Midyear Review of the Kibtisk Method

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. 

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.)

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. 

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

Peace until next time,

Petre

Kibtisk Practitioner

Review and Reflection: Method Tide 3 - Viraneut

This blog post comes slightly late. The Tide of Viraneut finished on 5th August and so I'm a couple of weeks late with my review. Nevertheless, better late than never, so here we go.

The Beginning:

Viraneut started well - I was focusing on trying to do acts of love to others, usually small things such as making them a drink or attentively listening to what they were saying, and I generally was attempting to adopt an attitude of vira to those in my life: colleagues, clients, commuters, friends and family.

I began to reflect on the concept of vira and tweet my thoughts and experiences, and I began to translate Bible passages about vira into the Kibtisk conlang as a way of reflecting on the concept.

1 John 4:7-8
"Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is from God,
and whoever loves has
been born of God
and knows God.
Anyone who does not love does not know
God, because God is love."
1 John 4:7-8 (ESV)

The Questioning:

Then I suppose something akin to the 'novelty wearing off' happened. I began to adjust to the Tide and so the focus on vira began to fade as I continued with my day-to-day life. I still thought about and contemplated the concept of vira, but I wasn't doing much to enact or embody it.

During this time, a few challenges also arose which inhibited me from practising vira.

The first was the question of how. What is the best way to practise vira?

For example, when a homeless person asks for money, is it vira to give them some spare change, or is it vira to donate to the charities, hoping that they will receive it?

Is it true vira to only be warm-hearted to your family and friends, or is the deeper, truer vira to be warm-hearted to everyone, as Jesus teaches (Matthew 5:46). If so, what is the way to do vira to others, especially when they themselves are cold-hearted, mean, even toxic?

"For if you [only] love those who love you,
what reward do you have?"
Matthew 5:46a (ESV, italics mine)

What's more, how are you to do vira when you're tired, stressed, ill, or hurt?

This Tide has been a real challenge for me, and what I have learnt is that what many of us, myself included, want out of each day is for us to feel well, treat well, and be treated well. The ideal day is one where you are not tired, stressed, or ill, you have been healed, and you are surrounded by and filled with love. 

However, this is not the reality for each day, if for any day; and what I have discovered is that the ideal of vira and even the reality of selfless, warm-hearted love is an extremely difficult thing to cultivate. 

The Source:

I believe that vira has a source and by drawing on that source we can retain and maintain vira within ourselves and thereby give it out to others. But doing that in itself is just as challenging as practising vira on a daily basis. 

In other words, there is a source of heat/love to which we can go to warm our hearts and from that warm-hearted place be a source of heat/love to others. Choosing to draw upon this source is a daily choice, and one we are unlikely to make when tired, stressed, ill, or hurt.

Summary:

So, I have left this Tide with a lot of questions rather than answers. 

It has been difficult for me, not only because of the questions above, but because it is a Tide focused on external action. 

I am introverted and contemplative by nature and so I thrive in tides which call for introspection and spiritual practice, but less so in those that call for action. As we've seen, it didn't take long for me to begin thinking and questioning during this Tide.

Still, I have learnt from this Tide. I have learnt that the fire of vira within, for me at least, is a single flame rather than a blazing bonfire, and as such it needs to be guarded and maintained to be of any use. This calls for daily devotion to cultivating it and during upon the Source of Love to maintain the heat within.

As summer is drawing to a close and the heat begins to fade in the world, I am going to try to maintain the heat of love within, knowing that there is a Source from which I can draw to receive love for myself and others.

Why not join me on the Way?

Review and Reflection: Tide 2 - Vywineut

As the season of spring comes to an end, so does the Tide of Vywineut.

June 21st is the summer solstice and thus the beginning of the season of summer and the end of spring. Vywineut ends on June 21st.

As this Tide ends, it is time to review and reflect on what has been learnt during this time of practising spirituality and going with the flow. To learn more about this Tide check out Tide 2: Vywineut.

My Expectations:

My expectations going into this Tide were that it was going to be similar to the previous Tide (Badineut). 

