Recently life has been asking me to look more closely at what I do and how I am.
It is calling out for me to pay more attention to the detail – for example; not just what I write, but how I am when I write, not just what I eat, but how I am when I eat, not just what I do in any given moment, but how I am when doing this.
I have begun to realise that my relationship with detail has been somewhat inconsistent and that, at times, I have thought of ‘detail’ as the enemy. Detail was those frustrating ‘fiddly’ elements that had to be put up with to get done what was needed.
So more recently I have been looking at the detail of my relationship with the detail.
Growing up, detail was where the conflict lay. Control, arguments and manipulation lay in the detail. At school the detail was the difference between passing and failing, between the smart kids and the not so smart kids.
Detail was sold as where the path to your future lay. In business, the detail was where people would try to ‘pull a swiftie’ and play a trick on you.
Then, looking at society overall, I realised we had the saying that “the devil is in the detail.”
It began to make no sense – why would I look at the detail with a sense of panic, fear or dread?
Of course, as with so many things in life, it turns out that the opposite is true. It is not the devil that lives in the detail, but love. It’s the care I take in each moment that adds to the ease with which I will take my next step.
It’s the way I leave a task, job or project that will determine the ease with which I, or someone else, will pick it up again. It is the understanding I can bring to why I make the choices I make that frees the control that my past patterns had.
In these ways, the detail holds the key to our freedom, not only in this moment, but in the next as well.
Detail, like a drop of water running down a leaf, cleans and magnifies what is beneath. Detail, like a breeze on a hot day, refreshes and changes how I feel about a current circumstance. The circumstance doesn’t change, but how I relate to it does.
There is detail in everything.
Even the breath I take while writing this sentence is filled with detail – there is a warmth, a depth, that I can choose to observe. If I do this, it brings awareness to my muscles and whole body. In fact, all of how I am in life right now gets shown to me in that moment.
Imagine that – all of life reflected in one moment. This doesn’t sound like the work of the devil, but rather the all-encompassing love of Divinity.
Dedicated to the Gentle Breath Meditation, as taught by Universal Medicine, for offering me a way to re-establish my true relationship with detail.
By Joel Levin (Western Australia)
Further Reading:
Serge Benhayon – A Life of Detail
God Is In The Detail
Mental Awareness V Conscious Presence
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
This sentence states a lot for me, “It is calling out for me to pay more attention to the detail – for example; not just what I write, but how I am when I write, not just what I eat, but how I am when I eat, not just what I do in any given moment, but how I am when doing this”. That these and many more things, need that particular attention, they can’t be left to do their own thing. Because when we leave things half done, what happens to the other half? Where is conscious presence in all of that?
This sharing is stating that everything matters, and no matter is to be left without your presence being present, simple yet potent!…
“The circumstance doesn’t change, but how I relate to it does.” Undertaking any task with love and attention to detail transforms the task to a movement of grace.
This is another gold statement pick up. How we are in anything is what matters, so then any circumstance can change, because of the fact we know who we are. Then the circumstance is rendered.
De-tail is a funny 😄 word as with any word 📖 it can be reinterpreted so capitalising on this we can take away someone’s tail or story (de-tail) and align them to the innate Love 💓 of our essences or Soul thus this Deepens or rubs out the relationship we have with our spirit.
Joel you have shared so many pearls of wisdom here, and this is just one of them that I deeply appreciate: “In these ways, the detail holds the key to our freedom, not only in this moment, but in the next as well” – detail comes with presence, and the more presence we can bring to what we do then the more we can bring the gentleness and the natural connection to the love that we are to work through us and hence why this is something that offers us freedom rather than incarceration.
This is a given Joel, and yet I had not stopped to consider this deeply enough and thus to appreciate how much of a difference this can make in our lives: “It’s the way I leave a task, job or project that will determine the ease with which I, or someone else, will pick it up again.”
This is what makes conscious presence very different to mindfulness: “It is calling out for me to pay more attention to the detail – for example; not just what I write, but how I am when I write, not just what I eat, but how I am when I eat, not just what I do in any given moment, but how I am when doing this.” – Mindfulness does not ask you to be aware of how you are when you do what you do, whereas conscious presence asks you to go much deeper and in tune with the One Song within.
I used to rush through things and feel quite stressed, in that I would skim over the surface of what I was doing because of the awful way I felt within myself. Nowadays I am more present with my body and my being, and this really allows for me to be present in each moment, in that there is an opportunity to enjoy how I feel, the stillness, my breath, taking greater care of my body and responding to how it feels, and also choosing the quality I am in.
The quality we choose to live in and with is so important, ‘ but how I am when I write, not just what I eat, but how I am when I eat, not just what I do in any given moment, but how I am when doing this.’
