Shared fields have been considered a by-product of Focusing. We can bring them to the center of our awareness.
The future of Focusing is implicit in the present. This is happening, but has not yet been explored much. We sense it can open up in this direction.
For example: "I'm sensing what is in me. you are sensing what is in you. and we are both sensing into the field which we are together."
Interested in how my felt sense impacts what we are exploring together - Focusing-enhanced conversation. Felt sensing into what happens between us, or what happens when we focus on the same topic.
Felt sensing what adds to and enhances the conversation between us.
Being curious. Am I focusing privately on a relationship or situation that is really a system? Could it be better focused on with another person who is also involved?
"Tribal" resonance - a quality of rightness to this level of connecting. Feeling part of something that isn't there in just me or between just two of us.
How can we bring more of this into Focusing? Feeling connected to a larger system, like in a tribe.
(My experience comes in here. we in the Community Wellness kind of Focusing have been referring to our group as a tribe for a few years. The way our relating feels was noticed by Suzanne Noel, so I started referring to our group that way too. But we haven't sensed together into how our interaction feels tribal. That will be exciting to do.)
There are many different kinds of shared fields we live in that we haven't noticed - common daily ones and vast, intricate ones. Some of them are like tribal experience.
When I work in shared field, I don't feel so lonely and heavily burdened. I recognize that it is not all about me, not my solitary concern. Working with each other on common life. We are not isolated - we are connected.
Positive, Disconfirming Feedback - other people don't just confirm what I already think about myself; they give me a new view of myself, particularly when what others share is more positive than what I am holding about myself.
Safe sharing. Disconfirming comments are very different than usual Focusing feedback. It's a gift to be given what I am not seeing. People resonating back from their own sensing, rather than repeating what I have said.
Difference between regular Focusing and some types of shared field exploration: some kinds are group conversation rather than Focusing. Conversation can be enriched by the ability of each person to go into Focusing. It's a hybrid.
One way of seeing: "My experience is mine, and important as it is."
Another way of seeing: "My experience could also be a gift to the community."
Are we only individuals? Are we also life energy moving forward, taking the form of different individuals, and coming together in community?
Reflections on Shared Fields and Quaker Meeting
by Nina Joy Lawrence
Quaker "gathered meeting" can be described as a group mysticism, with all gradings and shadings, from sublime heights to very mild moments of feeling lifted.
A gathered meeting carries with it the sense of insight. The experience is not completely describable in words.
It is transient, rarely sustained more than three-quarters of an hour. One cannot grab it and keep it from fading.
When one rises to speak in such a meeting, one has a sense of being spoken through.
A gathered meeting in some way feels passive, in that we seem to be acted upon by a More-than-ourselves. It brings a sense of unity with our fellow-worshippers.
Conditions that favor a gathered meeting
- Kindled hearts - which comes by personal daily practice.
- Being "written in each other's hearts" - knowing each other in our inner lives.
- Words arising in a way that "deep is calling to deep."
- The Spirit, the Inner Light - something larger than ourselves draws us together.
