At the most basic level an idea is a relationship between conscious and energy. Consciousness and energy have many forms so to understand ideas we can look at ideas and choose which aspect of an idea is its “consciousness” part and which part is the “energy.”
Consciousness tends to have the following quantities: mass, form, heaviness, pulls inwards, straight lines, focus, sensitivity/sensing, the ability to sense relationships, limits and limitation, choice, decision, decider, awareness
Energy is light, tends towards formlessness and expansion, curved lines, expression.
When these are looked at as aspects of an idea, they will probably rarely be completely energy or completely consciousness. They will have flavors of both but one will dominate and that dominate feature determines whether it is more consciousness or more energy.
When two people dance together we can label the person leading as the person playing the roll of consciousness because they look around to sense the limits within which they can move on the dance floor. They also sense their partner and where they are (relationship) and they choose at any moment in time the movement they will do next. Meanwhile the follower expresses them. She may have the more complicated footwork. But usually she is the center of attention, what draws the viewer’s eye. But really they are both consciousness and both energy, it’s just at in the context of the bigger idea, one is more conscious and one more energy. In the end they become the dance.
A rider and their motorcycle, the motorcycle can be energy because it is expression guided by the consciousness of the rider. Or together the are expression guided by the limits of the road they are on. Or the bike is consciousness (form) and the gas that fuels it is energy.
So really, consciousness and energy in all of these contexts depends on the way in which we view the idea. They are relative to each other. So how is that useful?
It is a way of looking at ideas that can help us understand them more. Looking at the rider and a bike, because the rider is consciousness, they become the one responsible for making the decisions. Nothing can be the bikes fault, not really, so it is all up to the rider. Dancing, the lead is responsible for making decisions, and choosing where to go, but here it is important to realize that the lady has to be conscious as well. She has to be consciousness enough to realize what the lead is telling her. A bike is limited, there is not choice for it to think by itself but she has that ability and so for two people to dance well together they both have to be consciousness and energy its just that one is a little bit more of one and less of the other.
We all know that now adays light is viewed as both a particle and a wave. In some situations it is a particle and in others it is better viewed as a wave. We could say that the wave aspect is the energy part while the particle aspect is the consciousness part. And that they are both aspects of the same thing. Before this model came about people argued about whether light is a particle or whether it is a wave. Now that we understand light better, that it is both, and that this model also applies to sub-atomic particles, the door has been opened to the world of silicon technology as we know it today. All those fancy cars with the cool lighting affects are possible because scientists realized that light acts as both a particle and a wave, they found a way of modeling light as both.
So why look at an idea as consciousness or energy, why try to understand ideas as having both, because it opens the door to more possibilities. Because the more we understand, the more we can see the more potential we can realize.
And failing that, it’s another way of seeing the world and enjoying it, especially when the two aspects come together.
We become light when we realize that two opposing views are actually different views of the same thing.
Showing posts with label dancing (and the dance). Show all posts
Showing posts with label dancing (and the dance). Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Ideas, Growth and Expression
1.1 We are ideas. And we are made up of other ideas, things we have learned. As our consciousness radiates outwards from our center we express ourselves. We dance, we write, we sing, we talk, we sew we cook. Any of the ideas that are already apart of us we express. We share our true nature and others see this expression and enjoy it and perhaps are even inspired or energized by it or they get another view of all that is, a view that they haven’t got time to experience themselves.
1.2 Expressing ourselves we send energy outwards from our center so that other centers of consciousness can pull that energy inwards.
1.3 Resting for a moment while still expanding outwards, we see the expression of other ideas around us, and as a result we are inspired, and we see the world in a way that we aren’t able to directly experience. Energy flows from out of us and then into us, and each cycle the expression of ourselves changes slightly, affected by what is around us.
1.4 Now imagine expressing ourselves while directly connected to someone else. At the same time they are expressing themselves and so we change, we both do. And even as we are expressing ourselves we are changed by what we are connected to. Sometimes we change more, or what we are connected to changes more. Sometimes change goes from one to the other sometimes the other way around. Or perhaps the change also originates from a center outside of the centers of the two connected ideas, like they are part of a bigger idea.
1.5 Now imagine that as well as happening across time this happens across space, that we allow energy in at the same time as we radiate it out. So we are changing even as we express ourselves because we are seeing what is around us and seeing how what is around us is changing too.
