IDEA
What can lived experience reveal about being human?
Humanessence begins in lived experience: the moments, relationships, institutions, and contradictions that invite us to see ourselves and one another differently.
These essays, reflections, and conversations do not offer a finished theory. Together, they form an evolving body of inquiry into who we are, how we become, and what we might choose to create together.
A Foundational Essay
What Ellie Has Taught Me About
Being Human
On motherhood, inherited wounds, and remembering the worth we were born with.
Humanessence begins with a simple premise: human worth is inherent. Ellie did not enter the world broken, deficient, or waiting for someone else to make her a valid human being. She was born whole.
Lived Experience Is a Way of Knowing
Experience can reveal knowledge that formal frameworks often miss. But experience is not automatically insight, nor is any one person's experience a universal truth.
Observation, introspection, self-awareness, humility, and discernment help us interpret what our lives are teaching us. Humanessence remains curious about the relationship between lived experience and self-awareness: what helps some experiences become insight, while others harden into assumption?
Listen to the Inquiry
Audio Essay:
KQED With a Perspective
When Did We Stop Seeing Each Other?
Podcast:
Shifting Paradigms: A conversation about Power and our changing relationship with work
with Nidia Trujillo and Farah Mahesri
A four-part conversation with Farah Mahesri about power, our changing relationship with work, and what a more human-centered future of work might require.
Where lived experience becomes inquiry
Blu Kaleidoscope
The Case for Evolving from the Golden to the Platinum Rule
Rethinking how we treat others by moving beyond the Golden Rule toward a more empathetic approach.
Blu Kaleidoscope is the narrative voice of Humanessence. It’s a space where personal experience, observation, research, and emerging ideas meet.
The writing begins with human moments, uses data to deepen rather than replace story, and invites readers to observe their own lives with greater curiosity.
Re-envisioning Identity Through a Kaleidoscope
An exploration of identity, perspective, and the many layers that shape how we see ourselves and others.
Join the Inquiry
Receive new essays, reflections, and invitations to explore what it means to be human through Blu Kaleidoscope.