A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic

Copyright 2008 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

Learning to dance and harmonize with others
Background
Understanding the individual vision
Going to the mountain - the view from a mountain top
Aligning vision
Binding aka cords
Harmonizing

Background (Top)

There is a facet of the organization that goes well beyond what has been traditionally understood about organizations. As discussed in the topic, "The organization we experience is a desired experience," a deeper understanding provided by energy consciousness is that an individual, the organization, or the world which stands in front of us are there to give us an experience we ourselves have requested at some level of our being for one reason or another. How we choose to experience them is our choice. Whether or not we can get out of mind and what we think about what we are experiencing to have the experience we elected to have is another question. The individual, the organization and the world are there simply providing us the experiences we have desired to have. To understand and use this fact, we have to be able to be out of mind and following our intuitive guidance to see for ourselves the truth of this realization. In this realization there is a whole new flavor or aspect that can be added to understanding organizations and organizing organizations.

Based on this perspective, there are two ways to create an organization that essentially exist on a spectrum. At one extreme, is to be in mind and create an organization through mind and the using the traditional organizational approaches. In the traditional approach, an individual or individuals have a vision, goal or mission they desire to obtain and hire individuals to perform the various roles in constructing the organization. Once the goal or vision is set, all the individuals in the organization theoretically focus their attention and awareness to manifest that vision. This is the easiest, most common, and usually, the most practical way to create an organization. However, there are things that interfere with this approach such as the nonconscious or conscious agenda that individuals carry. The Organizational Creativity and Orchestrating the Organization approaches can support this type of effort but there are other approaches that can work just as well.

What Organizational Creativity and Orchestrating the Organization provide produce a different type of experience where what one does in the organization allows one to be more in line with the intention for our life or the longing which many feel in the heart. They support what lies at the other spectrum. At the other end of the spectrum lies another type of organization. This other type of organization goes well beyond being able to live the longing of one’s heart to fully live in alignment with the intention for our life. The second way to create an organization and move the organization to the opposite end of the spectrum is to align individual vision and work with, and from, an internal view.

As discussed in a variety of topics on our creative spirit, our creative spirit is the source of our creative ability and creative power. The key to accessing our creative spirit and using it is to learn to dance an inner dance. A between the inner masculine reflected in the mind and the inner feminine reflected in what we feel and symbolized in the heart.

The inner dance is about gaining personal mastery and learning to balance the inner masculine and inner feminine creative aspects within one’s own being to consciously create what we desire. The outer dance is to learn to balance the masculine and feminine aspects that give rise to the creation in front of us whether it be an individual, an organization or the world itself. Organizational alignment is about orchestrating or choreographing this outer dance between all the individuals involved within an organization The orchestrating aspects are about integrating vision to create the dance. The choreographic aspects are about getting the individuals to dance together based on how they are choosing to live their life.

There are a variety of pieces that need to be brought together to learn to dance in harmony with others and harmonize an organization. The effort starts at the individual level and whether or not any given individual chooses to do the inner work to balance the inner masculine and inner feminine aspects and them move to balance the outer aspect. Or they choose to live in the nonconscious awareness of the intention for one's life and follow the heart’s desire and/or the longing for the beloved. Or, they choose to be in mind discarding what they feel they need to do in life and follow what mind thinks needs to be done. Then, once the choice is made as to how they will dance with the outer world, orchestrate their intention with the intention of others and choreograph how the individual will move to manifest the intentions each has.

Obviously the problem is more difficult when any group of individuals is mixed between consciously serving their life intention, nonconsciously following it thought the heart’s desire or longing of the heart and doing what mind thinks and believe. The problem gets easier when the group of individual move to one of the extremes. That is, all the individual look to follow the intention for their life, or they all look to follow their heart’s desire and/or longing of the heart through what they feel or they all act from what their mind thinks and believes. In today’s world, most look to act from the mind and what they think and believe.

It needs to be noted here that having a group of like minded individuals does not mean the work to be done is any less. It just means there is more common ground on which to share and the issues will be different. But, nevertheless, one way is not necessarily less work than another. It will ways take a sacrifice of time and energy to create something new and how much energy depends on what the individuals and group desires to create.

