The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates
Well, here we are folks, in this crazy little thing called Humanity. It could have been different. The current über species could have (with a different twist of fate) been more reptilian. Yes, 65 million years of dinosaur evolution could have altered the life-scape so much that our particular primate species might never have had an opportunity to develop a prehensile anything. Those 65 million years leave lots of room for innumerable possibilities. We just happen to be the one that is, as opposed to one that isn’t.
In the ‘spirit’ (we’ll come back to that term later) of self-examination, espoused by Socrates, it might be wise to engage in a practice where we look at ourselves from a big-picture perspective and work our way towards the minutiae. Even though the minutiae may appear trivial, they’re not.
I encourage this assessment because we, as Rolfers, are in a unique position to literally reshape the physical human forms of those who see us for work. This hopefully, translates into the way they perceive themselves and consciously or unconsciously take that self-image / sense of self into the larger arena of Humanity. Perhaps you hadn’t thought of that. But if you accept the axiom that everything is connected to everything, then what we do in our work is worthy of looking at with respect to our potential impact on how Humanity shows up in the world.
Speaking of perspectives, it is worth considering that if you change your perspective, you have the opportunity to change your perception.
What follows are perceptions that might be held as valid by some and considered novel by others.
Each of us shows up in the world with two aspects. Our physical presence, the primate species Homo sapiens, which we will call our Human Animal, and our non-physical presence in the world that expresses itself through the medium of the Animal that it emerges from. We will, for this argument, call that our Human aspect. In this consideration, our Human aspect and our Human Animal have a common middle ground of the brain/ mind. Neuroscientists might argue that there is no such thing as a mind, and that consciousness is derived solely from the chemical soup of the brain, and that the mind is a creation of fiction. Some philosophers will argue that the mind is a non-physical phenomenon of reason drawn from the interconnectivity of recognitions, pattern associations, and remembrances of the brain. For this conversation, we will use the brain/ mind as our model.
If we step back from the individual Human, with its Human Animal as its ‘carrier creature’, we have come to term the collective of all Humans as Humanity. Humanity’s physical presence could rightly be referred to as Humanity Animal. Everything that has been physically made or changed outside of each individual Human form (through intention, negligence, or accident), plus the ideas, beliefs and customs that we generate, creates the cultural milieu/map that forms our social worldview. However, while there are obviously not seven billion distinct and autonomous cultural worldviews, there are many features common to almost all of us. Cultural rituals around death, mating, money, nation states, or even language, etc., did not come as part of the Human package when Homo sapiens broke away from the common primate tree. They were essentially invented, for better or worse, to provide for perceived needs or as strategic social wedges that offered perceived advantages to some over others. While we, as Rolfers, may not be the catalyst for constitutional changes
in Humanity’s way of being that beliefs around theism or atheism have had, there exists a possibility that we can inspire an early pulse wave of awareness around the possibility of a much more cohesive version of Humanity based upon a broader spectrum of understanding of ourselves. A feature awareness that we can encourage is that we are always in a flux between our ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ world perception of experiences.
When thinking of our Human Animal, some of us might at first have some resistance to the description, but tentatively surrender into saying, “Well, we all walk around in one.” That might feel agreeable, but in the concepts presented here, ‘we’ refers to the person that we are, the Human aspect, that has no physical presence, but emerges from the brain/mind matrix of our Human Animal. Yes, this pluralistic model of the Human Being runs counter to the monistic body-mind-spirit-as-one model that is currently in vogue, but pluralism is nonetheless valuable for the purposes of self-examination.
There is a long, long story of our genetic evolution that is worthy of study and being knowledgeable about. However, getting a good grasp of at least the short story of what our Human Animal and Human aspects are, with their potentials and limitations, is, I hope that you will agree, a fundamental obligation for all Humans to pursue.
