Micko bumbled around studied for over 10 years at Clown College, and was kicked out for lack of progress. Micko didn’t really understand what he was doing, but Micko appealed anyway. Thanks to support from Micko’s main professor Micko was allowed back in but with a firm deadline to have all Micko’s work done by a certain date. So Micko made a bunch of stuff up and made the deadline.
Micko still doesn’t know what Micko is doing, but Micko wants to share with you some of the ideas that have emerged. Micko hopes that you will help Micko find out if these ideas actually make sense.
Some of Micko’s ideas may seem far out for you, for instance, the notion that clowns can create a World of Love over many generations.
Micko didn’t make this up. Well, he sort of made some ideas up, but they are based on ideas and research by highly regarded clowns such as BeingLove (Abraham Maslow), LoveBlossoms (Barbara Fredrickson), and FlowingLove (Daniel Siege[).
Micko was also greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, not just for promoting non-violence but for emphasizing the importance of Love!
Micko believes that an important part of opening to new, strange, hard-to-get-one’ s-head-around ideas is letting go of beliefs that certain things are not possible, such as the idea that you can’t fix a plugged-up toilet with a crowbar.
Please take a moment and ask yourself why you may be resisting the idea that Clowns can create a world of Love over many generations.
Evolution of the “Flow of Love” explained in 10 easy steps
Not a believer yet? Let’s see what Love you already have flowing through you:
See, you already have significant Love Flow!
What boxes did you check?
What boxes didn’t you check? Why didn’t you?
Which item has the strongest Love Flow?
Which item has the weakest Love Flow?
In which items might you want to strengthen the Love Flow?
Any other comments about your Love Flow or Love Flow in general?
LoveBlossoms presents a new and fascinating view of Love, she calls Love 2.0, meaning a newer and more evolved view of what Love is.
She talks about micromoments of Love
strangers at a pie-throwing contest
sharing positive emotions
Can you think of other examples of animals showing Love Flow?
LoveBlossoms (Barbara Fredrickson) talks about a situation in which one clown falls in a lake, then another clown jumps in to save the other clown. The first clown can feel relief inside and thankfulness and gratitude toward the other clown, and the other clown can feel pride and a feeling of connection with the other clown. And a clown that witnesses this can feel elevated and uplifted and more likely to help in the future.. All three clowns can feel good feelings about adding Love to the Flow of Love in the world.
Can you remember a time when you suddenly felt good about yourself?
Can you remember a time when you felt a special connection with a stranger?
Can you remember a time when you felt positive feelings about your connection with our world?
3 examples of these 3, get from LOve Flow
Micko, persona, sharing
3 comment boxes Can you remember a time you felt you Love Flow a trickle, a full flow, or a time you prevented your love to flow:
Micko says the Flow of Love is like the flow of water in a garden hose.
Here we see Micko in the new rock garden. Micko heard rock gardens help clowns relax their minds so decided to grow a rock garden.
Micko just bought a brand new water hose to water the rock garden.
Micko says there are different ways we can influence the flow of water.
For instance, Micko says we can prevent the water from flowing through the hose.
We don’t do this on purpose, we just allow things to happen in a way that prevent the flow.
Notice that Micko is standing on the hose which is preventing the flow of water.
Can you remember a time that you prevented your Love from Flowing, such as walking by and ignoring a clown who was stuck in quicksand, but you were were anxious about your final exam on pie throwing.
Or we can allow allow a trickle of water to flow.
Again, Micko says this doesn’t have to be a conscious act, we can allow things to happen in such a way that allow other things to happen.
Notice that Micko has shifted the foot in such a way that a trickle of water is flowing.
But Micko still doesn’t understand the flow of water, Micko moved Micko’s foot because Micko thought he was standing on a rock and it hurt.
Can you remember a time when you allowed only a trickle of your Love to Flow, such as smiling back at a young clown at a Lemonade stand (only 5 cents), instead of stopping, buying Lemonade, and chatting with the young clown?
Or we can allow a full flow of water.
Again, Micko says this doesn’t have to be a conscious thing.
Notice that Micko has lifted the foot off of the hose, allowing a full flow of water.
See how happy Micko is now that there is a full flow of water and the rock garden can be watered!
Can you remember the last time you allowed your Love to Flow fully?
Like animals, Clowns can have Love Flow without fully understanding it or being aware of it, but Clowns can also learn about Love Flow, understand it, and even take steps to increase their Love Flow.
Clowns can understand their Love Flow through a process of Lovesight, which is similar to Mindsight that FlowingLove (Daniel Siegel) talks about. Lovesight is the ability to understand and recognize one’s own Love Flow as well as the Love Flow of other clowns and animals, the Love Flow between clowns and animals. and the Love Flow of the World.
Micko, or Rainbow, using Lovesight…4 examples,
with, self, clown, animal, world.
Can you remember a time you experienced Lovesight for yourself, for other clowns, for animals, or for your world?