Understanding the individual vision (Top)

In learning to dance and harmonize with others the first thing that needs to be recognized that we each carry an individual vision that will guide us through life. That is, there is some image of what we think a successful life looks like.

There are three basic types of vision that could be seen lying at different ends of a triangle with three equal sides. At one point is the vision we carry about our life and what success in life looks like that is based solely on all what we think and believe. It may include elements of what we feel and/or know about our life path but mind rules and we do what mind thinks and make decisions based on mind. At the second point on the triangle is the vision that is based on minds interpretation of what we feel. That is, a vision based on what mind interprets as the heart’s desire and/or the longing for the beloved. The third point is a vision based on the intention for one's life. Here one follows the intuitive guidance and body wisdom or hat arise from alignment with the feeling of the fullness of being and that which causes one to experience themselves expanding beyond who and what they think and believe they are.

The intention for one's life will always results in some type and kind of vision presented to the psyche. The vision will represents the best way that current mind is capable of characterizing the energy giving rise to our life based on the experiences current mind has had up to the time of the realization of the vision. As we gain more diverse experiences in life, mind will iterate the vision to give us a better characterization. It is important to note, because the individual may or may not have had the minimum set of experience to properly characterize the energy behind their life when the recognize they have a vision, the vision may not be as accurate as it can be. If the individual latches on to the vision they get they will fix or freeze the vision and not allow mind to update its accuracy as it gains more experiences. Latching on to the vision is much like latching on to an external muse such that as the current of our life shifts it points our life path in a new direction but we stay fixed on the muse rather than going with the flow.

It is the premise of the Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity approach that each individual carries a conscious or nonconscious vision for their life that will 1) give them the experiences they incarnated to have and 2) will direct them to the gifts that they bring or rather it will allow their gifts to unfold and be given to others as they live their life. To get a conscious awareness of this vision and to get an understanding of the gifts that one has to give, one only needs to set the clear intention to have the vision and/or gifts revealed and then follow the internal guidance that directs them to understanding that vision and/or what that gift is. It needs to be emphasized here is that mind will never be totally accurate in characterizing the vision or the gifts. Accuracy will improve as one gains the minimum set of life experiences that fulfills the intention for one's life but all that is given in any moment, and all that is really needed other than appeasing the mind, is the direction one needs to travel. In any case, one can use the fullness of being and what gives life as an internal compass to guide themselves to meet the intention for their life.

As one focuses on their vision and life work, most visions reveal themselves in a spiral type path that slowly reveals more and more of itself over time. In particular, the child’s vision is actually the clearest since it is uncluttered by other nonessential experiences and will grow and expand in clarity if not denied. The issue with the child’s interpretation is that it only has the limited life experiences of childhood from with to interpret what it perceives. As stated, if not denied, the vision will refine itself as new experiences are gained.

However for an adult that has not nurtured their vision since childhood, there will be the need to strip away the layers of beliefs, fears, and other baggage that they have accumulated that clutters their mind and understand of their life. It cannot be under emphasized that in most all cases the adult will experience fear, frequently to the point of being terrified, at what the intention for one's life requires. Since so much of one’s life is lived in unawareness and often without following one’s feeling one tends to maneuver away from alignment with their life path. When faced with an intuitive guidance as to what the path looks like or the direction they need to go, one sees all that change that will be necessary and it can be overwhelming and very frightening. If one is desperate and/or in pain, they will feel they have nothing to lose. However, if one is comfortable in life, they will feel all is lost and will enter what is often called the "Dark Night of the Soul."

In any case, one only needs to pay attention in awareness after they set the intention to understand the intention for one's life or the gifts they have to bring. One’s intuitive guidance will reveal the direction and the path that needs to be taken to gain what is desired. Hear again, the experiences of life itself will refine and better interpret what that vision and gift truly is. It needs to be understood that the flow of energy within one’s being symbolized by the heart and mind are an extremely effective duet. They do not really opposed each other. The highest awareness of our being that has caused the flow of energy that we experience as our life will use our mind to get the best image current mind has available to characterize and express its desire. The mind then only needs to pay attention in awareness to the images it is given and allow those images to reveal themselves in the light of acting on those images and what one feel in the process. The seeming paradox is that mind will know the correct interpretation of the vision it has. But, it cannot think about what the interpretation is or the mind will introduce baggage and will bias the image based on what it thinks is correct. Mind only needs to allow the feelings to flow by surrendering to what we feel and follow the lead of feelings in all ways.

