Crossing the Cultural Chasm

In a number of different scenarios the idea of a gulf or chasm between two different ways of thinking is very much in evidence. In the West, for example, the Arts: Science divide is often considered insurmountable. But the list of chasms is a long one: young: old, rural: city and religious beliefs for example. Or even the timeless man: women. Few would deny some fairly fundamental differences in how these respective pairings of mind-sets operate!

In global, cultural terms we might offer East and West as two banks on either side of a chasm: the West with its Cartesian, rational, science-based cultural and ways of thinking, the East, the Chinese in our case, more Taoist: practical, flowing; more akin, perhaps to the Arts bank: concerned with sensing, feeling and first-hand experiences.

But how can these, and other similar differing world-views, be reconciled? They are, by their nature, different ways of thinking, alternative ways in which the individuals concerned engage with others and with life itself: they are often deeply embedded cultural phenomenon.

As the world becomes one global home the need to bridge such cultural chasms becomes ever greater: how else can we live sustainably, in harmony? But is it possible?

Let us take the Arts/Experiential and Rational/Scientific gulf as an example. To some individuals and groups, there is no question that bringing together experience and rational explanation is not just possible but an essential step in securing a future for our individual selves and our species. Although currently small in number, relative to the global population, a few people are, it seems, able to exist in both camps, feel comfortable on both banks of the Arts/Experiential and Science/Rational chasm. 

How to they do so? In my PhD thesis I called it a process of transcendence: the term immediately highlighting a key feature: that the resulting way of thinking, is at a different level of consciousness. It embraces the previous two modes whilst going beyond both. It might also be considered an integration process: the sum of the two being very different to either of the parts. The process can be applied to many of the cultural chasms listed above and may be simply illustrated using that same chasm analogy.

The Transcendence Process

1. Before:

Individuals on either bank who think this way cannot even see the other bank; they cannot even imagine that a different way of thinking even exists. They only know their own type of consciousness and that no other form is possible. Ne’ r the twain shall meet.

2. A step up

Here an individual on their side of the bank has climbed a hill or built a tower and looked around. They become aware of a far bank, of some land separated from their own, though may have little understanding as to what it is.

In consciousness terms this might equate to the scientist attending a concert and finding they enjoy it; or an artist needing to do their annual account and finding that it’s not as hard as they had feared.

Fuelled by this experience, and blessed with an open and enquiring mind, such individuals will explore further, they climb higher mountain, begin building bridges or boats and exploring beyond their mental comfort zones. 

3. Taking Flight

One day the intrepid explorer will take to a hot air balloon and see the bigger picture: two banks with a chasm between them. Maybe, they’ll let the wind take them over the gulf, land the other side and dare to set foot in uncharted territory.

For that is what free-form artistic creation might seem like to a life-long paper-writing scientist: or how a page of numbers and calculations might appear to an artist. Different world views. And there is no alternative to experiencing them to attain any form of appreciation of them.

In consciousness terms, this hot-air balloon experience might be a guided meditation (or visualisation of a hot-air balloon perhaps!) which is particularly moving. The individual has an experience that doesn’t fit into their existing world view, in places them in a different mental place or space. Such experiences can occur to anyone at any time, probably when that individual is ready to explore further. In my case it came when I, as an engineer, found I could dowse.

And it’s those moments when, in a strange land, after the initial confusion and frustration on arriving tired and confused, after a good rest, when relaxing you suddenly ‘get it’. For example, the Spanish have word: Mañana. Which I’d never really understood: it certainly didn’t seem to mean the literal “tomorrow”! Then, during one holiday, in the beautiful Andalusia, I was sat, totally relaxed, drinking a freshly squeezed local orange juice at a bar/café in a small town. Watching the world go by and observing the locals going about their business I just knew what mañana was all about: allowing the day and tasks to take their naturally, unhurried course.

