A new word on me, but one I like when I look up what it means: the coming together of diverse elements and/or ideas into an uncanny and unconscious oneness.*

This slightly longer post is about esemplastic communities and tribes, achieving together in uncanny ways for good towards a future always whispering to us.

Brian Hall got me thinking.  He does all his creative writing in libraries, bringing together many disparate observations and texts collected in these spaces:

“We – libraries and I – are allies, working together for the creative good.”**

Following Hall’s story of esemplasticity, Laura Damon-Moore and Erinn Batykefer offer this artistic practice:

‘Wander the shelves and find some fiction or nonfiction and at least one art compendium.  Leaf through until you light upon something that strikes you in each book – a quote or an image, for example.  Place these ideas in the context of your earlier sketches and conversation gathering.    Consider how they all might be part of a single story – how do they fit together to reveal someone’s character or drive the plot forward.’^

Furthermore (a word I like a lot because it’s made up of further and more), esemplasticism promises the deepest expression of unconscious collaboration.

“In art the self becomes self-forgetful.”^^

If we begin to think about what we are doing and how we do it and where it comes from and how it compares with someone else’s contribution, the we’re becoming self-conscious, and we lose the flow of our gift or art or must.  This in turn disrupts and compromises the esemplastic quality of the whole.  Here’s a longer quote from Lewis Hyde’s description of the gift understood in this way:

‘The moral is this: the gift is lost in self-consciousness.  To count, measure, reckon value, or seek the cause of a thing, is to step outside the circle, to cease being ‘all of a piece’ with the flow of gifts and become, instead, one part of the whole reflecting upon another part.  We participate in the esemplastic power of a gift by way of a particular kind of unconsciousness, then: unanalytic, undialetical consciousness.*^

We need the creativity esemplastic imagination offers.

Just this morning, listening to a BBC Radio 5 interview with Lord Carlile, I heard the Liberal Democrat peer speak about exterminating and destroying Islamic State, and whilst believing civilian casualties will be limited by precision bombing, also said, in the end, those who begin wars, as Islamic State have, bring casualties upon those around them.  Which sounds like more of a solution which has only helped to create the world we find ourselves in.  I could only think we need more imaginative possibilities.

Becoming less self-conscious, as Hyde describes, moves us deeper into empathic listening, learning, identifying and collaborating on ‘projects worth working on together.’^*  Otto Scharmer terms this as a movement to “I-in-Now,” moving us from ego to eco.  We move the other way when we become more self-conscious, towards the surface of things, towards “I-in-Me, and, therefore, from eco to ego.”⁺

‘Among the things that distinguish our species from others is our combination of idealism and artistry – our desire to both improve the world and to provide that world with something it didn’t know it was missing.’⁺⁺

(*I borrow the phrase uncanny encounters from my friend Charlotte Bosseaux’s Dubbing, Film and Performance – elements we we do expect to find together.)
(**Brian Hall, quoted in Laura Damon-Moore and Erinn Batykefer’s The Artist’s Library.)
(^Laura Damon-Moore and Erinn Batykefer’s The Artist’s Library.)
(^^Flannery O’Connor, quoted in Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.)
(*^From Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.)
(^*From Seth Godin’s Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?)
(⁺From Otto Scharmer’s Theory U; the levels of deeper listening and presencing are: I-in-Me, I-in-It, I-in-You, and, I-in-Now.)
(⁺⁺From Daniel Pink’s To Sell is Human.)

What if our “mission” as Humans is to make all things thrive.

Imagine that.

Imagination carries us to new places and experiences and people – even into the 96% of the universe we still don’t know- and what if we don’t know how much we don’t know?

Here’s what space scientist Monica Grady was saying on the radio just this morning:

“We are very small people with, you know, our imaginations are sometimes not broad enough.  We really need to think beyond the boundaries of our own country, of our own earth, and look beyond. … People who get a glimpse of the night sky … and see the stars … there’s so much mystery and mythology and stories  you can weave about the stars.’*

What if the universe is the original Star Trek-like holodeck, waiting for us to create the best stories we can?

Some of our stories make it possible for all flora and fauna to thrive.  

At the other end of the stories-spectrum, there’re are narratives which only spoil and destroy.

‘We need to be alive to stay alive.’**

And imagination makes this possible.  Capable of continually exploring and learning forward, connecting and empathising creatively as homo connecticus, prototyping a better world.

But we can also close our minds, and, disconnecting from others, producing destructive stories which offer bleak, dystopian futures.

Every day, each of us has opportunity to use our imaginations in a positive and hopeful way:

‘The imagination has the power to assemble the elements of our experience into coherent, lively wholes: it has a gift.’^

We imagine ourselves forward.  Imagination creating stories creating imagination.