Knowing and understanding the physiological and biomechanical needs of our Human Animal should, without a doubt, be integrated into the fabric of public educational systems and child-rearing practices at a global level. For our part, we can add important dimensions to our client’s understanding of being more than a person attached to a body. Actually, the term ‘body’ limits our perception of what we are. The term body would be better utilized if it were more confined as a map of our Animal systems and components. Body is a static term. Animal implies a dynamic relationship. We have two-way relationships with many domesticated animals, like cats, dogs, horses, even birds. We perceive/interpret many of their personalities and characteristics, and if there is enough familiarity, we can develop a level of communication. If we turn our attention inward, pay attention, be patient, it is conceivable that a nuanced level of communication between our reasoning Human mind and our Human Animal’s mode of communication through its brain/mind matrix and hormonal influence can be initiated and enhanced. Turning our awareness inwards towards our physiological and animal-trait characteristics, supported by public and social education, could translate into a positive paradigm shift in the way we relate to and care for ourselves, others, and the ecosystems that we are part of.
Consider this: at our roots, our Animal’s objectives are to reproduce and stay alive. Because we are a social species, we require some level of community with its sharing and territorial implications. Reproduction, basic life maintenance, and minimal social structure can keep the species going, but that leaves us with just existing without promise of flourishing. When the trappings of modern Humans are in jeopardy, be it personal threat, catastrophic climate warming, or the crumbling of civilization and the technological infrastructures that support it, our Human Animal will tend to revert towards its default settings and jettison parts or all of our ideas of who we are as a person with a name and a story.
Much can be said about what it means to be human, by much more learned minds than this scribbler can offer, but I hope my humble offering affords some measure of reasonable perspective.
We come into the world at birth, and almost from moment one our Human Animal takes in sights and sounds, smells and touch, and tries to make sense of what is going on and how it fits into this new environment. We have a genetic framework for part of our personality, but we are soon given a name which becomes the overlaid foundation for us to assume and create our social identity. From moment one, we tend to always look out into the world of people, see ourselves as another of the people, and rarely, if ever, look inward.
Our Human Animal continually senses physical and social information, with the emphasis being on the social, whether it be family or beyond, because there is no survival without social connections immediately post-birth and into early childhood. Meanwhile, in this model, the mind (as nebulous as it is) forms its capacity to reason and understand derived from the neural capacity of our Animal’s brain/ mind matrix to recognize patterns and make associations. Because we evolved to be physically configured as we are, being bipedal, having our large brain, our skull and face shaped as they are, our species could develop audible forms of communication with others. Perhaps 100,000 years ago, we developed a nascent form of spoken language. It was a necessary requirement for Homo sapiens and our close genetic cousins to move into new areas of the planet. The (Human) race began in earnest with that adaptation.
We talk, talk, talk. We tell stories. We tell informational stories that help us to survive and understand, and fictional stories that range from creation myths to fairy tales to rules around global economic systems. Because we talk and (hopefully) listen, we invest a lot of our energy resources into making sense of the abstractions of words. Word concepts like, “You are this kind of person [male, female, LBGTQ, of a certain race, economic status, educational background, family of origin, politics . . . ]” tend to become foreground in our worldview. At least until our personal safety or economic wherewithal is threatened.
The above perspectives of our Human Animal and our Human (non-physical) aspect hopefully give some measure of philosophical credence to the concept of the dichotomy of our being. Yes we are one and yes we are multidimensional.
I see the term ‘spirit’, and I find myself responding with discomfort. Spirit, like ‘love’, is an abstract term. We can’t put spirit on a table or hold it in our hands, we can only perceive its product. With love, the product is care and recognition. With Humanity, the product is everything that has changed the way the world is as a result of our ingenuity, our negligence, our apathy, and our greed. We have impacted the physical world to such an extent that we are now considered by some to be a theoretical force of nature that is causing negative chemical changes to the air, land, and oceans that support us. If you haven’t heard the term before, get ready to become familiar with the ‘Anthropocene’ era.
The term spirit is often hijacked by those who want to associate it with something metaphysical. Perhaps there is, or perhaps there isn’t, a supernatural force that has an influence on our way of being. The probability of a metaphysical deity being an invention of thought, more than a comprehensible reality, is more in line with our present cognitive abilities.
