Beginning of the week I watched a conversation between Rick Beato and Ted Gioia. Two old guys looking at the mess our culture is in. Somewhere halfway in, Ted emphasises that it is not so much decline that is doing the damage, it is stagnation. The arrogant bugger is right.
I would love to head out to Portugal for a few days, or set up a meeting in France. We live near Dijon at the moment. Feels like a good move to meet in person....
Thanks Bertus! Great post. It's a bit depressing, what you say about the 'modern inability to perceive, engage in and initiate true movement', but I'm sure you are right. I assume it has something to do with people expecting (having been taught) the whole world to shift and adapt around them...
What movements are part of my skillset?
I'd say my greatest skillset to get and keep things moving (I mean the movement from within outwards you mentioned) is the practice of Synchronosophy.
Your way to give language to the different faculties helps me to recognise how they are involved when I do things. I really feel now like having this band of allies, helping me with complex (and simple) movements of all kinds. I knew this, but hadn't realised they each come with their own language, their own ways.
While on the other hand the myriad of stuff we do seems to come down to a set of very similar moves. This totally fascinates me. What if we would teach these moves? Which I believe is what the Dao is about. It is so rarely connected to the simple stuff of life though. I think getting unstuck is very down to earth and far from complicated. But it needs, a more balanced set of faculties. I would love to connect your beautiful theory with the practical. Because I know from experience how enormous the difference is between being stuck on all levels and the joyful aliveness of even a little bit of play.....
Oh, your words are music to my ears, Bertus. I wholeheartedly agree. We need the practical part.
(I'm working on it!) I have been working with Synchronosophy in practice from the beginning. In fact, I knew the practice before I knew the theory. What I am doing now is some kind of 'reverse engineering' of the practice into the theory, and then build the practice on that.
Perhaps some rare people ~ like yourself (and me) are able to connect with this and do it spontaneously.
Most people I have worked with were able to do the practice easily with my guidance, able to get unstuck in issues they thought were 'carved in stone'. They have experienced the magic, and yet were unable to do the practice by themselves.
So I thought I need to offer some guidelines. I never wanted this to be a therapy, but more like a game. A way of life. To understand the guidelines you need the framework of the theory, otherwise people slip into the anthropocentric paradigm without even noticing! (That's the idea behind unravelling all the important pieces in the first three parts of the book so far ~ Rootstock, Heartwood, and Sapwood)
I will start to develop the practical part of Synchronosophy after the 'Sapwood' chapters. The trouble is, I am so familiar with the practice, I can 'play Synchronosophy' like a musical instrument, always improvising. That's how this whole creature has grown over the last 25+ years.
The challenge is to create a form for others to pick it up without killing it ...
You say you live in Burgundy... Where about?
We're in Portugal, coming to the South of France for a few days this summer... just thinking out loud...
What you're saying about the Dao "so rarely connected to the simple stuff of life" is exactly what I'm working on. To connect the Dao with everyday life in contemporary language (albeit with a few new words to keep us from slipping into the old mindset)
Hey Veronika! I see the word 'inability'..., I did write a response to our conversation about disability, but something came in between... I must have been moving on "many simultaneous levels" 😉 To be continued... Cheers.
“We ignore the seasonal movements. We ignore the monthly cycles, we override both daylight and nighttime. We ignore place, by no longer knowing where we are." I think one of the greatest gifts of my years living in the van has been the realization of how true this is—by way of me being much less able to ignore these movements, given thinness of my walls, of the space between me and them. And, too, the pleasure I soon learned to take in that very thinness; it more than anything I had anticipated was the gift I had given myself.
"We ignore the seasonal movements. We ignore the monthly cycles, we override both daylight and nighttime. We ignore place, by no longer knowing where we are."
We’ve almost entirely engineered “hard” out of our lives. If I understand you correctly, I am equating that which is difficult with your Movement. Something that requires multiple steps that only you can perform. I came to this realization having spent a many years in the fitness industry. (“Fitness industry,” what a terrible term - what a scary concept - our lives have become so soft that we had to create an artificial means of keeping our bodies from completely atrophying.). Attaining or maintaining one’s fitness is a Movement.
Hey Daniel, yes it partly is about a sort of extended effort, but the funny thing is that the different stages of a movement so often are less complicated, and more doable. The modern mind gets into trouble because it piles all the steps and gets lost. Or it tries to take multiple steps or stages in one go. Then it gets hard and near impossible. The movement of getting fit, or stronger isn't hard in itself. It just takes a prolonged effort, a recognising of the bigger movement.
It is like giving a speech, and trying to remember all the letters in the right order. It becomes near impossible and hard to do. What you must keep an eye on is the gist, the overall idea, the arc of what you try to convey. And then the language needed for that is readily available. And you are free to adjust to the moment, to the audience, to how you feel at the moment. Then having memorised sentences is a great backup, not a block.
A masterpiece about movement, so true, and what else is there to say? Don't know... maybe tomorrow something poppes up.