1.6 It’s like dancing with someone on a really crowded dance floor. We are expressing ourselves but the way we express ourselves is shaped by the expression of all the other dancers in the room. We express ourselves according to the room we have at the time. But at the same time everyone else is doing the same thing. So we all affect each other even as we express ourselves.
1.7 Over a slightly longer time period, as we expand outwards more we connect, with new ideas, new things to learn new people to experience and we change as a result of this connection. We learn new things and how to do them, we learn new people how to dance with them until the connection becomes firm (or we choose to let it go). When the connection is firm, the idea is a part of us, how to do a certain type of math problem, a new girlfriend or boy friend, knowing how to ride a bike. Or we are part of a new idea. And so we express the new idea, radiating outwards from its center as well as out own.
1.8 Resting, we pull inwards from all of the ideas into the idea of ourselves so that we can rest and look inwards across time at the way we have expressed ourselves.
1.2 Expressing ourselves we send energy outwards from our center so that other centers of consciousness can pull that energy inwards.
1.3 Resting for a moment while still expanding outwards, we see the expression of other ideas around us, and as a result we are inspired, and we see the world in a way that we aren’t able to directly experience. Energy flows from out of us and then into us, and each cycle the expression of ourselves changes slightly, affected by what is around us.
1.4 Now imagine expressing ourselves while directly connected to someone else. At the same time they are expressing themselves and so we change, we both do. And even as we are expressing ourselves we are changed by what we are connected to. Sometimes we change more, or what we are connected to changes more. Sometimes change goes from one to the other sometimes the other way around. Or perhaps the change also originates from a center outside of the centers of the two connected ideas, like they are part of a bigger idea.
1.5 Now imagine that as well as happening across time this happens across space, that we allow energy in at the same time as we radiate it out. So we are changing even as we express ourselves because we are seeing what is around us and seeing how what is around us is changing too.
1.6 It’s like dancing with someone on a really crowded dance floor. We are expressing ourselves but the way we express ourselves is shaped by the expression of all the other dancers in the room. We express ourselves according to the room we have at the time. But at the same time everyone else is doing the same thing. So we all affect each other even as we express ourselves.
1.7 Over a slightly longer time period, as we expand outwards more we connect, with new ideas, new things to learn new people to experience and we change as a result of this connection. We learn new things and how to do them, we learn new people how to dance with them until the connection becomes firm (or we choose to let it go). When the connection is firm, the idea is a part of us, how to do a certain type of math problem, a new girlfriend or boy friend, knowing how to ride a bike. Or we are part of a new idea. And so we express the new idea, radiating outwards from its center as well as out own.
1.8 Resting, we pull inwards from all of the ideas into the idea of ourselves so that we can rest and look inwards across time at the way we have expressed ourselves.
One With the Dance
ONE WITH THE DANCE
1.1 Dancing freely, we sense, as we dance, what the environment will allow us to do. At the same time we are sensing what the floor will allow us to do, we are also listening to our partner, feeling where she can go so that we can go there together. Choosing a path to take based on what is around us and what we can do together, we pass our decision on to our partner.
1.2 The floor gives us signals, tells us where we can go by opening up spaces so that the space to move and the signal are one. And we do the same with our partner, signaling them by opening up in a particular way so that they know where to go. And just as we are tuned in to the space around us, looking for where we can go, our partner tunes in to the space we provide them and sees where they can go.
1.3 As we get more attuned to what is around us we begin to move into the space as it opens up and our partner does the same. We reach a point there is no lag between the space opening up and ourselves moving into it. We tune into the idea of the dance, we become the dance, one with ourselves and our partner and all the people dancing around us.
1.4 Sensing what is around us and within ourselves, sensing the connections we tune into something bigger than ourselves. Like flying a kite and smoothly reeling out the string as the wind gets stronger or pulling it in as the wind dies, not too much or too little, just enough, and so tuned in that we pull or release the string in sync with the change of the wind. Instead of listening to the wind we are listening to the thing that drives the wind, feeling when it tells the wind to blow harder and when to blow softer. Tuned in we become one with the wind because we are listening not to the wind but to the same source that the wind is listening to.