Towards a better future.

Imagine that.

(*From BBC2’s Good Morning Sunday.)
(**From Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler’s Bold.  Studies have shown that people who retire at 55 are 98% more likely to die in the following ten years than people who retire at 65.)
(^From Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.)

You’re more than your thoughts, more than what’s going on in your head.

When you’re more present to the intelligence of your heart and gut, you are listening to what your life is trying to tell you.

You’re more than the sum of your parts, more than your thoughts + feelings + skills +  experiences + values + passions.

What your life is, is a gift, and gifts are alive, spiritual, and social.

You’re more than a story you want to live on or have noticed by those you influence.  There’s some difference for good you can make.

You’re more than who you are in this moment, and must resist avoiding or neglecting what you can do.  When you leave the status quo, when you try something, when you act, you become more your future Self – and so do I, and so do we:

‘When who we are and what we do are one and the same, we are walking the road of Must.  When we choose Must, what we create is ourselves.’*

On a day when we’re following what happened in Paris last night,** we remember how we are much more than this – we’re determined to become more Human.

(*From Elle Luna’s The Crossroads of Should and Must.)
(**As I write this, it’s believed there are 128 dead and more than 200 injured because of the terrorist attacks in Paris.)

Staying alert to the future wanting to emerge through you.

Here are three questions:

What is my courage? (Who I am thinking of when I am most selfless and thinking of others?)
What is my generosity?  (What is it I want to give most of all to these others?)
What is my wisdom?  (The difference I hope to make?)

Here are three practices:

Wake up with your emerging future – some reflective practice – like journaling or mindfulness or prayer.
Stay connected throughout the day with the deep intention of your life – working on ways of remembering (such as the questions, above).
Sense and take hold of possibilities when they come your way.

As for me, a year ago I’d journaled my deep concern to somehow help release people into their futures, how the world is going without because people aren’t bringing their “art,” their “superpowers,” into the world.

I don’t mean religiously.

Your gift is special.  It’s different to the gifts of others – it sets you apart.  Holy.

It’s also holy because it comes to you from somewhere or someone else: a muse or genius, a people or person, the universe or God.

Of course, this means the gift of others is different to your, meaning theirs is holy too.

‘I think a race looks prettier when everybody comes in even’*

Except someone’s reaching the line as a sprinter, another as long-distance runner, another as a cyclist …

Some say not everyone can be special.

Why not?

We’ve traditionally understood specialness in terms of ego, how we compare ourselves to others.  We’re coming to understand specialness from the place of eco – our connectedness to all things and people, including connecting to ourselves.

This eco-attitude, incorporating humility and gratitude, allows what wants to come to to come:

“You get a good poem and you don’t know where it came from.  ‘Did I say that?’  And so all you feel is: you feel humility, and you feel gratitude.  And you feel uncomfortable, I think, if you capitalised for much on that without admitting at some point that you got it from the Muse, or whatever, wherever, or however.”**

At the moment I’m reading Elle Luna’s excellent short essay on Should and Must.^  Must comes from within and reaches out to others so is more about the eco: the holy gift which comes to us and the holy gift we give to others, and doesn’t need popular recognition

Should comes from without, what others think we should do and is more about the ego: desiring the gratitude and plaudits of others.

Must is holy.

I hope today finds you caught up in the magic of your Must.

(*From Ruth Krauss and Maurice Sendak’s Open House For Butterflies.)
(**Poet Gary Snyder, quoted in Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.)
(^Elle Luna’s The Crossroads of Should and Must.)

‘So long as the gift is not withheld, the creative spirit will remain a stranger to the economics of scarcity.’*

Bring who you are.

Bring what you have.

Bring what you can do.

Don’t wait for inspiration.  Turn up everyday with the things you work with and trust something will come.

Poet Allen Ginsberg said writing, as an expression of gift, is “just writing what yourself is saying”.**

For “writing,” substitute whatever activity is yours.

Mark Levy tells writers just to start writing.^  This translates into whatever your gift is.

Don’t be afraid of those who will criticise your gift.  It’s probably not for them.  Focus on those you give your gift to.

When you have given, you’ll find you want to give again: you cannot empty yourself:

‘Bestowal creates that empty space into which new energy may flow.’*

Gift-giving is always a risk.  Yet you know you must do it:

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who sought and found how to serve.”^^

(*From Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.)
(**Allen Ginsberg, quoted in Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.)
(^Mark Levy’s Accidental Genius.)
(^^Albert Schweitzer, quoted in Seth Godin’s Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?)

