Rela Yatra Offerings — 1. Possibilities
Rela Yatra is an effort that began in 2017, when our team of 3 decided to embark upon a journey of learning and unlearning, listening and sharing, exploring different communities and getting to know individuals and initiatives who are interested in an alternative and sustainable way of life!
Along the way, Team Rela offers facilitated sessions that are an expression of their joy, their (un)learning and seeking. This article series attempts to give a brief overview of the insights that led to some of the workshops being designed and offered. Know more about Rela via facebook — www.facebook.com/RelaIndia
_________________________________________________________________
I feel alive and full of joy every time I see that familiar sense of “wonder” on someone’s face — whether it is a young child witnessing a magic trick or an old person overwhelmed by Virtual Reality technology. In my own life, I have noticed that there is something unique and beautiful about that moment of discovery, of experiencing some things. But I often wonder, “why am I unable to sustain that sense of wonder?” I have observed in myself and in others around me that it inevitably fades off, both with time and familiarity. Why isn’t a butterfly as fascinating to me today as it was when I encountered it for the first few times?
As I looked within myself and to others to understand this, I began to realize that there is a certain sense of “knowing about it” that settles in, that seems to dampen the sense of wonder. The mind is only bored by what is dead monotonous. But in reality, is there really an end to truly knowing about anything? say, something as common as butterflies for example? There is the anatomy of it, the behavioural patterns, an exquisite art on its wings and the mind numbing probability of the uniqueness of that design… the list is endless. A person who dedicated their entire life to understanding butterflies would still maybe not know it in all its dimensions. So then, how could I possibly be bored? I realized that perhaps, I have unconsciously made conclusions about the butterfly. That I know what I need to know or have gained what I need to gain from it. But that would mean that I have shut myself down to the infinite universe of wonder that it has to offer!
Soon, my inquiry took me further, “where, when and how did this shutting down of things happen to me? Why am I unable to experience the world, every tiny aspect of it in its true depth? Why am I not constantly overwhelmed by everything that exists, including my own self?” I have come to understand that maybe it is the human systems that I have been part of — my family, school, university, social circles, TV etc that have, in someway dictated how I interact with the world. As early as I can remember, I was always taught what to do, how to do, how to act, even logical reasons behind why I do some things. However, I felt quite fascinated by the fact that nature, despite its infinitely deeper wisdom and intelligence, never imposes such “teachings” upon me.
I began to see how the very authority between natural and human systems was so fundamentally different — Nature simply is the way it is. We are free to learn through observation, experimentation and by paying deep attention. However, human systems are always explicitly communicating instructions. There is an old saying that says, “It is the empty vessels that make most noise”. It startled me as I realized that every system that I sought out to “teach me” about the world probably only ended up disrupting my mind from staying open to the depth and possibilities of knowing that nature offers.
As I began to facilitate and co-create learning spaces with children and youth, I realized that this was the most important thing to be addressed. The space should be one that loosens up the mind, cracks it up from the conditioned ideas of the “right and wrong” way of looking at things, right and wrong answers. It also should help one dare to skeptically question all sources of knowledge with an open mind– whether they are textbooks or teachers or one’s own cultural practices, without submitting to the fear of authority. Only in a space like this could a mind blossom to express itself creatively, constantly think of alternative approaches, stay open to multiple perspectives and possibly help sustain a little more, the fascination of discovering the world around us in its infinite possibilities.
This is why we decided to keep our sessions open to the endless possibilities of facilitating a ‘possibilities’ session! We do not have a rigid content althought we sometimes do have a tentative flow. Using a mix of stories, games, activities, puzzles, art, projects, discussions and more, we explore different aspects of our lives, different topics that our co-creators (attendees) feel like exploring. While it was one thing to introduce grand themes to explore the idea of possibilities, like say possibilities of space travel or the latest technologies, it was also important that we ground the idea to their daily life. The real challenge was to see if together, we could explore the possibilities of opening up multiple perspectives about our food, our body and health, our relationships, everyday problems, etc. Since we began this effort last year, I have had the privilege of being part of many moments of magic where I get to see someone’s eyes widen out of wonder, discovering a fresh new way of looking at what they had always known. I have experienced many such moments too!
I have always wondered why an artist looks at the world differently from how a poet does or how a scientist does. As much as I loved the diversity and uniqueness of each person, I somewhere felt sad that each person was like a blind man with the elephant, exploring one mind-boggling aspect of creation at a time. What if, I thought greedily, if I can get to experience them all! To be able to flow seemlessly in my perspective to see the world in all its dimensions! That’s what I want in life! And that’s what I want to offer as well! That’s the intention with which we offer the Possibilities session!
