Event: the initial act

The way we name events
reveals our vision and place in the world.

📍 Event &amp meaning

What really happens when an event upsets us?
Three ways to interpret it, three paths to growth.

 

From the breaking point
to the turning point

Our brain systematically eliminates the idea that our lives are conditioned by unpredictable events. Instead, it lulls us into the deceptive illusion that we are masters of our own destiny.


Admitting this fact — which we observe daily through barely noticeable incidents — we emancipate ourselves from intellectual dependence.

We begin to listen to another source, one that inspires our inner voice and reveals itself through its fearless nature.

We place ourselves above our brain and take control of the situation, maintaining a healthy distance from the fears we once identified with. The brain then returns to its role as a simple tool in the service of our living projects.

Exploring how we are anchored in reality.: it’s called
EVENT

Three layers define it

In the apparent linearity of a life’s path, the event emerges as a disjunction. It interrupts, unsettles, breaks the usual chain. Yet it can also — if welcomed, traversed, digested — become a turning point.

1. The event as the result of causality

In its older sense, the event was perceived as the final point in a sequence — outcome, verdict, sentence. This meaning has faded but lives on in the search for a “why” in patients. It becomes a presumed answer to guilt or a hidden order.

Holofeeling approach: set this frozen causality back in motion by transforming the fact into a call to turn inward.

2. The event as something that happens to a subject

The event is what happens to me. It becomes emotional: “sad”, “happy”, overwhelming. No longer the cause, it’s the subjective gaze that prevails. Trauma becomes a chance for self-listening, for breaking free from automatic judgment.

“What disturbs men is not things, but the judgments they make about them.” – Epictetus

3. The event as unexpected rupture

Disruption. Surprise. Breach. The event comes from outside. It is kairos – the fertile, unforeseen, timely moment. It is only understood in hindsight, sometimes long afterward. One can prepare for it through a gentle practice of welcoming the unpredictable.


IBM: a founding ethical code

IBM wasn’t founded by Mormons, but Thomas J. Watson Sr., its visionary leader, implemented a corporate culture deeply inspired by Methodist ethics. The motto: Respect, Service, Excellence.

Though these spiritual roots are now mostly forgotten, their traces persist in the collective behavior. The founding event — this breath of idealism — continues to act within the unconscious of the institution. An example of invisible transmission.


Pierre Gardelle: breathing before effort

Therapist Pierre Gardelle discovered that the only way not to run out of breath on a staircase is to breathe out fully just before the effort. A simple preventative breath changes the outcome of the event.

This seemingly minor act becomes a foundational metaphor: it is through daily training with micro-events that we learn to face major ruptures. Every daily tension becomes an exercise in presence.


Conclusion: the event as mirror

The event reveals us, not as victims, but as mirrors of our relation to reality. It reflects our relation to time, to others, and to ourselves. It invites us to move from narrative to silence, from reflex to listening, from imposed meaning to received meaning.

Suggested practice: each day, welcome a “micro-kairos” — an unexpected moment, a frustration, a silence — as a doorway to oneself.

“There is no great passage without an event, but no event without reception. Better to train daily in order to be ready for the great reception when the moment comes.”