It wouldn’t be a dream if it were easy, if you were already doing it.

‘Well it turns out that the Must is scary, hard, like jumping off a terrifyingly high cliff, where you can’t see anything down below.’*

There have to be at least two whispers.

One comes from beyond you, out there, somewhere a need, a call, a question, a request.

The second comes from within, the way you want to respond, must respond to what you hear.

Dreams ask us to remain open when everything we are screams to be closed and known and decided.  Dreams also ask whether we’re willing to fail – it’s quite possible we’ve found a life which minimises failure, but dreams require we leave this behind:

‘If failure is not an option, then neither is success.’**

When you dream, others will be prepared to dream.

Another thing is, dreams don’t stay put.  As you move towards them, they say to you “yes and” and watch to see if you’re willing to play.

“Yes and” is who we are as Humans when we are at our most generative.

“”Yes and” isn”t a technique …. It’s a way of life.’^

Keep dreaming.

(*From Elle Luna’s The Crossroads of Should and Must.)
(**From Seth Godin’s Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?)
(^Cathy Salit, quoted in Daniel Pink’s To Sell is Human.)

When we find our Must, we also find our deep concern, taking us deeper, beyond the surface of an issue, to the source and to a future possibility.

‘Must is what happens when we stop conforming to other people’s ideals and start connecting to our own.  Because when we choose Must, we are no longer looking for inspiration out there.  Instead, we are listening to our calling from within, from some luminous, mysterious place.’*

This is the deeper now, a different way of engaging and reimagining a circumstance – especially a different way for someone to engage with and reimagine their life.

We’ll likely be surprised by what we find at the deep source of ourselves and one another.  Here we are, ordinary people going about their lives, but connected to their Must (element, purpose, calling, vocation, strengths, superpowers, gift, genius) bringing extraordinary impact.

(*From Elle Luna’s The Crossroads of Should and Must.)

One of the favourite sayings of my friend Alex McManus.  He’s provided me and others a place to connect with deep creativity.

More than eleven years ago, Alex told me the future will come through those who must, setting me on a path that has led me to today.  Literally today, as I met some great people wanting to explore their deep creativity for the sake of others.

‘Must is who we are, what we believe, and what we do when we are alone with our truest, most authentic self.  It’s our instincts, our cravings and longings, the things and places and ideas we burn for, the intuition that swells up from somewhere deep inside of us.’*

You belong here is about being both centred and adventurous, shaping the kind of spaces in which others can explore, individually and collectively.

“When I walk into my library it feels like optimism and hope.  It simultaneously offers a sense of adventure and comfort.”**

(*From Elle Luna’s The Crossroads of Should and Must.)
(**Poet Joseph Mills, quoted in Laura Damon-Moore and Erinn Batykefer’s The Artist’s Library.)

‘When all property is privatised, faith is privatised and all men feel fear at the boundary of the self.’*

Lewis Hyde is tracking the move a loan as gift moves across a boundary into usury and interest.  We’re so used to interest on loans that it’s hard to comprehend that this wasn’t the case for the majority of people within tribes, communities, and societies until around five hundred years ago.

‘A good thing to know is this road is private for everybody.’**

Ruth Krauss’s children’s book from 1960 has some real gems in it and this is one of them.

We need to unprivatise our lives.  We need spaces for this to happen in product ways.

Elle Luna writes about the crossroads of should and must.

Should comes from without and must from within.  Should is about living the life others want us to.  Must is about living the life we must in order to make our contribution before we leave this world.  We need more spaces for must-creativity to he encouraged and explored.  Luna’s essay provides a space: ‘It is for anyone thinking of making the jump from Should to Must.  Anyone looking to follow the energy deep within their chest but aren’t quite sure how.’^

I like the idea of a new day being here.  That there are spaces we can walk into and request help to put the most in and get the most out of a new day.

Yesterday, I mentioned an exploration called #libraryofawesome.  Libraries have been around for some time but they remain islands of gift in oceans of commodity to everybody to use ‘as an intuitive space that fosters curiosity and investigation in a variety of delightfully unexpected ways.’^^

The library begins in you and you must bring your library to others.

(*From Lewis Hyde’s The Gift.)
(**FromRuth Krauss and Maurice Sendak’s Open House For Butterflies.)
(^From Elle Luna’s The Crossroads of Should and Must.  I have shared on a number of occasions how my friend Alex McManus believes the future will not come through revolution or evolution but through the people who MUST.  Check out Luna’s short video telling of how this all began for her.)
(^^From Laura Damon-Moore and Erinn Batykefer’s The Artist’s Library.)