An interview with Bill Palmer by Mihael Mamychshvili. Bill talks about Movement Shiatsu, how the philosophy and practical techniques behind this work could help change society from a hierarchy into a network and how this could contribute to dealing with the crises that are facing the human race.
Bill sees each individual as a collection of autonomous agents that he calls the Inner Community. This is consistent with modern psychology, which views the sense of individual self as an illusion emerging from the inter-communication of many different parts. The internal organs have their own intelligence and operate autonomously. Each tissue and even each cell contributes its own expertise to the organism. The meridians of Chinese Medicine represent agents which coordinate the whole Inner Community and help the parts gel into an integrated being.
Movement Shiatsu aims to help people understand and listen to these inner intelligences rather than depending on an outside expert to diagnose and advise them.
Many problems facing people come from the politics of this inner community. In the modern world, most often the Ego Mind has a special place at the top of a hierarchy and the rest of the community are coerced into doing what the mind wants. But the aims of the Ego Mind are not necessarily what is best for the person as a whole. It is concerned with status, how it looks to others, pleasing others, creating a meaningful narrative.
Physical Democracy is a system of practical techniques, processes and experiments through which people can learn to listen to the expertise and intelligence of all the other aspects of ourselves. If people learn to see themselves as a network, it should be easier to deconstruct the dysfunctional hierarchies that dominate our society.
Reminds me of “The Life of Brian” when he says “Stop following me, you are ALL individuals” and a guy at the back shouts : “I’m not!”