I’ve learned about the concept of anemoia recently because I began to feel it so strongly in recent years. I dated a guy who lived in a town that had so many things that brought me the joy of my childhood. I ended up moving to it 6 months ago and it delivered on the feeling. Although, on a meta level, I don’t think it’s true that we’re nostalgic over places we’ve never been. Perhaps we’ve never been there physically, but the principles of the place, the state of mind we find ourselves in when in this never before visited place, we’ve been there before. The conditions we experience while feeling the anemoia are conditions we’ve had before. And I think that’s the beauty of any form of nostalgia. Your not simply yearning for a time or place, you’re yearning for conditions that can be recreated if you learn how to redesign your experience
Yes indeed, there is a Welsh word for this very feeling, hiraeth:
"Though similar to the concept of hüzün in Turkish and saudade in Portuguese, hiraeth is a uniquely Welsh word. English musters terms like longing, homesickness, and nostalgia by way of translation. But they’re paltry substitutes.
Hiraeth gives a name to that sense of incompleteness you feel when you’re acutely aware of something missing in your life. Something you’ve left behind in the past – a home, a sense of feeling at home in yourself, an out-grown dream – or maybe an ideal you’ve invented that can never be realised, or a hope that perpetually eludes you as the future unfolds.
At its core, hiraeth boils down to an awareness of the presence of absence, kindling a feeling in which pain and joy are braided too tightly to untangle."
Oh I do love that word as well! For some reason it didn't pop into my head when I was writing this. I once saw someone with the word Hiraeth as the customization. Very cool. Thank you for putting this here for everyone!
The description and concept of 'Anemoia' really resonated with me, something that clearly shows up as an ache for something the heart remembers and yearns for. I love how you found a resolution to the longing by suggesting we include in our lives the qualities we sense are missing for us to feel at home.
I connected the idea of anemoia to an Islamic concept that before our earthly life the souls of all humanity once stood in direct awareness of God. Though humans do not consciously remember this moment, yet the soul senses the time it once knew beyond its worldly abode. It remembers without a memory, without a timeline. It, therefore, experiences life as exile, never feeling fully at home. The heart keeps longing for a state never lived in this world.
You will find this in the Islamic concept of the Primordial Covenant (Quran 7:172) and in Sufi Literature. Jalaluddin Rumi expresses an anemoia-like longing in his poem "The Song of The Reed" (opening poem in his masterpiece the Masnavi) where the reed flute uprooted from its origins, the reed bed, cries out in pain of separation. He uses it as a metaphor to symbolize the human soul's painful separation from its Divine source and its longing for its true home.
Yes. I agree with your reference to the soul’s painful separation from Source. In my study of consciousness and reality (both academic and experiential), the bottom line of the human condition is the result of a collective belief, etched into the human psyche at the pivotal moment of “creation” (or more aptly, our creation story), that we are separate and alone. We are born into a fear-based reality and that fear is the foundation of every facet of human life and humanity’s interaction with the earth and all life on this planet. Even physicists who study consciousness, those who look elsewhere than the brain for its origins, will tell you in a moment of honest reflection, that belief in its own separateness leaves humanity untethered. We once knew that we were of Source and understood the idea of oneness with All That Is. But in our current timeline, that understanding is lost. And so there is much pain and suffering and a “longing” that for some can never be satisfied. Psychologists blame early trauma or neglect or abandonment or parental death in early childhood. And they can help in filling the deep, dark, void that follows one into adulthood. But the soul’s “longing” is a different matter. The veil of forgetfulness that descends in the months and early years after birth limits our ability to maintain a sense of spiritual connection. And our “socialization” locks us into a looping reality of separateness. This is changing, however. The veil is thinning as new generations are being born. Evolutionary consciousness is entering individual and collective awareness and conversation. Seeds are being planted everywhere (just look at the minds and hearts of so many writers on Substack). We are sowing a oneness that is beginning to blossom as the old ways of being are exposed and unraveling. We are here at just the right moment to rewrite humanity’s creation story. (Please consider checking out my Substack publications where I expand on these ideas). Thanks. Judith Gusky
Thank you for reading and sharing your insights. I sometimes feel that the trauma of our early years or even as young adults, awakens within us the need to go on a journey to find our true origins and the reality of our existence. And for some this journey helps in addressing the deeper longing.
I am relatively new to Substack. Am currently writing a series on gratitude, and would be happy if you could take out some time to read and comment. I will surely check out your publications. Thanks, Farheen
This is a deeply moving post. I think we all have felt this, and not for our own pasts, but perhaps for a past that we missed on somehow, when a choice was made that sent us on a path to a different future.
I’ve learned about the concept of anemoia recently because I began to feel it so strongly in recent years. I dated a guy who lived in a town that had so many things that brought me the joy of my childhood. I ended up moving to it 6 months ago and it delivered on the feeling. Although, on a meta level, I don’t think it’s true that we’re nostalgic over places we’ve never been. Perhaps we’ve never been there physically, but the principles of the place, the state of mind we find ourselves in when in this never before visited place, we’ve been there before. The conditions we experience while feeling the anemoia are conditions we’ve had before. And I think that’s the beauty of any form of nostalgia. Your not simply yearning for a time or place, you’re yearning for conditions that can be recreated if you learn how to redesign your experience
Yes indeed, there is a Welsh word for this very feeling, hiraeth:
"Though similar to the concept of hüzün in Turkish and saudade in Portuguese, hiraeth is a uniquely Welsh word. English musters terms like longing, homesickness, and nostalgia by way of translation. But they’re paltry substitutes.
