Empathic Coupling and Kinesthetic Empathy in Dance Movement

"Laminar Flow" a dance movement by Thomas J. Greenbaum

Following my Encore Fellowship at Keshet Dance and Art Center, I participated in a unique Art/Science collaborative development of a dance movement. The teams vision led us to explore incorporating a citizen science experiment to validate the central ideas of Empathetic Coupling and Kinesthetic Empathy.

ABSTRACT

A creative project in which a diverse group of dancers and scientists investigate opportunities to collaboratively develop a dance movement evoking a common understanding of human discovery.

• Partnership with Sandia National Labs and the Weizmann Institute.
• Explore the synergy between dance and science.
• Commonality as creative human endeavors.
• Relationships between the languages of both science and art.

Empathic coupling, is coupling dependent on being physically present at a dance performance as opposed to watching a video. 

Spectators of dance experience Kinesthetic Empathy when, even while sitting still, they feel they are participating in the movements they observe, and experience related feelings and ideas. 

• What is kinesthetic empathy? See: Watching Dance: Kinesthetic Empathy

How does Dance through Kinesthetic Empathy AFFECT our experience of Time and INFORM our understanding of the nature of Reality? 

Furthermore, if Consciousness is the new Fundamental CONSTANT of Reality, then can Dance convey this concept?"

A Question Of Ego: Who Am I If Not Ego?

If the Ego's greatest act of deception is to get oneself to believe that the Ego is who we are, then who are we?

Stated another way:

If I am not who I think I am, then who am I?

Good question. It is a matter of perspective. Ego is the mistaken perspective that we are an independently existing, singular self. We actually are a collection of experiences loosely tied together. All these experiences depend on a large number of causes and conditions. In truth, the ego is an illusion; there is no singular, separately existing, independent self.

Following is an image of the Buddhist deity Manjushri. Manjushri has the ability to see the nature of reality as it is. Manjushri is seen holding the flaming sword of Discriminating Wisdom with his right hand and a book called Prajñāpāramitā with his left hand. Prajñāpāramitā in Buddhism, means "the Perfection of (Transcendent) Wisdom." The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā ("wisdom") with pāramitā ("perfection"). The Prajñāpāramitā sūtras suggest that all things including oneself, appear as thoughtforms (conceptual constructs).

Our stream of consciousness is composed of five senses, feelings/emotions, and higher intellect/reasoning. What we perceive becomes the reality of ego and ego is at the center of all this experience. One moment we are focused on listening to music, the next moment we feel a chill, the next moment is lost in a memory, the next moment the cat catches our eye, etc. From this stream of discontinuous experiences that involve various different perceptions and mental events we deduce that an ego or self exists. We feel that a separately existing self resides at the center of these perceptual/mental events. 

We experience the illusion of "self-awareness" in the midst of a seemingly objectively existing external world. We feel as if we are separate from others and an entire universe of separately existing objects, as small as atoms and as large as galaxies. The truth is that all things are temporary and inter-dependently existing. No-thing exists separate from any other thing. There is no external, objective reality. There are no separate, independently existing "selves" at all. There are no separately existing things at all. 

CAUTION: this is not the same as nihilism. This is not a negation of existence. This is a reinterpretation of our knowledge gained through experience. We are simply arriving at a greater truth derived from higher order reasoning. 

The truth is that existence is a collection of experiences tied loosely together. Reality is consciousness only. The mystery of the nature of human consciousness is revealed through meditation on the temporary nature of all things and the truth of selflessness. The Buddhists call this sunyata or emptiness. That is, experience is in actuality empty of separate, independently existing things and consciousness is empty of a self. 

No self is required to explain phenomena. Occam's Razor states that among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions should be selected. The assumption of the existence of a self is unnecessary and should be discarded due to succinct reasoning.

