Tuesday 26 September 2017

Community/Subjectivity/The Rest - "Popping the Bubble of Doubt"

Please take the time to watch the video reviewing
the project in question:



I was lucky enough to trade some work in order to attend and assist with a pilot project in Sumatra and Borneo, from which I recently returned. Now, the story of just getting there is a whole essay in and of itself, but I feel more drawn to focus on the major themes that I managed to harvest out of this experience.

This project, which was comprised of a gathering of some very astute and influential people, took place at two locations; Way Kambas Elephant Sanctuary in Sumatra and B.O.S (Borneo Orangutan Survival) resort in Borneo (incidentally, a program funded by Halliburton. I also learned a lot about the background and incidence that led to Indonesia's current socio-economic and ecological state, and that may be a blog for another day).

We set out to film and document our process in regards to working with animals - making use of some interesting technology (Biofield Viewer) and thorough orthopedic assessment to display changes. As is the protocol with this kind of work, we do not lay our hands directly on animals, and so humans would act as the surrogate for a particular animal. Pre/post assessment and images were captured on the human as themselves and as the animal in question, and of course as was not doubted (by myself) we were able to show and capture these physical changes in accordance with what was being observed in these sessions, along with some other wild magical moments that I look forward to reviewing again. We were also able to discern from the handlers/caretakers of these animals, although skeptical at first, that the behavioral differences after these sessions were notable and rather uncommon and they seemed to jive with what we were 'up to'.

This trip was especially interesting for me because it was my job to listen (recording sound), and I surely did. Not only to the tones in people's voices and the clarity of intent that came through it all, but to the whole scenario and process. This was not a research project, but more of a "look-see", to quote one that was present, though it took a turn in that direction. Even though this amazing group of people had gathered together against a whole hoard of impossible circumstance and scheduling, there was a prevailing focus on the assessment process in order to either display or validate that 'something' happened. Something that I noticed in all of this was that, in my humble and subjective opinion, the outcome of these sessions or assessments did not actually seem to be hinged on one technique or practitioner. We had several practitioners ranging from intensely experienced to fairly new in consciousness or energy work, and the results were always dramatic and powerful.

So this had me asking myself the obvious question, "What's really going on here?"

I'm sure I'll be digesting some of this a little more in the coming months, but I believe I understand what happened at least in a general way. It wasn't about proof or self-validation, although for some there was an underlying agenda and that was fine. It wasn't about demonstrating that a technique has an effect because we had zero control around the application of said techniques. It wasn't about what we observed, period. What happened was unpredictably and beautifully subjective...

We came together. A group of amazing super-freaky people with a whole spectrum and range of presence and intuition decided to come together to watch something. And we did. Despite any ego that may have required proof or validation, despite the semi-mechanical process that was observed and the array of agendas that brought us there. Despite the completely wild variance in what was applied or how - we always saw dramatic change; animal, human and environment alike. When a human with zero experience with 'our side' of things was asked to take on the consciousness of an animal, in the presence of that group of observers, they did. Thoroughly and completely - and those experiences will change the work of those particular people going forward for evermore. Those completely subjective experiences.

So back to my subjective (word of the day) interpretation of all of this. I believe that the changes we observed or experienced were a result of the communion or collection of these people and their presence as a unit, not necessarily a result of the application of techniques or even the intent behind them.  Present was an incredibly experienced chiropractor. My back does not crack, no matter how much I'd like it to, ever unless there's a forceful adjustment made (not that that is the only way). He barely laid his hand on my back and "crack-crack-crack". This was beyond intent and beyond agendas, the whole thing. Our presence contained whatever our presence contained, and the culmination of that experience and understanding overrode our human drives and exerted some kind of interaction with our subjects and their environment whether or not we acknowledged it consciously.

I really do believe that at the end of the day, if we had all sat together in silence, we would have been able to record the same results. Not because things are always changing, but because we were all there together. And so how can a practitioner who's playing the role of observer acknowledge the inherent subjectivity in their observations without asking too many questions to validate that subjective experience? Would the outcome be the same regardless?

Better yet, how can we bring people together to consciously support ourselves and our environment through this time of drastic and undeniable global and collective change?

I'm suspecting that the act of coming together to watch is something that we're innately wired to do, and that it's a lot more powerful than a lot of what we choose to invest in... Now, to actualize conscious community...