In Search of Chaotic Feminine Energy through Storytelling

Why stories captivated and continue to captivate human minds?

What is the secret in stories that glues people together? Why it doesn't care for age, race, religion, color, caste, gender, national boundaries and genetic makeup?

What universal appeal stories hold?

What is common between stories, poems, paintings, sculpture, songs, dance and music?

Why do we remember stories told by our grandmas, poems and songs sung by mendicants, dance or dramas played on stage, paintings and sculpture of great artists and music of any genre?

Well all these forms of human expression of storytelling hinges on one critical factor known as 'feelings'. These forms of storytelling strongly evoke feelings. They do their work silently inside where even words fail to reach.

But why 'feelings' are so important and why do they strike a chord somewhere deep within so strong that we remember them for life?

I think there are two fundamental reasons for this.

First, all living things on this planet have feelings in some form or the other however rudimentary that might be. Humans have it great measure. So do many animals, birds and even plants.

Second, we are inherently designed to many wise choices. Wise choices are more easily attained through the route of feelings than anything else. Through feelings we are made wiser even to the point of being enlightened.

That is why epics like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Iliad, Odyssey are passed down from generation to generation. They all tell unforgettable stories of human wisdom and follies.

That is why stories like Aesop's Fables, Panchatantra, Greek mythology and stories of Hans Christian Anderson are enjoyed by people across the world.

I liken 'feelings' to feminine energy because of its essential fluidity and formlessness that ignites wisdom enabling enlightened living.

Is this the deep secret of living, thriving and surviving as members of this planet and universe?

No wonder ancients understood this aspect very well. The Greek word for wisdom is Sophia representing the female form while Indians have encapsulated the concept of wisdom in feminine metaphors of Kali, Shakti etc.

Well, if it were such a powerful thing then why is it so neglected in today's world?

Today's world as we know it has been dominated by industrial age thinking for the past 300 years where feelings have been relegated to the lowest possible level replaced by the wonders of machines and unprecedented levels of human consumption that followed. It was considered unnecessary or harmful in the world of science, rationality, critical thinking, machines, monopolies, factories, world of few producers and thousands of consumers, world of few leaders and thousands of followers and in a world of few rich people and thousands of poverty stricken human souls.

The last 300 years have been the age of thieves, plunderers, robbers and uncouth inhumane bandits -- man killing man for glory. What type of glory is that and what type of progress is that is not comprehensible to me. 

Now all of that must change if we are to survive and live. Our rational scientific thinking has gotten us to the point from where we can't proceed any more. Global warming is a result. Sustainability of the planet is now threatened. It takes around 7 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie of food. Wars are leaving scared children in nations without limbs where women are violated and families become extinct.

How long are we to put up with all this rubbish? People are not lowly robots that worship wage slavery in return of food. More the constraints more have been the production of theories to analyze such constraints that produced less long term solutions. The nonsense perpetuated by thieves and bandits have grown to ridiculous proportions. 

This world is no longer tenable. All this must stop. Something more is needed.  

The innate power of the feminine energy must be back. Not in the form of feminist movement pressing for gender equality. Nor it need be in the form of burning bras. It must be restored to its rightful place through its more authentic form -- the form of storytelling. There seems to be no other way. It would complement the male energy for meaningful action to strike a balance that is going to see us through the 21st century and beyond.

No wonder creativity is now being felt as the number 1 skill for the 21st century.

Where this feminine energy would be used?

It would be used in understanding problems, In finding a solution. In communicating, In envisioning, In design. In branding. In product development. In board room strategy, In marketing, In training, In human interactions. In education. Everywhere!

The silent power of storytelling extends the edges of the minds, rolls one edge with the other and intelligently mashes up edges to create new knowledge and beauty. As of today most of this silent power is unutilized.  

What would it create?

It would create chaos, discontinuity, jumps, emergence, self organization -- helping us to adapt quickly to the randomness in the world which is nothing but the manifestation of the inner levels of wisdom resulting from how well the feminine energy flows within. With lower flows and lesser wisdom more is the randomness in the outer world. This flow of vital energy was missing in our grand march to progress. We have time to make up for the loss.  

How would we tap into this super energy after years of neglect? I don't know for sure. But I have a feeling that it would happen by inducing ourselves and others to express their personal knowledge, understanding and wisdom gained through experiences through any form of storytelling for others to feel, visualize and act with their own evolving wisdom. They in turn would tell the world their own stories of struggles, failures and triumphs for others to gain wisdom. And the cyclic pattern would continue.