We go through life in a fairly successful manner and make okay decisions even while under the false assumption based on the existence of an ego. We go through challenges, illness, periods of doubt, depression, pain and even mental anguish. Eventually we get to the end of our life and wonder what it was all about. Of course, waiting until we die to face the meaning of life is not the best strategy. Having to face death while clinging to an ego results in fear and mental anguish is not a good way to go.

If we are blessed with curiosity, a sense of wonder, or a sharp intellect, then we may explore alternative explanations for life's experiences even before we are faced with illness, pain and death. During moments of introspection and philosophical query we question the nature of what we are. The person seeking answers to life's mysteries may find that we exist on a wholly different level of reality than what is commonly held as actual reality.

To seek truth and meaning while facing the challenges of mundane existence is a spiritual warrior's path. It is a very difficult path, but it ultimately yields the greatest rewards. The spiritual warrior focuses the mind inward and sharpens their mental focus and inner calm. The spiritual warrior wields the flaming sword of Discriminating Wisdom to cut down falsely held beliefs, dispel the illusion of ego and clear a path to greater happiness and peace of mind.

Consciousness Only / Yogacara / Emptiness

A lot of what we seek as spiritual explorers can be satisfied with an understanding of the nature of consciousness. I gather that this is why we question the nature of mind and reality. We seek a level of understanding beyond the mundane. For many of us this becomes a thirst and hunger for esoteric knowledge or jnana (as it is known in Sanskrit).

One of the challenges to realize a deep understanding of the nature of consciousness is to heighten our awareness beyond our senses and beyond our mental and conceptual activity. This is required because reality can be treated as consciousness-only. Reality is perception and mental activity. Once we achieve an awareness not bound by perception and mental activity, we clearly see both the nature of reality and the nature of consciousness. To fully realize this nature we need jnana's perception.

In Tibetan Buddhism, jnana refers to pure awareness that is free of conceptual encumbrances. The Uttaratantra Shastra is a profound teaching on Buddha-nature attributed by the Tibetans to Maitreya, the future Buddha. To realize our Buddha-nature is to gain enlightenment and achieve awareness of the true nature of reality, or Tathatā.

• The Uttaratantra; A Treatise on Buddha-Essence
by Thrangu Rinpoche
Link: http://amzn.com/1877294292 )

From the Uttaratantra by Maitreya, a treatise on Buddha-Essence -

The Sangha - The Third Vajra Point - The Salutation

I bow down to those whose mind is no longer obscured,

the deeply realized who have jnana's perception,

awareness of the total purity present in limitless beings.

As the true nature of mind is lucid clarity,

they see the defilements to be without essence

and truly realize ultimate no-self -- 

peace within all beings. Thus they know

the all-pervading presence of perfect Buddhahood

in each and every one of them.

This salutation to the enlightened Sangha also reveals what might be called the web-like nature of universal love, "truly realize ultimate no-self peace within all beings." It is wonderful how the text provides a definition of unconditional love.

I have studied the nature of mind, consciousness, compassion, love and emptiness since I was a teenager. However, my milestone achievement was when I took the empowerment for the Progressive Stages of Mediation on Emptiness from Khenpo Tsultrum Gyamtso Rinpoche at KTD Monastery in Woodstock, NY. This is in my experience the most profound path of wisdom leading directly to peace, love, happiness and enlightenment.

• Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness 
  by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso
  (Link: http://amzn.com/1877294012) 

In this teaching Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche presents the main schools of Buddhist philosophy with their progressively more subtle and refined views of reality. However, it is not just a teaching on the view but a presentation providing the student the means to realize it through meditation practice. The idea of a series of meditation practices on a particular aspect of the Buddha's teachings is that by beginning with one's first rather coarse commonsense understanding, one progresses through increasingly subtle and more refined stages until one arrives at complete and perfect understanding. Each stage in the process prepares the mind for the next in so far as each step is fully integrated into one's understanding through the meditation process.