During Badineut, I set aside a time every week to meditate and conduct the practice associated with the Tide: ardzýn. During these weekly practices I discovered a lot about my inner-self and where I was at within myself. This gave me a lot to reflect on and review at the end of the Tide, and I kept a journal throughout that I referred to in order to keep track of my progress.

I was expecting this Tide to be the same - that I would practice spirituality on a set day every week, conducting the practice associated with the Tide (vitren) and make progress with my spirituality as a result of my reflections from Badineut. I was wrong.

My Reality:

The reality was not at all like that. And that's okay, because as I wrote in my blogpost at the beginning of the Tide: "This Tide is not a time for spiritual idealism or overreaching." 

This Tide has been all about going with the flow (the vywe). It has been about practising spirituality subtly and softly, allowing one's practice to flow around the state of one's self.

For myself during these past 6 weeks, I have settled into my new life in Kent. I have launched the Kibtisk Hub website. I have had job interviews, and succeeded in getting a job. I have had to commute to and from work, and also been house hunting for a next home. I can see why I haven't been able to commit to a set weekly practice. Yet, somehow, this Tide has still been just as spiritual as the previous one, if not more.

What I've Learnt:

In all of these life events that I have listed above, the need to appreciate vywe has been paramount. I have even taken to saying to myself "Bez vywe" ('This is the flow'), when things don't go to plan. If I miss a train, bez vywe. If we don't get a house we want, bez vywe. If it rains and I don't have my coat, bez vywe.

At one point during the previous Tide of Badineut, I observed that I react to things with anger instead of accepting them as they are. This Tide of Vywineut has enabled me to accept the flow of life, without anger, without expectation, without idealism. Things happen - this is the flow.

As such, whilst I have not achieved what I set out to do (practise spirituality and vitren, namely the Jesus Prayer, each Thursday of the Tide) I have achieved the reason of the Tide: acknowledging the two elements of spring (water and earth) and appreciating how earth diverts the flow of water, but the flow still reaches its goal. This Tide I have appreciated the flow, the vywe.

This constant appreciation for the vywe of life has made this Tide a much more spiritual time for me. Being mindful of the moment and acceptant of the course of events has brought me peace, and I'm sure is helping me heal. The gentle stream of spirituality being diverted by the earth of my heart as it flows will nevertheless reach its goal and nurture and soften my self. This is the flow.

What I've Read:

This Tide has also been a great time of reconstructing my theology and spirituality. I have read/listened to a lot of books, which thankfully my commute allows me to do. Some of these I am still working through, but all of them have contributed to my ability to appreciate the vywe in day-to-day life, and accept things as they are. They have also taught me to find God everywhere - that even God is part of this grand vywe we live in.

• Process Theology: A Basic Introduction by C. Robert Mesle

• Walking in the Woods: Go back to nature with the Japanese way of shinrin-yoku by Professor Yoshifumi Miyazaki

• God as Nature Sees God: A Christian Reading of the Tao Te Ching by John Mabry

• The Wandering Taoist by Deng Ming-Dao

I've also been listening to Father Richard Rohr's teachings on the Enneagram, and am hoping in the coming year to learn more from him about spirituality and contemplative prayer as I read/listen to his books.

Summary:

This Tide has not at all what I was expecting, but that is almost the point. Vywineut is a time to let go and let be. To put aside expectations and ideals and acknowledge and appreciate the independent flow of life, nature, and God. It is a time to notice the flow, and move in harmony with it. It is the Tide in which our spirituality becomes most like water, softly and subtly overcoming obstacles through gentle perseverance and redirection, but reaching the goal nonetheless. 

My goal for this Tide was to deepen my spirituality and heal my heart. I had planned to do this methodically, but various aspects of life served as obstacles to this method. My spirituality had to adapt, to change course, but the goal was still reached. I have deepened my spirituality and healed from my past in a gentle but constant way in my day-to-day life, appreciating the flow.

This Tide, the Kibtisk Method ironically has not been methodical at all. But that doesn't matter - bez vywe.

Review and Reflection: Tide 1 - Badineut

The first Tide of the Kibtisk Method, Badineut, the Tide of Observing, is now over. 

