Saying What You See

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Soul Growth Radio. Our magazine’s first theme is “Saying What You See.”

In a writing workshop I took from Anne Lamott last year, she talked about the culture of denial in growing up with a family of alcoholics. She said that she heard again and again from family members that she didn’t see what she saw or thought she saw, that Uncle So-and-So was just drunk, he really didn’t do what you thought he did, and if he did, he didn’t mean it. She went on to say that, as writers, you have to start being willing to see what you saw. In other words, you have to take ownership of reality.

Her invitation hit me on a spiritual level. What have I seen and covered up? What have I not written because I’ve been unwilling to say what I saw? What have I been embarrassed to admit, to myself or anyone else? What am I resisting?

For over a decade, my spiritual growth has been titrated to the amount I’ve been willing to admit it. Certain awakenings knocked on my door years ago, and it’s only in recent years I’ve done anything more than hide beneath the peep hole or read the notes it shoved under the door, persistent buggers.

And I know I’m not alone in this experience.

“Saying What You See” is about taking the sometimes courageous step of noticing the spiritual experience you are having. Hearing a voice, sensing a presence, following a strong intuition. It’s the mere action of saying to yourself what you have seen, rather than tucking it under a rug. And it’s about what happens when, at the very least, you speak it, if only to yourself. What grows there? What opens? What pressures get set free?

Soul Growth Radio features, in this issue, writers and artists exploring the advent of their spiritual journeys. I’m thrilled you’re here, and I hope you’ll enjoy what we’ve got for you in these pages. I hope also that its stories bring you one step closer to saying what you see.

With love,
Pema Rocker