It's in itself an encounter, a slap in the face and a kick up the bum, with a clear exposition of fears and why we're unmoved by the eternal movement.
Impressive! Today, I was just pondering about it. Shocking to receive your post, haha.
Oh yeah, now it comes back to me...
I realized that I had to stop doing what I was doing and that moved me. Oh yeah, now I know what I want to add... the still-point in the pulse of the ventricular system of the brain and spinal cord; it was part of bodywork training 'cranio-sacral technique', and has a connection with the universal pulse were in milliseconds worlds are created and destroyed, and the still-point is a kind of reset, it's a still part of movement, if you will, or a mini-meditation embedded in movement. I loved the technique and expanded on it way back when I had a practice. Awesome results. It was like taking another body with me on a travel to nowhere, prolonging the still-point, and both client and I deeply relaxed.
But yeah, who wants to know about it?
Thank you Bertus! I love this post so much, it's actually a wish come true ☺️ When I saw what has to be stopped I said "I want it to come".... It's in my life not weird anymore but it was still a shock to read this a couple of hours later and have it pointed out to me what I truly don't want to experience, I have to admit, like "proceed on many simultaneous levels" and "true movement is improvised", yakkes... and at the same time see that these are the ways I move towards my goal! How weird is that!
I know why... the rejection of the ingredients of true movement were stamped into me and I'm learning to accept that these are parts of creation. Thanks for making it so clear 🐣
Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention your Vermeer! Another round of wow, wow, wow 💥💥💥
Great post. True Movement I think is possible only in the creative process, whether you're a martial arts guy intuitively feeling for your opponents next move, or doing a painting, or sculpting, or writing...
In an article on Technology & Culture (*https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/the-stuff-of-a-well-lived-life?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2) L.M.Sarcasas notes the work of Albert Borgmann who distinguished between two types of technology (where, in my interpretation, one allows for 'movement', the other doesn't). There is the "device paradigm" where you go straight to the end result (missing out the humanity of process - generally no movement and surprise interventions possible) and there are 'focal devices' which involve a wider, deeper and more 'alive' humane process, an openness of mind to something unexpected, something richer.
I started to watch the Ted Goia/Rick Beato interview - but did not watch it to the end. Perhaps will revisit it now.
I am likewise captivated by magical movement, you are a maestro of words and they resonate here so much, especially loved the last para - very zen! I posted today too, and like you - the overarching or underlying theme is movement.
I would love to head out to Portugal for a few days, or set up a meeting in France. We live near Dijon at the moment. Feels like a good move to meet in person....
Oh, you'll be most welcome to visit us in Portugal, Bertus! I'll send you a message
Thanks Bertus! Great post. It's a bit depressing, what you say about the 'modern inability to perceive, engage in and initiate true movement', but I'm sure you are right. I assume it has something to do with people expecting (having been taught) the whole world to shift and adapt around them...
What movements are part of my skillset?
I'd say my greatest skillset to get and keep things moving (I mean the movement from within outwards you mentioned) is the practice of Synchronosophy.
Your way to give language to the different faculties helps me to recognise how they are involved when I do things. I really feel now like having this band of allies, helping me with complex (and simple) movements of all kinds. I knew this, but hadn't realised they each come with their own language, their own ways.
While on the other hand the myriad of stuff we do seems to come down to a set of very similar moves. This totally fascinates me. What if we would teach these moves? Which I believe is what the Dao is about. It is so rarely connected to the simple stuff of life though. I think getting unstuck is very down to earth and far from complicated. But it needs, a more balanced set of faculties. I would love to connect your beautiful theory with the practical. Because I know from experience how enormous the difference is between being stuck on all levels and the joyful aliveness of even a little bit of play.....
Oh, your words are music to my ears, Bertus. I wholeheartedly agree. We need the practical part.
(I'm working on it!) I have been working with Synchronosophy in practice from the beginning. In fact, I knew the practice before I knew the theory. What I am doing now is some kind of 'reverse engineering' of the practice into the theory, and then build the practice on that.
Perhaps some rare people ~ like yourself (and me) are able to connect with this and do it spontaneously.
Most people I have worked with were able to do the practice easily with my guidance, able to get unstuck in issues they thought were 'carved in stone'. They have experienced the magic, and yet were unable to do the practice by themselves.
So I thought I need to offer some guidelines. I never wanted this to be a therapy, but more like a game. A way of life. To understand the guidelines you need the framework of the theory, otherwise people slip into the anthropocentric paradigm without even noticing! (That's the idea behind unravelling all the important pieces in the first three parts of the book so far ~ Rootstock, Heartwood, and Sapwood)
I will start to develop the practical part of Synchronosophy after the 'Sapwood' chapters. The trouble is, I am so familiar with the practice, I can 'play Synchronosophy' like a musical instrument, always improvising. That's how this whole creature has grown over the last 25+ years.
The challenge is to create a form for others to pick it up without killing it ...
You say you live in Burgundy... Where about?
We're in Portugal, coming to the South of France for a few days this summer... just thinking out loud...