Hiraeth gives a name to that sense of incompleteness you feel when you’re acutely aware of something missing in your life. Something you’ve left behind in the past – a home, a sense of feeling at home in yourself, an out-grown dream – or maybe an ideal you’ve invented that can never be realised, or a hope that perpetually eludes you as the future unfolds.
At its core, hiraeth boils down to an awareness of the presence of absence, kindling a feeling in which pain and joy are braided too tightly to untangle."
Hiraeth: a very Welsh feeling | Wales.com https://share.google/FDK0uwlymkadc8gKL
Oh I do love that word as well! For some reason it didn't pop into my head when I was writing this. I once saw someone with the word Hiraeth as the customization. Very cool. Thank you for putting this here for everyone!
I had not heard this term before. It felt like a key code. Unlocking the DNA to remember what we forgotten. Thanks for posting.
I love that description!! I am so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you too
The description and concept of 'Anemoia' really resonated with me, something that clearly shows up as an ache for something the heart remembers and yearns for. I love how you found a resolution to the longing by suggesting we include in our lives the qualities we sense are missing for us to feel at home.
I connected the idea of anemoia to an Islamic concept that before our earthly life the souls of all humanity once stood in direct awareness of God. Though humans do not consciously remember this moment, yet the soul senses the time it once knew beyond its worldly abode. It remembers without a memory, without a timeline. It, therefore, experiences life as exile, never feeling fully at home. The heart keeps longing for a state never lived in this world.
You will find this in the Islamic concept of the Primordial Covenant (Quran 7:172) and in Sufi Literature. Jalaluddin Rumi expresses an anemoia-like longing in his poem "The Song of The Reed" (opening poem in his masterpiece the Masnavi) where the reed flute uprooted from its origins, the reed bed, cries out in pain of separation. He uses it as a metaphor to symbolize the human soul's painful separation from its Divine source and its longing for its true home.
So interesting! Thank you so so much for sharing this!
Yes. I agree with your reference to the soul’s painful separation from Source. In my study of consciousness and reality (both academic and experiential), the bottom line of the human condition is the result of a collective belief, etched into the human psyche at the pivotal moment of “creation” (or more aptly, our creation story), that we are separate and alone. We are born into a fear-based reality and that fear is the foundation of every facet of human life and humanity’s interaction with the earth and all life on this planet. Even physicists who study consciousness, those who look elsewhere than the brain for its origins, will tell you in a moment of honest reflection, that belief in its own separateness leaves humanity untethered. We once knew that we were of Source and understood the idea of oneness with All That Is. But in our current timeline, that understanding is lost. And so there is much pain and suffering and a “longing” that for some can never be satisfied. Psychologists blame early trauma or neglect or abandonment or parental death in early childhood. And they can help in filling the deep, dark, void that follows one into adulthood. But the soul’s “longing” is a different matter. The veil of forgetfulness that descends in the months and early years after birth limits our ability to maintain a sense of spiritual connection. And our “socialization” locks us into a looping reality of separateness. This is changing, however. The veil is thinning as new generations are being born. Evolutionary consciousness is entering individual and collective awareness and conversation. Seeds are being planted everywhere (just look at the minds and hearts of so many writers on Substack). We are sowing a oneness that is beginning to blossom as the old ways of being are exposed and unraveling. We are here at just the right moment to rewrite humanity’s creation story. (Please consider checking out my Substack publications where I expand on these ideas). Thanks. Judith Gusky
Thank you for reading and sharing your insights. I sometimes feel that the trauma of our early years or even as young adults, awakens within us the need to go on a journey to find our true origins and the reality of our existence. And for some this journey helps in addressing the deeper longing.
I am relatively new to Substack. Am currently writing a series on gratitude, and would be happy if you could take out some time to read and comment. I will surely check out your publications. Thanks, Farheen
I agree and of course! I’d be happy to
Beautiful insight! Looking forward to taking some extra time to visit your page today! Thank you Judith!
This is a deeply moving post. I think we all have felt this, and not for our own pasts, but perhaps for a past that we missed on somehow, when a choice was made that sent us on a path to a different future.
Yes!! Most definitely. Thank you for this imagery. :)
Happy Monday!
Happy Monday!
Ah ja! finally I have the word. I always called it "future nostalgia." 🥰
That works too! :)
Oddly enough, Anemonia often strikes those who are quitting drug and alcohol abuse. For them, it manifests as a great, unfillable emptiness.
Wow, I had never heard this but it makes a lot of sense! Thank you for sharing this Marco
Sorry. I wrote something stupid: I confused Anemoia with Anhedonia. Yet more proof of my dyslexia... 😂
Although nostalgia for a perfect/nonexistent world was present in my moments of melancholy.
lol! Well in this case it seems like a happy accident that still kind of makes sense in a way!