Here is another book that is worthy of investigation, but only for the truly dedicated:

• Three Texts on Consciousness Only
  by Vasubandhu
  (Link: http://amzn.com/1886439044)

The Three Texts on Consciousness Only is a commentary on the Indian Buddhist monk Vasubandhu's Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā (Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only) and gives an exposition of the Yogācāra (Mind-Only) school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā was composed in the 4th century CE and became one of the core texts for the Yogācāra school.

In Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness Stage 5, Emptiness-Of-Other (Shengtong Approach) is the same as the Yogacara Mind-Only school as explained in Three Texts on Consciousness Only. In this way, a study of both texts take the seeker on a deep dive into the heart of the Buddhist understanding of the nature of consciousness and the nature of reality.

Please keep in mind that ultimately, it is our attainment of a direct experience of emptiness through the diligent practice of meditation that provides us with jnana's perception. One must put down the books and spend regular intervals of time in meditation to gain progress.

Here is an excerpt from Three Texts on Consciousness Only, Chapter 1: Demonstration of Consciousness Only.

... the ultimate reality that is revealed by emptiness (sunyata)

and absence of self exists, does not exist, both exists and does not

exist, and neither exists nor does not exist. It demolishes the processes

of thought and language and is neither the same as dharmas,

nor different from them, etc. It is the true principle of dharmas,

hence it is called the "true nature of dharmas." It is called "space"

because it is free of all impediments. It is called "cessation resulting

from discrimination" because through the power of discrimination

it ends various impurities and one understands thoroughly.

Or, as a result of being revealed by the absence of conditions, it is

called "cessation resulting from the absence of conditions." Feelings

of pleasure and pain are removed, so it is called "immovable."

It is called "cessation of thought and feeling" (samjna-vedita-nirodha)

because thought and feeling are not active. These five unconditioned

dharmas are provisionally established on the basis of ultimate reality.

But "ultimate reality" itself is merely a provisionally granted name.

To refute the idea that it does not exist, it is said to exist.

To refute the idea that it does exist, it is said to be empty.

But it must not be thought to be empty and illusory, so it is

said to be real. Because this principle is not false or erroneous, it is

said to be the ultimate nature of everything. It is also called the 

"ultimate nature of everything" because it is not the same as the

real, eternal dharma called "ultimate nature of everything" apart

from form, mind, etc., of other schools. Thus none of the above

unconditioned dharmas really exists.

Dharmas grasped by non-Buddhist schools and other schools

of Buddhism do not really exist apart from mind and mental

activities, because they are grasped in the same way that mind and

mental activities are grasped by mind itself. The apprehension

that grasps them does not have them as objects, because it grasps,

like the apprehension that takes as an object this same intellect.

Also, because mind and its activities arise in mutual dependence,

they do not really exist, just as magical illusions do not. In order to

refute the false attachment to a really existing realm exterior to

mind and its activities, we teach that there is nothing but

consciousness (vijñaptimātratā). But if one believes that consciousness

only really exists, this is no different from attachment to external

objects, and it remains attachment to dharmas.

This is one page from this 450 page book. Definitely not light reading, however from this one page you can perhaps obtain a glimpse of jnana's perception of the true nature of reality, dharmatā, suchness, thusness, or Tathatā.

Thusly and Lovingly,

http://www.Karmatetra.com 

How To Talk To A Stone

Saturday was a beautiful day to go hiking so I put my camera in my backpack and headed to the Petroglyph National Monument not far from my house. The dramatic volcanic landscape offers an abundance of textures for the lens to capture.

Side note: Buddhists often compare the quality of consciousness with texture. For example, the smooth mind of the Bodhisattva is compared to the finest silk. What is the quality of consciousness that I will find among the rough volcanic rock?

I also placed in my backpack a book that I am studying. It is titled "Three Texts On Consciousness Only" by Vasubandhu, an Indian Buddhist scholar monk of the fourth century. "Consciousness Only" is a Buddhist school of philosophical thought. It teaches a method to gain enlightenment, freedom and peace. 

Walking in this volcanic landscape I contemplate what it must be like to realize the truth of this teaching. 

