BIODANZA IN THE LIGHT OF KEN WILBER’S INTEGRAL VISION ON KOSMOS

All is connected

All is One

One song

One verse

Uni-verse

Lecture by Monique Hoed

Director of RT School of Biodanza Utrecht

European Congress, July 8th 2016

WHAT AND WHY?

WHAT?

1. Biocentric Principle in short (Rolando)

2. Connection with integral vision on Kosmos (Ken Wilber)

3. Questions?

WHY?

• To add new information to the Biocentric Principle

• To clarify

• To inspire

1. BIOCENTRIC PRINCIPLE (module 2 Vital Unconscious & Biocentric

Principle)

• All in life is part of a bigger living system

• Universe exists because life exists and not the other way around

• Life unfolds itself through an implicit programme that guides life

• Life is sacred: respect for life is starting point

• The BP proposes to potentialise life and the expression of its evolutionary powers

• The kingdom of life embraces all that exists, from neurons, to quasars, to the subtlest thoughts: all expression, all movement, all dance is a living language

• The feeling of Love is the supreme experience of contact with life

• Through Biodanza we arrive at the original source of the impulses of life

2. A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYTHING: LOOKING FOR A PATTERN THAT CONNECTS EVERYTHING (Ken Wilber, Shambala, Boston, 2000)

• Scientists and mystics have been searching for A Theory of Everything in order to find the answer to the question: how is all in life connected when we can only see or experience fragments and/or see so many contradictions

• It took Ken Wilber 5 years to extensively study scientific and spiritual books and studies in order to find a kind of blueprint that connects biological, psychological, fysical, cross-cultural, spiritual and universal concepts of life through the ages up till now

• It is a very big picture and a blueprint, not to ‘state the truth’ but to have a ‘roadmap’ to find a pathway “home”: a state of being in which we not only feel ourselves connected but also understand how

TWO MAIN CONCEPTS

1. The pattern that connects everything: Kosmosand Holons

2. The four corners of Kosmos

1. THE PATTERN THAT CONNECTS EVERYTHING: KOSMOS AND HOLONS

Creation = evolution of Kosmos (from matter to life to mind to soul to spirit)

• Matter

• Life

• Mind

• Soul

• Spirit

• Evolution is not linear but spiral and includes and transcends. These layers are nested and each next step includes and transcends the former step: where matter is favourable life occurs; where life is favourable psyche occurs, where psyche is ripe, we connect to the soul, where we connect to the soul we see and feel (a glimpse of) Spirit…

Holon of Kosmos

HOLONS

When Creation started (big bang, creation myths) first there was

- Emptiness (or potential)

- Then there was Creation (life force, original impulse)

- Then there were HOLONS: reality is composed of holons

What is a Holon?

- An entity that is part/whole at the same time

- they function autonomously

- at the same time they are part of a bigger whole

- HOLONS -

• For example: an atom is an existing entity that at the same time is part of a bigger whole, a molecule. A molecule is whole in itself and at the same time part of a cell; the cell is part of an organism, and so on

• Holons are structured in endless hierarchies and everywhere to be found

• Another example: words are part of a sentence are part of a paragraph are part of a chapter are part of a book is part of a genre is part of a culture….

• NOTHING exists ON ITS OWN• This is simply not possible… = a great insight…..

- HOLONS-

Holons have four drives:

- Each holon possesses both agency and communion (horizontal level)- It has to keep its identity and yet at the same time its being part of context otherwise

it looses its ground for existence ( = autopoiesis)- (In BD this can be experienced by the pulsation between identity and regression)

- Each holon has the drive to transcend or dissolve (vertical level)- Each holon has an intrinsic drive to grow and evolve to another level of existence

(transcend) or if it can not do so it dissolves or disintegrates and ceases to exist- When a holon transcends itself it includes its former levels and at the same time

adds something new (visible in bigger picture see holon of Kosmos)

- Evolution or growth is the natural tendency in Kosmos (= realising its innate potentials)

2. FOUR CORNERS OF KOSMOS• When a holon occurs it has four faces AT THE SAME TIME (quadrants)

• Interior of the individual (intentional)• Exterior of the individual (behavioural)• Collective interior (cultural context)• Collective exterior (social systems)

• All four have to COMMUNICATE in order to be connected• For example: when I look sad from the outside it can mean everything. You

don’t have a clue unless you ask me• When we look at evolution on the outside it means nothing until we add

meaning by taking the inside into account• The interior inside adds meaning• The exterior outside defines the visible world (material)• In society in the West we are mostly lead by the exterior (only what you

can see is true)

HOLON OF KOSMOS IN A EVOLUTIONARY WAY

• Life developed from atom to mineral to plant to animal to human: each stage including and transcending the former stages• With an inside (intentional) and outside (behavioural)• In a cultural context of shared intrinsic values and beliefs which we

might call ‘worldview’ (cultural)• In a shared social context which we might call the way our

beliefs/values are organised (like family, tribe, or city, or democracy, or European Union) - social

• Our challenge: although all quadrants are connected we tend to value just ONE quadrant (e.g. in the West upper right is mostly valued)

• Next slide: biggest picture of holon of evolution: integrating and transcending

HOLON AT WORK• If we understand that there are always four angles to take into account

when we look at life we will create healthy holons, healthy systems, healthy situations. If we don’t, the situation is not balanced and cannot grow integrally

• An example of everyday life

• The Biodanza system

• Taking all four quadrants into account

• Equally valuing all quadrants!• What I think and feel personally as a human entering a class/school/congress

• How I behave from the outside (movement and expression)

• Biodanza culture and also what life has taught me (which might not be the same)

• Organisation (location, finances, programme, agreements with students)

EXAMPLE OF HOLON AT WORK IN BIODANZA• All have to be equally in balance and respected at the same time

• This means that the individual has to understand that it is part of a bigger whole but the bigger whole has to understand that each individual makes the whole and that there has to be a constant communication and connection in order to grow and change and adapt TOGETHER

• The system has to be healthy too: appointments, rules, programme, timetable, financial balance…. This is JUST AS important as all the other quadrants…

• The way to stay in contact with all four quadrants is through COMMUNICATION and constantly checking reality:• Is the individual happy?

• Is the culture/values still appropriate and do we understand what we are part of (e.g. respect for life)

• Is the system appropriate to facilitate the inner values? (e.g. finances, appointments)

• Is this visible from the outside in all of our behaviour?

• In this integral approach there is room and space to grow and learn: this is how life can be put in the centre without ruling anything out….

FINAL

Any questions?