Planned spontaneity, structure and freedom
Posted on Feb 11th, 2006
by 
Duff
Duff
Last night I went out dancing and had a fantastic time.
I hit my spiritual charismatic groove, bringing up the energy of the crowd, connecting with people, dancing my ass off, flirting with the ladies--the works. I was the Jesus of Funk, the Buddha of Bootyshaking. I was giving my gift selflessly (yes, even the flirting) and my gift was received by the people.
Last week I went to an explicitly spiritual and conscious rave. I had a less fun, less spiritual time there than last night with a bunch of drunk people (with me sober, as always).
It makes me think about planning. Does planning to be spontaneous ever work? Does planning to create a spiritual experience help? To what extent and when and how? Certainly preparation and practice help to some extent in some contexts, but how much structure and how much freedom?
Let's take some examples:
With zaadz there is an explicit intention to create a conscious online community. It seems that some intention is needed to make this kind of community actually come into being, but how much structure is necessary and how much is restrictive?
I live in a cooperative house. One of our values is to create conscious community. But does this actually work in practice? Sometimes I question whether it is too artificial--like a hippie fraternity--where one is expected to have deep bonds with the people they live with just because they live with them and ostensibly share similar values. Suprisingly it sometimes actually works.
Or take Integral Institute, where I work, where we too are trying to create "an Integral network." How does one do this without it being too loosely organized or too dogmatic and rigid? I often feel that we are too far in one direction or the other.
Or take dating and relationships, especially for conscious peeps like us zaadies. How much does one bring intention and ritual and asking for what one wants/needs into a relationship? If one does too little of this, you get your average unconscious relationship (yuck). But if you bring too much "consciousness" to the table, you get this tight little narcissistic endless processing hellhole.
How does one masterfully navigate the middle/integrated path in the domains of spirituality, community, and relationships? How much structure and how much freedom?
I hit my spiritual charismatic groove, bringing up the energy of the crowd, connecting with people, dancing my ass off, flirting with the ladies--the works. I was the Jesus of Funk, the Buddha of Bootyshaking. I was giving my gift selflessly (yes, even the flirting) and my gift was received by the people.
Last week I went to an explicitly spiritual and conscious rave. I had a less fun, less spiritual time there than last night with a bunch of drunk people (with me sober, as always).
It makes me think about planning. Does planning to be spontaneous ever work? Does planning to create a spiritual experience help? To what extent and when and how? Certainly preparation and practice help to some extent in some contexts, but how much structure and how much freedom?
Let's take some examples:
With zaadz there is an explicit intention to create a conscious online community. It seems that some intention is needed to make this kind of community actually come into being, but how much structure is necessary and how much is restrictive?
I live in a cooperative house. One of our values is to create conscious community. But does this actually work in practice? Sometimes I question whether it is too artificial--like a hippie fraternity--where one is expected to have deep bonds with the people they live with just because they live with them and ostensibly share similar values. Suprisingly it sometimes actually works.
Or take Integral Institute, where I work, where we too are trying to create "an Integral network." How does one do this without it being too loosely organized or too dogmatic and rigid? I often feel that we are too far in one direction or the other.
Or take dating and relationships, especially for conscious peeps like us zaadies. How much does one bring intention and ritual and asking for what one wants/needs into a relationship? If one does too little of this, you get your average unconscious relationship (yuck). But if you bring too much "consciousness" to the table, you get this tight little narcissistic endless processing hellhole.
How does one masterfully navigate the middle/integrated path in the domains of spirituality, community, and relationships? How much structure and how much freedom?
Access: PublicTagged with: community, dance, dating, freedom, relationships, zaadz, integral institute, integral, Co-op, Conscious, ecstatic dance, structure, rave
co-op
April 2008
Great post! Something I’ve been dealing with as well… being specific about what I want, and yet open-minded enough to allowing situations/people to “just be”…. and the relationship issue…. I like the point you made:
“Or take dating and relationships, especially for conscious peeps like us zaadies. How much does one bring intention and ritual and asking for what one wants/needs into a relationship? If one does too little of this, you get your average unconscious relationship (yuck). But if you bring too much “consciousness” to the table, you get this tight little narcissistic endless processing hellhole.”
I guess, it’s a practice of finding balance… without compromising spiritual integrity. There has to be a way to balance structure and freedom.
Amen, you two! I had a similar experience recently… Struggling to find balance between acting with intention and over-processing life. In my humble opinion, the key is awareness. Being a psychotherapist, I’m prone to over thinking things; prone to sticking with an issues tenaciously until I have some sense of how, what, why, etc. Doing this 24/7, however, can be exhausting!
Recently I have come to a place where I am content to simply be aware of how things are affecting me, aware of my perceptions, my motivations, etc. without necessarily needing to fully understand them. I’m not sure this is the ‘right’ answer, but it feels a hell of a lot better!
Howdy duff,
Have you found your answers yet ? Valentines Day might be the day of answers…….