4. Out of this World

The balloonist's vantage point is more than being able to set foot in both camps. Transcendent consciousness embraces both, can switch between the two at will and even be outside of both.

To really appreciate the chasm, it’s valley, surrounding landscape and place on the globe, our intrepid explorer has to go into space. From up here the chasm has disappeared, the differences between the two world-views are as irrelevant as that between red and green for a colour-blind person.

A transcendent state of consciousness is probably not describable in words, but typical attempts to describe it might say it is one in which everything and everyone are ‘as one’, where a deep sense of peace and connection are obtained. Yes, it probably is similar to or comparable with that enlightened, nirvana, state reported by mystics, yogis and gurus. But it’s a state, a mode of consciousness that is natural and available to anyone. In this mental state, we know that every human-being is unique and special . . . and we all have the same basis need: to love and be loved.

Please don’t think this is a definitive road-map towards a blissful, higher level of consciousness: if only it were that easy! This article is meant only to set the scene, to provide an impression of a typical journey. It probably helps not at all to imagine there are specifically 2 or 3 steps, stages or levels. The process, from my own experience and in observing countless others, is an on-going one: we may go from satellite to tower, from balloon to base-line and back again many times before a transcended state is anything like our normal, waking, consciousness. It seems to take many experiences of others levels of heightened consciousness/awareness before a mind conditioned to being on one bank or others of some chasm or another can truly go with the flow in the river between the two and in the air that flows over both.
 

An engineer’s perspective

So many different factors can affect how easy or difficult it might be to engage with and make progress with this transcendence process. In hindsight I was lucky to find my way into engineering. With applied science I was always exposed to the creative process and to human factors. A good engineer understands aesthetics as full as scientific principles, can work with natural flow as well as abstract formulae: Thomas Telford’s Menai Suspension Bridge being an excellent local example.

Engineers often know a few things about spanning gorges: physical and metaphysical. But then, so too can a mathematician appreciate the beauty of numbers, or a musicians understand both the mathematical and inner significance of what they are playing. Transcendence is more an approach to life, a willingness to throw ourselves into a chosen field and allow the nuances of all that entails to enthral and support us. The process of bridging a cultural chasm is an adventure through which we evolve from, often frustrated, humans doing this or that to a whole human-being: at peace with ourselves and our place in the world.

Olympian Brexit

We’ve done it! Team GB have won more medals in Rio than we did in the 2012 London Olympics . . . and we’re up with China at the top of the medals table. How can a tiny country with a population of around only 65 Million do so well on the world stage? Four years ago we could put it down to ‘home advantage’, but not this time. What is it in our make-up and how we work that has enabled such remarkable achievements?

Olympic Games Rio 2016 - Final Medal standings
		Country			Gold				Silver				Bronze				Total
		1US				46				37				38				121
		2 GB				27				23				17				67
		3China				26				18				26				70

And, as we prepare for the next phase of our countries future, how can we apply the positive lessons from our on-going Olympic success to Brexit?

First, we probably also need to acknowledge the significance of the National Lottery funding. And not just for the way that it enables the athletes to focus on their Olympic preparations:

Stakeholders

I can’t speak for others, but when I buy a lottery ticket or scratch card, of course I want to win! But when I don’t, I just think “it’s supporting our athletes in Rio”, and that makes me smile. I’m glad to be part of their success. In business parlance, I’ve become a stakeholder. It’s human nature: the more we feel part of something the better we’ll support it and throw ourselves behind it.

Feedback

And it doesn’t stop there. Time and again, in their post competition interviews, Team GB stars will give their genuine “Thank You” to the Lottery .. . . and thus to everyone who buys a ticket. And they share their appreciation for ‘all the support from back home’. All of this, from the sportsmen and women and from the public, is heartfelt. We all mean it. It comes from the depth of being human, of caring. And why do we care?

