About Sente
Sente is really not a business in any standard meaning of the word: it exists as a labor of love, a legacy intended for a future we will never see, and an invitation for those who might feel this same love, or a similar one, if given the chance.
Initially, it was about a love that moved only in the hearts and minds of Patty and myself. But gradually it has become an expression of love on the part of quite a number of wonderful people, fellow explorers who have contributed to Sente’s existence and growth for more than two decades.
It is a love of extraordinary experience in the most expanded sense of that term- of the privilege of seeing and experiencing things far beyond our usual scope. It is also a love of functionality and common sense, goodness, unselfishness, and daring. A love of science and experimentation, of evidence and reality testing and rational thought. Love for the vast effort it takes to distinguish what is actual, achingly subtle, and wholly nonordinary from what is merely indulgent fantasy.
It is about sex that is more than sex, and motion that is far more than the activation of muscles.
It is about a love of dash and creativity, excellence, and the famous “zone” in which great musicians, martial artists and athletes flow and vanish while performing at the very heights of their powers. It is a cherishment of service and of grateful respect for others.
It is a love of forces not yet commonly defined, but which shape our lives as much or more than the four described in physics. These hidden forces animate a world of energy; it seems to exist independent of our physical universe, but it suffuses everything. We keep Sente alive for love of the mapping of that which is nearly un-mappable, and the passing along of extraordinary skills which are all but unteachable, but are vital to share.
It is a love of mentors and protégés and standing on the shoulders of magnificent forebearers. It is a love of mysterium tremendum—which cannot be understood and into which we gaze with love, awe, and gratitude, but not with belief or understanding.
Sente stems from a vast love for all that is unique and mysterious in human experiences; for things which should not be possible at all, but which in fact do happen. Patty and I have been blessed with a privileged, unique degree of training that has transformed our daily lives and allowed us to witness incredible beauty in the world around us. Every day, for love’s sake, we document as much of this experience as we possibly can, and try to pass along some of our access and skills, and the advantages that have flowed to us as a result of them.
Paul Richards
