It may be useful to begin with how Saras and my connection happened. I've phrased it like that ("happened") deliberately, because there was no planning, concoction or even prior knowledge one another before be met, and somehow there was this deep resonance that seemed to be almost a manifesting of an intention I'd not entirely known I'd had. Saras is a sublimewe teamplayer who has been a part of over many decades of ongoing research with numerous coHearts across borders has been, and is being, poured into developing the sublimewe framework, process, and practice. She is also, as she would put it, a friend-philosopeer-mirror. For me, to have someone to explore the rich depths of everyday experiences with, with an intellectual curiosity and resonance, is rare privilege; to mutually learn from one another in that connection without judgement, without hierarchy, and with a kind of harvesting... that is wholly a gift. I know Saras through circumstance, and in some ways, those circumstances seem almost orchestrated. And if not, it's a fantastic, wholly exciting series of coincidences! In our first conversation, we started to harvest our learnings from the sublimewe workplay in Delhi on July 23rd. Having been unable to attend the sublimewe gsx in Chennai the week before, I was really excited to have something happen in Delhi. While Saras and I had spoken before while she was here, I hadn't had the chance to stay with the process for a whole day or longer. And somehow, in the day-long workplay in Delhi, there was a depth of learning and connection. My own inkling and learning from that workplay was that in some strange way the instruments of sublimewe - the three objects we workplay with - in their design led groups to connect with what was inherently alive between them, tuning into the frequency of the group itself. An unformed idea at best. This resonated between Saras and me. What I've harvested below comes largely what from she said. sublimewe supports groups in moving towards an "us", whatever be the constellation or combination, tapping into the natural frequency of the us, which emerges as it is allowed to. Then, when we speak of strategies with a real understanding of the need, individual insights and contribution through their wisdom - with the individual emotional charge and volatility - it allows for something to grow in terms of collective insight, reality and shared learning, bringing forth an organic strategy that works naturally for the constellation of the us. In a sense, this adds up to the non-dualistic flow between the individual and the collective, and evokes the question of what does it truly mean when I say that I am responsible for the world around me? In a lack of resistance to emotional volatility, in fully accepting and allowing what is to emerge and flow, I stand to allow what is inherent in me to contribute, from a space of authenticity, to the collective. And the collective in its own wisdom can then receive me. In a very personalised way, this is a tapping of local and/or personal resources, enriching local communities and commerce, rather than haemmoraging and bleeding the substratum of the local resource. When we can harvest something within us through authenticity, deep reflective listening, and self-empathy, we can similarly stop bleeding energy and bring it, instead, to the personal and/or local which in its natural space can receive it. sublimewe is then a structure where this can happen. In our (my small and Saras's considerable) experience of sublimewe, the process allows an individual to deeply listen to themselves and get in touch with what their longing is and what is alive in them, and to move past, examine, and hold with care the debilitating voices within self, self-doubt and questions, like "am I worth this?", "do I deserve to be fully met in love, by love, with love?", "do I deserve to be loved?"... In the deep listening, a restorative and regenerative process is afoot, which could lead to a very specific renewal of self and the assimilating of these parts, when these debilitating voices are fully heard. Through this, the potential of individual aliveness to emerge into the space of the "us" is likely and immense. There is a welcoming of the tender voice into this space, that is saying "this is my aliveness", "this is priceless and precious in me right now", "can you hear me and support me in this...?" sublimewe is listening deeply to ourselves, which then reflects in how we listen to each other. There is no hierarchy, between speaker and listener, empathiser and empathised, facilitator and facilitated, presenter or teacher or guide and presented-to, taught, guided; it offers a set of instruments that support us in being fully inclusive, and creating a space where learning is shared. There is not even a hierarchy between the three instruments, as all instruments affect, interact with, and draw from all instruments. The pace, aliveness, enthusiasm of learning, and content, is determined by each individual and the collective. It creates a pedagogy where everyone optimally contributes to the intentioned subject by restoratively listening to self, and in being receptive to everyone's wisdom and experience. About "Conversations with Saras"
My conversations with Saras have generally happened with a synergy that is both surprising and organic; in my comprehension, what has arrived between us has been exactly what needed to. In the last two weeks, things aligned in a way that both had time and space enough to talk on a fairly regular basis, in conversations that started out agenda-less but arrived as unintended, unasked gifts of wisdom, learning, and collaboration. This series of blog posts is intended as a harvesting of what we spoke about, and contains mostly her words - which I noted as she was speaking and later assimilated to offer them as such.
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