1.1 Dancing freely, we sense, as we dance, what the environment will allow us to do. At the same time we are sensing what the floor will allow us to do, we are also listening to our partner, feeling where she can go so that we can go there together. Choosing a path to take based on what is around us and what we can do together, we pass our decision on to our partner.
1.2 The floor gives us signals, tells us where we can go by opening up spaces so that the space to move and the signal are one. And we do the same with our partner, signaling them by opening up in a particular way so that they know where to go. And just as we are tuned in to the space around us, looking for where we can go, our partner tunes in to the space we provide them and sees where they can go.
1.3 As we get more attuned to what is around us we begin to move into the space as it opens up and our partner does the same. We reach a point there is no lag between the space opening up and ourselves moving into it. We tune into the idea of the dance, we become the dance, one with ourselves and our partner and all the people dancing around us.
1.4 Sensing what is around us and within ourselves, sensing the connections we tune into something bigger than ourselves. Like flying a kite and smoothly reeling out the string as the wind gets stronger or pulling it in as the wind dies, not too much or too little, just enough, and so tuned in that we pull or release the string in sync with the change of the wind. Instead of listening to the wind we are listening to the thing that drives the wind, feeling when it tells the wind to blow harder and when to blow softer. Tuned in we become one with the wind because we are listening not to the wind but to the same source that the wind is listening to.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Consciousness and Energy, an Idea Made Real
1.1 What if when we are truly connected, we are moved by something bigger than ourselves. Like flying a kite and smoothly reeling out the string as the wind gets stronger or pulling it in as the wind dies, not too much or too little, just enough, and so tuned in that we pull or release the string in sync with the change of the wind. Instead of listening to the wind we are listening to the thing that drives the wind, feeling when it tells the wind to blow harder and when to blow softer. Tuned in we become one with the wind because we are listening not to the wind but to the same source that the wind is listening to.
1.2 To myself a dance seems like the perfect metaphor for two people who want to be together. It’s not so much that one is leading and the other follows, it’s more like we become a single entity, like two sides of a single brain where we take turns taking the lead depending on where we are and what we are doing.
1.3 Sometimes it takes practice, each of us learning ourselves so that we can come together, sometimes it takes learning to let go, but then sharing the same idea, we become part of the that idea.
1.3.1 It’s beyond trust and assumption. Once we know what we have to do we do it knowing that our partner will be doing what he or she has to do. It’s as if we’ve been practicing towards this moment. And it’s not assuming, or not recognizing, not being unconscious. Rather it is the opposite. We know exactly what our partner is doing and where they are and we know where we are. It’s like we’re being carried, or we are driving and at the same time as we are driving we are being driven, like a captain telling the helmsman, “First Star to the right” And that’s where they go. And when we are dancing with ourselves, expressing ourselves or perhaps leading others, the same feeling can be found, inside of us, trusting ourselves, our mind, our body, and our connection to something beyond ourselves. Allowing that “presence” to carry us.
1.4 We reach a point, whether through practice or just being present where instead of two people dancing together, one person leading and the other following, the two people become one. We are still ourselves, still two people but we are also something else, the dance, an idea outside of themselves made real. As if splitting up consciousness and energy is just a means of understanding, not so much too different parts as they are two different aspects of the same thing. Like looking at a circle and then a sin wave and realizing that really they are the same thing, two views of a spiral. Consciousness and energy, an idea made real.
1.2 To myself a dance seems like the perfect metaphor for two people who want to be together. It’s not so much that one is leading and the other follows, it’s more like we become a single entity, like two sides of a single brain where we take turns taking the lead depending on where we are and what we are doing.
1.3 Sometimes it takes practice, each of us learning ourselves so that we can come together, sometimes it takes learning to let go, but then sharing the same idea, we become part of the that idea.
1.3.1 It’s beyond trust and assumption. Once we know what we have to do we do it knowing that our partner will be doing what he or she has to do. It’s as if we’ve been practicing towards this moment. And it’s not assuming, or not recognizing, not being unconscious. Rather it is the opposite. We know exactly what our partner is doing and where they are and we know where we are. It’s like we’re being carried, or we are driving and at the same time as we are driving we are being driven, like a captain telling the helmsman, “First Star to the right” And that’s where they go. And when we are dancing with ourselves, expressing ourselves or perhaps leading others, the same feeling can be found, inside of us, trusting ourselves, our mind, our body, and our connection to something beyond ourselves. Allowing that “presence” to carry us.