As was said above, the individual always has a conscious or nonconscious awareness of the intention for their life. For most it is nonconscious. But the awareness of the intention for one’s life is an experience like any other experience of life and gets rolled into the set of past experiences that mind uses to create whatever idea it has for a successful life. So at some level, the intention for one’s is already rolled up into the idea of what a successful life looks like. However how much influence it has is another question. Feeling and the awareness which lies in feeling is what brings the vision out of the nonconscious into consciousness. When the individual is willing to step out of mind or go beyond mind what they think they know and understand they will be able to bring a clarity to the vision that is unbiased by mind.

Going to the mountain - the view from a mountain top (Top)

There is an interesting phenomenon that can best going to the mountain to get view from the mountain top. It is much like standing on top of a very high mountain overlooking a broad sweeping valley such that you are able to see landmarks and other aspects of the valley and how the valley is laid out. Knowing that we are going to go down into the valley and walk across the valley, we can pick landmarks and references for our journey such that we will roughly know where we are as we reach the landmarks. The landmarks can then tell us if we need to shift our direction to get where we initially decided we wanted to go. Of course we can always change our mind and go explore a part of the valley we initially did not intend. But the important point to realize is that if we seem to get lost, we can always go back to the mountain and can climb to the top to get a fresh view as to where we need to go or simply remember the vision we had at the top. The mountain is always available to us for it stands high above the valley and can always be seen from anywhere within the valley, assuming of course we are not in a depression or standing behind something that does not allow us to see off into the horizon.

Whether we realize it or not, each life starts with a overview of the future life. That is, there is a review of the potential that exists as to what is available to us and this view is held in our nonconscious. It is analogously much the same as the past life review that individuals who have near death experiences report to experience. This pre-life review experience is much like being on a very high mountain over looking a broad sweeping valley before one descends down through the forest into the valley. The particular nonconscious we have chosen is the blueprint that forms the valley that we will experience and it can serves as a map or guide as we experience our life unfolding for all is contained within our being. From this view, we can see much of what our life experiences will look like. However, it needs to be noted that they are viewed from a very great distance and their significance may not fully be understood at the time and/or may not look the same when experienced from within the experience. Nevertheless, we have picked out landmarks and other markers to remind us what the general terrain will look like once we are down in the valley and we can recall that overview anytime we wish for it is ingrained in our memory. Or, we can go back to the mountain if we so choose which some do in something like a vision quest.

Once we have had the opportunity to have this overview before our life, we descend down into the valley to have our physical experiences. It is the descent into the valley that makes us, allows us or causes us to forget what exactly we were seeking and why we went down into the valley in the first place But this is okay . There is the need to forget and become lost to be able to both be the creator and have an experience of our creation. It is the intense focus of our attention and awareness to form the body that we utilized as a vehicle for the physical experience causes us to put everything else out of our mind and simply forget who and what we are. It takes essentially all of our conscious awareness and attention to create a physical body and we can’t create one unless we have sufficient awareness to manifest it as a human. As we struggle to find a path down the mountain and wander thought the forest, we loose both the conscious perspective of where we are going and how we got to were we are. In essence, as long as we are looking to be somewhere else, we are essentially lost descending into the valley or we have become lost in the valley.

When in the valley we see things and experience situations that vaguely seem familiar and as though we recognize them but we can’t quite place our finger on exactly how they are familiar. We know that this is where we need to be no matter what is happening externally for "it feels right" and that feeling will make no sense to our conscious mind. This is where your intuitive guidance and body wisdom become important as does conscious awareness of what we recall. What needs to be understood is that both the world we see and experience and our body are the valley manifested. They, the experiences in the body and the experiences in the world, tell us exactly where we are and what it looks like were we are. More importantly, it is our nonconscious that has formed what we are experiencing based on the "valley" (the creation) we chose to experience. If we can learn to be out of mind and be with the body wisdom and our intuitive guidance as opposed to the mind, we will have the internal compass and guidance to take us through the valley and have the experiences we descended into the valley to experienced. As we find those places and landmarks that seem vaguely familiar, we will remember when we last saw them and what they represented and we will known if we are on target or drifted off in some unexpected way. Here recall becomes important. It is possible to remember that view from the mountain and remember why we descended into the valley and what purpose we were to achieve. The question is whether or know we wish to know.