Can I be present in the moment without being fooled by my own projections of what I believe to be objectively real and external?

Is the volcanic rock objectively real? Is it as real as my self? Does the stone have a consciousness? If so, does it have a voice that can be heard? 

The natural smoothness of this particular stone seems to hide its true nature. It remains silent to me. Is that because it desires not to interact with me? Or do I choose to ignore the intelligence of this stone and not listen to it? 

I move on down the trail. I meet a different rock that seems more friendly. I sense that this rock does have a story to tell me, so I stop, observe and listen. The stone asks that I slow down my thoughts and listen more closely. I get a glimpse of the stone's deep intelligence. 

I practice patience and slow my thoughts down using meditation on my breath. Now I clearly hear the stone sing a song of its long journey. The song reveals how it came to this place to be here with me. 

As I listen, the stone's story connects me to the warm heart of the Earth, the radiance of the Sun, the openness of the Sky, the strength of the Waters and the vibrant activity of all living creatures. The song refreshes and energizes me.

Oh look, there are chipmunks playing among the stones.

Ancient humans long ago have responded to the stone's song in the unique way that humans know how; with tools and symbols. 

Even though I vibrate at a different frequency than the stone, I realize that the stone is not different than my self. The stone and I are interdependent, we are not separate entities. We travel a common path. 

A bird walks quickly across the stone. The stone travels slowly, but no less deliberately.

The trail of the bird becomes a part of a shared story between human and stone.

The human carving the stone is sometimes aware that the stone is listening to the human. What a great gift to be able to talk to a stone. 

Or is this carving a deception? Are we really just talking to our self? Is the song of the stone only imagined? 

The act of carving symbols into the stone itself becomes symbolic of the fact that human nature is quite special. 

The tools that humans make and wield, our control over animals and plants, and our ability to create symbols all mark humans as unique, separate and superior to this simple stone. 

Instead of talking with stones humans have turned their attention to the symbols they have carved onto the stone. The symbols themselves have become a source of fascination. Are not the symbols just as real as stone? 

Perhaps the concepts that cross the human mind are even more real than the symbols that cross the stone. 

Humans act as if their ability to conceptualize is more precious than even the rarest stone. 

No longer does the song of the stone bring humans joy. The stones fall silent.

The stone has become an object separate from the human observer. It exists externally as the representation of a class of mineral resulting from a series of physical processes over time. Humans have replaced the song of the stone with the story that science has written.  

Humans live, breathe, reproduce, think and create. We mine stones for their raw materials.

Silicon is the most plentiful element on earth it is found in sand. When wind and water carve patterns in stone they create sand.

Silicon is used to create computer chips. Humans create crucibles as hot as a volcano to melt silicon into pure ingots. The ingots are sliced thin into silicon wafers. Humans etch (carve) extremely small patterns onto the silicon wafers to create silicon chips. The small patterns of lines and rectangles are carved into the silicon chip using light and chemicals. The silicon chips become the brains of computers, communication devices and cell phones.

Humans imbed silicon computer chips into just about everything now. Humans call this adding intelligence to a device. In reality, humans have added tiny stones they have carved with light and chemicals to control the device.

Why is it that humans believe stones are dead and dumb, but when humans add a tiny silicon chip to something, then we call it smart?

Phones were invented so humans could talk with other humans. Phones were dumb devices. Lately, humans have added silicon chips to phones and they are now called smart phones.

Humans no longer have the patience to talk to stones. Instead humans love to talk and text on their cell phones. 

The stone still exists. It is just no longer alive to us. Humans define what is dead and what is alive and stones have been deemed rightfully dead.

The stone fits into a conceptual box that humans use to segregate and categorize all dead things. Humans believe that they are completely separate entities from the stone.

Humans conceptualize, and with symbols, create complex tools. The computer is one of the most complex tools. The computer is much better at recording thoughts than stone carvings.

