Flow - Quareness Series 214th "Lecture".

Here I sit, the flummoxed tenant of an hour,

Treadmill tired and trying to catch a break

In wondering aloud about lost opportunities.

Here I sit seeking to negotiate the formal rigour

Of reliability, in an inherited line and its stanza,

To comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfort. 

Here I sit in this questioning sound box of sorts,

This time capsule set to capture momentary magic

In letting the poem be and allowing lines to linger.

Here I sit stepping into my own sense of myself,

Seeking a small truth with words that are clear,

And longing for a great truth with great silence.

(Losing and finding myself in poetic endeavour?).

It's not uncommon for a long distance cyclist or runner to slip into a state where awareness of time passing seems to slip away (or even stand still) and the body seems to move almost effortlessly on its own. Indeed it seems that this type of extraordinary "flow" experience can be found across many disciplines and situations involving an intense mix of challenge and support...what the late Hungarian-American psychologist/researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi characterised as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake." And this may indicate that when we forget ourselves, extraordinary performance is possible?

Lack of self-consciousness appears to be a requisitive condition for entering this flow state, in order to be totally engaged in a challenging activity for its own sake. As that perceptive man  Csikszentmihalyi also explained..."The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved and you're using your skills to the utmost." In a sense the flow becomes a kind of spiritual experience as the ego falls away and one becomes totally immersed in service of a purpose or vision. 

In essence this flow state is devoid of self i.e. it sees through the ego to its universal nature rather than the ego trying to take any credit for it. In making such an identity flip we can get to go from being a tripping ego to being the whole picture in playing the game of life. Furthermore it seems very likely that any such reframing of self to no-self has to have inherent radical implications for just about every aspect of our human experience. For example -  

Coming from no-self, values and beliefs are no longer thoughts stuck between our ears but rather the inward flow of inspiration and the outward flow of intention...being one with the whole field and whatever we face.

Coming from no-self, capabilities become mastery as they no longer carry the taint of a self-proving “I” but rather a naturalness and universality that resonates broadly.

Coming from no-self, behaviours become actions empty of ego or effortless effort supported by clear perceptions, without an “I” getting in the way.

Coming from no-self, the environment springs to life as a churning energy system with which we can dance...an endless swirl of presence and absence, of creation and destruction of forms, of comings and goings.

Csikszentmihalyi again - flow states bring out optimal performance and service to others and also happiness. This joy guides the entire journey to wholeness as we allow the spiritual nature of flow to be not just a peak experience for “I” but a radical revelation that our life need not be bound by the ego. When “I” gets out of the way our actions can flow with the Way in a universal sense.

Something to ponder?

Sean.

Dean of Quareness.

November, 2024.

Flow states can flip our ordinary sense of self to being more of a boundless vessel?