To go back to the mountain to remember the view we will have to choose to do so. We will have to set the intention and then follow the intuitive guidance that we get to go there. But we only have to go there if we wish to consciously follow the intention for our life. opening ourselves to the awareness of feeling and what you feel to follow either the heart’s desire or the longing of the heart will allow us to align with this path at a nonconscious level and is more than adequate for most people. The trouble is that our mind will never be satisfied being pulled by this unknown force of the heart. Then again, we are free to do simply what our mind says needs to be done to be successful in life in the society and the world that we currently find ourselves.

Aligning vision (Top)

The question that needs to be asked from an organizational perspective is, "How does one integrate other individuals into any project determined by an inner vision either as a participant, that is one who shares a common vision, or as a laborer on some aspect of the infrastructure when the vision itself may change?"

In answering this question, we begins to get into all the various permutation and combinations. It needs to be remembered that there are three visions which can be talked about. There is the vision of mind's idea of success, there is the vision supplied by the heart’s desire and/or longing of the heart, and then there is the vision supplied by the intention for one's life. Any one of the three forms of vision can be aligned with any of the others. The difference will be is in the motivation of the individuals. The motivation of an individual who is operating from a vision supplied by the mind is quite different than the motivation supplied by an individual operating from the vision supplied by the intention for one’s life. It can be the difference between what is worth dying for and changing what one desires rather than face death. Ideally it is best to have visions of the same type aligned but that does not mean aligning visions of different types can be overwhelmingly successful. It just needs to be understood the motivation and the energy one draws from the vision will be quite different.

Having a vision and hiring individuals to perform tasks to manifest that vision is what normal organization theory and approaches cover and is not addressed here. The existing techniques are reasonably good and it is recommend to choose one that fits our needs and the style of organization we wish to create. The discussion here centers on organization where hiring an individual is less important than having individuals someway to "buy into" the vision.

In aligning any two visions there is a spectrum of overlap. The spectrum runs from either two vision have no overlay or total overlap and the two extremes are handled differently. Of course as one moves along the spectrum, there will be a blending of the two extremes. The discussion here will focus on two visions each held by an individual. The same kind of process would work for more people and we have three options for multiple individuals and of course there are combinations of these three options. One way is to work in pairs and then combining pairs of pairs until the entire group is integrated. The second way is to create an initial pair and then continually add another to the initial grouping so that we are always working with a pair - the group and the person to be added. The third way is to combine all the individual parts simultaneously into a collective with the technique described for two visions that do not overlap.

The recommended approach for any two individuals or multiple individuals is to both simultaneously assume that two visions have nothing in common and that they have total overlap. The reason for this is two fold. If the individuals truly commit themselves to their vision and they combine two visions that do not overlap in the way described here, the two visions become one and they then do overlap. The second reason is that as a result of how we create our experiences and discussed in the topic "Origins of creation/Creation" the individual or individuals who stand in front of us are there to give us the experience we desire to have. In this regard, whether we think the vision each of us carry overlap or not, the fact that we have been drawn together already indicates that at some level of our being we have overlapping visions. All that separates us form seeing the overlap is our mind and what it thinks and believes. Hence, it only makes sense to understand that whenever two individual or more are drawn together they already are overlapping in what they desire to create. What we do to address what appears to be non overlapping vision is what we do to satisfy what the mind thinks and believes and is not something that necessarily needs to be done for what has brought the individuals together.

