The space that your body is in is "the field." Posted by John on March 19, 1999 at 15:17:15:
In Reply to: Space--? posted by Betsy on March 18, 1999 at 23:49:51:
(10 pages)
>I've been diligently studying the wheelbook with great pleasure.
It's music to my ears. Thanks for filling me in on that, Betsy.
>Could you give some examples of what you mean by the relation of the types to space?
I'd be glad to. This is not just a minor point, but one of the most important areas of practice in this whole training. Jeff seems to be the one in class who's most gotten "a kick out of" being in touch with the space so far. He's expressed being amused with being in touch with the fact that this space is *here* in front of us, between us and the computer monitor, and around us. He already appreciates the *presence* of this space, and the softness of it--as the rest of you students are invited to do. Most people are practically oblivious to the "presence of the space." Space usually remains "in the shadows." It is taken for granted, and seldom *seen* or truly experienced as actually *being here*. Mindfulness practitioners can get so much from being awarely cognizant of the space in this way.
In the awareness game, the space is the *field*. For instance, if you have an encounter with another person and you wish to study it and play with it as we are talking about here, become aware of the space in the room where the two of you are. Become aware that both of your bodies are in this space, moving around as they do, taking positions as they do, behaving as they do. This is a *wonderful* position for making objective observations!
The field might be the space that is in the livingroom where you are, or in "the boss's office," or around the receptionist's kiosk in a busy restaurant where they failed to get your reservation posted on the list, or in the board room, etc., etc. It might be the space in the front of your car where you are holding a conversation with your passenger. Or it might be the whole area in which a party is going on.
The field is the space in which you are being at the time, in which you can perceive the bodies of those who are participating in the event that you are studying. The idea is to become aware of this space. One characteristic that is always present in this field is that your own body is in it. You can "step back from this body," so to speak, in observing it being in the field. And you can see the other's body in the same way. You can "step back" in mindfulness, and observe what is in the field and what's going on in the field.
The size of the field at any given time depends on your sense of it. What are you looking at? Hypothetically, if a land-developer were to begin building a lot of new homes or buildings in your neighborhood, the field would be a bubble of space that includes your body and your whole neighborhood, including your own house. You would see the developer "pushing into the field." You would probably be playing in this case with a Dictator, since "pushing forcefully into the space," "bullying" is what Dictators are conditioned to do (cf. Milocevic, Saddham Hussein, etc.)
When you "create a space around it" this way, when you *evoke the field* that the event is taking place in, in experiential relief, so that you know that you are playing in this real field, this gives you a fine amphitheater for studying what is going on in the field in high relief at that moment. I think you can empathize with what I am describing here. Please follow up with more questions until you feel sure you know what I mean.
If we wished to evoke the field in which you and I are playing when we interact with each other, Betsy, this would be a field that encompasses much of two neighboring states, including your body in it, my body in it, all the deserts and mountains in between and the over-hanging clouds, the birds and animals, the plants and cactus, and the "medium" of our two computers, standing here in this space with us. Our field is a "large bubble" that includes all of that and as much more as you care to take note of in it--highways, towns, mines, ranches, railroads. It is a real space that you and I are in together, and we can evoke a keen sense of that field in our consciousness. The space in which all of us here are playing together extends halfway around the Earth--this is the actual field of our interactions with each other in this class. We can all be in touch with this at times.
Things in the field take their observeable positions for awhile. They may be moving. (Actually, it is All in flux.) There are often observeable movements in the field. If you and your Hubby started driving towards Tucson, that would be such a movement in the field. If I sent a package of blue corn flour to your family, that again is an example of movement in the space. When we are having a conversation like this one, we are sending things (words) back and forth to each other through the electronic medium of the Internet.
Recognizing the positions that our bodies are taking in this bubble of space which is the field in which we are playing together cannot be done through the Internet because we cannot see each other visually. You can't see if I am "drooping over the desk," lying *low*, barely able to keep my head up, or on the other hand, if I am sitting way up on a high chair, with my head held way up high, and my nose even elevated a little bit, "looking down on you from on high."
We can sometimes describe our own position in the space to each other if we wish, but we can't see each other. However, as you'll see later, we can probably guess each other's position in the space, or infer it at times, even without being able to see. We can do this by "factoring" in the wheelbook to that "space" wheel you mention. We can factor there from other things that we *can* pick up on in other wheels, in the thinking wheels, for example, or the personality wheels, etc., from what we notice we are thinking (saying) and the kinds of observeable manipulations we may be doing at the time.