The words we speak, the work that we do, our values, our morals, the way we mate (or don’t, and with whom), and everything else about our expression (spirit) is contingent on a vast array of circumstances. While our expression of self may not differ radically from one day to the next (for most of us), it can appear differently to some degree due to chemical fluctuations related to nourishments or intoxicants, interpersonal situations, beliefs that are either supported or challenged, age, past experiences, and more factors than can be listed.
If we were to support a common unifying feature in our way of being, could we agree that we would consciously strive to nourish our Animal, work with it to be strong and versatile, biochemically well-balanced, cared for, recognized, and understood? From such a healthy and relatively secure psycho-bio-physical environment, the nature of our Humanness would have a greater opportunity to follow its innate desire to understand the nature of all things, both physical and conceptual. From a foundation of understanding, wisdom has an opportunity to take root and flourish.
Change one aspect of a dynamic system, consistently, and all the other aspects will have to change. Everything that exists in our universe is a possibility that happened as a consequence of preceding circumstances and conditions. This includes universal physical reality and, more pertinently, the technology and social structures that affect our lives. Every possibility that happens, or does not happen, becomes a circumstance for all other possibilities. Everything from the Big Bang, the Big Wheeze, the Big Deal, onward, is related to everything else in physical presence. It is not so much that a distant star imploding or exploding will affect our life. Or that another person experiencing joy or terror, somewhere in the world, will impact our life with any significance. It is more that the circumstances and conditions that brought those possibilities to occurrence are intertwined with each of our beings . . . and everything else.
Validating and Caring for the Human Animal
Two-way relationship flourishes when beings are seen. Being seen is to our spirit as breath is to our body. Most of us, it appears, are not seen with deserving depth – not seen as a whole being with a past, stories, beliefs, or the circumstances of our physical being. One level of this is ‘projection’, which is an invalid experience of another, whether it’s objectifying a woman as a sex object, dehumanizing a workforce to a commodity, or looking at another and stopping at the name, face, and cultural costume – the Person – giving little thought to how this whole being impacts the physical world, for better or worse.
Our Person’s very ability and willingness to create and consider concepts is dependent on the level of awareness, integration, and capacity of the mind-matrix from where we initially form – this is the realm of our Animal, which is the apparatus of our expression and experience. Atruly authentic self will have an intimate relationship with its Human Animal. Our Human aspect expresses everything – from its politics, philosophy, attitudes, and values – through the actions of its Animal. When our Human Animal dies, our Human aspect will cease to be. (Actually, our Human aspect might cease to be before death, in that, through disease or trauma, our animal brain/mind matrix will no longer be able to support our Human personality. It’s a good practice to look at that reality, often.)
How can we communicate to our Human Animal that it is being seen, recognized, and respected? How do we start? The process can start with conscious care. It could be said that love cannot travel without care. While love may be an abstraction, care can be perceived, understood, and applied.
We could start including our Animal into our greater sense of self by addressing it in language, calling our Animal by name. We could start by waking up in the morning and saying, “Good morning, Animal, let’s go into our day together.” Or we might say, “My Animal and I are going for a walk,” just as you might say, “My dog and I are going for a walk.” Most animals have some identifiable characteristics and traits that we (generally) acknowledge and hopefully respect. Turning our awareness inward can reveal our own uniqueness and needs as well as those in others.
Does talking to your Animal, or referring to your physical presence as an animal, make you uncomfortable? We may find ourselves resisting saying, or even thinking, those few words. Bringing our Animal into our foreground thoughts, consistently, is unfamiliar cultural territory at this time – even for those of us who interact with bodies, with Animals, all day in our Rolfing®Structural Integration When you work, do you take time to acknowledge that there’s an Animal under your hands? Do you recognize yourself as an Animal? Besides speaking to your Animal, speak to the Animal of the Person you work with, help your clients to acknowledge that they too emerge from a dynamic Animal instead of an anatomical body.
Another way to start is, through focused awareness, to step into your feet and walk around in your Animal every day. Try it as a personal practice. Go for a walk. Take your thoughts for a walk. Take your Animal for a walk. Going for a walk on trails, in nature, on uneven ground, is extra good. Just step into your feet, find all the sensations that you can find, then walk around, preferably outside, and preferably with hills. Talk to your Animal, even if it feels like play. Ten or so minutes is a good start. Just stay in your feet, your Animal, breathe, walk with purpose – or just walk, but do walk in your Animal every day, in your animal feet. Extend that awareness into the whole of your legs. Feel them swing, extend, reach. Engaging in physical awareness through our senses is common to many personal- growth practices, but is usually framed in the context of getting in touch with our body. The suggestion being offered here is to reframe the practice to one that supports getting in touch with our Animal. In doing so, a channel of nuanced communication has an opportunity to flourish. With that said, I can see how Rolf Movement® Integration is an ideal medium to introduce the concept of acknowledging our Animal.
The Client’s Animal
Most humans are woefully unaware of how the Animal functions and its systems, so our clients will need help here too. Our Animal is tied to a relationship with our physical environments, and our genetic makeup will have its implications, limiting or expanding our possibilities accordingly. Many times you will witness the client’s Human aspect overriding his or her Animal’s reality and needs. When one lacks deep understanding and awareness, it undermines or limits the physical viability of his or her Animal and thus translates into a limitation of his or her Human aspect to have as viable a platform as possible from which to understand and express.
As a Rolfer, you can see and validate the Animal in your client. When your out-of- shape and out-of-alignment client proclaims she is going to train aggressively to run her first-ever marathon in a ridiculously short time frame, you can ask her, “How does your Animal feel about that?” Can we help her bring her Human aspect, with its ideals and goals, into communication and alignment with her Animal physicality and its limitations?
Help your clients to relate to their Animal and you help Humanity relate to accepting and caring for its Humanity Animal.
If we can embed into the spirit of Humanity the understanding that our Human aspect emerges from our Human Animal, we will be better equipped to work cooperatively through the major upheavals ahead for our society and planet. One of the possibilities is peace. Another possibility is chaos with violence. Unfortunately, there are more pieces in place to support the latter condition. Moving in the direction of peace will require intelligent dismantling of our current way of being. How do we raise the momentum towards that possibility? A consistent practice of self-care, self-respect, and a hunger to understand through knowledge and experience will help. A practice of self-care can allow for a deeper- rooted relationship between our Human aspect and our Human Animal. This, I’m confident, can only be good.
There are many so-called spiritual practices that encourage caring for our bodies. Most, perhaps all, are based on an alignment of self to a metaphysical force and/or to the reality of nature. Yet, I must state once again, the term ‘body’ implies a static form, where ‘animal’ speaks of dynamic, ever- changing qualities. Both terms are labels. The former is a descriptive term, a map. The latter, to utilize Alfred Korzybski’s statement, is the territory.
Humans, it has often been said, are creatures of habit. Some are nourishing, others are mal-nourishing. It can also be said that we tend to get good at, or at least better at, what we practice. We, as Rolfers, engage in a conscious practice when working with our clients so that we may move the process towards the goals of structural integration.
I am suggesting here that we broaden our practice to one that could be described as ‘somato-psycho-spiritual integration’. Spiritual, in this sense, is the expression of our Human aspect, and Humanity as a whole, as culture, that includes values and morals, or lack thereof. Our species has evolved over millions of years through natural selection bound by our genetic disposition. Our cultural evolution accelerates (or decelerates) at a level relative to our ability to directly communicate interpersonally or through so-called social learning.
While I do not claim to have found the pathway to bringing Humanity to a state of peace, I do have a practice that brings me to my Animal roots and to my awareness that I am a co-creator of how Humanity appears and behaves in the world.
A Clearday Practice
The essence of what I call my Clearday Practice has a simple foundation that includes self-care and nourishment of my Animal, my thoughts, and my relationship to others and the world that I live in. I have chosen Wednesdays as my Clearday, primarily because it is just a regular life day, generally without religious or cultural significance.