The power of the human mind, mathematics, scientific formulas and computers is very great. Humans have designed an awesome array of tools to extract raw materials from the earth and create machines, cars, computers, smart phones and cities.

Tools are dead things, but some humans believe that one day the computer will evolve into a living, conscious entitty. If humans can carve the right pattern into a small enough space on a silicon chip, they believe the silicon will gain consciousness.

Although humans believe that stones are dead and do not have intelligence, some stones are ground, refined and melted to make computer chips. Perhaps humans of the future can breathe life into these computer chips and stones will attain sentience. Then humans can talk to stones at the frequency of vibration they are comfortable with.

When I meet other humans in the city, sometimes they ask me what I do for a living. I talk, I conceptualize and I write symbols. I record my thoughts on computers and tablets made from silicon chips.

Sometimes I slow my thoughts down, I practice patience, I vibrate at a higher frequency and then I am able to talk with stones.

Life in the city can be stressful. Every now and then I take a trip outside of the city to be with nature. I find that it is a good stress reliever to re-connect with nature. 

I recently took a trip to the Petroglyph National Monument to see how primitive people carved records of their thoughts on stones.

"Consciousness Only" is a Buddhist school of philosophical thought. It teaches a method to gain enlightenment, freedom and peace.

Three Texts On Consciousness Only was written by Vasubandhu, an Indian Buddhist scholar monk of the fourth century. These texts propound the idea that all things believed by the ordinary person to be objective realities outside mind are in truth mere mental constructs. These teachings include the doctrine of emptiness. The texts explain how the cognition of things becomes distorted in humans through the process of conceptualization, false imagination, and discrimination. The texts provide instruction on how to restore the mind to its innate purity and clarity, once more capable of seeing things as they truly are, undistorted by delusion and error.

With Buddhist teachings I have learned how to talk with stones.

On the Creation of Art

In 1979 while going to the University of Florida I decided to switch my major from Physics to Architecture. The reason for this switch was to better align my studies with my creative and artistic nature. The study of Physics did not present the opportunities that I desired to express myself fully. However, the study of Architecture held the promise of one day enabling me to apply concepts of structure and design to the creation of beautiful, functional artifacts that would benefit others.

While studying Architecture I also became very interested in meditation. My favorite author of books on meditation was Lama Anagarika Govinda. His writings opened to me a new way to contemplate symbolic and creative thinking. He became for me a great Mentor alongside my other great Mentor, R. Buckminster Fuller.

During the development of an Architecture project for school I decided to apply the wisdom of both of my great Mentors to solve the design problem given to me by my Architectural Design Professor. The design problem was to create a band shell for musical performances in an outdoor park setting. My inspiration was based on a natural shell geometry that "grew" from a progression of overlapping tetrahedrons of increasing size.

I wish that I still had the model that I built. However, I do still have a small plaque that I created that speaks of my design intent. On the left side of the plaque is my obviously Bucky Fuller inspired design intent.

"Superimposure of the 8 unfolded Tetrahedron pairs which combine in lefthand - righthand - reflected, macro-expanded, micro-contracted, equiangular - spiraling - layers, to form the ever-growing shell integrity."

On the right side of the plaque is a quote by Lama Govinda that still inspires me to this day. I have it displayed on my bookcase so that I may refer to it often.

"ART … while using the forms of the external world does not try to imitate nature, but to reveal a higher reality by omitting all accidentals, thus raising the visible form to the value of a symbol, expressing a direct experience of life."

This is my life's goal to create ART in the manner described by Lama Govinda while applying the Synergetic Geometric forms of Bucky Fuller.

Inspirational plaque by Thomas J. Greenbaum

After graduating from Architecture school in 1981 I came across a wonderful book Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness by Lama Anagarika Govinda. This book became my "Bible" for some time as I immersed myself into a new metaphor of meditation and creative thought. I have the well-worn book still on my shelf.

Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness by Lama Anagarika Govinda

The following quote from this book (page 134) describes the relationship between meditation, visualization and multi-dimensional symbols. It is the realm where all three intersect that for me becomes the space of creativity and artistic expression.

