Delicate Machinery

So, you realized you're human, and you're trying to figure out what that means — how to be that fully, how to feel it in your body and not just your head. Yeah, me too. That's what this whole show is on a quest toward. This question of “What does it mean to be human?” has chased me my whole life. From gentle beckoning in the wind over a turquoise sea in Italy while I was backpacking Europe for a couple of months as a 22-year-old, to jump scares while innocently traversing this thing we call “life” as a woman living in California with a husband and three kids. This question is beautiful and scary. As a kind of do-si-do (did anyone else have to learn square dancing in fourth grade?) with this question, I got three master’s degrees: religion, counseling, and Middle Eastern cultures and religions. I lived in the Middle East/SWANA for three years. I went on to get a PhD. My PhD focused on Embodied Validation—how we physically experience validation or invalidation in our bodies, how these sensations register somatically, and the role validation plays in transformation and liberation. I’ve sat with sheikhs in Baghdad and asked this question. I’ve sat with my three squirrelly kids on white spin-ny chairs in our living room and asked this question. I’ve sat with my own pain and asked this question. Now, let’s get at this question together. What does it mean to be human and how do we get more humanity back into the places it’s been proceduralized out of? Thanks for being on this journey with me. I really mean that. Wanna get regular updates on this humanity quest? Subscribe! Know someone who would widen their eyes and heart upon seeing this? Send it their way! Get full access to Delicate Machinery: the humanity beneath it all at dawnbulchandani.substack.com/subscribe