1.4 We reach a point, whether through practice or just being present where instead of two people dancing together, one person leading and the other following, the two people become one. We are still ourselves, still two people but we are also something else, the dance, an idea outside of themselves made real. As if splitting up consciousness and energy is just a means of understanding, not so much too different parts as they are two different aspects of the same thing. Like looking at a circle and then a sin wave and realizing that really they are the same thing, two views of a spiral. Consciousness and energy, an idea made real.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tuned Connection, Moving as One
Tuned Connection, Moving as One
1.1 A partner was teaching me how to connect with her while doing the Cha Cha Cha. I had to hold my elbow at my side with my hand forwards, holding hers. Then with my elbow fixed at my side I leaned into my hand and she did the same, as if we were holding each other up by leaning against each other. Then when I moved forwards, or backwards, she felt me move through the change in pressure from my hand.
1.2 Leaning in to each other dance, we had to hold all of ourselves poised, so that we were pushing each other with all of our body, not just our hand. Our whole body was behind the push. And at the same time we both pulled inwards so that whether we were moving forwards or backwards, or to either side, we could move together, as one.
1.3 As I moved, whether forwards or backwards, my whole body moved. With my elbow fixed to my side as my body moved forwards, my elbow, and hand did too. Likewise when I moved back, in either case my partner was able to move with me.
1.4 Whenever I was not pressing, not leaning in, my teacher would remind me that we were not connected. I had to press inwards so that she could press back. Otherwise she would just fall into my arms.
1.5 Dancing with someone we pull them in a little and push them away at the same time. We both do this so that we create tension between us balancing firmness of the idea of ourselves with the ability to connect to ideas outside of ourselves. When we had the right amount of tension, she could feel me when I moved forwards or backwards and move with me as I did so. At the same time I could feel her and where she was able to go.
1.6 By being firm in our connection we both know what we want to do and are willing to share that knowing. Being soft in our connection we are willing to listen to our partner both so that we know where they are and where they are able to go.
1.7 Conscious, we tune our connection so that we can move together and at the same time feel each other, not too close, and not too far, connected but both of us with room to move, both of us centered on each other. Sensing and directing, we change ourselves and because we are connected we then change each other and so it is easier to move as one.
1.1 A partner was teaching me how to connect with her while doing the Cha Cha Cha. I had to hold my elbow at my side with my hand forwards, holding hers. Then with my elbow fixed at my side I leaned into my hand and she did the same, as if we were holding each other up by leaning against each other. Then when I moved forwards, or backwards, she felt me move through the change in pressure from my hand.
1.2 Leaning in to each other dance, we had to hold all of ourselves poised, so that we were pushing each other with all of our body, not just our hand. Our whole body was behind the push. And at the same time we both pulled inwards so that whether we were moving forwards or backwards, or to either side, we could move together, as one.
1.3 As I moved, whether forwards or backwards, my whole body moved. With my elbow fixed to my side as my body moved forwards, my elbow, and hand did too. Likewise when I moved back, in either case my partner was able to move with me.
1.4 Whenever I was not pressing, not leaning in, my teacher would remind me that we were not connected. I had to press inwards so that she could press back. Otherwise she would just fall into my arms.
1.5 Dancing with someone we pull them in a little and push them away at the same time. We both do this so that we create tension between us balancing firmness of the idea of ourselves with the ability to connect to ideas outside of ourselves. When we had the right amount of tension, she could feel me when I moved forwards or backwards and move with me as I did so. At the same time I could feel her and where she was able to go.
1.6 By being firm in our connection we both know what we want to do and are willing to share that knowing. Being soft in our connection we are willing to listen to our partner both so that we know where they are and where they are able to go.
1.7 Conscious, we tune our connection so that we can move together and at the same time feel each other, not too close, and not too far, connected but both of us with room to move, both of us centered on each other. Sensing and directing, we change ourselves and because we are connected we then change each other and so it is easier to move as one.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Consciousness and Energy, Dancing Together
CONSCIOUSNESS AND ENERGY, DANCING TOGETHER
1.1 In Indian folklore Shiva is the personification of Consciousness. One depiction has Shiva dancing across the universe and the purpose of this dance is to stamp out ignorance. And that is perhaps the negative way of looking at it. What he is doing as he dances across the universe is spreading consciousness.
