This post is part of an ongoing Q&A series. Thirty questions in total exploring themes of initiation, identity, meaning, and transformation.
Each one stands alone, but together they map a deeper conversation I’ve been guiding for years through Tattoo Pathway.
Rather than polished essays or formal teachings, these responses reflect the way things actually unfold in dialogue.
The first question started with a dream. You can go back to it here if you want to see where this began.
Question 13 (AI):
You’ve spoken about this idea of the “Original Greater Power” the mystery, the intelligence beyond language. For someone who’s been disconnected from any spiritual framework, how do they begin to reconnect with that source? Where do they start?
Answer (MN):
You just start with what’s in front of you. . . what you can actually see.
A few things come to mind in response to that question. First, I think it’s important to be humble enough to lay down everything you think you know and begin an active pursuit of discernment¹: What’s real, and what’s illusion? What’s true, and what’s false? What’s generative, and what’s degenerative? What’s moving you forward, and what’s holding you back?
So yes, it begins as everything we’ve spoken about does, with self-responsibility. With a self-reflective, self-initiatory decision. A decision to step onto a path that might not be clear. A decision to keep walking, even without a map.
And here’s the thing: there wouldn’t have been all the frameworks that came before, across millennia, in every corner of the world. . . if there weren’t something solid underneath them. A kind of universal footing. You’ll find, if you look, that it’s deeply human to ask the big questions. To pursue. To seek. To want to know.
Once you’ve made that decision to walk. . . once you’re ready to take responsibility for the steps, you’ll start to notice something. Yes, there’s darkness. But how else do you expect to see the stars.
We’ve already used the image of stumbling in the dark. So let’s continue with that. If you’re in a pitch-black room, and you open your eyes, what’s the first thing that happens? You can’t see much. But eventually, if you stay still and let your eyes adjust, you begin to make out shapes. Edges. Forms. Maybe the outline of a doorway or a chair. That’s the first layer of awakening.
That’s why I say: just pay attention to what’s right in front of you. Even if it’s small. Even if you don’t understand it yet. Even if it’s barely visible. Just see the next step. That’s enough.
There’s a reason fire, light, and the lantern have been symbols across cultures for thousands of years. They represent this very thing. . . the mystery, the source, the divine spark. . . showing the way. The OGP², the ineffable, the unnameable. It animates all things. It’s what breathes life into your body. It’s what sets the patterns. It’s the space we share.
conception, that initial ignition. . .that moment of connection, the beating heart, the first breath. . . that’s the OGP. So the truth is, we’re already connected. You can’t not be spiritual. If your heart is beating, you’re in it.
What do you need to make fire? Three things: ignition, oxygen, and fuel.
If you’re born, you have ignition. Your heart starts. Then you take your first breath, there’s your oxygen. But the fuel? The fuel is a relationship. It’s attention. It’s reverence. It’s what you feed the flame with over time.
People who say they aren’t spiritual usually just have a very small flame. A dim ember, buried beneath the noise and confusion. But if you’re here. . . reading, listening, asking. . . then the spark is there. For sure.
And all you need to do is look at it. Let it illuminate something. Let it show you the next step. That’s enough.
The more time you spend with that flame, the more you understand it. Watch it. Learn from it. Like sitting beside a fire or a candle. There’s a character to it. A rhythm. It never behaves exactly the same way twice. . . but you do start to notice patterns. You learn how close you can get before you get burned. You see how it responds to wind, to breath, to stillness.
So this is how I reccommend begining to cultivate relationship with the OGP, by observing the flame in your own heart. That’s where it lives. That’s the lamp. That’s the vessel. That’s where the oil is stored. The spark is already there. You just need to direct it.
And if you feel like you can’t see anything at all. if you feel completely lost, total darkness. Then you’re actually in a perfect place. That’s the place of pure potential. Endless possibility. The place from where everything springs.
The first step is preparation. Prepare to see. Let your eyes adjust. Let your heart soften. Let yourself perceive. . . not just with your mind, but with your centre, your core.
Because the mind isn’t seated up in the brain, not really. The real mind, the true perception, is seated in the heart.
That’s where the lamp is. That’s where the light lives. Prepare your mind by preparing your heart. And from there, you’ll begin to see and be seen. You’ll begin to perceive a power beyond you. A power that’s always been there, always will be. And you’ll be invited. . .gently, but unmistakably. . . into what’s unfolding for each and every one of us.
¹ Discernment, noun. The faculty by which the mind distinguishes truth from falsehood, the real from the illusory, the generative from the destructive. It is the capacity to perceive differences not merely in ideas, but in their direction and consequence. The failures of judgment that mark immaturity are most often failures of discernment. In this sense, discernment is not an abstract skill but a moral orientation. It reflects what a person cares to see, what they are willing to face, and what they are prepared to carry responsibility for.
In truth, the whole question can be answered with this one word. To begin reconnecting with the Creator, you must care about discernment. You must care about truth enough to sharpen your perception and attend to the orientation of your own heart. Until that concern is alive, you remain in the dark not because there is no light, but because you have not yet chosen to look.
² OGP (Original Greater Power). Within the Tattoo Pathway, we teach that tattooing generates a circuit between two people, formed through shared intention. This circuit creates a field that opens in two directions, granting access to a power greater than either individual alone, something beyond the personal self. We are not interested in intermediary powers or entities. Just as there are layers in physical reality, there are strata within metaphysical reality, and without discernment those layers can easily confuse or mislead. For this reason, we advise moving past intermediaries and orienting directly toward the source.
In our mythology, the OGP names the source, our originating reality from which all things arise. It is God in the narrow sense, a symbol invented to explain the generative field itself while acknowledging the unknown. That which has always been. That which is. That which will be. Known and unknown, seen and unseen, formed and unformed. It is the lattice from which matter, sound, number, pattern, and meaning emerge, the ordering intelligence beneath creation and the silence behind the name. Many myths, rituals, and ceremonies gesture toward it. Tattoo Pathway does not claim to define the creator by using the language of OGP, only to orient the human being back toward it, through attention, responsibility, and beauty.