"The Buddha himself said that his teaching is deep, profound (gambhira), beyond the realm of speculation and world-thinking (avitarka, avicara), comprehensible only to the wise. The only way , however, to free ourselves from the tyranny of words and concepts is the imaginative method of visualization, or the replacement of our one-track logic by the multidimensional symbol. Even a strict science such as mathematics has developed a language of multidimensional symbols and visual formulations in which the position of each sign or symbol in the general context of a formula determines the meaning and value of each particular sign. The meditative experience of Buddhism developed a similarly intricate system of visual symbols based on archetypal forms or images which evolved from the depth of human consciousness and proved their efficacy through millenia of meditative practice."

Therefore, the creation of ART which stems from deeply inspired forms can arise from within the practice of meditation. Meditation is not the opposite of creation. Meditation is the ground from which creation manifests. 

A Song By Gampopa

I offer you the following song by the Tibetan Buddhist saint Gampopa. Gampopa lived in Tibet from 1079-1153. Gampopa founded the monastic tradition of the Kagyupa, which is the lineage of my teacher. My teacher, the venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, has written a book on the teachings of Gampopa called Instructions of Gampopa. He is the abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Buddhist monastery in Woodstock, NY.

Gampopa sang:

I sing a song from the dharmadhatu of great bliss.
I speak these words in the state of wisdom,
Thus resolving the truth of nonduality.

This compassion that is free from attachment and that benefits others --
Seize firmly as supreme upaya.

This coemergent consciousness --
Seize firmly as wisdom.
When uncertainty arises, that is it.

These discursive thoughts of fixation --
Seize firmly as dharmakaya.
When one experiences this, the essence is seen.

Sights and sounds, the habitual patterns of labeling --
Seize firmly as ultimate truth.
When uncertainty arises, that is it.

These discursive thoughts are the birth of fixation.
When one has mastered this, the truth is seen.

If one desires to realize the truth of this,
Practice continuously, like a river.
Rest loosely, without further fabrications.
Rest naturally without seeking further.
Rest easily without thinking.

Experience and realization are one.
When realization is uninterrupted, that is it.
When it is as limitless as space, that is it.
When one sees one's mind as Buddha, that is it.

Now, I may have realized the true dharmata.
Fixation may have been self-liberated.
Without thinking, I may have spontaneously achieved realization.

This is not ordinary, and is not for the ordinary.
This cannot be understood by great learning.
This cannot be known by great knowledge.
This is not for the labeling of discursive thought.

I remain on the path of blessings.
I attend to the words of the guru.
It is the faithful who achieve realization.
Is your realization like this, all you great meditators?
This should not be told to everyone.

You might find the following definitions helpful when reading the poem:

• Dharmadhatu - "realm of dharma", the true nature that permeates and encompasses phenomena. As a space or realm, then, the realm of dharmas is the uncaused and immutable totality in which all phenomena arise, dwell, and pass away.
• Dharmakaya = "body of the great order", the true nature of the Buddha, which is identical with transcendental reality, the essence of the universe. The dharmakaya is the unity of the Buddha with everything existing.
• Dharmata = "nature of the dharmas", the essence that is the basis of everything. Synonymous with Buddha-nature. Dharma = the cosmic law, the great "norm," underlying our world; above all, the law of karmically determined birth.
• Upaya = "skillful means or methods", upaya is the activity of the absolute in the phenomenal world, which manifests as compassion. From the standpoint of enlightened understanding, individual beings are not perceived as suffering, since nothing exists other than the dharmakaya, the absolute. However, when regarding the universe from the point of view of compassion, enlightened beings recognize suffering, which arises from attachment to forms, everywhere. In order to liberate beings from their suffering-ridden state, enlightened beings (boddhisattvas) devise all possible means (upaya) helpful toward the attainment of nirvana. These are supported by the limitless compassion of the dharmakaya.