1.2 Consciousness and being conscious has many aspects but perhaps the most basic and fundamental of these is the ability to sense limits so that we can freely move within them.
1.3 Imagine driving on a road while it is foggy. Because of the fog we can’t see the edges of the road and it is also difficult to see other traffic. As a result we have to drive slower to keep ourselves safe. In this case being conscious would be driving only as fast as we would be able to stop safely should we see something up ahead.
1.4 Now imagine driving that way even if the weather is clear. Imagine driving like it is foggy but there is no fog. Or imagine driving quickly when there is fog. That is a little like ignorance. That’s not to say that just because it is clear we have to drive fast, it’s that being conscious we see the road and what is on it and we know how fast we can drive, while staying safe, and we choose to drive as fast or as slow as we like up to within those limits.
1.5 Staying with the theme of driving, our vehicles have readouts to give us information. There’s a speedometer, sometimes a rev counter. There’s also warning lights and a gas meter. An example of being conscious would be knowing what the readouts are for and actually using them. That’s the speedometer and right now I am going 90 mph... oops, no, 90 kmh.”
1.6 In both of the above cases we are becoming conscious of relationships, in one case our relationship with the road and in the other our relationship with the vehicle we are driving and since the road and the car are both ideas we can also say that being conscious is noticing the ideas we are in a relationship with.
1.7 Lets say that we were in a conversation with someone, the purpose, so that we could get to know each other better. Knowing each other we might be better able to connect and together create the idea of a friendship or an intimate relationship. Being conscious during the course of the conversation we would know what it is we are trying to say and use words that match our meaning. We would also be conscious of our partner as we speak so that we can see if they understand our meaning. If not we can modify or correct what we said. Likewise while listening, we would be conscious of what our partner was saying and thus understand the meaning behind the words, and if not we could ask for clarification.
1.8 Dancing with someone, consciousness would apply to feeling ourselves, knowing where we are in space, knowing or feeling all of the relevant relationships within ourselves, and also feeling where our center was in relation to the earth. But at the same time, we would also be conscious of our connection to our partner and through that connection feel where he or she is. And if we are leading, we would be conscious of what our partner can do so we can pick movements that are appropriate. Or knowing in advance what we want to do, position ourselves appropriately. And then when it is time to do the movement, signal it appropriately so that our partner can actually act on the information.
1.9 If we are the follower then being conscious we would feel where our partner was and what he wanted us to do, then we do the move, being conscious of ourselves and what is around us and the movement itself. Following we have the benefit of not having to choose, instead we can just concentrate on doing whatever our lead chooses. And as a result within those constraints we are free to express ourselves.
1.10 Shiva is also often depicted as a lingam and in this guise he is partnered with Shakti. Where Shiva is the divine masculine shakti is the divine feminine representing energy. Shiva is form, and as such the symbol of the upright penis is appropriate but it is Shakti that animates that form, one could say that it is Shakti (or the thought thereof) that makes Shiva erect. Consciousness is form and energy animates that form, together they become aspects of the same thing, life.
1.11 We could look at a motorcycle, and without a rider, it is just a motorcycle. However, with a rider, and the engine running, it becomes part of the idea of riding. In the same way Shiva and Shakti are separate ideas but together they are part of a bigger idea, that of life.
1.12 Going back to the dance, the dance where we are dancing with a partner, when we are leading and choose a movement, then our partner executes this movement it is like we are Shiva and Shakti together. Leading we represent consciousness while following we represent energy but we are both conscious. We both hold ourselves upright, and we both move, but it is just in the context of the dance itself that one of us chooses and the other follows. But in some cases both of us are choosing and both of us are following. It depends on which way you look at it.
1.13 Ultimately, when two people have danced together long enough they become part of a new idea, they become the dance and here they truly do become two parts of one idea, still themselves but also part of something bigger than themselves. And rather than one leading and the other following, at the level of the dance, it is the dance, the idea of the dance itself which leads them both and changes them both, and they express it.
Shiva and Shakti together, aspects of the same thing.
