Beneath the videos we watch and the news we hear about what’s going in in the world is our internal response to them. Inside we respond bodily and intimately to what’s going on. Going on with Covid lockdowns, for example, the war in Ukraine or Central Bank Digital Currencies. We have to fit the stories into our existing worldview. They nudge against childhood memories. They may make us wonder how we’re to be with others who see things differently. They may keep us up at night.
When inner responses are allowed and shared, something new and wonderful can be revealed: I'm not the only one
The outer story is shared and analyzed daily in a million communiques. But how we respond inside is silent and hidden. Even within our families and with our partners, what’s happening in our depths may not be welcome. What we take in and the personal meanings we give to it are private.
That we do this is a widely shared social convention. There are social rules about what’s OK to talk about, an Overton window that reveals not only what can be talked about but how we talk about it.
Our inner response to what’s going on – how it actually is for us – isn’t in the Overton window. But there are places and times when it might be – usually intentional groups.
When inner responses are allowed and shared, something new and wonderful can be revealed. The experience might be expressed something like this: I'm not the only one, or even, All of us thought we were the only one but none of us were. The recognition that the inner landscape is largely shared but isn’t seen to be shared is startling in a group. A light goes on and our relationship to the whole changes. That little light is the recognition that I’m in this with others. That recognition is a psychic quickening that is felt and recognized by some or all of the participants.
That’s very different from our usual sense of individual separation, which we might have experienced our whole lives. When that assumption is put aside, a crack in the world appears more or less immediately. This is a profound shift for the individual. It’s not an abstract idea but a shift in the relational field.
But that shift is very unstable and subtle. Like a light ahead in the forest it’s seen and then it’s not.
I like to think of it as being like a seed.
Then the challenge becomes how do we keep that small seed alive in ourselves in a world that’s committed to the separation and can imagine nothing else?
The short answer is: We do it with the help of others in a supportive ecosystem. Just like a physical seed is nourished with healthy soil, the consciousness seed is nourished in a receptive micro-climate of others, a group that’s gathered around that purpose.
Such a group can be informal and have a shifting membership. It can also be closed and committed for a while. In the second case it’s able to go more deeply. It can even work on the basic childhood belonging issues that are difficult to get to any other way.
Our inner landscape is shared and with skilful nurturance, our seeds might grow and do good in the world.
The limits of what are possible here are rich.
This recognition that, without exception, we’re in this together is like a seed. Like an acorn it can lie fallow and be food for pigs. Or under the right conditions, it can grow and become an oak - in this case an oak in the forest of One Humanity.
There are a number of formats and protocols to do this inner ecosystem work and many individuals stumbling toward it. They might be compared to the first colonies of creatures climbing out of the sea onto dry land. The territory is unfamiliar but the promise is great.
For me this recognition of our common landscape is a direct antidote to the separative mindset that, out of control, is ravaging our world.
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After not doing group work for some time I’m doing a series of easy-to-access drop-in calls anyone can join. They’re not the full depth work that is possible but a necessary base camp for further work. I imagine that most participants will get a taste of the distinctions I’m talking about here. There will be seven calls in this series, six more remaining and you are welcome to one or all.
The calls are Thursday at 11am Eastern for 90 minutes. Registration is required so I can send out a reminder before the call, including instructions for the “new” in the new conversation. Please register for each call separately.
Here is the link to register: . . .
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtfumhrzgjGdwoQ-6mUFrvOe18HHe_pMKQ
The next call this Thursday the 22nd, close to Christmas . . .
Merry Christmas!
Andrew
Thank you for the inspiring post, Andrew.
It is heartening to continue with even one or two small groups and trust that we bring change for the larger system. Part of my current process is learning to develop a blog https://thinkinginmovement.ca/moments/
Thinking in Movement ~ Winter 2022 - 2023'
https://thinkinginmovement.ca/thinking-in-movement-winter-2022/
With devotion to learning,
Katarina
Katarina Halm, M.A.
Feldenkrais® GCFP * Focusing CFT
Sounder Sleep System™ Assistant Trainer
Movement Intelligence Trainer
1 604 263 9123 (Vancouver BC Canada)
katarinalistens@gmail.com
thinkinginmovement.ca
feldenkraisinclusioninitiative.org
https://sandyjahmi.com/focusing-mentors/
https://coronaplaza.life/people/katarina-halm
"And many small groups start to change the system"