Sentient
Everyone asks me “What does ‘Sentient’ mean again?”
“What is ‘The Sentient Life’?”
I know it is not a common word. But through my work here I hope it will be, especially once you understand it.
Trust me, once it really sinks into not just your mind, but your heart, it just might be all you think about, and you never really noticed that until now.
If you have been awake anywhere between midnight and five am thinking, about everything, then you are sentient. Even more so, if you’ve done that, then you are living The Sentient Life every minute of every day.
WEBSTERS 1913:
Sentient
Sentient \Sen”ti*ent\, a. [L. sentiens, -entis, p. pr. of
sentire
Sentient \Sen”ti*ent\, a. [L. sentiens, -entis, p. pr. of
sentire
1) To discern or perceive by the senses. See {Sense}.]
2) Having a faculty, or faculties, of sensation and perception.
3)Sentient \Sen”ti*ent\, n.
One who has the faculty of perception; a sentient being.
One who has the faculty of perception; a sentient being.
APPLE DICTIONARY:
sentient |ˈsenCH(ē)ənt|adjective
1) Able to perceive or feel things: she had been instructed from birth in the equality of all sentient life forms.
The way I like to think of it, was prompted by my reading of The Problem Of Pain by C.S. Lewis. He uses a lot of my favorite words: zoe, sentient, coterminous, inexorable. All of which hold great meaning to me, my heart, my relationship with God and with everyone else.
Sentient, at its core to me, what I think about when writing on this blog and or living my life, is just being aware, able to think, analyze, to know you are alive. A tree does not know it is alive. But I do. Boy do I do. I feel it everyday. I think about it every night.
The particularly most important thing about being sentient, to me, is that not only do you know you are suffering, but you can over-analyze why and how and what to do or not do about it. Knowing, being aware, that you are suffering is what leads to those endless “after midnight thoughts” about it.
The Sentient Life means you are capable of feeling and living. And life comes with more than enough feelings, especially our least favorite, suffering. And being sentient means you can react and respond to that suffering.
This blog is a collection of my reactions and responses to life (often most specifically suffering).
It is a collection of my “after midnight thoughts about suffering”.
There is not a human being alive who is not living The Sentient Life. There is not a sentient being who doesn’t have after midnight thoughts about life’s suffering. This is just MY Sentient Life.
However, even though this is MY Sentient Life, that is not what it is all about. It is about us. All of us. I want to start a movement where all soon become aware that they are sentient, what that means, what a sentient life looks and feels like, and how to not just cope with it, but live with it as well as one can. And I want us all to help each other through with God’s help.
Through these ramblings I hope you begin to feel and know you are not alone in these circumstances and emotions. You are not alone in The Sentient life. We have God and we have each other. We are all just trying to navigate it the best we can.
I truly hope, with all my heart and being, that this blog helps you in ANY way. I pray God gives us His endless Grace and Peace and Love as we go.
Please feel free to email me your thoughts, feelings, reactions, perceptions and stories relating to The Sentient Life and your after midnight thoughts about suffering. I would be happy to share your thoughts with everyone here.
Thank you for stopping by and reading my thoughts. I hope you stick around and check out some of the posts and comments and links.
With All My Love & His,
Zoe
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