#14 The act of entrainment … part 3
As we deepen our entrainment two things come to light. First - at no time are we ever individual or independent.
That we were taught to recognise our selves as individual is possibly the beginning of all the of our wounds and trauma.
We are a team and we are interconnected. Our chase for discovering who we are was never going to be successful without knowing all that we are as a whole. To know self as individual and separate means we disconnect our pure potential of giving, receiving and becoming. To know ourselves as whole, as complete and as a part of all things we understand the delicate woven threads that each requires the other.
And, that these threads are not attached but rather the same flow of fluid existence. Attached means we are joined - this isn't correct - we aren't joined we are in fact one thread - without disconnection.
In fact the detached essence is to be detached from self, in this we embrace the uncertainty of our true existence of pure potential.
Mind and consciousness are not what we have, it's what we are, and through it our entanglement with all else, not only enables the flow and abundance of life, we are that.
As diverse expressions of the one force our unity is not found in uniformity, rather in acceptance of the other. The act of entrainment is the act of consciously being entwined as one.
Entrainment may now seem elusive. A desperate how comes to our hearts when we now realise that this act is one step towards the wholeness of self and life as one. Whilst seemingly simple, three skills bring us to entrainment. Observation, Stillness and Silence, and they are lifetimes in their acquisition.
That is the time(ing) of life, the lifetime that it takes, to walk as one, to re-member, to return. Our haste will not see us perfect these skills today or maybe tomorrow, but our journey with them in our footsteps, our sighs and our heart beat means we are in all ways actively seeking to become one again.
Observation
is the precursor to wisdom, this is what our ancient texts tell us. To watch is not the same. Watching is like having one eye on something, it is absent from our wholeness. Observing is more than two eyes on it, it takes our breath, our body, our whole being. We become involved with it, entangled amongst it. We fall into it almost into a trance. Observing means we truly - in that moment - are nowhere else but in that moment and one with the observed. This allows us to take in - to become one with - and thus the absolute beginning of entrainment.
Stillness
follows observation. The stillness of our mind, the withdrawal of our own senses, means we are unaware of anything other than that moment and the observed. We allow ourselves to be again 'one with'. Once we still our senses we hear, feel, sense that of the observed. In this we fall deeply into onement with it and whilst we may not appear to move, we are moving within. Our energy sways or walks or breathes at one with. It doesn't only engage with the observed, it is the observed and therefore takes on all that is being observed.
Silence
allows no conversation from the mind. NO judgement. So as we observe there is no internal chatter - no questions - no judgement of what we are observing. We are literally silent to our entire existence other than that which is being observed. Our silence allows us to mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally be one with the observed. Or to be more correct to be one with life in that moment - so there be no separation, we are eternal with that moment - not even bound by form or skin or sense, simply completely at one with the observed.
And in this we step into entrainment, and through entrainment never again will there be only one story to live from or through. There will be every story - of self, more than self and the sacred - all of them will be alive and entwined.
Entrainment is resonance, entanglement, vibration, feeling. It is sense and essence and energy. In all ways it is interconnected to all things at all times, as All That Is.
A final reflection.
Let me start with a simple word. Trust. In my work and knowing of the Living System, trust is one of the biggest concerns preventing entrainment. With exacerbated intergenerational trauma known, felt and experienced by many, the ideation of entangled, entwined, entrained comes with the asking of such deep trust that it halts all attempts. This lack of trust further indoctrinated with fear means we have huge hurdles to manoeuvre.
Trust in a system we have been removed from feels like falling into an abyss.
Trust in a system that we are encouraged to dread for fear of encounters with venomous, dangerous even ruthless savage animals seems a big ask.
Trust in having needs met by anything outside of the system we are led to believe provides for more than our needs, our desires and wants as well, seems ludicrous.
Why would we do this? Why would we lean into something outside of that which is known, jump into the unknown?
The answer is simple and elegant, because it is where we belong. And belonging is at the very core of finding meaning to this existence.
You may notice something quite exquisite by the time you reach this point. That entrainment - the observation, the stillness, the silence - are all ways in which we seek to meditate fully.
This is because the act of entraining is living meditation. In truth our ask in life is to live in a manner that is akin to living meditation, where we walk with feet kissing the ground, with gratitude for breath as all living beings, in service to all that is. It isn't bound by how, or where, it simply is the act of being present, being in and with and amongst every moment fully, as both observer and observed. Knowing we are both at once.
Entrainment is that moment of fluid connection, like riding that horse. When our bodies are not separated, but in sync with and experienced as one. The movement of the horse, as with the movement of life, flows through our body as one energy, as does ours through the horse and life itself. When you observe this in full connection it would appear as the horse and rider are one with the air, with the ground. As if we are the river that flows through life, the bird that glides, the murmuration of our gathering. Everything in that moment is at once, holding, forming, allowing, flowing. One could even question if a song was rising from the rhythm of the hooves, from the murmur to hear the life energy. Communication is energy flowing through. When you feel the wind it is conversation, or to be held by the water, it is communion.
Sounds deep. It is deep. Deeply connected. Acknowledging, allowing and accepting life as one. Yet it is ours to discover and experience how we will find it. And when we do, at that moment that we feel and experience it fully, it will be gone. And we will search again and again for those moments, eager to make our life, every day as one. This is our journey.
AND at this point… we have made our way to the bridge!
Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash