193
Calibrating the Body
as archetypal and spirit essences. Such practices enable us to learn from and be inspired by ‘the
other’, and also help give them ‘expression’ and ‘agency’ through our physicality (Darling Khan, S.
and Darling Khan, Y. A., 2009; Kieft, 2013, 2014, 2017a).
My understanding of the potential of dance and shamanic practice as alternative ways of knowing
is informed by these four strands, which are both intellectual and experiential. From a positivist
research perspective, this intertwinement of personal and professional understanding may raise
some methodological questions. In the arts and humanities however, approaches such as ethnography (Madden, 2017; Pink, 2015), Practice as Research (Nelson, 2013; Spatz, 2015) and Embodied
Inquiry (Snowber, 2016; Todres, 2007) recognise that any knowledge produced is always a result of
entanglements not only within the research itself, but also between the researcher and her practice.
Neither of these can be seen as independent, but rather, they are ‘ontologically and epistemologically
bound’ (Naccarato, 2018: 436). Indeed, they emerge and become together, not unlike the aspects
of our quantum universe: particles, waves and information. Addressing ways of knowing outside
our western models of knowledge creation requires a reassessment of ontology and epistemology,
as well as pedagogies for experiential learning and ways to ‘validate’ such intersubjective learning
experiences. 5
This chapter continues with four parts. The frst argues that intangible information exists all around
us and is accessible by and through the human body. I specifcally introduce panpsychism as a cosmology that recognises degrees of consciousness within matter, mostly guided by the work of Christian
de Quincey and Rupert Sheldrake. The second examines the possibilities of connecting with that
information and consciousness as part of our innate human abilities. Here, I briefy discuss the work
of Gregory Bateson, Tim Ingold and David Bohm on the relationship between body and environment. The third describes some ingredients and prerequisites for ontology and epistemology that are
supported by (subjective) experience and immersion. Here, I draw on the writings of Les Todres and
Christian de Quincey. The fnal section offers a practical approach for reawakening a multi-levelled
literacy that includes body, heart, mind, consciousness, intuition, movement and nature.
INFORMATION EXISTS ALL AROUND US
Questions regarding the nature of reality and how we relate to it feature in most cultures, and there
are striking parallels between science and indigenous knowledge. Anthropologist Jeremy Narby
(1999 [1995]) describes the overlap between ancient (shamanic) cosmologies and recent discoveries
in quantum physics. A wide variety of disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, biology, electromagnetics and quantum physics, address phenomena such as information, consciousness and spirit,
and many theories seek to explain deeply intertwined connections within and across the universe.
Some examples are Bohm’s implicate order, Laszlo’s Akashic felds, Jung and Pauli’s synchronicity and collective unconscious, Capra’s tao of physics, Sheldrake’s morphic felds, Wilber’s integral
theory and Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis (Ferrer, 2015; Hardy, 2015; Schäfer, 2008). 6
For example, Rupert Sheldrake proposed a theory of morphic felds that hold information
relevant to a specifc species or phenomenon. These morphic felds ‘are not confned to the brain, or
even to the body, but extend beyond it into the environment, linking the body to the surroundings
in which it acts’ (Sheldrake, 1988: 198). Information is a pattern of coherence that exists in form.
Trees, for example, hold information about their growth and survival needs, but also about seasonal
and weather patterns. With the right access or means, and through various forms of intelligence, 7
5 For further methodological refections on intersubjectivity, see Kieft (2020).
6 In The Field: A quest for this apparent secret force of the universe, Lynne McTaggart attempts to unify several of these
theories by means of popular science journalism (McTaggart, 2001).
7 Intelligence is the degree to which individuals (of all manners of species) make coherent sense of, and apply, the information that they have access to. In terms of human intelligence, Howard Gardner proposed a theory of seven different types
of intelligence, including logico-mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily kinaesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences (Gardner, 1983). Except for the frst two, the other forms allude to a concrete interaction between
body and surroundings.