It has been over six weeks of introspective meditation, observing my ardt, my inner-earth, at the same time as observing the Earth as she awakens from winter. It has been the beginning of the Kibtisk year and thus indicative of a new start. 

Now, at the end of the Tide, it is time to reflect upon this contemplative season which began the year.

Moving On:

Badineut, being the first Tide of the Kibtisk year also represents a new start. This is quite pertinent for me personally, as it has been during this Tide that I have prepared to move, and have moved, from Worcestershire to Kent. Thus, I have been able to examine myself during this move, and gain insight into what ihres I have absorbed and projected.

I'd spent six years in Worcestershire, and was originally planning to leave in 2018, but decided to stay and get engaged. Then my wife and I were going to leave in 2020, but the lockdowns prohibited that. 

Leaving Worcestershire: the place that has taught me so much in so many ways; the birthplace of Kibtisk; the place I had met my wife and gotten married and where I'd formed lifelong friendships, was a big change, and so I'm lucky that it happened during the Tide of Badineut where the practice of ardzýn (self-examination via intentional introspection) is predominant. I was able to examine myself and how I felt about leaving Worcestershire.

Below are my various observations made during my sessions of ardzýn, which took place on each Monday of the Tide (according to the Method).

Leaving with Anger - 12th April:

The main thing I noticed from my meditation, albeit not the first, is that I have been projecting a lot of anger. 

On 12th April, when I practised ardzýn, it was a significant time of meditation for me because it was the first to be practised in Kent whilst visiting where we would live, and so I was able to reflect more fully on what I was absorbing and projecting as we prepared to leave Worcestershire. 

"Looking within, I realise that I came to Worcestershire with excitement and passion, but am leaving with a lot of anger and hurt. A lot of anger." 

When I went to Worcestershire in 2015, I went passionate and excited. I was ready to learn more about God and the Bible and get more involved with churches. But how I was treated there, and perhaps more importantly, how I witnessed others being treated including those close to me, quickly killed that passion and excitement. Within a year, I wasn't even sure I wanted to stay. By 2019, my wife and I were determined to leave, or as we viewed it: escape.

I stuck it out and completed my degree. I got a job and got married. By all counts I had a good and successful life in Worcestershire, but as I reflected on how I felt leaving, all I could really feel was anger. As I looked within myself, all I could observe is that I was projecting a lot of anger. Bitter, spitting anger was, and still is, lying beneath the surface and comes to a head at the sight of a red flag. The smallest reminder of those people who stamped out the fire of passion within me by their abuse of those close to me brings on a wildfire of rage within.

"Moving forward I need to let go of my anger. I need to forgive. I need to return to soft-heartedness (zeva). The season of focusing on vitren is coming next, and it starts during my first week of living in Kent. I am going to try to soften."

What I have begun to see within myself during Badineut is that I'm projecting anger because of what I've experienced. I need to forgive. I need to return to spiritual practice and allow it to soften my ardt. I need to heal, and I need to learn to embrace the flow of life: vywe.

Embracing the Flow (Vywe) - 22nd & 29th March

Before I examined my inner-self and acknowledged the anger within, I began Badineut by reflecting on what I had been absorbing before the Tide began.

What God has said to me back in May 2020 was "guard your ihre", but it wasn't until my meditations during this Tide that I understood why that was.

We can't always control life. I'm sure 2020 taught everyone that. And so there are times in life where we just have to embrace the flow of things, and guard ourselves as we do so. A few weeks before the Kibtisk year started, I'd conceptualised this idea as vywe.

As I began Badineut, I realised that when God told me to guard my ihre it was because I would be going through a time of vywe - of being in the flow of life with little control, of needing to be supple and uncoercive. I believe I am still in that time.

Reflecting upon this later I wrote:

"In retrospect, when Master told me to guard my ihre, it was because we would be journeying 'vywei' (with/in the flow). When one is vywei, they cannot control what comes their way and they cannot control where they are going. Thus they must guard their ihre, otherwise emerge affected by any nezeva (harshness/bitterness) which they encounter on the way."