When an individual operates or lives their life from the perspective of manifesting a vision that they hold, life will bring to the individual the opportunities on which they will need to act to manifest that vision. However, one needs to realize that unless their life is a single point focus to manifest their vision, the experiences one has in life will be a mixture of experiences created by the multiple intentions one holds. All the experiences that come to us will not necessarily be experiences directed towards manifesting our vision. Rather they may be directed to manifesting other intentions we hold that may in fact be competing with the vision we desire to manifest. In this regard we must learn to become discerning as to what experiences are arising because of what intentions we hold. To learn discernment in this area we will need to ask ourselves, "Why am I creating this experience - what intention do I hold is causing this experience to arise?" Then listen and follow the intuitive guidance that we get to uncover the intention.

When we have learned to discern what experiences are supporting the vision we hold for our life, we will then know we will be pulled to the experience or the experience will be pulled to us to manifest our vision. When we operate from an internal vision, we will be pulled to the individuals that can help us manifest our vision in some way. Since each individual carries an internal vision for what they are to experience in life and for the gifts that they bring there is no need to "hire" or "enlist" individuals to work on a true vision as it is traditionally done. Rather we and them will be pulled together. How we arrange to make money to live in the world may or may not be related to the visions we carry. From a for profit organizational perspective one of the key intention will of course be to make money to be able to live in the world. For a volunteer organization, money is not the issue. Only the alignment of the vision is important. In fact the process being describe here is already being used at a nonconscious level because this is how volunteer organizations finds it staff. Individuals are led to the organization by the vision that is held.

In any case, living with the perspective to manifest a vision will pull us to the individuals that will support our effort consciously or nonconsciously. What each individual will do for another is determined by the intersection and overlap of the individual visions with the other individuals who are drawn to the vision or the project we create to manifest our vision. We can be assured that at whatever level we carry a vision, there are individuals whose life work and/or visions are, or potentially are, a contributing vision. As such, we and these individuals will somehow, in some way be draw to either the project that is created or pulled into our life. The orchestration of the parts is the aligning the individual member who have their own particular part to play. It is only a matter of bringing all the players together in harmony.

In this view, it is understood the success of each of the individuals involved would also result in the success of the overall effort because it is the individuals who are drawn to the project are carrying a key piece to the overall process. In this regard, the individual would help the others within their abilities to be successful. Also in this awareness is that whatever vision is in focus, that is, the individual’s vision or a collective overlap vision, the vision is actually not anyone’s vision. One cannot say it is "my" vision for the other owns part of it also. Nor can one say that "I am in charge of the vision" for here gain, the vision has multiple parts and each of those parts are essential to that vision manifesting. In this understanding one will come to see that any vision is ultimately only the Universe at play with Itself using an individual as the carrier of a vision bringing many individuals together in play in a Divine Play.

Binding aka cords (Top)

When two individuals or group of individual come together to combine visions that do not overlap two things needs to be recognized. One is that from a mind's perspective something, consciously or nonconsciously, is seen as complementary between the two visions or otherwise the two individuals the would not have come together. The other is that at the deepest levels of being the visions overlap. Here again, the individuals would not have come together if the visions did not somehow overlap. However, it is mind that stands in the way of seeing the overlap.

The way around this is simply to make a contract between each individual to support the manifestation of the vision each holds. This process can be seen in a variety of ways and one should look at the process or analogy that best serves the individuals mind. The essence is that each makes a commitment to the other to do what they can to help the other to manifest their vision and the others vision no matter what the visions looks like. To some it can be seen as making a contract between each of the individuals. To others it can be see as a marriage where the offspring is the joining of the two visions for that is essential what is done when each commits themselves to the others visions. Yet a third way is a little more powerful and that is to see the effort as binding aka cords.

The aka cord refers to a thin silver like thread that some individuals claim connect the back of the skull/top of the head to central awareness of the Universe, God if you wish, much the way an umbilical cord connect the life of the child to its mother. Or, it can be seen as the life line which connects an individual to the mother ship whether it be a diver in the ocean or an astronaut in space. Combining aka cords is to wrap two or more cords together much the way one would make a strong rope by twisting pieces of twine or string together. In essence the jointed, bound aka cords is strong and more powerful than either alone. Hence in combine aka cords one is both joining the vision into a offspring such that two become one but each is stronger and more powerful that if it is alone. When this is done, the combined vision, whether or not still seen as separate by the individuals, now acts as any other vision and pulls to it the experiences the individuals need to have to manifest the joined visions and the process will follow as already described above.