Calibrating the Body
as archetypal and spirit essences. Such practices enable us to learn from and be inspired by ‘the
other’, and also help give them ‘expression’ and ‘agency’ through our physicality (Darling Khan, S.
and Darling Khan, Y. A., 2009; Kieft, 2013, 2014, 2017a).
My understanding of the potential of dance and shamanic practice as alternative ways of knowing
is informed by these four strands, which are both intellectual and experiential. From a positivist
research perspective, this intertwinement of personal and professional understanding may raise
some methodological questions. In the arts and humanities however, approaches such as ethnography (Madden, 2017; Pink, 2015), Practice as Research (Nelson, 2013; Spatz, 2015) and Embodied
Inquiry (Snowber, 2016; Todres, 2007) recognise that any knowledge produced is always a result of
entanglements not only within the research itself, but also between the researcher and her practice.
Neither of these can be seen as independent, but rather, they are ‘ontologically and epistemologically
bound’ (Naccarato, 2018: 436). Indeed, they emerge and become together, not unlike the aspects
of our quantum universe: particles, waves and information. Addressing ways of knowing outside
our western models of knowledge creation requires a reassessment of ontology and epistemology,
as well as pedagogies for experiential learning and ways to ‘validate’ such intersubjective learning
experiences. 5
This chapter continues with four parts. The frst argues that intangible information exists all around
us and is accessible by and through the human body. I specifcally introduce panpsychism as a cosmology that recognises degrees of consciousness within matter, mostly guided by the work of Christian
de Quincey and Rupert Sheldrake. The second examines the possibilities of connecting with that
information and consciousness as part of our innate human abilities. Here, I briefy discuss the work
of Gregory Bateson, Tim Ingold and David Bohm on the relationship between body and environment. The third describes some ingredients and prerequisites for ontology and epistemology that are
supported by (subjective) experience and immersion. Here, I draw on the writings of Les Todres and
Christian de Quincey. The fnal section offers a practical approach for reawakening a multi-levelled
literacy that includes body, heart, mind, consciousness, intuition, movement and nature.
INFORMATION EXISTS ALL AROUND US
Questions regarding the nature of reality and how we relate to it feature in most cultures, and there
are striking parallels between science and indigenous knowledge. Anthropologist Jeremy Narby
(1999 [1995]) describes the overlap between ancient (shamanic) cosmologies and recent discoveries
in quantum physics. A wide variety of disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, biology, electromagnetics and quantum physics, address phenomena such as information, consciousness and spirit,
and many theories seek to explain deeply intertwined connections within and across the universe.
Some examples are Bohm’s implicate order, Laszlo’s Akashic felds, Jung and Pauli’s synchronicity and collective unconscious, Capra’s tao of physics, Sheldrake’s morphic felds, Wilber’s integral
theory and Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis (Ferrer, 2015; Hardy, 2015; Schäfer, 2008). 6
For example, Rupert Sheldrake proposed a theory of morphic felds that hold information
relevant to a specifc species or phenomenon. These morphic felds ‘are not confned to the brain, or
even to the body, but extend beyond it into the environment, linking the body to the surroundings
in which it acts’ (Sheldrake, 1988: 198). Information is a pattern of coherence that exists in form.
Trees, for example, hold information about their growth and survival needs, but also about seasonal
and weather patterns. With the right access or means, and through various forms of intelligence, 7
5 For further methodological refections on intersubjectivity, see Kieft (2020).
6 In The Field: A quest for this apparent secret force of the universe, Lynne McTaggart attempts to unify several of these
theories by means of popular science journalism (McTaggart, 2001).
7 Intelligence is the degree to which individuals (of all manners of species) make coherent sense of, and apply, the information that they have access to. In terms of human intelligence, Howard Gardner proposed a theory of seven different types
of intelligence, including logico-mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial, bodily kinaesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences (Gardner, 1983). Except for the frst two, the other forms allude to a concrete interaction between
body and surroundings.