But in order to deliberately increase their Love Flow, clowns must choose to use their Lovesight ability to uncerstand their Love Flow and then try Love Experiments.
Let’s revisit the self evaluation you completed earlier, with a few new boxes dealing with how strong your Love Flow is: Mentally check the boxes that apply to you:
[] I love myself [] prevent [] trickle [] full flow [] I love my family [] prevent [] trickle [] full flow [] I love my friends [] prevent [] trickle [] full flow [] I love animals. [] prevent [] trickle [] full flow[] I try to help others when I can. [] prevent [] trickle [] full flow[] I can remember a time when I shared my love with someone and it made both of us feel better. [] prevent [] trickle [] full flow[] Sometimes I meet a stranger and feel a nice connection with them.Micko suggests you look at all types of Love Flow and pick out the ones that are most meaningful for you. Then, of those types with the most meaning, zero in on the ones who are not fully flowing (either being prevented or only flowing a trickle). You could add items to your list if you like and take the same steps.
Then just decide which one or ones you want to focus on in your Love Experiments! [] link to Love Experiments section.
Micko studied upward spirals at Clown College and learned that upward spirals are the highest form of Love Flow. This is because positive outcomes get magnified over time.
An upward spiral occurs when one positive event (a thought, feeling, action, or interaction) leads to other positive events which then lead to more positive events. This ongoing process creates a series of cascading positive events.
Personal spirals
Clowns can have spirals within themselves. One common inner spiral is ‘Self-Love”
Self-LOve
–RC mind and body,
–interventions (Love Experiments). an example, laughing meditation
—outcomes, changes,
——increase in positive emotions, decrease in negative emotions
——decrease in negative hormones (cortisol, others), increase in positive hormones (oxytocin, others)
——shifts in self-representations/Perceived identity,
——growth,
—–increased motivation,
—–improved performance/new skills
—–Improved health
— Each of these outcomes have the potential to influence other outcomes, this is what creates the spiral! Positive emotions leading to more motivation, which lead to more self-comficece, which can lead to improved performance, although any one of these outcomes could be the kick that starts the cascading spiral.
— increased magnitude of the upward spiral, similar to constructive interference in physics
If you’ve ever said about a new friend or love interest that ‘We just clicked’, then you know what constructive interference feels like on a human level: a relationship that is so much more fun, energising and life-giving because two personalities lift each other to a level that neither could reach unassisted.
magnitude: number of positive outcomes, perceived value of outcomes
All of these positive outcomes, viewed as a whole, become the Flow of Self-Love within the individual clown.
–If we teach our young clowns about How to increase their Love Flow over future generations…[] more? here or later?
BF, Micko
interpersonal spirals–
Self-Love AND Other-Love,
-Personal spirals still in effect, making this interpersonal spiral even more powerful; like another hose added to one hose to increase the flow of water!
constructive interference feels like on a human level: a relationship that is so much more fun, energising and life-giving because two personalities lift each other to a level that neither could reach unassisted.
Added to personal Love Flow:
–micro-moments connection, brain syncing/mirror neurons, positivity resonance
–interventions (Love Experiments) example,..playing tricks. laughing chess
and
—outcomes, changes,
positive emotions, fun
caring, sharing
shifts in
—-self-representations of relationship;connected, intune
—-perceived identity of the relationship, MWe?
—-growth for individuals and relationship,
—-mutual leaning in, nodding, smiling, listening
—-mutual increased positive emotions,
—-mutual increased motivation re. relationship
—-mutual improved performance/new skills
[] relate “mutual” to BF video re. research, pos. resonance.
–the power of Flow of Love…magnitude! Each of these outcomes has the potential to influence other outcomes, this is what creates the spiral!
All of these positive outcomes, viewed as a whole, become the Flow of Self-Love within and between other individual clowns.
–If we teach our young clowns about this over the generations…
Micko
Micko suggests you try a Spiral Love Experiment focusing on your inner Lovesight of either your internaal LOve Flow, your Love Flow involving other clowns, or your LoveFlow with the world.
Self Love | Other Love | World Love |
gratitude | smile | environment |
self affirmations | start conversation | imagine world of love |
nightly review of day’s positive events | pay it forward | |
meditate | help | |
mindfulness | volunteer | |
laughing yoga | ||
For instance:
Micko
positive imageryy
Kick decide to start improving one’s Love Flow…laughing yoga..group
Lovesight see feel better, having fun with other clowns, feeling closer to the others in the group, feeling better that you had the courage to try the group. As you continue with the group these positive events will continue to interact in such a way that you are creating a positive upward
peed pants, other goofy…
images?
Micko envisions…???
New Block: Spontaneous Emergence of Love Flow
new block for comment box?
Can you remember a time when some feeling ol Love, or caring, or nice feelings about a stranger?
comment box
new idea 3/5
Grand Love Spiral
Earlier we learned the basic information about upward spirals. Now we will learn about the actual spiral dynamics that Micko expects to happen over future generaations.
Personal spirals
Self-LOve
–RC mind and body,
–interventions (Love Experiments). an example, laughing meditation
—outcomes, changes,
——increase in positive emotions, decrease in negative emotions
——decrease in negative hormones (cortisol, others), increase in positive hormones (oxytocin, others)
——shifts in self-representations/Perceived identity,
——growth,
—–increased motivation,
—–improved performance/new skills
—–Improved health
— Each of these outcomes have the potential to influence other outcomes, this is what creates the spiral! Positive outcomes leading to more positive outcomes, which lead to more positive outcomes.
— increased magnitude of the upward spiral, similar to constructive interference in physics
magnitude: number of positive outcomes, perceived value of outcomes
All of these positive outcomes, viewed as a whole, become the Flow of Self-Love within the individual clown.
–If we teach our young clowns about How to increase their Love Flow over future generations…[] more? here or later?
BF, Micko
interpersonal spirals–
Self-Love AND Other-Love,
-Personal spirals still in effect, making this interpersonal spiral even more powerful; like another hose added to one hose to increase the flow of water!
Added to personal Love Flow:
–micro-moments connection, brain syncing/mirror neurons, positivity resonance
–interventions (Love Experiments) example,..playing tricks. laughing chess
and
—outcomes, changes,
positive emotions, fun
caring, sharing
shifts in
—-self-representations of relationship;connected, intune
—-perceived identity of the relationship, MWe?
—-growth for individuals and relationship,
—-mutual leaning in, nodding, smiling, listening
—-mutual increased positive emotions,
—-mutual increased motivation re. relationship
—-mutual improved performance/new skills
[] relate “mutual” to BF video re. research, pos. resonance.
–the power of Flow of Love…magnitude! Each of these outcomes has the potential to influence other outcomes, this is what creates the spiral!
All of these positive outcomes, viewed as a whole, become the Flow of Self-Love within and between other individual clowns.
–If we teach our young clowns about this over the generations…
Micko
Small group spiral
Personal spirals and interpersonal spirals still in effect, making this small group spiral even more powerful; like another hose added to one hose to increase the flow of water!
laughing yoga group.
Add:
-multiple connections/Love
-multiple RC dynamics
-multiple brain coupling
-multiple positivity resonance
-multiple leaning in, nodding, smiling, listening
-multiple interactions
-multiple RC, win[win, give get,
magnitude-many more water hoses
-group ID becomes part of a spiral, working together, –RC clowns and group ID
–MWe
–Multiple-level ID-individuals, pairs, group
–multiple level RC, spirals
—Individual ID
—Interpersonal ID
—small or large group ID: perception of working together as group, common purpose
–All unified, in harmony
interventions (Love Experiments) and
-outcomes, changes,
–shifts in self-representations of individuals, pairs, and group
–growth of individuals, pairs, group
–increased positive emotions,
–intrapersonal spirals and interpersonal spirals still in effect, making this small group spiral even more powerful; like several hoses added to one hose to increase the flow of water!
–spiral dynamics are what allow Love to Flow
–the Flow of Love…magnitude! Each of these outcomes have the potential to influence other outcomes, this is what creates the spiral!
Flow of Self-Love within and between other individual clowns, and within groups
–If we teach our young clowns about this over the generations…classroom spirals
—Part of something larger, BF, Koestler now?
— Positivity resonance:
—BF suggests maybe mutiple dyad positivity resonance
Small group Love Experiments
-discussion groups in classroom
-discussion groups in community
-action groups in classroom
-action groups in community
larger group? no leader, network of ind. and small groups, online networks?
-Personal spirals, interpersonal spirals, and small group spirals still in effect, making this larger group spiral even more powerful; like another hose added to one hose to increase the flow of water!
weaker close connection but stronger group ID.
-spiral dynamics are what allow Love to Flow
small groups? cells?
–If we teach our young clowns about this over the generations…
mass positivity resonance
Multi-level group, nested hierarchy,
-Personal spirals, interpersonal spirals, small group spirals still in effect, making this multiple level spiral even more powerful; like another hose added to one hose to increase the flow of water!
leaders,managers, organizations, businesses
-virtuous spirals, author
-2 way responsibility,
-2 way positive outcomes
-magnitude, cross-level, bosses/workers, –teachers/students?
-stronger group ID.
-feeling part of something larger.
–Mass Positivity resonance?…
– local contacts
– separate groups, but connected_
– perceived part of larger, real
-mass positivity resonance
-spiral dynamics are what allow Love to Flow
–the Flow of Love…magnitude! Each of these outcomes have the potential to influence other outcomes, this is what creates the spiral!
Spiral networks…
-Personal spirals, interpersonal spirals, small group spirals, multilevel spirals still in effect, making this spiral network spiral even more powerful; like another hose added to one hose to increase the flow of water!
-less personal contact
-more perceived part of larger, not just coceptual, real networks, real sharing etc.
-clownsforpeace.org
_mass positivity resonance? something to research.
–the Flow of Love…magnitude! Each of these outcomes have the potential to influence other outcomes, this is what creates the spiral!
global Love Spiral-global
-Personal spirals, interpersonal spirals, small group spirals, multilevel spirals, and spiral networks still in effect, making this global spiral even more powerful; like many more hoses added to the other hoses to increase the flow of water!
pos. resonance
–Global ID
stronger group ID.
-feeling part of something larger.
-spiral dynamics are what allow Love to Flow
–the Flow of Love…magnitude! Each of these outcomes have the potential to influence other outcomes, this is what creates the spiral!
–If we teach our young clowns about this over the generations…
Generational Love Spiral
-Personal spirals, interpersonal spirals, small group spirals, multilevel spirals, and spiral networks, and the gobal spiral still in effect, making this generational spiral even more powerful; like many more hoses added to the other hoseseach successive generation to increase the flow of water!
–Generational, evolving Universe ID
-many generations
-stronger group ID.
-feeling part of something larger.
-Mass positivity resonance…
-increased integrated ID
-spiral dynamics are what allow Love to Flow
–the Flow of Love…magnitude! Each of these outcomes have the potential to influence other outcomes, this is what creates the spiral!
–If we teach our young clowns about this over the generations…
Mass positivity resonance at football game 70
100000 people sharing boisterous euphoria
group synchrony
So, there you have it…Micko’s vision of the future of clown evolution.
What do you think?
The future of Clown Nation depends on what each clown does now and over coming generations.
Micko has studied clown potential, and although sometimes it seems complicated, it finally comes down to one rule for each of us: increase connection and positivity and decrease conflict and negativity.
We increase connection and positivity by increasing our Self-Love, our Other-Love, and our World-Love. ,
We decrease conflict and negativity by stopping judgments and and by embracing an all-encompassing social identity: MWe.
Each little step each of us takes will be adding Love to the World Love Flow.
As more of us join the Movement we will gradually be creating a living, evolving “superorganism”, in the same way that thousands of distinct singe-celled units of slime mold, each moving separately,
coalesce into a single, larger organism.
“They” becomes an “it”, or”MWe”.
Each of us, by increasing positivity, connection, and Love Flow in our own lives, will literally be helping guide our new “superorganism”!
Micko has suggested that each of us try Love Experiments of our own. Micko believes that this process in which each of us adds Love to the World will actually be a Global Love Experiment…to see if it really is possible to create a World of Love.
Good luck in your Love Experiments!
Imagine a world in which billions of Clowns are willing to make eye contact and smile at each other and start laughing!
That’s why Micko created this website and The Clowns for Peace Movement.
Any ideas what your role might be in such a Project? The Love Flow you already show could be your role.
Or you could do more Love Experiments…
Spirals, larger spirals, networks, connections, classrooms,
(rhetorical question to promote Lovesight)
Comment box
absorbing info like a sponge
making up own mind
Love vs. hate, etc…
create experiences for learning and decision making
My upward spiral
game
Understanding Love Flow
self, other, world
trickle, flow, prevent
emerging from evolution
Their love flow
self other world
trickle flow prevent
hindsight
lovesight
Love Experiments
personal spirals
Finding their best way to share Love Flow
Peak experiences
MWe
action research
community (book)
Generations
clown culture
meme
culture evolutionists
Swarm
Omega
Holons
Peak experiences
[] NEW PAGE
Micko thinks that we can take steps to create more Love Flow in our world and that each of us clowns should find our own way to do this.
Micko thinks one of the most important things we can do is to adopt what FlowingLove (Daniel Siegel) calls an “integrated identity”. For short, FlowingLove calls this ‘MWe”, signifying an identity that includes me, we (other clowns) as well our world. FlowingLove points out that we do not lose our personal identity when we do this, it becomes integrated into a larger identity.
This is a mental act.
Some clowns already understand that each of us individual clowns are connected to every other clown and to our world. But many clowns believe that each of us is a separaate being with no connection with others.
Micko believes that if we are to move forward toward a World of Love we need to adopt an identity that integrates ourselves, others, and our world. FlowingLove, LoveBlossoms, and QuantumLove all believe this. [link] add comment box
NEw Page
Mindsight
According to FlowingLove (Daniel Siegel) Mindsight is a way we can understand what is going on in our inner mind and the inner minds of other clowns- thoughts, feelings, perceptions, sensations, memories, and hopes and dreams.
New Page
Lovesight
Micko says that Lovesight is a special type of Mindsight. Mindsight allows us to understand the inner workings of our minds and the minds of other clowns, things like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, sensations, memories, and hopes and dreams.
Lovesight allows us to see the Flow of Love within ourselves, within other clowns, and between us and other clowns, things like caring, empathy, sharing, compassion with the desire to help or fix others’ situations, and forming a connection with other clowns or animals.
