Why I Love Seductive, Awe Inspiring Encounters
I find that there are moments when the flatline of my daily life gives way to a jagged, electric pulse. These periods of awe, wonderment, and sheer enchantment are not luxuries but necessities.
We don’t just crave excitement; we need to be seduced by life from time to time. To be taken hostage by beauty. To be ransacked by mystery. To be undone by awe.
I remember the first time it hit me. I was 14. Standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon with my mom and brother. She was all grace and guidance, but my attention was stolen by something else entirely: the raw, aching immensity of the canyon itself.
It was more than just a view. I felt seduced like an intimate, open-mouthed kiss from the universe. It made me feel microscopic and infinite at the same time. That was my first real taste of deep intimacy with the world.
Since then, I’ve had others. A lover’s sexy body next to me in bed. A moment of awe while watching a lightning storm from Navy Pier in Chicago. A conversation with a stranger at a cafe while indulging in a piece of apple pie. These weren’t just experiences; they were portals into what it means to be human.
In Eastern philosophy, particularly Taoism, there’s a belief that the Tao can’t be captured, only followed. It flows like water and dances like wind. And every now and then, it seduces us out of our cages. Through beauty. Through chaos. Through awe. It whispers, “Wake up.”
Which brings me to the Siren.
Not the cartoon mermaid kind. I’m talking about the mythological archetype that sings not to drown men, but to wake them. To shake them loose from stale routines and domesticated desire.
Sirens, in the Greek myths, lured sailors not with danger, but with the promise of knowledge, pleasure, and even death. For me they are allure wrapped in black leather. And men like me follow because something deep inside us wants to be unmoored.
The Siren archetype is alive and well. She may not sing from rocky islands anymore, but she dances through our lives in unexpected ways. A book that haunts you. A city that calls to you. A person who doesn’t fit your plans but fits your soul. The Tao is full of sirens. And the wise don’t resist them. Instead they heed the call.
The seduction of the Siren isn’t about sex. It’s about soul. It’s the raw thrill of being seen, shaken, summoned to something deeper. She doesn’t just tempt. She tunes you to your own wildness. That’s her gift.
So how do we invite awe, enchantment, and the Siren’s spell into our lives?
Let me offer five pieces of hard-won wisdom:
🔥 Court the Mystery, Not the Map
Stop trying to GPS your life. Instead of scripting your path, flirt with detours. Wander alleyways. Sit in jazz clubs with a exotic cocktail alone. Let life surprise you. The Tao shows itself not in the plan, but in the improvisation.
🔥 Beautify the Mundane
Light incense to do the dishes. Wear your best shirt to read poetry. Eat strawberries with your fingers. Because enchantment lives in the detail, create rituals that make your life feel like an offering.
🔥 Let Pleasure Lead Sometimes
Not all paths need purpose. Sometimes, you just need to feel good. Luxuriate yourself along in a hot tub. Book a one-way ticket to some esoteric location. Dance like your ancestors are watching and cheering. There’s wisdom in hedonism when it’s soulful.
🔥 Fall in Love with Aliveness
Fall in love with cities, with thunderstorms, with strangers, with yourself. Don’t be so afraid of heartbreak that you forget to flirt with existence. Zhuangzi said it best: “Great understanding is broad and unhurried; small understanding is cramped and busy.” Make room for rapture.
🔥 Answer the Siren’s Call (Even If It Breaks You)
If someone or something sings to your soul then just go. Don’t analyze it to death. Don’t ask your committee of inner critics. Just go. Some of the best things I’ve ever done started with “this might ruin me.” And some kinda did. But they also remade me.
☄️☄️☄️
The world doesn’t need more people asleep at the wheel. It needs more people enchanted and willing to be undone by a canyon, a lover, a moment.
That 14-year-old boy who stood at the Grand Canyon? He didn’t just see the Earth’s raw beauty. He saw himself as small, and beautiful, and gloriously alive.
If you’ve forgotten what it feels like to be awe-struck, go stand at the edge of something vast. Let it strip you bare. And when you hear that siren song, don’t plug your ears.
Answer it.
The mundane can wait.
“The world doesn’t need more people asleep at the wheel. It needs more people enchanted and willing to be undone by a canyon, a lover, a moment.”
I love this…and I’m with Bougie Hippie’s comment… “You're writing is sublime.”
Thanks once again, you are on it.
Yes!