The Kibtisk year began on 20th March, and so now 6 months in, it is time for a midyear review.
Before I begin, I'd like to point out that from 5th August to 22nd September it was the Method Tide of Ihreiviraneut. With each Method Tide so far this year I have done an introductory blog post at the beginning of the Tide and then a reflection and review blog post at the end of the Tide. I have not done that with Ihreiviraneut.
Those of you who read my blog may recall the struggles I had during the previous Method Tide of Viraneut, and these struggles have continued, which has made it difficult for me to practise the Tide of Ihreiviraneut. This is because Viraneut was the Tide of Practising Love and Ihreviraneut is a continuation of that.
Now, as we enter the autumn and the natural midpoint of the year, I have begun to reflect and review the year and the Method Tide thus far. This includes reflecting on the concept of vira, which has been central to the past two Tides.
This year, I went to stay for a week with a friend near Wales to have a spiritual retreat and contemplate my journey and what I want to take forward with me. It was a pitstop on my journey; a time to rest and go through my bag and decide what to take with me and what to leave behind.
I have ended up rearranging my bag, not leaving anything behind, but organising it better in order to journey further.
I am of course referring to the philosophy and spirituality I have been attempting to undertake in the past few months: that of the Kibtisk Way and Method.
The reason I didn't blog about Ihreiviraneut is because I was considering making changes to the Kibtisk philosophy and spirituality. Having done a spiritual retreat and considered it further I am ready to begin making those changes.
I have been offline for a while on the Kibtisk social media accounts and am now coming back online to prepare to implement those changes.
Let me run though the biggest of those changes.
The Change:
My struggle with the concept of vira has been central to my reflection and review this month.
When I first started conceptualising the Kibtisk Way and Method in 2017 it was centred around the three concepts of ardt (the soul: based on the element of earth), vitre (facilitating spirituality: based on the element of water), and ihre (the tone of a person/place: based on the element of air). These three ideas were interrelated and form the basics of the Kibtisk spiritual worldview.
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| The forest waterfall - a perfect example of the combination of earth, water, and air that the Kibtisk Way posits. Photo by Nashwan Guherzi from Pexels |
It made sense to me at the time to add a fourth concept based on the element of fire, so that I could build a framework out of the four elements since I already had three of them as bases for notions. Thus I came up with the notion of vira: the home, the family, the warmth and safety of love. Upon reflection however, I am wondering whether this was the right decision.
Don't get me wrong - I believe in the validity of the concept, but during Viraneut I began questioning its place in the Kibtisk Way.
The Effects:
This affects the Kibtisk Method, because the Method is based all around the interrelationships between these four notions (ardt, vitre, ihre, vira) the four elements (earth, water, air, fire), and the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter). By using these groups of four in relationship to each other, a methodical approach to the Kibtisk Way can be formed using the four seasons as we go throughout the year. By removing vira, the whole Method as it currently is falls apart.
This also affects the Kibtisk Way, however in a more positive way.
Vira has been moved from being a Core Notion (which is what ardt, vitre, and ihre are) to being one of the Kibtisk virtues. This works well, as currently there are only two Kibtisk virtues, and so by adding vira we end up with three virtues, and three Core Notions. On top of this there is already the Three Principles, so we end up with three groups of three which is tidier. (Check out the What is Kibtisk? page on the Kibtisk Hub website for more information on this.)
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| Current Roadmap to the Kibtisk Way (about to change) |
In other words, vira, which was one of the core ideas behind the Kibtisk Way, has now been moved to a virtue that the practitioner of the Kibtisk Way seeks to embody.
What this means for the Kibtisk Way is that there are now three Basic Principles, three Core Notions, and three virtues, which is a nice tidy was of doing it.
What this means for the Kibtisk Method though, is that a core component of the framework has been taken out. This means the Kibtisk Method is going to have to be reformulated. The Kibtisk Method as it currently is will no longer be a part of Kibtisk practice.
The Flow of the Method:
This is an interesting place to come to in just 6 months, but that was the point of me practising the Kibtisk Method and blogging about it: to see if there was any validity in a practical application of the Kibtisk philosophy. To get 6 months in and find that it needs reformulating is a good thing in some ways.
The main concept that has affected me during the past 6 months is that of vywe - such that I added it as a Basic Principle earlier this year (before that there were simply two). And as I sat by the river Wye, reflecting on all of this, I was reminded that practising spirituality is often an oarless, rudderless, sailless journey downriver simply going with the flow. The flow in these 6 months has taken me on an interesting course - not one I would have chartered for myself. But it has benefited me and the Kibtisk spirituality that I am trying to define and refine.
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| Photo by Alex Azabache from Pexels |
Since March I have added a Principle and shifted a Notion to a Virtue. This is the natural flow. The Kibtisk Way is about observing the change of seasons, and it seems change has been the main driving force for the Method this past few months.
Summary:
So more change is coming. I am going to have to reorganise the Kibtisk website and Kibtisk Way to reflect this new grouping. I am going to have redesign my logo to show three colours for the three notions instead of the current four. And most importantly, I am going to have to rewrite the Kibtisk Method and begin practising it all over again.
Join me on the oarless boat as I follow the flow of these changes.
Twitter: @kibtiskhub and @petrekibtisk
Instagram: @kibtiskhub
Reddit: r/Kibtisk
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