Winners we can relate to

These athletes could be, and often are, the boy or girl next door. Ordinary British folk like us. All these factors contribute to the feeling that we’re in this together. This is the ultimate Team GB: not just the athletes in the public eye, but the back-room support staff and the friends, families and neighbours flying the flag . . . often literally.

Win-win

It’s widely accepted that nothing succeed likes success. When young athletes training alongside reigning champions, it’s not just the best techniques they pick up: attitudes, states of  mind, commitment all rub off. Likewise, once a team has a few world class members, so they feed off each other, spur each other on. Competitive yes, but in a win-win way: all members of the team benefit . . . it’s not just for personal achievement . . . it’s for the country.

So many Brits who reached the Rio medals podium recognised, in their interviews afterwards, the importance of what they were doing not just for their sport but for everybody: providing a glimpse of a new activity, a chance of glory, an enjoyable way of getting fit. They have a fighting spirit, but it’s infectious, it’s to be shared. They want everybody to benefit.

Confidence with Humility

Cricket may not be part of the Olympic Games, but the idea of fair play exists in both . . . and many would say that the Brits invented fair-play. There’s nothing wrong with taking pride in winning, or wanting to win, so long as we also recognise the value of taking part and compete with respect. You probably can’t win without a huge amount of self-belief, but that doesn’t means we can’t also be magnanimous in defeat and appreciative of a game well played. 

These are the traits of being British. It is these characteristics and related ways of working that took us to the top tier of two Olympic games. To succeed in the world’s commercial arena as we are succeeding in global sport we just have to do the same things . . . and be ourselves!

Follow your bliss

GB’s winning Olympians come in all shapes, sizes and ages from 16 year old Amy Tinkler (Floor Gymnastic Bronze) to golden show-jumper Nick Skelton (aged 58). We can‘t all be Pelé but we all need to succeed at something. For most of us it may not be at Olympic level nor necessarily in sport, but we all have something to contribute to Great Britain. The trick is to find out what. Time and again we heard how our medallists had tried many sports and events before finding the one that was right for them. By being open, willing to try something different, and this applies to all of us, we’re far more likely to find our niche . . . our reason for being here.

It’s well known that the British are excellent at rowing and are world beating cyclists, but our second place in the Rio medal table came through success in 16 different sports. In the athletes’ village and in the pubs and lounges around the country, they’re all British, all part of the same team, each playing their part in the best way they’re able. The same is true in all walks of life: we find our niche, do our bit in our part of our particular team and, by pulling together, pride in our personal achievement mirrors an inclusive, national pride.

Success beyond Rio

As our returning athletes set their sights on Tokyo and 2020, the rest of us can follow their example and be inspired to do our bit for Team GB. The lessons for post-EU Britain are many and positive. With belief tempted by humility, by caring about each other, by committing to a shared role within Team GB, Brexit provides the opportunity to shine beyond the sporting arenas just as we have within them.

Practice makes perfect?

As Bolt, Murray, Farah and other mazing athletes retain their Olympic titles, they and pretty much all other competitors in Rio will tell you the value of practice: the need to put the time in, if you want to be the best in the world at your chosen sport . . . or, for that matter, the best that you can be at anything.

But there's practice and practice! And how can we apply this principle to something like learning a new language, a meditation technique or better way of using our minds? Does the old mantra of perseverance, sweat and effort, still apply?

Horses for Courses
If you want to learn something so you can repeat it, time after time, exactly the same each time, then that's how you'd learn it! Learning by rote. The old fashioned keep doing it until it's etched in your brain: such as being able to recite a poem you learnt 40 years ago! Pretty much the same applies to physical, muscle, memory too: be it Murry's serve or the positions of hands on a piano keyboards to play Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2.

But that's only part of what you need to be the best. In some situations it is of vital important to have a given motor movement so hard-wired that you just do it automatically . . . but that certainly won't make you a concert pianist or sporting champion! There's the performance aspect: the ability to rise to an occasion, to face fears and use the emotions of the now in your favour, to tune into your arena, audience, opponent and so on: Simone Biles being an excellent example of this! She, Bolt and many of the other champions enjoy what they do. The energy of joy is a vital part of their success formula. They win through being themselves: and that's something we can practice too!

