Over the next few months I'm exploring how we can tell 'more than human' stories with an online group experiment called The Remix run by my lovely pal Dan Burgess and his gang from Stories for Life and Becoming Crew.
Photo by Ilse Orsel on Unsplash It's an interesting challenge, co-learning on and off line with a bunch of strangers with various interests, intents and backgrounds. We're talking a lot about separation, entanglement and how our human world has become disconnected from the rest of our glorious ecosystems - and the hope would be that if we tell new stories of connection, respect and belonging, we may be able to shift the narrative... I'm not exactly sure what we're doing or where we're going, but I think that's part of the process. We've had some group chats, some excellent guest talks and got our sleeves rolled up with a bit of creative exploration the other night. As part of that exercise, I bashed out a quick poem in response to a piece by the remarkable Bayo Akomolafe. It's called Joining Room 1. Right now, I'm digging into non-duality. And how to express or evoke what I'm discovering through the teachings. It's early days and I can see that it's a bit more ethereal / theoretical than I like. But that's fine, we're on the journey. Who knows what the destination may be? The eternal now The infinite how The holy cow The sacred song, longing Becoming other The mother to my brother The lake to my mountain The fountain to my pen, my pain The where, the why, the how The hen before the egg - And where my leg may lag behind I find myself outside yourself Beyond the physical realm Time is only of the essence The essence comes first, bursts forth Tame time and space dissolves There is no seer or seen. Just seeing There is no to be or not. Just being All at once, don't think twice Just half a slice of paradise Fumbling in the dark Stumbling through the park Barking dogs in the distance Hidden in plain sight It's just the fight or flight that distracts from the fact Of being In fact, it's always there Just sink back in your chair for a second Leave the world out there, for a second Step inside, steep inside Slide across the great divide, To find the infinite imminent To be all things, to see all things All life as one, entangled.
I'm not even sure I like the term 'entangled' as it throws up so many connotations of distress, confusion and strangulation as well as acceptance that everything is not only connected but thoroughly layered, interdependent and not always tidy. I think my mind seeks the wild, yet tidy! So I've been thinking of ways to communicate this interconnectedness through the lens of one consciousness, non-duality and simply being. This week I attended a superb series of talks at Green Templeton College, Oxford about Psychedelics and Human Welfare. There was a truly awesome line-up of speakers, from an archeologist exploring the use of psychedelics in ancient Greece, an environmental anthropologist who studies Amazonian indigenous ceremonies, a philosophy professor from Exeter University talking metaphysical vs mystical experience, a psychiatrist telling us about the power of psychedelic therapy in the NHS, a psychologist who runs nature-based integration groups and a professor who runs incredible psychedelic clinical trials. All leaders in their fields and all coming to the conclusion that the greatest benefit of psychedelics in therapeutic or ceremonial settings seems to be the expanded connection to self, others and specifically to nature. In fact, there are many reports of subjects shapeshifting / becoming another species in nature. Heady stuff. And super helpful on this creative exploration. It's early doors, but as an initial poke I'm thinking of writing or telling the story of a single incident, seen from multiple perspectives. So think of a person crashing their car into a tree. We can tell this story from the first or third person. We can tell it from the point of view of the tree, the family of birds nesting in the tree. Or the car, the road, etc. The victims are more than human. As are the witnesses. Like I said, early doors but it's a start in telling more than human stories.... If you've got all the way down here, thanks for reading this sketched out post today!