For example, if you hear me talking in a pessimistic, self-effacing way, saying that I'm feeling tired, and there is "so much work to do," for instance, you can guess that it's the music of my Hardworker/Doormat, right? And you can factor, with a good chance of guessing correctly, that my head might be hanging a bit, my body might be slumping in my chair, and--with all that hard work in front of me--I am "lying low" in the space, or, "falling back in the space."
Dictators, Con Artists, Judges, Rebels, Doormats, Believers, Martyrs, and Kind Helpers each have characteristic positions and movements in the field that can be observed. They can't be observed all the time, but if a person wakes up and takes note of what's going on for awhile, we can become aware of what's obvious and apparent at certain moments. Sometimes a certain position or movement that is blatant will "ring a bell" for us, and we will be able to connect it up with the type it represents.
Dictators push into the field. Their chins may jut out towards you. They push through the crowd to get where they are going. You may notice that when they are talking to you, their faces push very close to your face. This is the controlling nature of the Dictator. They are unlikely to be aware that they are doing this; it is their habit. Whenever you notice anybody pushing into the space, if it's you or another person, this is a clue to their personality. And Dictators finally take up a "fortified position" in the space, with their back to the wall, and their people around them. They don't go much anywhere else after that, and certain people must come to see them to relate with them. And even such visitors will be "pushed," even by Dictators who are sitting down there in their fortified position. In their demeanor, they are a "heavy presence" in the space, that pushes, even when they are sitting down.
Con Artists rise up in the field. They sit higher. They sit taller. They look "poised." Their head is held high. When you have identified a given person is a Con Artist, just for the fun of it keep watching until you can see their nose elevated in the space slightly. It is as if they are "looking down at you from on high." Have you ever noticed a man grasp the knot in his tie and then pull the length of the tie down longer? That "stretching," that effort to appear taller, to seem more elevated and important is a clue to their personality. Although hat styles will become a fad, so that everybody may be wearing the same style of hat, the invention of "tall hats" must be the work of Con Artists, seeking to appear "higher" in the space. Being on a stage, that is, higher than the rest of the people present, can be a function of this. The podium is a good example of this personality trait. People go up there to be the "stars." Con-Artists want to be the stars, and they rise up in the field. They want to have offices high up in the buildings they work in. They aspire to live in penthouses, at the top.
The Judges are arrangers in the space. They want to arrange the space so it is balanced, so it is "right." Sometimes you can pick up on this in the space, if you are watching. It is Judges who invented the playing fields of various sports--so many hundred yards long, so many yards wide, etc. "This is the out-of-bounds line." This arranging and correcting propensity makes Judges good architects, good editors, etc. Judges can sometimes be seen in the field arranging things so the composition of the space is right. They are organizing things, consciously or unconsciously. Their desk is organized. When it is messy, you can see them organizing it again. Their home is organized. You can see a neat symmetry in it. They organize events. They may take certain actions so as to arrange the positions of guests at the banquet table, or the party. Judges are often "entrepreneurs," and the ones who "organize" the party, itself. They put the buffet table here, the band over here, the place for people's coats here, etc. It's all organized. Then they say, "Why don't you come with me so I can introduce you to so-and-so." They are "arranging things" in the space. When dinner is over: "Why don't you all come in here so we can dance?"
Judges have another interesting (verbal) dance in the field of space: they "put other people on the spot." Usually they do this by asking questions, or raising political subjects. They always have "a position" on any verbal subject that is put out into the space. They will "put other people in their place" in the course of this.
Rebels hang out at the fringes of the field, and one never knows when they are going to bolt out the door and go away. The classical position of the Rebel is "the outside," and the typical movement in space of the Rebel is movement away from the center, movement all the way out of the field, and sometimes "beyond the pale." Rebels in school classes may sit next to the door, so they can be "outa here" the instant the bell rings.
You can see this "direction of movement of the Rebel in the space" in so many ways. Rebels may not look at you directly. (Of course, as in Jeff's case, when he is being into his Player/Judge, he will look at people directly with smiling wisdom and perhaps a harsh criticism in an unguarded moment, straight-out and straight-to the other person. But when he falls into his Rebel, he is likely not to look at them directly, likely to turn away from them slightly. He is "rejecting them" then. You can often see Rebels bodies twisted all the way away from the person they are talking to. This is an easy way to spot Rebels in a crowd. Consciously, and more often unconsciously, their rebellion is an automatic way of life for them. They turn away from others in bitterness when the beauty of life--as they see it--is being spoiled in any way for them. (The artist's criteria of beauty are "hard to live up to" for other types, and thus, many such rejections by Rebels occur automatically in social and business situations.)
