructively).
Being non-human involves acknowledging your true self, which is spirit. It involves prioritizing your spirit duty as much as you prioritize anything else. It is realizing that your spiritual practices are not and cannot be a means to an end, rather they are your beginning and your end when it comes to your sustenance within this embodiment. If you were completely out of this embodiment there would be no other options. You would simply be. But you are here and we are here for whatever pre-selected reason and every mode of transportation for any journey must come with a price. Some of us lose our breaths while traveling by air, some get seasick when traveling on water, we forget luggages, we panic, whatever the case maybe we pay a price in cash or in experience. Sometimes both. Something somehow must be taken from us before we reconcile ourselves with the reason for the journey in the first place. The metaphor I've just applied in this case isn't great, but my point is whatever is non-human must have paid a price or exchanged something to come into this reality, and the way to remember why you are here is to recenter yourself.
Yes to (re)center into spirit. To reset to that god-self that strings along so closely yet seemingly far from the human consciousness. To not try to separate yourself from your spiritual realities but instead to continue to exist within them and with them. I would like to go on and continue to get into what it is that being non-human entails but my recollections are outside what I'm interested in laying out with this blog. And most importantly, no one needs to tell anything that is non-human how to be. The best we can do is to always provide reminders, using terms like 'spirit-first', 'spirit-centers', 'god'. You are and you have all of those things at your disposal, within. Call out to any version of yourself you want to know, and it will respond quietly or loudly with the breath in your mouth.
I'm ever grateful for those who continue to pose these questions that give me reasons to post on this blog, and I'm ever grateful to Nne Agwu - the thing that shifts constantly within my breath and fills my mouth with wisdom in response.
A while back, we created a digital art collection which stayed online on our site for a long time. Now we’ve taken those art works, and we’ve put them together in a ebook format.
Message us if you can’t afford a copy and you still want to take a look, we’ll send you one for free!
