episode summary

In this episode, I take you along for an afternoon walk as I explore a phrase that caught my attention: “Learn to see the shapes of things rather than the stories.” What does it mean to perceive reality without immediately turning it into a narrative? How do we strip experience down to its raw structure before the mind rushes in to impose meaning?

I dive into the tyranny of story—how our minds are wired to turn life into a coherent narrative, even when reality itself is more like a landscape, a shifting web of patterns rather than a neatly plotted novel. What if we could resist the urge to explain everything and instead train ourselves to see the world through shapes, structures, and rhythms?

Through reflections on art, perception, emotions, and chaos magick, I explore how shifting our way of seeing could help us break free from rigid narratives and gain more creative control over our experience.

Key Takeaways from This Episode:

• Perception before interpretation. Instead of rushing to assign meaning to everything, what if we just observed the raw structure of experience?
  
• The tyranny of story. We impose narratives on reality to make sense of it, but life isn’t a novel—it’s fluid, complex, and often resists neat explanations.
  
• Seeing life as a composition. Artists instinctively view the world in terms of lines, shapes, and colours before assigning meaning. What if we could apply this to life itself?
  
• Narrative creates an illusion of control. When we fit our experiences into a story, we feel like we understand them—but this often means we filter out aspects of reality that don’t fit the script.
  
• Escaping the script. Instead of seeing events in terms of success/failure, hero/villain, what if we trained ourselves to recognize patterns, rhythms, and structures?
  
• Experiencing emotions as shapes. Anxiety, for example, isn’t just a story about what might go wrong—it’s a pattern of sensations: a tightness in the chest, restless hands, spiraling energy.
  
• Shaping reality like a magician. Chaos magicians and mystics focus on patterns rather than explanations—once you recognise the shape of things, you can reshape them.

Try This Experiment:

For a day, walk around as if you are an artist or a seer of shapes. Ignore the names of things. Ignore the stories your mind wants to tell. Just notice structure, movement, and form. What shifts when you perceive the world this way? Let me know what you discover!

Join the Conversation:

If you enjoyed this episode, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Drop me an email, a post on Bluesky, or a message on Twitter/X.

And if you haven’t already, subscribe to the Soulcruzer Podcast so you don’t miss future episodes.

Until next time—happy wandering.

🎙️ Listen & Subscribe: Soulcruzer Podcast