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Micko believes there are many actions we can try to increase our Love Flow, either our self-love, our other-love, or our world-love. Micko calls these things “Love Experiments”, because not everything will work with every clown so every clown should try things that make sense to them and see if their love Flows more freely.
For instance, many clowns love to do Laughing Yoga [link] groups because it increases their self-love AND their other-love AND also adds Love to the Flow of Love in the World.
However; some clowns think this activity is silly and doesn’t work for them.
Every clown has to find things that work for them.
[] link to table of possibilities…[in development]NEW PAGE?
Micko thinks we should start a movement…The Clowns for Peace Movement! That’s what this website is all about!
This movement will have no leaders or rules; each clown will find their own way to increase Love Flow while other clowns all over the planet find their way to increase Love Flow. We can work together to increase Love Flow across our planet.
You don’t have to Join this website to be part of the Movement, you just need to share your Love with yourself, with others, and with our world, within that larger integrated identity (MWe)!
But if you do join this site you can create your personal profile, make friends, message other clowns, join groups or create your own group! Just click “Register” at the top left of the screen!
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Micko thinks we can help young clowns understand and guide their Love Flow for many generations to come, and over time we can create a world of Peace and love.
As you know, young clown brains are like sponges: they will absorb what they see, hear, smell, and touch in their world, and they will absorb what adult clowns present to them.
If their parents sit on the couch all day watching TV or spend all their time on their cell phones, that is what they learn about the world. But if their parents go around throwing pies in other clowns’ faces, thus sharing their Love, that is what they learn about the world and how they, too, can share their Love!
Micko believes that if we help young clowns understand and guide their Love Flow, the amount of Love across our planet will gradually increase until there is a world filled with Love.
FlowingLove calls this “inner education” and suggests that we teach young clowns in Kindergarten or earlier about the inner workings of their minds and the inner workings of other clown’s minds. FlowingLove calls this “mindsight”, which focuses on thoughts, feelings, sensations, dreams, etc. [link]
Micko believes we should help young clowns understand their Love Flow, which Micko calls “Lovesight”. [link] This is a special type of Mindsight that allows clowns, even very young clowns, to understand their Love Flow–their feelings of caring, empathy, compassion, and connection with themselves, other clowns, and our world.
Micko believes this is the key to creating a World of Love, over many generations. For more info check out Parents and Teachers and Young clowns.
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Micko learned that cultural evolution is information that can affect individual clowns ‘ behavior that they acquire from other clowns through teaching, implicit learning, and other forms of social transmission.
However according to FlowingLove (Daniel Siegel), clown minds can also shape culture, saying that as communication between clowns changes, cultural evolution transforms the context in which young clowns develop and in which adult clowns structure the societies in which we live.
Micko points out that this becomes an ongoing back-and-forth process over many generations: clown culture influences individual clown learning and behavior and in turn clown learning and behavior influence cultural evolution.
FlowingLove says that cultural evolution is a major force shaping how the clown brain has developed in modern times, surpassing genetic aspects of evolution.
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Micko thinks that we create cultural change through how we change our minds and how we change our culture.
FlowingLove suggests that we all become ‘cultural evolutionists’ by creating healthy relationships within our modern societies that involve the honoring of differences between clowns and the cultivation of our connections through compassionate, respectful communication.
In other words, by adopting a MWe integrated identity.
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FlowingLove LoveBlossoms, QuantumLove, and Micko believe that by adopting a MWe integrated identity we can overcome the I-them and We-them polarities in our world today.
We adult clowns can look at our own beliefs and attitudes about other clowns with different beliefs and attitudes, such as people from different cultures.
Do we have biases and prejudices? Do we feel we are superior to them? Do we treat them with the respect we want to be treated with?
Micko believes that any biases we might have are barriers to our Full Love Flow.
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We can help our very young clowns and teen clowns use Lovesight to understand any prejudices they might have and ask themselves if this is the way they want to be. (links)
In this way, we can help very young clowns and teen clowns become “cultural evolutionists” and become part of the process of making clown culture more Loving and Harmonious.
Parents, teachers, and caregivers will play a major role in this process. (links)
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FlowingLove talks about the potential of adolescent clown brains, suggesting that the power of the adolescent mind has a spark of emotion, social drive, and push to explore new solutions to old ways of doing things, that may save life on our planet.
This is because adolescent clown brains question the status quo, and approach problems with ‘out of the box’ strategies, new ideas, and innovation. This is called divergent thinking.
FlowingLove suggests that adult clowns and adolescent clowns (Micko would include very young clowns) can work together across generations to discover and cultivate the hidden power and purpose of young clown brains- in a cultural rite of passage.
But younger clowns need the support of us old clowns and that working creatively and collaboratively in our families, schools, and communities, the emerging generations will have the vision to move away from just memorizing facts and figures to creating more imaginative and meaningful ways to inspire their generation and future generations.
What do you think? Be honest![]
Comment box
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By creating our Clowns for Peace Movement and each of us finding our way of sharing our Love, over many generations, we are creating a special type of “Swarm behavior”.
Micko describes “swarm intelligence”, which has been described as the collective behavior of self-organized systems. Examples from nature include flocks of birds, colonies of ants, schools of fish, and bee colonies.
What is common in swarm intelligence is that a group of individual critters can communicate in a way that results in behavior and accomplishments that the individual critters could not do on their own. Clown scientists believe that very simple rules in the behavior of the critters account for the working together of the group.
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It’s been suggested that clowns didn’t evolve the ability to swarm because we lack the innate connections that other species use to establish feedback loops among individual members. For instance, ants use chemical traces, fish detect vibrations in the water around them, bees use high-speed gestures, and birds detect motions within the flock.
But Micko points out that clowns can make decisions together and communicate with each other, so clowns could choose to create connections that would allow a new form of swarm intelligence.
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We clowns could decide to work together for a better world within a loose confederation of separate individuals and clown troupes, each finding their own way of sharing their Love..
We clowns could decide to balance our self-assertive tendencies and our integrative tendencies by adopting a truly integrated identity as FlowingLove, LoveBlossoms, QuantumLove, and Micko have suggested.
And, unlike examples of ants and fish and birds and bees, in which the individuals don’t really take part in the decisions–they are programmed to play their roles– clowns would retain their individual goals, values, ideas, thinking, and creativity and integrate those individual qualities within our new integrated identity (MWe).
Are there any clowns still here? What are your thoughts?
Comment Box
QuantumLove (Lynne McTaggart) says our universe is a unified whole and that we should take charge of our own destiny by joining together in our common purpose. QuantumLove suggests we form communities of Loving clowns across our planet that would ultimately create a type of superorganism.
QuantumLove says that once we replace competitive polarities clowns will begin to flourish as we create a larger, all-embracing identity, a bigger definition of who “we” are (MWe).
But there are some significant barriers in our way as we work toward a World of Love. Maybe the biggest obstacle is We-Them thinking and behavior.
Individual identity.
All of us clowns have our own personal identity, Micko is Micko, FlowingLove is FlowingLove, LoveBlosoms is LoveBlossoms, etc.
And you are you. You have your own personal identity.
Group identity.
And most clowns also have some sort of “social identity”…some social grouping that we identify with, feel close to, or are part of…such as our family, our troupe, our juggling team, or our species. For instance, Micko thinks most clowns identify with the social group “clowns”, but not with kangaroos.
Positives of group identity.
Group identity is a good thing. In groups, we have feelings of closeness with others, we give and receive support, and we experience solidarity and camaraderie.
Negatives of group identity.
But there is a downside to group identity. Sometimes conflicts emerge between different groups. This can lead to feelings of animosity and anger. fear, distrust. prejudice, hate, and sometimes violence.
Micko believes that these conflicts are the single biggest barrier to creating a world of Love.
Integrative Identity.
FlowingLove (Daniel Siegel) says it is extremely important to our clown evolution to integrate our individual identity (Me) and our group identity (We), by conceiving ourselves as MWe.
FlowingLove says the more we help others, the healthier and happier we ourselves become.
Furthermore, Flowing Love suggests that our individual needs for meaning and belonging and feeling happy and fulfilled can actually be satisfied by expanding the way we define ourselves–which creates a win-win situation. Thus, developing a MWe identity will make us happier, and it will give our world a good chance to also become healthier.
Micko agrees with FlowingLove that our world’s challenges can most effectively be addressed by helping expand our sense of identity beyond a separate self.
LoveBlossoms (Barbara Fredrickson) says that once clowns forge connections with others (shared positivity resonance) the clowns can view one another as part of a unified whole—a single ‘us’ rather than two separate me’s.
QuantumLove (Lynne McTaggart) suggests that once clowns stop competitive aggression between social groupings, clowns will flourish and create a larger, all-embracing identity, a bigger definition of who “we” are.
And let’s not forget that many years ago BeingLove (Abraham Maslow) talked about the importance of synergy between individual clowns and larger social groupings.
Micko believes that by adopting a MWe integrated identity we can overcome We-Them thinking and help clown evolution move forward to a world of Love and Harmony.
SiegelMwe….
Where?
DS
BF
LM
Omega point
Micko has recently read about “swarm intelligence”, which has been described as the collective behavior of self-organized systems. Examples from nature include flocks of birds, colonies of ants, schools of fish, and bee colonies.
What is common in swarm intelligence is that a group of individual critters can communicate in a way that results in behavior and accomplishments that the individual critters could not do on their own. Clown scientists believe that very simple rules in the behavior of the critters account for the working together of the group.
Micko believes we clowns could decide to work together for a better world within a loose confederation of separate individuals and clown troupes.
And, unlike examples of ants and fish and birds and bees, in which the individuals don’t really take part in the decisions-they are programmed to play their roles- clowns could retain their individual goals, values, ideas, thinking, and creativity and integrate those individual qualities within our new integrated identity (MWe).
In this way we could develop our own unique form of swarm intelligence, with our own simple rule: Work together toward creating a World of Love, by finding our personal role in this process, and sharing our experiences with other clowns.
Deliberate self-correction
You are already doing this in your own way of manifesting Love Flow but are you envisioning that by manifesting your Love Flow, while billions of other clowns are manifesting their Love Flow in their own way you are adding to the world’s Love Flow!
OmegaLove (Teilhard de Chardin) believed that evolution is an ascent towards consciousness and that it therefore it should culminate in some sort of supreme consciousness, which he called Omega Point. And he referred to this process as a spiral that is ascending to higher and higher levels.
Love plays a major role in this view of clown potential. OmegaLove stated that Love alone can unite living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them because only Love can join them by what is deepest in themselves.
OmegaLove points out that clowns in Love can become lost in each other, and asks if that can happen on a small scale with a few clowns, why shouldn’t it be possible on a worldwide dimension?
OmegaLove suggests that such a universal love is not only psychologically possible; it is the only complete and final way in which we are able to love.
the universe is necessarily homogeneous in its nature and dimensions. Would it still be so if the loops of its spiral lost one jot or little of their degree of reality or consistence in ascending ever higher? The still unnamed Thing which the gradual combination of individuals, peoples and races will bring into existence, must needs be supra-physical, not infra-physical, if it is to be coherent with the rest…the stuff of the universe, by becoming thinking, has not yet completed its evolutionary cycle, and that we are therefore moving forward towards some new critical point that lies ahead (p. 251).
holons?
Koestler (1967) presents a fascinating picture of how the universe is organized: he suggests the universe, in all of its different manifestations from atoms to organisms to galaxies, displays a complex, multilevel hierarchic order composed of parts and wholes. He suggests we normally think of a “part” as meaning something fragmentary and incomplete, whereas we normally think of a “whole” as something that is complete in itself. He adds:
But ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’ in this absolute sense just do not exist anywhere, either in the domain of living organisms or of social organizations. What we find are intermediary structures on a series of levels in an ascending order of complexity: sub-wholes which display, according to the way you look at them, some of the characteristics commonly attributed to wholes and some of the characteristics commonly attributed to parts. (p. 48)
To explain this further, Koestler describes the the Janus effect:
The members of a hierarchy, like the Roman god Janus, all have two faces looking in opposite directions: the face turned towards the subordinate levels is that of a self-contained whole; the face turned upward toward the apex, that of a dependent part. One face is the face of the master, the other the face of the servant. This ‘Janus effect’ is a fundamental characteristic of sub-wholes in all types of hierarchies. (p. 48)
Thus, a human individual is simultaneously a “whole” that is composed of cells, organs, organ systems, etc., and a “part” of one or several social hierarchies such as a family, tribe, clan, village, nation, etc. Likewise, a cell, organ, organ system, family, village, and nation also display both “wholeness” and “partness”. In each case the entity has some degree of self-sufficiency and self-determination, yet is to some extent governed by the larger entities of which it is a part. Koestler could not find a word to adequately capture this type of entity, so coined a new word: holon. He says single human individuals simultaneously represent the top-level of the organismic hierarchy and the lowest unit of the social hierarchy. He says a person’s self-assertive tendency is the dynamic manifestation of his unique wholeness (his autonomy and independence as a holon), and the integrative tendency is the manifestation of his dependence on the larger whole to which he belongs (his partness). He suggests that under normal conditions, when an organism or social entity is functioning properly, the self-assertive and integrative tendencies are balanced in a sate of dynamic equilibrium.
We have also discussed Koestler’s (1967) views of closed system thinking and behavior in human experience, which is closely related to devotional identifications. Koestler (1967) describes closed system thinking and behavior as involving a canon that claims to represent a truth of universal validity that is capable of explaining all phenomena, that cannot be refuted by evidence because all potentially damaging data are automatically processed and reinterpreted to make them fit the expected pattern, and that invalidates criticism by shifting the argument to the subjective motivation of the critic. According to Koestler, closed systems are based on a central axiom, postulate or dogma, to which the believer is emotionally committed, and from which the believer derives his or her rules of processing reality.
[] isolation of part.
Koestler relates clowns’ self-assertive tendency and integrative tendency to two different types of emotions: self-assertive emotions and participatory or self-transcending emotions.
Koestler (1964) discusses the powerful emotions that mobilize the body into action in times of danger by increasing secretion of the adrenal glands, increasing level of blood sugar, and acceleration of the heart rate, which he associates with the sympathico-adrenal system and which he says manifests itself in the emotions of rage and fear. This is often referred to as the fight-or-flight response.