So there you see the positions and movements of the first four of the types on the more aggressive hemisphere of the wheel. On the more passive hemisphere, we have:
The Doormat gets pushed down by Dictators. And, being of a modest nature in their Hard Worker essence, Doormats are prone to be over-yielding with the contingencies of life. In their thinking minds they may tend to "put themselves down," and this is reflected in their positions and sparse movements in "the theater of the space."
This is a point of your inquiry, Betsy. You have seen the phenomenon of the hanging head, and experienced the sensations of the lethargy, etc. We are "brothers under the skin" in knowing this syndrome in our lives. Here now, we are only examining the statue that your body makes when you are being into your Doormat, and your body's position and movements in the space when that is going on.
The Doormat lies low in the space. The Doormat moves "as little as possible" in the space. Doormats are into "resting." In your case, the more I know of you, the more amazed I am at the depth of strengths and qualities in your essence. And yet, these days, you may be "lying low" and "not moving much" in the field. And that's certainly not true of you around here! In this class you are being very powerful and dynamic. So I am speaking of circumstances you may allude to of your life of travels and return again to your house there in the valley where you live.
Doormats may "lie around doing nothing." They are literally low in the field of space that they are in. And with that pereceptible "heaviness" of depression, they may feel tired and listless. Even if up and around, Doormats may seem to "lie low" in many situations they are to be found in. In school classrooms, they may seek "shrink" and be inconspicuous, so they won't be seen and called on. They may be this way at home. And we can see, specifically, that the head may hang at times, the body may slump in the chair as if revealing the feeling of tiredness that is there, their speaking voice may be "low," as if tired. They may outwardly appear as if they are more interested in lying down and taking a nap than in participating, vividly and vigorously, with what is going on.
All this, I might say, is the opposite of the true you that is participating here now in class, Betsy. But, I think you may be able to empathize with some of what I am getting at here. I can see my own self in it, too. As in earlier comments during the third semester of class, you students can know that, at certain times, I can be given to falling "down" into this very same position in the space, without warning, in the midst of plugging along valiently with *my favorite job of a lifetime*, coaching along right here in this class.
All the therapists I've ever known prescribe *walking* in a regimen for working through depression. Even with work at the ranch, I don't get in enough of that. But, especially for mindfulness practitioners, walking is a very experiential thing to do, that can get the awareness into the body within, with all of the healing of tensions that that brings. Walking is highly advised in mindfulness training, especially when one is "down."
My own "Do the next little thing to be done" exercise, that you've heard of around here, is a close cousin to this theme, if you get what I mean. It's designed to "prime the pump" from the very position of "lying low on the mat." The idea is to get the body up and moving, doing *whatever* because--as my teacher Mits often said, "This body likes to move!" The sudden and "outrageous" exercise of "Rising up like a bear!" also plays in with this same area--getting the body mobilized. That one works so well.
"At the party," to use a generic example: the Doormat is likely to lie low and not move around very much. They probably don't sit where the"loud and entertaining" people are, such as in front of the band, or at the "head table," because they would "be in the spotlight" there, and be noticed. So they may find a comfortable place (being rested and comfortable is a key quintessential element in the Doormat scheme of things) that is inconspicuous, where they are unlikely to attract attention or draw much action, and stay there "resting"--or in a succession of places like that, during the rest of the party--not moving a lot among other people, otherwise.
Some such things as these are characteristic of the position and movement of the Doormat in the field. Of course, every Doormat has at least two other primary types, as well. So if one of their other types involves "wearing a lampshade" and "being the life of the party," then, some of the time (or on certain occasions) they will be seen in the field doing that, and some of the time, or in other venues, doing the Doormat dance.
This point is worthy of reflection, because we all have several types that we "fall into" along the way, unexpectedly shifting from one to the other. And sometimes all of one's principal types will be operating at the same times--especially when things get "heated up" or "controversial." This "interplay" of the primary types is what we usually see when we observe a given person over the course of "the party." From the typical trend that seems to be most established over the course of that time in a given person, we may infer what that person's "chief personality feature," or "chief type" is. This chief type may be the type that shows the greatest influence in what you see presented over-all during several hours of a party's duration. (And, in case you're wondering, the more those party-goers "imbibe," the more their primary types and chief type are likely to show up in high relief.)
Finally . . . . "falling back in the space," which you bring up, Betsy. Perhaps you can see that all of the dance described above for the Doormat is "falling back" from vigorous engagement with the life that is going on in the field. For instance, "where the limelight is"--Doormats may fall back from positioning their bodies where that is going on. "In the direct attention of other people"--they may fall back from occupying that space.Things happen in life, and Doormats may fall back in the space. They may, literally, fall all the way back onto the mat, and have a hard time getting up again. Life has entered their space again and again, and they have fallen back again and again. [Yet, this pattern can be changed in a given moment of mindfulness!]
