Though it may be taken to be otherwise,
what we call, “body”
is a resonant field
imbued with feeling (sentience)
the property of occupying space
the capability of movement,
and with the ability to move among other resonant fields
living beings.
It is what we mean by, “soma”.
Our minds are not entirely our own,
but resonate with the field of all minds
modulate that field of thought and feeling
through interaction with memory and original activity
and reflect it back into the field of all minds
transformed.
What we call, “body”
is really, “soma”,
sentient,
resonant in the field of all minds,
responsive,
initiatory,
remembering,
intelligent,
changing,
accelerating the process of change
occurring in and as the Field of All Possibility.
Physiology resonates and physically manifests
the ways of mind.
The ways of mind
are not “the” mind,
since there is no fixed identity
no permanent identity
to earn the appelation, “the”
(though personal names imply such a permanent identity).
There is only a persisting and yet changing process
constantly inscribing upon memory
endless moments of time
connected by memory
or disconnected in amnesia.
The amnesia shows up,
somatically,
as awkwardness
both in terms of clumsiness of movement
and in terms of dis-ease or disgrace,
as discontinuity of feeling during movement
as lack of sensibility during action,
of which we are unaware, oblivious,
since a long-term lack of sensation goes unnoticed
as lack of fluidity,
a kind of stodginess in certain movements, such as walking
slowed walking or unsteady walking
as dis-comfort in certain positions
as somewhat crude control of movements,
so that they’re “all on” or “all off”,
but not so well controlled in “the in-between”
This is part of clumsiness.
Elite athletes excel in “the in-between” between “all on” and “all off”,
and not just in “the extremes” of high performance
and so exhibit uncommon grace.
The amnesia, the obliviousness
shows up as habits of behavior and memory
which we take to be ourselves
and which others recognize as ourselves
all lumped into one as our way of moving
and of going into and coming out of rest,
Psychology and the physiology are the same one
perceived from two different viewpoints.
Psychology is the experience of physiology
and
physiology is the play of psychology as living matter.
Experiential memory holds them as one.
Conceptual memory holds then as two.
We, somas, are the musical instruments that play
the Music of the Spheres,
the “music” (and noise) of the centers of influence we all are
resonant fields apparently centered as “selves”
located by others
and experienced by ourselves
as centers of memory
memory, embodied physiologically
memory, resonant with the Field of All Minds
the Field of All Possibilities
ever-changing
ever appearing to persist as a center-self
a resonant field of mind
transforming physiologically and psychologically
as changes of our level of rest or activity
as changes of our state of attention,
as changes of our muscular activity
of our neurology,
as hormonal changes
and changes of our blood pressure and breathing rate.
Thought is the flickering of attention among memory patterns
among arousal states
inscribed upon memory
as things sensed
things felt
and impulses to act or react
to feel or not to feel,
all inscribed upon memory
with gaps of amnesia,
things forgotten
like a Hitchcock tale.
Emotion is the tension set within which thoughts occur.
Emotion gathers related, mutually triggering memories
together
into a state of suspense
that may persist or that may change
over short or very long periods of time.
The physiology gets stabilized at a certain pattern of homeostasis
or “best approximation of ‘home'”
which, as we know
has gaps and deviations
both physiologically (as perceived from one perspective)
and psychologically (as apperceived from another).
The kicker is that apperception (the perception of self-soma by self-soma)
has amnesias and unawakened potentials
and so soma-self’s image
is subject to
“The ‘not-knowing” of all I never knew I didn’t know.” (oblivious ignorance)
and
“All the ‘knowing’ that I’ve forgotten that I know, that’s still running the show.” (amnesia and habit)
— in other words,
incomplete and inconclusive
beset by seemingly hidden influences,
but seeming, because of memory,
to be complete and conclusive,
present as physiological states of readiness
to take actions remembered
toward different things as they are happening, now.
And they call that maturity.
But it’s incomplete.
The perspective of “the other”, another person,
another viewpoint toward oneself that one is capable of taking in,
may reveal the hidden memories and blind spots
that have been running the show from behind the scenes.
And the two somatic perspectives,
from outside
and
from within
give a more complete view,
but still,
always,
incomplete and inconclusive
subject to
“The ‘not-knowing” of all I never knew I didn’t know.” (oblivious ignorance)
and
“All the ‘knowing’ that I’ve forgotten that I know, that’s still running the show.” (amnesia and habit)
— whatever we may know in memory
and mistake for the present moment.
Lawrence Gold is a certified clinical somatic educator who has been in practice since 1990. His clients are typically people in pain who have not gotten help from standard therapies. Contact Lawrence Gold, here. Read about his background, here.
This article was reprinted from Full-Spectrum Somatics with permission from the author.