About Me

Hi, I’m Erik.

I’m someone who has always been deeply curious about life. I’m drawn to the big questions, to art and music, to the quiet moments that make you stop and feel the mystery of being here. I live in the Pacific Northwest, where mist, trees, and long stretches of gray invite reflection and imagination. Nature has always been a place where I can breathe and remember what matters.

My inner life has been marked by intensity for as long as I can remember. As a child, I lived with fear, sensitivity, and a steady awareness of death. Alongside that, there was also a strong current of aliveness. Creativity, play, and a longing for connection were always present, even when things felt heavy or unsafe.

As I grew older, that intensity turned inward. I moved through long periods of anxiety, existential depression, and feeling deeply lost. At times, I struggled with suicidal thoughts. Not as a desire to die, but as a wish for the pain to stop. I did not feel broken so much as overwhelmed by being alive without a clear way to understand or hold what was happening.

In early adulthood, everything collapsed. The structures I relied on stopped working, and I entered what I can only describe as a spiritual emergency. There was little context in modern life for this kind of experience. No clear language, no cultural container, and very few places where it could be spoken about honestly without being reduced, pathologized, or dismissed.

Because of that, I went searching. I immersed myself in depth psychology, contemplative traditions, somatic approaches, and trauma informed work. I spent years studying both Western contemplative literature and scientific research to understand what was happening in my own inner life. Over time, a simple but profound realization emerged. I was not only my thoughts, emotions, or despair. There was a quieter awareness underneath them. Steady, present, and untouched by the chaos..

Today, I’m involved in several creative and community-based spaces. I serve as a member of the Steering Committee for the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis, and and I lead events and groups at the Helios Event Center in Washington. I’m engaged in, collaborative projects, and artistic expression that explore what it means to grow, heal, and belong together. Creativity and relationship are central to how I stay connected to life.

I’m fascinated by how humans grow, how suffering shapes us, and how creativity and love persist even in difficult conditions. I care deeply about authenticity, about staying close to what feels real, and about living in a way that honors both the fragility and the beauty of being human.

I don’t experience my life as a finished story. It feels more like an ongoing conversation with the world, one that includes struggle, wonder, humor, and grace. I’m still learning how to be with myself, with others, and with the larger mystery we’re all part of. And I feel grateful to be here, participating in that learning.