#12 Entrainment
Entrainment is not our way for embodying the One Living System deeper into our being, it is how we already are one with the Living System.
Entrainment is not a commonly used term when it comes to frames outside of biology, yet it is the place for us to begin when we seek to align the outer and the inner. What often comes to mind more firmly is embodiment. To embody is to be an expression of..... (something). It means to give a tangible or visible form to ..... (something) To include or contain ..... (something). When we seek to embody something, it brings it form. It allows what may be unseen, to be seen. It brings a visible and 'real' context too something. When we embody something - we bring it into our being for a time - we allow it room within us, we grant it expression through us, as a voice, or a song, or dance.
What is entrainment? The process of entrainment aligns one thing to another, no, it is more than alignment, deeper still it is at-onement. At the same time as aligning with another, it brings a pattern of familiarity to each other. It allows one thing to have the same rhythm as something else, this is the at-onement. In biology, (where entrainment is most often used as a term) it is defined as an internal rhythm of one cell synchronising with the beat of an outer cell. This is how life forms work together amongst the Living System, they form as one together, for they are one. Through entrainment it is ‘felt’ through the system as one. More than harmony, more than synchronicity, it is again only definable as at-onement. With human separation not only have we mentally removed ourselves from nature by our definitions, we have energetically and physically removed ourselves from being a part of nature, beating as one with all that is life.
When we entrain something we become one with it.
Entrainment is the 'as within so without' part of the Living System. It is the responsive, alive, intimate, relational spark within the Living System. It is the internal BEING of the Living System and it exists in us all. This is where it all begins!
when ‘an internal rhythm of one cell synchronises with the beat of an outer cell.’ Unbeknownst to us, this rhythm is not one we reconnect to, it is who we are. It is not something we seek, it is who we are. It is our awareness, realisation and actualisation of this that reunites us to it.
The importance of entrainment right now is two fold. Yes, whilst it is a core of the Living System and this is the space we seek to realise our oneness, it holds a connection to the separation story. The story of loss, pain, isolation.
It is not just that through the idea or story of separation that we hold a chasm of removed identity, it is that the pain of loss is made greater when we are separated from all we belong to. It deepens the loneliness. It makes heavier the grieving. We are the Living System, it is our place of belonging.
Through entrainment, as a part life and all of nature we find each other. In the trees the breeze the clouds we see each other remember each other. THIS is entrainment
In re-cognising (altering how our mind currently thinks about our place on this Earth) that our energy is all of life's energy, that all things impact and create as one, we not only hold opportunity to alter the way in which we place ourselves or how we integrate into this place, we consider at all times the consequences of all things. That every action holds resonance, every word holds weight, for in this comes the deep awareness that at every juncture we have beginning and ending, life opening to more life and within that circle and cycle we each orchestrate for the other.
To begin the process of entrainment we can lean in to understanding the simple flow that it holds and that begins with Relation. Life is a relational experience. The Living System IS relational to all things as and of itself. It is the flow of all things through and of itself. Remembering that entrainment is the, as within so without part of the puzzle that is occurring within us that is also occurring on the outside of us, that which we resonate within, resonates around us. The action of entrainment is the internal Living System model occurring on an energetic level.
Relation is the flow of the dynamics of energy. To be in relation with someone or something is to be at one with it. It is to recognise and relate 'all' as our own self. The external expression of relation - is relationships. We hold relationships to connect as a union. To hold relation to the Living System - to others - to the Earth - to all sentience - is the foundation of this relation-ing. When we align with our right relation as who we are, that is as one with the Living System, my heart beat is yours, as is the breath of the tree ours, as is the network roots of creation holding the soles of our feet.
Symbiosis comes alive when we are able to recognise and relate to all things as one with who we are - that I see myself within you - within the Earth, within All That Is - we then see, move with and flow as the patterns that we share. This relation opens us to synchronise as one. To fall into symbiosis as one. To recognise each other and the eternal flow of life, we seek to act, mimic and be one with all of life. When in tune with this, this isn't something we attempt to do, it is as we unfold and unravel our masks, that we realise it is who we are.
One heartbeat as the pulse of life that is existing within all things, as all things. We are all the energy of life. We are all one energy that expresses itself in its many forms. We are all as much expression as experience and we can experience life in all its forms through each other. One heartbeat - one life force - as the eternal energy that beats through All That Is. And so we don't just embody (express) as another we entrain and be at ONEMENT with all forms, without separation. There is no me, or I or you - there is only ONE. There is no individual form of life, only Life itself as one system that flows and expresses uniquely into form.
POEM - Lay Your Heart on Me.
Living systems begin internally. In all things it is the spiral, or vortex that opens us from all that is within to the outer. Just as a kaleidoscope image that spirals the energy up and into life so do we. In order to entrain we begin with our learned awareness and grow our realisation to become one with all that exists around us. To entrain fully we are called to LIVING as our truth.
Living systems are built through networks of unity. Networks hold the nodes and synapses required to continue the expression of life itself. The work on mycorrhizal fungi is leading us to a deeper understanding of the creation and continuation of life itself through these vital networks that hold simultaneously all things at once. Within human form, so removed from our place amongst this we begin to awaken the songs within us to bring these networks alive. This awakening begins from self awareness, where individuals or species recognise their beingness and organise that into interdependence and ways that support the diversity and viability of all. In nature, change never happens as a result of top-down reaction. Change begins as a bottom-up response to stimulus - a shoot simultaneously sprouting - in many different areas. If this beginning remains disconnected, nothing happens beyond its own. However, when they become a network and form as one, they emerge as a powerful system, such as the power of the mycelium effect under the soil. Its web of life - extends into each other - to afford all life above, it's becoming. Networks exert much more power than the sum of their parts; they always possess new capacities and possibilities from their beginnings. Networks are the embodiment of what began as an entrained reverence for life as it is.
How do we entrain? That is next ….
Our commitment to life is breathing. It is one of many breaths that nourishes the universe. Endlessly. We don’t need to create anything to help life. That’s who we are and already our role
Photo by Andalucía Andaluía on Unsplash
Beautiful poem Cari.
Your post reminded me,
when I speak the words “One Living System” I feel the frequency of entrainment.
Thank you