My practice involves acknowledging my Animal and bringing my awareness more acutely to its need for nutrient energy and its need to move in ways that challenge and strengthen its structural and physiological systems and allow it to enhance its capacity to take in information through its senses. The practice calls for me to be consciously aware of what might add chemical confusion to my Animal’s ability to sync with my Human aspect. Food, of course will be a major feature, but physically challenging my Animal has to be part of the program. The Clearday Practice also involves, as I said at the beginning of this essay, taking stock of where and who I am in the world, and peering into my perceptions of the state of Humanity.
In other words, Clearday is my practice of ‘checking in’. As with many mere mortals, I have a range between actual practice and contemplating my practice. At least with my contemplative version, I tend to make more conscious choices than I might otherwise have. As well, I create opportunities for me to experience joy, be they in food, being on uneven ground, coming to a new understanding, or experiencing joy by being grateful. (It is impossible to be happy without being grateful.)
I have shared the concept of my practice with others over the years, with some reporting that they have included it, to some level, in their lives. While I see value in having a daily practice of clarity, I recognize that I am not ‘there’ yet. However, the weekly practice, regardless of whether it is actual or contemplative, serves as a spiritual pulse that nourishes my whole being because of its rhythm. If I miss a weekly check-in, the opportunity comes back to me seven days later. It can only be good.
While the body of the above essay took in a rather broad span of concepts and perceptions, my hope is that the takeaway message is one that inspires you to open yourself to the possibility of communicating with, and working with, the Animal that is under your hands as well as the person who brought him or her to your studio.
The essay does not presume to be heretical in the way that Galileo’s assertion that Planet Earth orbited the sun was; however, there is a semblance of a corollary that is worth considering. Galileo was the first significant thinker to bring his observational understanding of Earth’s orbit into the (primarily Occidental) public domain. There was strong resistance to his claim from the Roman Catholic Church and many of his contemporaries. It could be imagined that the majority of the (mostly illiterate) population followed suit in their worldview. The Earth- centric model effectively imposed a barrier to understanding the universe, galaxies, and solar systems, and to understanding its implications around time, space, and gravity.
As Galileo’s understanding started to breech the bounds of conventional misunderstanding, the Renaissance movement became even more invigorated, leading to significant social, political, and philosophical changes that affect global cultures today. Again: Change one aspect in a dynamic system, consistently, and all other aspects will change.
When your client walks into your studio, consider the two aspects in front of you. First, the person, with his or her story and perceived needs, and your response to the person based on your perceptions, biases, and how you will communicate your intentions. But to get ‘stuck’ at the person level does, I believe, limit the potential for a deeper level of positive outcome of the work that you can offer. If you can take a moment to sense your Animal, be grounded in your Animal, and look past the person into the common-to-all nature of the Animal in front of you, you will, I believe, serve both that Human and his or her Human Animal well.
While our Human aspect tries to follow an agenda derived from its ‘church of thought’, it should be appreciated that our Human Animal has a longer-term agenda that needs to be acknowledged. The two will often be in conflict, leading to social or physical distress and disease, from wars to cancer and a myriad in between. Enhancing our own, and our client’s, intra-being channel of communication can only do good.
We can never know what is on either side of life. Is it the Big Black of Nothingness, or another way of being? If there is some other form of existence before conception or after death, then it probably doesn’t matter what we do in our lives, as it will be the same for all of us.
Our Human Animal has the capacity to remember.
Our Human Person has the capacity to dream. Our Animal remembers our dreams.
Our body does not breathe, Our Animal breathes.
Our body does not learn to explore and be curious, Our Animal learns from its genetic roots to explore and be curious.
Our body does not live and die, Our Animal lives and dies.
Our Spirit cannot die, it can only cease to be.
Is it possible that with one little word shift we can open a subtle door to the possibility of recognizing and deepening a relationship between our two beings – our Animal Being and our Human Being?
Change your perspective and you can change your perception.
What might the cultural/spiritual shift be if we were to consider all doctors of medicine to be veterinarians?
Our Person will cease to be. Our impact on the world and in the minds of others will be our spirit’s remains.
Carpe diem, memento mori
Turning Our Lens Inward[:]
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