Other things that can happen to Doormats in the field of the space: Dictators can push them over backwards. Con Artists can rise above them and make them feel small. Judges can be punishing in re-arranging them, or put them on the spot, and hurt them. Rebels can run out on them. Other Doormats can be too tired to be there. And (see below) Believers can fly away on them, Martyrs can suffer on them. And Kind Helpers can take care of them, when they aren't too busy taking care of everybody else.
>I need to understand my feelings about my house
Would you like to give me a couple of specific examples here? "Your house" is the kind of space I'm talking about, in terms of your relationship with the physical house itself. Or it might be the space in the livingroom when you and someone else are there in it, and your bodies are relating together--(as described above)--the dimensions of this "bubble of space" of "the field" that you actually evoke in this exercise, depend upon the nature of what you are studying in that field. Evoking the actual field puts it into experiential perspective.
Student/Believers run and dance through their lives. So, at parties, Believers are the ones who do the most dancing, especially the most athletic and rapid dancing. [They may be dancing their pent-up nervousness, impatience, and anxiety away!] At the office, you can see the same thing in their quick movements through the space. They move fast. Believers sit on the edges of their chairs, and are "always ready to go." They follow what they admire the most, as Students--and what they believe in, as Believers. At the party, you can see some Believers cluster around the superstars, the Con Artists, who are rising up and being above the rest of them in the space. It is as if Believers will also rise up, "on the coat-tails of Con Artists," so to speak. There is a quest to find security in this. They are "following from below" in the space. (When they are Students, they rise up on their own!!!) [But Con-Artists have their own games for Believers, that pertain solely to "What's in it for me?"--so Believers are vulnerable to disappointments and to being taken advantage of in their "running after security," and "following upward from below."
The "position and movement" of the Martyr in the space, is the most subtle part of this bunch of observations to understand. Martyrs *are* the "heart" of the space, when it comes to matching the parts of the human body with a roomful of people. [Dictator, larger muscles and the hands. Con Artist, brain. Judge, the face. Rebel, the senses. Doormat, backside. Believer, legs and feet. Martyr, heart. Kind Helper, stomach, abdomen.]
Martyrs are the ones whose hearts are vibrating the most while the party is going on. They are in the heart of the gathering, "looking sad" or "being in love," as the case may be. They "wear their hearts on their sleeve," so to speak. The "movement" they do in the field is the "moving" display of melodrama that they put out in the midst of other people. It is in the "I am suffering" that they portray and express in the field, or their "I need to be loved" refrain. This phenomenon is epitomized by "the love song" in human life. Various other people may be "moved" by this display in different ways. Some may be "turned off," for instance. And others may be "turned on" by the *sensuality* of this melodrama, and even sometimes overt "sexiness." Certain others, when impacted by the display of this, will be moved to automatically do what they can, to try to make the suffering Martyr happy. Apparently, nearly all of us humans would prefer "a happy ending."
The "spatial element" of this dance may be subtle to see. It has to do with the effects of melodrama being broadcast into the space. Alongside our natural reaction to "comedy," this natural human reaction to "drama" is what the human institution of theater (plays, and movies, of course, opera and ballet), depend upon "to reach their audiences" through the space. Both the position in the space, and the movements in space of the Martyr are comprised in this "hurting at the heart of it" that is vibrated into the space, this plaintive cry in our midst of "give me love." (Sometimes actual crying is the manifestation that is seen.) It is a cry for intimacy and caring.
Finally, the "busy-bodied" Kind Helper can be easily seen moving through the space helping others in the field, bringing things to eat or drink, cleaning up, helping others to be comfortable, taking care of them, or doing little "chores" of various kinds for one and all, here and there, throughout the field, wherever help is needed.
Whew! This turned out longer than I thought it would be!
Coach :-)
The space that your body is in is "the field" in the awareness game. When you evoke this space into high relief, you can see the positions of different people's bodies in this space, and the typical movements that their bodies make in this field.
Observing the field in this way can give you your first clues about the personality types of the people who are in the field. From these visual observations, you can often tell what kind of scenario that person is putting out onto the scene, what they are "in it for."
Dictator--control
Con Artist--being admired
Judge--being right
Rebel--rejecting any spoiling of the beauty of it
Doormat--rest
Believer--security
Martyr--intimacy
Kind Helper--unsolicited taking care of others
You can learn to recognize the movements of these scenarios in the field.
Archived 15 Jun 99