An embodied way of knowing

Cultural feminist Chalene Spretnak wrote in the 90's "the contemporary renaissance of Goddess spirituality is ... the practice of an embodied way of knowing and being in the world" and that it "celebrates the power of the erotic" that draws forth "unpredictable creative waves of spiritual, intellectual, and emotional renewal".(1)

It has been on my mind for a while to write an entry about my experience of ecstatic dance and the erotic.  A friend's loan of Spretnak's book, with its chapter on goddess religion, has made a link between "chaos" and the erotic for me. In my last entry, I wrote that dancing the chaos rhythm has the effect of renewal for me. Its crescendo and release remind me of a theatre exercise we used to do when I was studying acting in the 80's, designed to create a feeling of connection between actors on stage, as well as a sense of dramatic tension.  Participants would create a circle with their arms about one another and by breathing audibly (sighing) and moving together, the energy of the group would slowly rise until it exploded in what can only be described as an orgasmic state. I can assure you it had nothing to do with sex though and teachers facilitated the process with the utmost integrity.

I often reflect that we are dancing chaos, men and women (and children) together, expressing movement that is sometimes interpreted as sensual or even sexual in a society that has separated the body from the mind and made the body a pornographic object to be bought and sold. It is impossible for me to complete the chaos stage of the wave without some erotic sensation of freedom. I feel taking this risk softens the boundaries between us, even if a less walled division of the sexes is a little disconcerting for some of the group.

I don't think it is possible to truly dismantle the boundaries that our culture enforces between body/mind/emotion/spirit/soul without also softening the boundaries between our bodies and those of others. The contact improv group in town also works on this basis, encouraging physical contact between dancers as a way of listening not only to your own body but the body of another person. This too has nothing to do with sexual intimacy.

I have been reading Thomas Moore's book "The re-enchantment of everyday life" and he talks about  western society's hunger for a more erotic connection to life. I think this is what I am experiencing during ecstatic dance, and in everyday life, as I seek a more "embodied" way of being in the world.

(1) Spretnak, C. (1991). States of grace: The recovery of meaning in the post-modern age. Pages 137, 138,149. Harper Collins, New York.)