The cyclic pattern would be: Storytelling --> Feelings --> Insights/Wisdom --> Meaningful Actions --> Knowledge --> More Storytelling

The other advantage would be: different people would learn differently at different points of time reflecting their evoling wisdom with the distinct possibility of instant enlightenment though the stories in their original form would permanently be there to stay. Note there would be less compulsive need for data stream analysis since information and data would be replaced by stories and feelings (the feminine energy flow). This serves us well in real life since when we tackle real life issues and problems relevant data are hard to get by and disjointed as they really are, if not non-existent. However, the most important advantage of this type of learning and gaining wisdom is the relative ease compared to other forms and types of learning.  

Therefore, this type of learning through storytelling, acquiring wisdom forming the basis of creative actions would be there to stay creating meaningful impacts in our lives.

So let the chaos unleashed by this feminine energy begin for us to attain collective wisdom!

Improvisation the Heart of Innovation

This video shows the great master, Ravi Shankar, at work. Notice how with the change of locale the music or the melody changes instantly. When in India (depicted by the famous Taj Mahal) the melody has a distinct 'Indianess' about it. But as soon as the locale changes to China the melody highlight strains of typical Chinese melody. Again the mood changes with changes in nature and times of the day. Isn't is quite remarkable that while the tune (or raga as it is called in India) remains just the same for every situation the melody changes to reflect the master's feelings or his responses to the changes in the locale, mood, timings etc.

This is a brilliant piece of music or innovative music at its best. But this is what the Ravi Shankar calls improvisation or instant improvisation. Such instant improvisation is nothing but human responses to his/her situations and environment. Improvisations reflect human feelings at that particular moment in time. 

This helps us to understand innovation much better. The other name for it would be improvisation or a response to a given situation.

There would be many ways to understand this response. But one of the easiest would be -- 'going with the flow' -- responding to the feelings the situation evokes in us.

But that is tricky business. Much more tricky than what we might care to imagine. It is tricky to feel and stay in the present. This is because our feelings can take us back to the past experiences through our memories or transport us quickly to a future that is yet to be born through unbridled imagination, which is again distorted memory. Both are bad for us. The risky balancing act is to stay with the feelings and be intuitive about it without falling back on memory or false imagination. That is a risky tight rope walking. But that is what all masters of their games have mastered. 

For example, Sachin Tendulkar in cricket from whom rival captains have a hard time setting a field to hold him down by closing gaps.

Or take Ravi Shankar, the musician, for whom feelings flow from the depths of intuition.

Or the World chess champion Viswanand Anand who invariably finds a gap in the strongest armour of his opponents.

Or Michel Angelo who 'saw' entrapped figures trapped in uncut stones waiting to be freed by his hands. 

There is one thing that is common to all of them and one thing that sets them apart. The common thing is they all intuitively find the gaps or the existing imperfections in the present moment with their uninhabited awareness. They improvise their games based on those gaps or existing imperfections in the most intuitive manner -- no copy book styles for them. They have learned the rules of their games so well that they now break them with impunity.  

And what sets them apart? They apply the same principle in whatever game they have chosen to play. The games differ but the principle does not.

They are constantly responding to the existing 'gaps' or 'imperfections' by understanding and balancing numerous resistances the system offers. They intuitively sense these resistance and respond through improvisations accordingly. They seem to see the parts and the wholes at the same time within the same space.

This is what innovation is all about.

The Japanese have a name for it. They call it Wabi -Sabi, which means understand the imperfection in a given situation and improve upon it to make it stronger and more reliable.

The Chinese have a name for it. They call it Shan Zhai, which originally means balancing numerous resistances, see what is possible to be done cheap and effectively, start small and then grow in strength.

The Indians have a name for it. They call it Juggard, which means understand what is to be done, start with whatever is available at hand, go with the flow and build up over time.

These are all present moment responses to the feelings evoked. That to me is the best way to harness 'uncertainty' that clouds our lives.

Being in touch with one's feelings without distortion of any kind is being in touch with one's essential nature.

Or as Gregory Bateson said, "When man lost touch with nature, he lost touch with himself"

That touch has a magical creativity about it. It is innovation through improvisation born out of intuitive feelings.

This is the only way to create a good sustainable future for all since “The future is never empty, never a blank space to be filled with the output of human activity. It is already colonized by what the past and present have sent to it.” (Fry 1999)

How do we develop that is the question?

Understanding that involves deep learning.

And having an answer would be nothing short of 'Know Thyself'. That is living in freedom with heads held high.

 

 

 

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