Preparing For The Extraordinary: An Essential Practice
Prepararse para lo extraordinario: Una práctica esencial.por Alan Briskin
Prepararse para lo extraordinario es una de las [...] prácticas esenciales de sabiduría colectiva. Requiere intención clara y preparación atenta para lograr sentir una conexión mayor con los demás y las fuerzas espirituales.
Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi, me contó una vez una experiencia que tuvo con su amigo y colega, Howard Thurman [...] un distinguido filósofo teológico Afro-Americano que fue mentor de Martin Luther King.
En esta ocasion, Reb Zalman había invitado a Thurman a Manitoba, Canadá, donde Reb Zalman estaba viviendo. Juntos, fueron a la abadía Cristiana cercana donde Thurman se encontró con el maestro de novicios. Thurman le pidió que le contase la queja más habitual que oía por parte de sus alumnos. El maestro de novicios dijo que la queja era que tenían que despertarse para las oraciones de las 3 de la mañana, lo que implicaba que saliesen de su cama y fuesen a la fría capilla. “¿Por qué hacer esto?”, decían, si ya sentían una gran satisfacción con el servicio de las 9 de la mañana?
En respuesta, el maestro de novicios les prohibió ir al servicio de las tres de la mañana. Dos semanas más tarde, se quejaron de que ya no encontraban la alegría y el sentido de misterio que habían sentido antes durante el encuentro de las 9 de la mañana. Los alumnos volvieron a ser invitados a asistir al servicio de las 3 de la mañana con una nueva consideración por cómo la preparación de la atención que ocurre antes del amanecer puede influenciar lo que ocurre a la luz del día. Thurman, Reb Zalman recalcó con una risotada, estaba encantado con este cuento.
Prepararse para lo extraordinario es ese esfuerzo que hacemos, los rituales que creamos, el trabajo psicológico interno que llevamos a cabo… Estos enfocan nuestra intención y pavimentan el camino para que algo maravilloso ocurra. A veces es en una rigurosa preparación conceptual, otras en una oración silenciosa. A veces es aprendiendo a tolerar la incomodidad, otras veces al preparase a un@ mism@ para la acción audaz.
Sin embargo, si esto se logra, rara vez se debe solo a un individuo, sino a un campo social más amplio en el que los individuos colaboran, desempeñan su papel, contribuyen con sus talentos únicos y se sienten y son vistos y escuchados por otros. Un principio central de la sabiduría colectiva es que cada uno de nosotros participe en la creación de la experiencia del grupo y que el grupo tiene cualidades distintivas que impactan al individuo. Somos co-creadores de la experiencia grupal, compositores del campo grupal y parte de la composición.
Preguntas semilla para la reflexión: ¿Cómo te relacionas con la noción de necesitar preparación para lo extraordinario que se recibirá en nuestra vida? ¿Puedes compartir una historia personal de un momento en el que te diste cuenta de cómo estabas co-creando la experiencia del grupo y al mismo tiempo te viste afectado por ella? ¿Qué te ayuda a mantenerte consciente de que eres un compositor del campo de grupo y parte de la composición?
por Alan Briskin, coautor de El poder de la sabiduría colectiva.
by Alan Briskin, co-author The Power of Collective Wisdom.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How do you relate to the notion of needing preparation for the extraordinary to be received in our life? Can you share a personal story of a time when you realized how you were co-creating the group experience while also being impacted by it? What helps you remain aware that you are both a composer of the group field and part of the composition?
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14 Past Reflections
On Oct 21, 2020 Fatmah wrote :
This is when I was in form eleven...we were preparing for an national exam....and we needed to thoroughly prepare for the exam...but we were so engaged by our teachers...we had little time for our revision...so I started waking up at 3am ...then when my classmates showed interest to do the same...I took it upon myself to wake them every nite for over a month...to do revision together...what culminated was that...we revised systematically in the early hours of the morning...mastering most of the stuff...got relaxed during day since most of the revision was done at night...so we created discussion groups for the little time in the day...and indeed it worked wonders!!!.... when we start for the national exams...we passed with high grades!... Thanks to the night revision (intense preparation)...
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On Sep 28, 2020 Laura Cardella wrote :
Needing preparation to receive the extraordinary in our lives is something to which I have given little thought. On reflection, it seems quite true. As humans we are born without the ability to care for ourselves. So all of our lives are spent "fixin' to get ready"- a saying my family jokes about. Fixin' is a word used in some areas of the southern USA, meaning I am getting ready to do something, to get started...So "fixin to get ready" just jokingly emphasizes how slowly we are beginning to take action. So from our birth onward, we cannot do all the things we need and want to do. It takes love, nurturing, guidance and care for years before the human child is capable of caring for themselves. But one day, serendipity will happen and the child will know that all the yearsof growing and learning have brought them to this time when they are ready and aware of the extraordinary to occur in their life.Once as a child I was on a road trip with my family- five chil... [View Full Comment]
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On Sep 28, 2020 Steven Levey wrote :
The ambrosial hour is a real thing. In the pre-dawn silence we can get caressed for exerting the effort of being awake and prepared. It is the sunrise after ascendinga tropical volcano. You can see forever as the sky lightens before the exploding sun forces our eyes away to see where we are going today.
