i was just asked an excellent question by a student in my friend
elizabeth demaray's advanced sculpture class at rutger's university - how can one best cultivate a sense of connectedness and synchronicity in life and work?
this has got to be one of the Ultimate Questions. for the answer, i can only offer clues, since the methods for achieving this are bound to vary with every individual.
clues:
1. the "subtle reality technologies" of shamans and holy people. in particular, i have studied some of the profoundly elegant rituals of tibetan buddhists and peruvian shamans. symbolic acts are ways to connect with invisible, subtle dimensions that are not immediately accessible to the "rational" mind. our culture with its emphasis on scientific analysis and insistence on the rational and quantifiable neglects and discounts all parts of reality that do not "make sense". however, the parts of reality that do not make rational sense are the very parts that are engaged in the effective making and appreciating of all acts of creativity - this is why art and music (and love, intuition, inspiration, etc) "move" us. as humans, we crave a sense of connectedness - many people use and abuse substances in the quest to achieve non-ordinary states of consciousness. these states are available to us all via:
2. meditation, participating in brainstorms, improvisational musical ensembles, other collaborative acts of creativity.
3.experiencing nature and consciously connecting with the overwhelming sense of the miraculousness, utter improbability of, and ultimate creative power of it.
4. the writings of joann wolfgang von goethe ("goethe's way of science" and "the wholeness of nature") and his techniques for cultivating intuitive senses.
5. art and writing of joseph beuys and the concept of
"social sculpture".
6. radionics. please see
duncan laurie's work, and
my interview at his website.
to name a few...
