The Essence of Things

We need a cultural renaissance of the essence of things

There are certain words which, for whatever reason, are ridiculously popular for a period. Words with wide circulation in 2024 include “vibes”, “manifesting”, “hustling” and “rizz” (Oxford’s word of the year last year in case you didn’t know). They can be heard and seen everywhere, from marketing campaigns, social media posts, conversations on chat shows and sprinkled into everyday chit chatter. They stimulate the cultural zeitgeist and focus our minds on them. The underlying themes of these words? Energy, connection, action, and attraction. But what gives them all meaning is essence. So why aren’t we using the word essence more often? And why aren’t we speaking more about the essence of things?

Essence – one of the most important words in the English language, in my opinion – is a word which has gone out of mainstream fashion, or at the very least, not used as frequently as it ought to be. Many people frequently think of the word “essence” when it comes to perfume, how it smells and what it suggests. But its value and significance to how we see and experience life makes it a word worth using beyond a brief encounter with a whiff of scent.   

For clarity’s sake, essence means “the basic or most important idea or quality of something”, the “most distinctive element of a thing” or, in a theological context, “an immaterial or spiritual entity.” My favourite understanding of essence is through its Latin origins, essentia, meaning “the being of something”. There’s no trying involved. It just is.

Thinking about the increasingly intense capitalistic rhythm, rituals, and rules of everyday life, our conscious (and increasingly unconscious) obsession and response to external metrics (time, money, productivity, classifying, quantifying, and branding) has arguably watered down our understanding and connection to the very essence of whatever is in front of us, whether that be an object, experience, or an encounter. As a result, we are reducing our human experience by falling into the trap of focusing on elements that are the by-product of the thing, and not the thing itself.

Not only that, it decreases our sense of wellbeing, connection and joy. It makes us hyper focused on the logic of something. There is of course a place and time for logic. But I’ve come to discover in recent years that many “logical decisions” a) are not in fact logical at all, and it’s like pushing water uphill to nobody’s benefit b) are often backed by the energy of force (“I have to do this because by convention it is a logical decision” which drains the joy and passion from the decision and so the Universe doesn’t receptively respond and c) do not offer lifegiving energy. As well described by Elin Petronella in a recent post “the best things in life are rarely logical yet they’re essential for our wellbeing and purpose in this life on earth.”

Essence in the opposite of logic. Essence actively disregards logic. Essence is the mysterious elements and moments that make life interesting. We do not know why we are drawn to the essence of one thing and not another. Essence is not something that can ever be controlled.

When we focus too much on logic, we become disconnected to essence and the mystery of things. And humans, according to Max Weber, one of the founding fathers of sociology, have a fundamental need for mysticism. In a modern world where every decision – from what to eat to who to date – feels (and is) more industrialised, rationalised and controlled by algorithms, people (influenced by governments and corporations no less) place more faith and focus on a demystified scientific worldview. Our increasing use of technology (six hours and 40 minutes is the average amount of time internet users spend online everyday) is dysregulating our connection to the essence of things. As a result, our natural – and fundamentally human – ability to tune into the essence of things is lessened.

For thousands of years, humans have instinctively and solely relied on the five senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste) to decipher the essence and value of something. As highlighted in a previous post, everyone would benefit from the essence of real flowers than fake ones. By its very nature, essence requires patience to absorb the presence of the being of something without placing any external value on it. This is why essence, to some extent, is the antithesis to the attention economy as it doesn’t expect or need anything in return. Without appreciating and being aware of the essence of things, are we really living the full human experience? What is our human experience if we don’t encounter or tune into the essence of things?

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Essence, until recently, wasn’t a word that I used or thought about very much. It was only until a recent and hectic trip to California that I picked up on its importance. Leaving LAX, it took me a few trippy days to adapt to the frequency of the West Coast.* As a frequent traveller within Europe, I couldn’t help but feel that California (and perhaps the US as a whole) has a completely different undercurrent to the European continent – money. The very essence and undercurrent of Europe, in contrast, is its history. Buildings, streets, parks, and monuments have been initiated and shaped by the weight and presence of history and the values gained from different periods of time. The essence of history and the stories and sites crafted around it are inescapable.  

Of course money, like everywhere else, is obviously an undercurrent to the way and order of life in Europe to the extent that it facilitates ease of living. Yet it doesn’t dominate above all else as it does in the US. In Europe there is more of an unspoken cultural emphasis and understanding on focusing on things which fosters full human flourishing such as creating and crafting a high-quality life beyond monetary goods (friendship, hobbies, relaxing etc), something which Kirsten Powers touches upon in her brilliant essay “The way we live in the United States is not normal”.

Naturally, in a city like LA which is designed and primed towards valuing and fixating on money – who has a lot of it and who doesn’t have any – and fame (whether this be for good or bad reasons, offering something of worth or mere attention-seeking) people who are motivated by these things alone soon discover on attaining them that they aren’t as happy or fulfilled as they thought they would be. It’s difficult, and often impossible, to capture the essence of instant fame or wealth as there is no real weight of worth, value and substance attached to it. This is because essence, by its very nature, is dignified and quiet. It takes time to come into form. Instant fame and wealth are not. Similarly, and as bluntly put by the FT’s Jo Ellison:

“Social media has swept away the mystery of what it means to be absurdly rich and shoved it in our faces.”

Such behaviour is anti-essence; it repels more than it attracts.

By overlooking the lifegiving and nurturing aura and energy that essence offers which is spiritually and creatively richer than the superficial and short-term nature of fame or get-rich-quick money schemes, I can’t help but question what this means for human, animal and environmental dignity. Essence is all about the immediate and intense immersion of a thing and appreciation of its intrinsic goodness without thinking of the external metrics mentioned earlier. Whilst the essence of things remains an enigma to humans, that shouldn’t stop us from actively engaging with the very experience that awakens our imagination and senses. Not everything that revives our human experience needs to be over-analysed or explained. It just is.

*Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of LA and California minus the unhealthy obsession around money and fame.