What you're saying about the Dao "so rarely connected to the simple stuff of life" is exactly what I'm working on. To connect the Dao with everyday life in contemporary language (albeit with a few new words to keep us from slipping into the old mindset)
Hey Veronika! I see the word 'inability'..., I did write a response to our conversation about disability, but something came in between... I must have been moving on "many simultaneous levels" 😉 To be continued... Cheers.
Oh, that happens to me too on substack 😅
sooner or later we meet again! hugs
“We ignore the seasonal movements. We ignore the monthly cycles, we override both daylight and nighttime. We ignore place, by no longer knowing where we are." I think one of the greatest gifts of my years living in the van has been the realization of how true this is—by way of me being much less able to ignore these movements, given thinness of my walls, of the space between me and them. And, too, the pleasure I soon learned to take in that very thinness; it more than anything I had anticipated was the gift I had given myself.
Thanks for this piece, Bertus. To movement!
Thank you Holly, to the courage of naked knights....
Powerful essay, Bertus. This all spoke to me.
"We ignore the seasonal movements. We ignore the monthly cycles, we override both daylight and nighttime. We ignore place, by no longer knowing where we are."
We’ve almost entirely engineered “hard” out of our lives. If I understand you correctly, I am equating that which is difficult with your Movement. Something that requires multiple steps that only you can perform. I came to this realization having spent a many years in the fitness industry. (“Fitness industry,” what a terrible term - what a scary concept - our lives have become so soft that we had to create an artificial means of keeping our bodies from completely atrophying.). Attaining or maintaining one’s fitness is a Movement.
Acquiring a foreign language = Movement. Using Google translate = stagnant.
Haha, I use google translate for my book, it saves me a lot of time...stagnancy is not in the what, I think, more in the how.....
Hey Daniel, yes it partly is about a sort of extended effort, but the funny thing is that the different stages of a movement so often are less complicated, and more doable. The modern mind gets into trouble because it piles all the steps and gets lost. Or it tries to take multiple steps or stages in one go. Then it gets hard and near impossible. The movement of getting fit, or stronger isn't hard in itself. It just takes a prolonged effort, a recognising of the bigger movement.
It is like giving a speech, and trying to remember all the letters in the right order. It becomes near impossible and hard to do. What you must keep an eye on is the gist, the overall idea, the arc of what you try to convey. And then the language needed for that is readily available. And you are free to adjust to the moment, to the audience, to how you feel at the moment. Then having memorised sentences is a great backup, not a block.
Wow, wow, wow Bertus 💥💥💥
A masterpiece about movement, so true, and what else is there to say? Don't know... maybe tomorrow something poppes up.
It's in itself an encounter, a slap in the face and a kick up the bum, with a clear exposition of fears and why we're unmoved by the eternal movement.
Impressive! Today, I was just pondering about it. Shocking to receive your post, haha.
Oh yeah, now it comes back to me...
I realized that I had to stop doing what I was doing and that moved me. Oh yeah, now I know what I want to add... the still-point in the pulse of the ventricular system of the brain and spinal cord; it was part of bodywork training 'cranio-sacral technique', and has a connection with the universal pulse were in milliseconds worlds are created and destroyed, and the still-point is a kind of reset, it's a still part of movement, if you will, or a mini-meditation embedded in movement. I loved the technique and expanded on it way back when I had a practice. Awesome results. It was like taking another body with me on a travel to nowhere, prolonging the still-point, and both client and I deeply relaxed.
But yeah, who wants to know about it?
Thank you Bertus! I love this post so much, it's actually a wish come true ☺️ When I saw what has to be stopped I said "I want it to come".... It's in my life not weird anymore but it was still a shock to read this a couple of hours later and have it pointed out to me what I truly don't want to experience, I have to admit, like "proceed on many simultaneous levels" and "true movement is improvised", yakkes... and at the same time see that these are the ways I move towards my goal! How weird is that!
I know why... the rejection of the ingredients of true movement were stamped into me and I'm learning to accept that these are parts of creation. Thanks for making it so clear 🐣
Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention your Vermeer! Another round of wow, wow, wow 💥💥💥
Great post. True Movement I think is possible only in the creative process, whether you're a martial arts guy intuitively feeling for your opponents next move, or doing a painting, or sculpting, or writing...
In an article on Technology & Culture (*https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/the-stuff-of-a-well-lived-life?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2) L.M.Sarcasas notes the work of Albert Borgmann who distinguished between two types of technology (where, in my interpretation, one allows for 'movement', the other doesn't). There is the "device paradigm" where you go straight to the end result (missing out the humanity of process - generally no movement and surprise interventions possible) and there are 'focal devices' which involve a wider, deeper and more 'alive' humane process, an openness of mind to something unexpected, something richer.
I started to watch the Ted Goia/Rick Beato interview - but did not watch it to the end. Perhaps will revisit it now.
I am likewise captivated by magical movement, you are a maestro of words and they resonate here so much, especially loved the last para - very zen! I posted today too, and like you - the overarching or underlying theme is movement.