This understanding of needing to flow with life rather than against it was what led to my realisation that I was harnessing and projecting a lot of anger and bitterness. The word of this in Kibtisk is nezeva (seen above). It is the opposite of zeva.

Being at Rest - 22nd March & 5th April

Another thing that I realised during my first meditation of Badineut, as well as the importance of being 'vywei' - journeying with/in the flow of life rather than against it - is that I am at rest for the time being.

In my life-journey I have come to a mountaintop of restfulness. I am able to just be and heal. The state of my ardt (my ardstat) is one of being at rest.

During my meditation of 5th April, I realised that part of guarding my ihre was not allowing anything to undo that rest, including my own anger. I must not allow my unforgiveness to inhibit my healing. I must be at rest and forgive before getting up and journeying on.

Summary:

Essentially, during this Tide of Observing, I have observed the following about my inner-self:

1. I have observed that I am at rest within my own ardt.
2. I have observed that I am to guard this state of rest.
3. I have observed that I am in the flow of life, and should not fight against it, but instead cooperate with it whilst still guarding myself.
4. I have observed that I am deeply angry at many people, and part of being in the flow is allowing that anger to run its course with the end goal of forgiveness and healing

Now I have moved to a new place, and am being offered a new start. A new Tide is starting: Vywineut - the Tide of Flowing, The Tide of Vywe. During this Tide there is a focus on vitren (facilitating spiritual practice) and so I will be able to be at rest upon the mountaintop, practice my spirituality, and heal before journeying down into what is next for me.

For now, I am in Kent. I am in the vywe. And I am going to heal.

20th March 2021: Introduction to the Year and to the Blog

What a year it has been. 

Today is the first day of spring and thus the Kibtisk year. Happy New Year Kibtzones!

Last year Kibtisk New Year began on 22nd March, but in the last year a lot of Kibtisk things have been reviewed and revised, including the calendar, so now the year starts on 20th March instead. 

On 22nd March last year, I remember going to a quiet space in some public gardens nearby and sitting under a tree in my favourite spot and journalling, wondering what the coming year would bring. The next day, the UK entered its first Coronavirus lockdown. As I write this, we are slowly preparing to emerge from our third lockdown of the year. 

I had no idea as I wrote in my journal what the coming year would bring for the world, and whilst I've been extremely fortunate to have spent lockdown at home in the countryside in one of the least affected parts of England, I know I am among the lucky few. My thoughts and prayers are with those whose year has been one of suffering. 

I also wouldn't have thought Kibtisk would have changed so much in the past year either. Almost everything about it had changed.

This time last year I had a different blog: Kibtisk Hub, which is no longer active. The past year I've really chewed over what I was trying to put out there the first time: the Kibtisk conlang, the notions and philosophy, the spirituality, the culture. I have managed to break it down into different segments and am in the process of putting it all online. 

This blog though will be where I come to share my more personal thoughts as I practise the Kibtisk Way and also to serve as a pointer to the websites: Kibtisk Hub and Learn Kibtisk, once they're online.

One of the things I will be focusing on is what is known as the Kibtisk Method. This is a methodical approach to practising the Kibtisk Way, and was one of the aspects of the old blog which I felt was hardest to understand and adopt. I wasn't really using the Method myself either, and so struggled to convey it in words.

As I mentioned, I reviewed and revised everything during the past year and so now I have decided to begin practising the Method to see if there is any validity behind it as a practical approach to the Kibtisk Way. Since the Kibtisk Method follows the Kibtisk calendar I'm starting today, on the first day of the Kibtisk year. 

The Method requires weekly practice and so I will try to post on a weekly basis with my reflections and updates. I will also post about other aspects of the Kibtisk Way which I am practising as well as explanations of the Method. 

Otherwise, that's all for now. Happy New Year everyone! And I hope this upcoming year is better than the last.

I will be posting soon with a brief explanation of the Kibtisk Method and the Calendrical Device used to keep track of it: the kurene. 

For consistent updates why not follow me on Twitter and Instagram @kibtiskhub? You can also join the community on Reddit: r/Kibtisk.

Until next time!

Ihra!

Petre - Kibtisk Practitioner