And this applies in any role, any job, any situation. Normally this would be my emphasis: the need to go beyond the level of (intellectual) knowledge and of practical skill and tune-in, to be present and connected. But in this article I'm going to focus on the third component: first-hand experience . . . the very thing of practice . . .

Practice by doing
When teaching Reiki (as a path for personal self-development) of course I advice my students to practice. But I specifically emphasis that their Reiki does NOT become the thing they do at 7:30 every Thursday, or that they always use the same set of hand positions when doing a self-healing practice. Neither of those is real practice. They're about repetition, habit and routine. And all they do is hard-wire that particular pattern in your head. When it comes to learning Reiki, being present, being a true artist and any real-world activity if you think about it, we rarely need to just repeat what we know exactly as we learnt it. Nearly always we will need to apply our knowledge to the particular time and place. Hence the need to be able to tune into that time and place!

But, just as importantly, we need, embodied within us, a deep and broad understanding of whatever it we're doing (from winning a particular Olympic final to clinching a new business deal, to resolving a family dispute, for example) that we can apply all our experience in this particular situation. How do we reach this wonderful state of affairs . . . and state of mind?

By practice . . . in real -life. By having the intent of being our true self, connected to both our inner needs and wisdom and to the pertinent facets of the present moment. And the wider the range of circumstances in which we can do this (in Murray terms, the wider the range of court surfaces, weather conditions and opponents, for example) the more the real us emerges and our potential is fulfilled.

Thus, if our intent is to step onto the winning podium in life, by overcoming our personal mental blocks and inner demons (as all champions must) then there is no alternative but to practice being us in every situation life provides for us. Here, now, is our practice court. 

In Beyond Thought, perhaps even more so than in sport, practice does not means keeping on doing the same thing: how are we ever going to be present if we do that? Thankfully Reiki, mindfulness, Alexander Technique and other approaches do teach us just that . . .

Beyond Peace

I woke up this morning feeling uneasy, which is strange as I went to bed feeling peaceful. I'd had a good day and been able to resolve a couple of issues than had been bugging me. But this morning that good feeling had evaporated . . . as a deeper sense of uncertainty began to surface. In today's world, it seems, there's always something to unsettle us. The thought came:

How can I be at peace with the world when the world is not at peace with itself?

What a question!

The answer came to me as more questions:

• Is a raging river at peace with itself?

• Is a thunderstorm at peace with the world?

The questions, to anyone willing to listen to their innate, inner, wisdom, are absurd.

'Peace' is merely a concept. An idea created by the human mind.

The reality is that even the most peaceful looking mirror lake is teaming with life, with natural creation and destruction.

Even in the most blissful of meditation, our bodily processes are continuing, destroying food to turn it into energy.

Life goes on, death goes on. Many of us may seek an end to disputes between humans but, in this era at least, they are as part of reality as a ladybird eating an aphid from our roses.

The conclusion?

The only way to feel peaceful is to be peaceful. And that means just being . . . beyond labels of peace or otherwise, beyond judgement as to what constitutes peace and what doesn't.

Being Peaceful means Being  . . . Beyond Thought

Everyman

As I do my best to do what needs to be done today, at least part of me, whenever it gets the chance, will be joining with the Somme Centenary vigil.

On days like today, 100 years to the day from the start of the battle that cost the lives of, literally, a million souls from around the globe.

On days like today, as Brits (and many others) seek to find a way of engaging with the world post Brexit.

On days like today as so many reflect on the changing face of politics around the world . . . and wonder how we can become one nation . . . and one humanity.

As we remember those who gave their lives then, and in other conflicts since, in so many nations, from so many backgrounds, let us remember that, first and foremost, they were human beings . . . like you, like me.

Everyman: A sung contribution