1.1 In Indian folklore Shiva is the personification of Consciousness. One depiction has Shiva dancing across the universe and the purpose of this dance is to stamp out ignorance. And that is perhaps the negative way of looking at it. What he is doing as he dances across the universe is spreading consciousness.
1.2 Consciousness and being conscious has many aspects but perhaps the most basic and fundamental of these is the ability to sense limits so that we can freely move within them.
1.3 Imagine driving on a road while it is foggy. Because of the fog we can’t see the edges of the road and it is also difficult to see other traffic. As a result we have to drive slower to keep ourselves safe. In this case being conscious would be driving only as fast as we would be able to stop safely should we see something up ahead.
1.4 Now imagine driving that way even if the weather is clear. Imagine driving like it is foggy but there is no fog. Or imagine driving quickly when there is fog. That is a little like ignorance. That’s not to say that just because it is clear we have to drive fast, it’s that being conscious we see the road and what is on it and we know how fast we can drive, while staying safe, and we choose to drive as fast or as slow as we like up to within those limits.
1.5 Staying with the theme of driving, our vehicles have readouts to give us information. There’s a speedometer, sometimes a rev counter. There’s also warning lights and a gas meter. An example of being conscious would be knowing what the readouts are for and actually using them. That’s the speedometer and right now I am going 90 mph... oops, no, 90 kmh.”
1.6 In both of the above cases we are becoming conscious of relationships, in one case our relationship with the road and in the other our relationship with the vehicle we are driving and since the road and the car are both ideas we can also say that being conscious is noticing the ideas we are in a relationship with.
1.7 Lets say that we were in a conversation with someone, the purpose, so that we could get to know each other better. Knowing each other we might be better able to connect and together create the idea of a friendship or an intimate relationship. Being conscious during the course of the conversation we would know what it is we are trying to say and use words that match our meaning. We would also be conscious of our partner as we speak so that we can see if they understand our meaning. If not we can modify or correct what we said. Likewise while listening, we would be conscious of what our partner was saying and thus understand the meaning behind the words, and if not we could ask for clarification.
1.8 Dancing with someone, consciousness would apply to feeling ourselves, knowing where we are in space, knowing or feeling all of the relevant relationships within ourselves, and also feeling where our center was in relation to the earth. But at the same time, we would also be conscious of our connection to our partner and through that connection feel where he or she is. And if we are leading, we would be conscious of what our partner can do so we can pick movements that are appropriate. Or knowing in advance what we want to do, position ourselves appropriately. And then when it is time to do the movement, signal it appropriately so that our partner can actually act on the information.
1.9 If we are the follower then being conscious we would feel where our partner was and what he wanted us to do, then we do the move, being conscious of ourselves and what is around us and the movement itself. Following we have the benefit of not having to choose, instead we can just concentrate on doing whatever our lead chooses. And as a result within those constraints we are free to express ourselves.
1.10 Shiva is also often depicted as a lingam and in this guise he is partnered with Shakti. Where Shiva is the divine masculine shakti is the divine feminine representing energy. Shiva is form, and as such the symbol of the upright penis is appropriate but it is Shakti that animates that form, one could say that it is Shakti (or the thought thereof) that makes Shiva erect. Consciousness is form and energy animates that form, together they become aspects of the same thing, life.
1.11 We could look at a motorcycle, and without a rider, it is just a motorcycle. However, with a rider, and the engine running, it becomes part of the idea of riding. In the same way Shiva and Shakti are separate ideas but together they are part of a bigger idea, that of life.
1.12 Going back to the dance, the dance where we are dancing with a partner, when we are leading and choose a movement, then our partner executes this movement it is like we are Shiva and Shakti together. Leading we represent consciousness while following we represent energy but we are both conscious. We both hold ourselves upright, and we both move, but it is just in the context of the dance itself that one of us chooses and the other follows. But in some cases both of us are choosing and both of us are following. It depends on which way you look at it.
1.13 Ultimately, when two people have danced together long enough they become part of a new idea, they become the dance and here they truly do become two parts of one idea, still themselves but also part of something bigger than themselves. And rather than one leading and the other following, at the level of the dance, it is the dance, the idea of the dance itself which leads them both and changes them both, and they express it.
Shiva and Shakti together, aspects of the same thing.
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