Mapping Revelations – exploring modalities of consciousness
Integrating the gathering we organized for scientists, artists, philosophers, practitioners and explorers.
Two weeks have passed since Mapping Revelations, an event my wife and I initiated that brought together 111 scientists, artists, philosophers, and practitioners to explore the modalities of consciousness.
Two weeks since we set our souls free to dance with our minds and bodies alike. Two weeks since we let our heads and our hearts ride hand in hand through the great plains of consciousness, hopping from one modality to the next. Two weeks since we tasted caviar bursting on our tongue as we opened the proverbial curtain, and heard the whispers of 400-year old oak trees kind enough to share their secrets. Two weeks since we traveled in awe through space-time to the four corners of the globe to bear witness to the intimacy of revelations, brought to us so poignantly as footage morphed into art. Two weeks since we were reminded by a dear friend and physicist that "the universe is under no obligation to make sense to us," despite my burning desire to seek and peek behind the veil. Two weeks since soothing voices healed us with sweet songs of family constellations, intuitive explorations, and humorous extrapolations, uncovering our relationships to money, body or death. Two weeks, finally, since we so generously gave ourselves the space to be nudged in our understanding of the world, and of ourselves.
All in the space of a few days that felt like a few more days.
As I reflect on our little gathering, I feel ripples of gratitude and curiosity course through my body.
Gratitude for the collection of gentle souls who so enthusiastically joined this experiment, and so generously contributed to the inquiry. Gratitude for the knights of knowledge in areas like neuroscience, physics and psychology who hopped on the boat without even knowing us. Gratitude for the adventurous artists who devote their lives to the pursuit of beauty, whatever the medium, infusing intention in every aspect of their work. They challenge us all to wonder where, in our own lives, we might apply more intention. Gratitude for everyone who shared a little part of themselves to hold space, whether for a 1:1 conversation or a beautiful boogie. Gratitude for the people on production, who carried pillows and cleaned the sauna, loaded speakers and laid down the vibes. Gratitude for mastery, as magic truly unfolds when we gather individuals who are masters of their craft... masters of music and medicine, science and spices, breath and baths.
Gratitude for you Court – you move from the high grounds of vision to the valleys of execution with ease, a remarkable quality that we have come to realize is so rare and so rich. Your commitment to excellence, composure under pressure and grace as it all unfolds is part of the alchemy.
Gratitude, finally, for my eternal partner, Riwa. It so profoundly moves me to witness you come into your power. A warm, soft, caring type of power. One that invites those around you to lean into their own power. Your gaze, your words, your touch – holding space with the highest standards of integrity, and with a serenity that can only come through your connection to generations of ancestral holders that you, consciously or unconsciously, continue to commune with. Thank you for your creative generosity, for inspiring delight at every turn, for your attention to detail. Thank you, finally, for always agreeing to co-create. Our projects have come to define our relationship, which finds itself at the center of a multiverse of color. What an honor it is to travel this world with you. I love you.
By no small coincidence, I happened to be reading a biography of Alexander von Humboldt as Ma/re was unfolding. Humboldt was a Prussian naturalist who lived through an extremely turbulent century that saw the French revolution, the founding and expansion of America, the liberation of South America, the Napoleonic conquests and the return to republican values, and the flourishing of the enlightenment. Though I had not heard of his story before, he was perhaps the most famous man in the world in the early 19th century. A true renaissance man, he moved seamlessly from chemistry to poetry, history to biology, and was as comfortable in the royal courts of Europe as he was a hammock in the mosquito-infested jungle. His fierce intellect and expansive knowledge was sought after by many of his contemporaries – including visionary politicians like Jefferson, Madison and Bolivar, timeless writers like Goethe and Chateaubriand, or groundbreaking scientists like Lamarck, Laplace or Gay Lussac – all of whom were inspired by his ideas as they pushed the boundaries of their own field, all of whom were his friends. His books served as the principal sources of inspirations for luminaries like Charles Darwin, Henry-David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, who went on to define or redefine our relationship to nature.
Two central ideas that underpinned Humboldt's philosophy also underpin Ma/re.
First was his idea of unity, of looking at nature with a holistic perspective. When in 1802 he climbed the Chimborazo in Ecuador, at the time thought to be the highest mountain in the world, and looked out onto the vast expanse of the South American continent, he saw how volcanoes and plants, animals and humans were all connected in an intricate "web of life", a view he summarized when he conceived the term Naturgemälde – "the painting of nature". Against the grain of his time, as enlightenment institutions segregated the sciences into siloed disciplines, away from natural exploration and into university laboratories, Humboldt insisted that everything, the organic and the inorganic, was interconnected and interdependent. Standing at his side to observe the world requires us to adopt a broad, holistic perspective, one that looks for explanations at higher levels of emergence, with expanded awareness and an openness to what could be. This, of course, is terribly challenging in a world that incentivizes narrower lanes of inquiry. But it is, I believe, a task we have to undertake to infuse our actions with intention. This expansion of perspective, of the possible, was one of the goals of Ma/re.
The second (and related) foundational aspect of his work was the marriage between science and beauty. He encouraged "the scientific and aesthetic contemplation of the natural world." Though "nature had to be described with scientific accuracy," he wrote, we cannot deprive our experience of "the vivifying breath of imagination." This, of course, was another primary intention for Ma/re. My and Ri's experience over the last decade of organizing community, hosting events from large-scale parties to small exhibits at home, and developing our own relationship to consciousness, tells us that modalities don't compete – they instead build upon each other to weave a stronger connection to the subject matter. Humboldt focused on nature, but this marriage applies equally well to consciousness. His convictions and perspective helped me put words on what Ma/re was ultimately all about.
To paraphrase MIT research scientist Andrew McAfee, when practitioners interact with scientists, both sides benefit. I would add artists, philosophers and fellow explorers to that postulate. Practitioners answer "how" questions (how can I change my state), scientists (and philosophers) answer "why" questions (why is reality like this, why does this matter), artists answer "what" questions (what am I looking at). Meandering from the "how" to the "why" to the "what" and back again in a compressed amount of time helped me draw connections between otherwise disparate experiences. With each new connection comes a deepening of the experience, with each deepening comes new understanding.
I’m not entirely sure where Ma/re goes from here, but this first experiment confirmed at least some of our initial hypotheses. As we read integration letters written by participants, it appears clear that the multi-faceted exposure to the many modalities of consciousness – our very own Bewusstseinsgemälde, our “painting of consciousness” – created new soft openings. Opportunities for growth, for examination, for generosity, for community. The union of science and awe, in particular, creates coherence between the head and the heart.
To me, Ma/re was also a stunning example of what can happen when we infuse intention into our lives. Understanding intention is the very source of my search. And Ma/re, at a very small scale, illustrated the power of intention beautifully.
Alex, I'm so enjoying your musings and the sharpening/softening of your focus. I long for a time when Johnny and I can sit with you and Ri and join in your search, with our wizened perspectives.