Appreciation of the detail our essences or Soul-full-ness and when we are connected, they are one and the same, that deepens our relationships in the most intimate (non sexual) way.
The devil in the detail is quite a strange saying, I can see that in some cases deceit can be hidden in small details, but it’s really up to us how we want to be with detail, with the best intent being to bring all of our love and care.
Well said Melinda, and detail does exist when done with lack of care or done with care – for the detail of disregard is specific and deliberate, whilst the detail of care is beholding and powerful.
Maybe we need to claim love is in the detail, ‘It is not the devil that lives in the detail, but love.’
Going into the detail of how life feels makes for a much clearer and wider understanding of life.
Love is certainly in the detail, as going for a job promotion this week I was very detailed in my approach for this interview and as a result I felt very prepared and equipped to deal with anything that was asked of me.
Perhaps we could change the saying from “the devil is in the detail’ to ‘heaven is in the detail’?
There is love in the detail; it allows us to complete things and move on gracefully, without hooks and tendrils that bind us to the past.
Spot on Gabriele – love is in the detail, the care and the beholding and leaves a space free for another to simply be.
The energy in which we complete a task is what another will come along and feel, ‘It’s the way I leave a task, job or project that will determine the ease with which I, or someone else, will pick it up again.”
‘Imagine that – all of life reflected in one moment.’ Joel, this is amazing, it inspires me to deeply appreciate that every moment is a magical moment and what a gift this is and what will our world be like when we maximise these moments with absolute love.
“Even the breath I take while writing this sentence is filled with detail” – this is beautiful, it really makes me wonder how many details just pass us by or we don’t take full notice of, and it reminds me of the magic that’s on offer if we stick to this moment without skipping ahead to the next.
Detail can add so much to our lives, ‘Detail, like a drop of water running down a leaf, cleans and magnifies what is beneath.’
I agree that detail can and is used as a means of control by some people. It’s a way to catch people out or make them feel less. However I also see it used with a great deal of care, to make sure that every detail has been taken care of so it supports the flow of a project or another person. Then there is magic in the detail.
Definitely, the detail brings in that higher quality of care and people really do feel the difference.
Bringing more care into our lives and other people’s lives is much needed in our world, ‘It’s the care I take in each moment that adds to the ease with which I will take my next step.’
This reminds me of an old saying ‘Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’. If we take responsibility for all the little things in life they build a foundation for everything else to grow from.
So true Mary, this highlights that every small detail and moment counts and they are equally as important as any other moment as they offer us space to embrace responsibility and love to life and to our every movement.
Great point Mary, building a strong foundation is always key.
In my job there are lots of people who tell me the devil is in the detail, I correct them each time and say “the clarity is in the detail”. If you aren’t willing to look at the detail you will never know the full truth.
As long as the detail is simple and thus avoiding the complexities of the detail we get in fine print and reinterpreted wording, because Truth-full-ness is super simple.
Detail also makes us more aware, because to concentrate on the detail you have to be aware of every move you are making.
Wow, Sally this is so true, it is like being in conscious presence and like space is expanding as we connect to more awareness. Also, there is flow and rhythm to connecting to the detail.
“It’s the care I take in each moment that adds to the ease with which I will take my next step.” – I wish for the world to know this, how each moment builds upon the next and life is not such a ‘random’ thing that just ‘happens to us’.
‘It is not the devil that lives in the detail, but love.’ Spot on Joel, it is interesting how the saying has been about the devil being in the detail, when in truth it has always been love offering us more to understand and have awareness about.
Like so many things, the true meaning and gift of every detail has been turned around and somewhat twisted; the only so-called ‘devil’ in the detail is the detail we haven’t attended to and left unfinished and uncared for.
“The circumstance doesn’t change, but how I relate to it does.” – this is where the magic happens. We can blame circumstances and do a big song and dance about it, or we can change the way we relate to what happens. It is simple although can feel difficult at times depending on how attached we are.
A beautiful turnaround Of a statement that was there of course, to misdirect humanity
Thank you Joel. This line jumped out for me today and just what I needed to read, ‘It’s the care I take in each moment that adds to the ease with which I will take my next step.’
In one of my writings I have been asked to provide more detail, I realise that there are some beliefs I hold around detail that needs to go, because they do not serve me to open up to the evolution and expansion that is on offer. There is detail in every moment, so much for us to explore and understand.
There is a completeness that comes with attending to the details, a wholesomeness and a clarity that gives us space to explore the next move.
Like, looking at things through a magnifying glass, we could be mesmerized and totally fascinated by the intricacies of details that we would not otherwise be aware of and appreciate its beauty, or we could just be overwhelmed. I agree – it is a relationship, and it feels like there’s something to do with how much we are prepared to observe and accept what is.