ORIGIN IS THE GOAL

“Origin is the goal” is a translation from the Austrian author, Karl Kraus, “Ursprung ist das Ziel.” This word for origin in German comes from “ur” meaning original, most ancient, source, or starting point and from “sprung” which means leap (also the origin for “springing” in English.)

I am intrigued with the many possible meanings of this phrase.

It can be looked at as - we come back in the end to the beginning.

In that sense we can see the “O” in origin as coming full circle or as coming back to zero.

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. – T. S. Eliot

It can also be seen as what is described in alchemical lore as a leap from one substance to another. The lore of alchemy says that to transform something – a metal, a mind, a life – it must first be reduced to “prima materia” to its original, primal state, one also called “massa confusa.” Many is the time, indeed, in which we are reduced to a state of confusion as we move from a job, a relationship, a new politics, before life takes on a hopefully healthier new form and vitality.

Of course, our source, our origin lies, in most respects, in the past.  The past is not just gone, not over and done with – by no means! To a respectful and awakened person the past is an infinite, living and necessary source for learning and growth.

Walter Benjamin, in Section 14 of his “Theses of the Philosophy of History”, talks about “a tiger’s leap into the past” wherein we blast out of the continuum of the past the wisdom and practices needed to successfully navigate our present. He speaks of “that same leap in the open air of history” as part of transforming our world.

In any case, we can see the truth that every single one of us is an absolute origin. Often we don't think about that. I’ve been reading a book, “The Impressionists at First Hand”, that quotes criticisms and excitements that greeted the Impressionists during their day. Sisley, Degas, Renoir and Monet were derided for their originality. That reminded me that each one of us is indeed unique, is an original.

If we can tap into who we most deeply are, feel the deepest origin of the self, we then consciously embody that origin, that existential signature in everything we do. Every human has a distinctive voice. Every one of us has something to say, to express, that no one else can quite say or express.

So have faith in yourself and tap into your origins – however you conceive of them – your early family, your genetic tree, roots in early earth and the cosmos, heaven. However you conceive of them, take inspiration from your origins, your “ursprung” and the knowledge that you have the gift of being a new origin yourself. 

Picasso reportedly said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” 

You are an artist of your own life. You are an originality.  You are the culmination of all your ancestors as far back as you wish to consider.

The poet, Rilke, in his Sonnet to Orpheus, spoke of this origin.

But still for us Being is enchanted, in
a hundred
places it is still the origin - a play of pure
energies touched by no one who has not knelt, filled with
wonder.

You are the origin for every single thing you do and are.

As a therapist and educator, I hope that each client and student can tap into this deep well of self-respect and self-discovery. This life is the biggest gift we will ever get and tapping into it, we find all the words and all the music of our being.

Origin is the goal.