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On Aug 17, 2020 Beverly Jennings wrote :
In order to do extraordinary things we must prepare, anything worth having requires some sacrifice because the end resulting is worth so much more when we are prepared.
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On Jun 28, 2020 Tizz wrote :
I loved this story about Howard Thurman asking the novice master about his students' most common complaint and the story he told in responseabout the 3 a.m. services. This so aligns with a recent intention to greet the dawn every day. Dawn right now in high summer is 5:30 AM about an hour earlier than I usually wake. But now I want those reverent pre-dawn hours again when I woke at 4:00 AM. There's a place near me overlooking the river where the sun appears on the far horizon. That magical moment is different every single day and I have missed it. So, at this moment, I renew my vow to be a little uncomfortable in order to readjust my schedule to find reverence, magic, and secrets.
“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you
Don't go back to sleep!
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep!
People are going back and forth
across the doorsill where the two worlds touch,
The door is round and open
Don't go back to sleep!”
-Rumi
&hear... [View Full Comment]
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On Jun 28, 2020 thea nietfeld wrote :
Yesterday I moved back to a town where spirituality and connection are prioritized. when I lived here before, I was fundamentally changed by this place. Now in retirement, I am more prepared to be conscious and grateful for the unique gifts of the place and more prepared to give.
The prompt on content and context and reflections help me articulate this.
I appreciate Amrithas response to the fift economy prompt about keeping money in the pocket and not the mind, and Bonnie's shifting her meaning question to What can she give in this moment. I'd like to hear more about Krishnan's approach to live interactive mythological storytelling.
Even with moving challenges, this program has brightened my week. I'm grateful.
The prompt on content and context and reflections help me articulate this.
I appreciate Amrithas response to the fift economy prompt about keeping money in the pocket and not the mind, and Bonnie's shifting her meaning question to What can she give in this moment. I'd like to hear more about Krishnan's approach to live interactive mythological storytelling.
Even with moving challenges, this program has brightened my week. I'm grateful.
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On Nov 27, 2018 Kristin Pedemonti wrote :
OH How I love this share: the idea of early morning pre-dawn preparedness to enter into the deeply sacred and spiritual. Yes! It reminds me of the need to slow down into the ebb so we can appreciate more fully the flow. I relate so much to this after having moved through a very busy year and now finally having some time to deeply reflect especially on a healing retreat I attended for female survivors of childhood sexual trauma. What was most extraordinary was the ordinary in so much of the information shared: simple meditation, breathing yoga, as well as information on how trauma affects our brain thought process and then our actions/reactions, and yet the impact was incredibly healing. I think because of that preparedness for receiving. I arrived 2 days prior to the retreat so I could steady myself to be ready to receive the learning, healing and wisdom. I also gifted myself with a full day of rest and reflection before I flew back to the intensity of Washington DC. Allowing th... [View Full Comment]
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On Nov 27, 2018 Amy P Kennedy wrote :
I've also had the experience of getting up very early to meditate with a group for short periods of time (weeks). At some level, on any given day, "I" doesn't want to do this, and it's this setting aside of "I" that seems to prepare the field for the extraordinary to happen.
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On Nov 24, 2018 david doane wrote :
As for needing preparation, you never know. It may help and it may not. The challenge is knowing what is the preparation for the extraordinary to be received. I have found that the main preparation is the doing. I recall being in a group experience in which I was very involved and I was cocreating the experience while simultaneously being impacted by it. My realizing this was minimal as it was happening and became clear afterwards. What helps me remain aware that I am both a composer of the group field and part of the composition is knowing that all that is is inseparably interconnected and correlated. How could being both composer and part of the composition be otherwise?
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On Nov 23, 2018 Jagdish P Dave wrote :
As I was growing up, my father taught me three inter -connected steps for learning something deeper and extraordinary. They are shravana, manana and nidhityasana. These are Sanskrit words meaning midful attentive listening with open mind and open heart, asking questions, inquring about what we learn from listening, and reflecting deeply with a meditative quiet and clear mind and practicing what we learn.. This three- steps- process is like making preparation for the extraordinary to be received in life. There are times when I follow these three steps alone and there are times when I practice these three steps in a group. I feel different energy when I follow these three steps in a group. In Sanskrit we use the word satsanga meaning being in the company of the Reality- the Truth with genuine seekers.
For several years we have been having satsanga meetings. In these meetings we follow the three -steps process and share our personal experience with others in the group. Each o... [View Full Comment]