Harmonizing (Top)

Harmonizing is really no more that smoothing out the dance and flowing with the dance that is being performed. To do that, as a musician, we will have to know how to play our instrument and know how to tune our instrument for what we are going to play. The challenge in harmonizing will always be the mind and how much mind has interjected itself into the joining process and into the process once the visions have joined. The question will be, "Is the music, the creation with another, that we are making in harmony and in accord with the part we are asked to play for we are always free to do our own thing?" If we cannot feel a harmony within our own being because of the commitment we have made, at some level we are not being served. Have we ever heard a musician who plays their own music while the rest of the band or orchestra is playing something else or one musician is significantly out of tune with the other musicians even if they are playing the same tune? It often doesn’t sound good unless the different melody is suppose to be played in contract to the rest of the group.

The second level of performance that comes after individual performance is harmonizing with others. Harmonizing with others is the level that is most often inadequately addressed between individuals and especially organizations. Harmonizing is not cooperation or functioning as a teach each playing an assigned role. It is much more than this.

Individuals may be accomplished individuals unto themselves and may perform very well by themselves. But unless they are able to work together in harmony, they will always be soloists and find it difficult to find others to play as their accompaniment. It needs to be remembered, each individual wants to be free to express themselves true to their being. It is not to play accompaniment to another individual all the time. Creation is a dance and each must be willing to give to the other.

If the individual cannot harmonize, they fail to blend their talents with others to expand both the range and options available to themselves and to any group in which they may participate. In the same way any two musicians must learn to keep the same tempo and rhythm blending their notes, two individuals within a given work group will need to match the tempo and rhythm of each other and blend such that their combined performance is harmonious as opposed to discordant. If wish, look at the harmony issues as to dancing together on stage as opposed to two separate individuals performing like one independent act follows another independent act on stage.

To achieve harmony, the individual will have to have aligned their spiritual, emotional, mental and physical needs with that created by the organization resulting from the combined visions for the task that is to be performed. When this is done by each individual, then the individuals will be performing together in harmony. For example if one individual operates on the principle of meeting the intent of the law and their fellow workers only believe in meeting the letter of the law, there will be disharmony. The only question is when and how significant will be the issue.

In a similar way, if one individual believes walks should be taken at 3:00 PM to refresh one’s thinking and the other thinks it is wrong to take time off from work for "personal" needs like refreshing one’s thinking, there will not be much harmony between them unless the organization requirements are established to permit these alternative work styles in some way. A silent organizational policy on such an issue when it arises will only add to the disharmony of the overall organization and the failure to address the policy issue when it does arise only fuels the disharmony for the organization, demonstrating a lack of courage and an ability of the organization to speak its truth. Yet everything cannot be in writing and must flow from the alignment of the individuals. The actual organizational process that will need to be harmonized in addition to the harmonizing between individuals, will depend on the products or services delivered. Harmonizing becomes more important as the output of organizational components or work groups feed other groups or services need to be coordinated between different organizational components.

In most organizations which have been observed, it was found very few individuals who truly know how to individually harmonize and even less who know how to get organizational members to harmonize. Many individuals do know how to cooperate but they don’t know how to harmonize. Cooperating is more about doing what needs to be done to get the individual to work together to accomplish a task. Harmonizing is about balance and when it comes to managing the flow of one’s creative life energy it is about sharing the lead back and forth such that one individual does not bear the brunt of the creative effort robbing the feminine aspect of their being.

One of the primary reason we have not learned to harmonize is because many of us have never been taught the true value of cooperation and its synergy over competition. Most organizations consist of individual solo acts following each other. The harmonizing level of performance is much more subtle and frequently quite different than what the traditional team building or interpersonal skill concepts address. What is needed for individual harmonizing is best characterized as "learning to see through the eyes of another," such that the individuals can blend their performances. The actual type of activities and methodology that would be utilized at this level would be entirely dependent on the particular individuals and what they are seeking to achieve, for the methods can vary widely.

Related topics
Aligning individual and organizational performance
Thoughts and concepts for consideration in Organizational Creativity

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