Listening to Mozart… being in love or some other state of grace…welling up of happy emotions which moisten the eye or overflow in tears…compassion or bereavement…joyous or sad…include sympathy, identification…admiration, awe, and wonder…common denominator…a feeling of participation, identification, or belonging…the self is experienced as being part of a larger whole, a higher unity—which may be Nature, God, [Human]kind, Universal Order…abstract idea, or a human bond with persons living, dead, or imagined. 54
The purely self-transcending emotions do not tend towards action, but towards quiescence, tranquility, and catharsis. Respiration and pulse rate slowed down, muscle-tone lowered…reason for this…cannot be consummated by any specific voluntary action…273
Self-transcending or participatory tendencies…emotional states where the need is felt to behave as part of a some real or imaginary entity which transcends the boundaries of the individual self 259
check in: so where am I here
-love the supreme emotion
Koestler says that the glory and the tragedy of the clown condition are both the result of our posers of self-transcendence. We can form strong social identities with social entities larger than ourselves and we can enjoy participatory emotions related to other clowns who also feel that higher identity.
However, if that higher social identity is in conflict with a different higher social entity clowns who adopt these higher social entities are likely to experience strong self-assertive emotions concerning the clowns in the opposing higher entity-such as fear and hate.
Hierarchic awareness shows the two faces of Janus; crowd mentality is like a single, blinkered profile. It not only implies the suspension of personal responsibility, but also of the self-assertive tendencies of the individual…the total identification of the individual with the group makes him unselfish in more than one sense…it makes him perform comradely, altruistic, heroic actions—to the point of self-sacrifice—and at the same time behave with ruthless cruelty towards the enemy or victim of the group. But the brutality displayed by the members of a fanatic crowd is impersonal and unselfish; it is exercised in the interest or the supposed interest of the whole; and it entails the readiness not only to kill gut also to die in its name. In other words, the self-assertive behavior of the group is based on the self-transcending behavior of its members, which often entails sacrifice of personal interests and even of life in the interest of the group. To put it simply: the egotism of the group feeds on the altruism of its members (p. 251)
[not sure where…some of this ties in with earlier discussion of social id, integrative ID, but some of it probably is introduced with holons]
We have discussed Koestler’s (1967) view that integrative tendencies of individuals—tendencies to adopt “a self-sacrificing devotion to a flag, a leader, a religious faith or a political conviction” (p. 234)—are much more dangerous than self-assertive tendencies because humankind has fought so may wars based on strong identification with religious, patriotic, and ideological systems. He speaks of the “pathology of devotion” (p. 233), and explains that the integrative tendencies of the individual are manifested by empathy, sympathy, identification, and worship, each of which make a person feel that he or she is part of some larger entity which transcends the boundaries of the individual self—but he also suggests that the nature of the higher entity the person feels part of is very important. He notes that participation in greater wholes involves a type of surrender of personal identity that can produce both beneficial and harmful outcomes, suggesting that whereas integration in a social hierarchy preserves the personal identity and responsibility of its individuals, identification implies a partial or total surrender of both. He describes true believers as people who enter the womb of the church, party, or other social entity to which he or she surrenders personal identity, and that this surrender entails an impairment of individuality and an abdication of personal responsibility. He cautions about the danger of group mind, stating “the collective delusions of the crowd or group are based, not on individual deviations but on the individual’s tendency to conform” (p. 265), and concludes “Thus the glory and the tragedy of the human condition both derive from our powers of self-transcendence” (p. 245).
Koestler says the worst things clowns do to each other are not out of greed, they are out of this…
discuss participatory emotions within troupe in opposition to another troupe. where?
participate in troupe, participatory emotions; self-assertive emotions relating to the conflict with another group.
Koestler: the need to adopt suprapersonal ID
I suggested earlier that these factors play a significant role in the major conflicts that take place in human social interactions, especially those involving larger social entities such as nations and religions. I suggest that humanity must adopt some new form of identification that avoids the conflict, violence, and suffering caused by identifying with one social entity versus other social entities and that we can adopt a form of suprapersonal identification that will overcome these pitfalls. We can assert our self-determination by can collectively choosing to adopt a new suprapersonal identity that achieves harmony at the highest levels of our social hierarchy. We choose to adopt higher social identities all the time: we enter powerful romantic relationships with other individuals, we join clubs, and we form new nations, therefore this is not a radical idea that we create a new form of social identification at a higher level of social existence.
This adds a new aspect to the idea of “integrated identity”.
It suggests a much wider view of parts and wholes sharing an integrated identity.
I suggested earlier that these factors play a significant role in the major conflicts that take place in human social interactions, especially those involving larger social entities such as nations and religions. I suggest that humanity must adopt some new form of identification that avoids the conflict, violence, and suffering caused by identifying with one social entity versus other social entities and that we can adopt a form of suprapersonal identification that will overcome these pitfalls. We can assert our self-determination by can collectively choosing to adopt a new suprapersonal identity that achieves harmony at the highest levels of our social hierarchy. We choose to adopt higher social identities all the time: we enter powerful romantic relationships with other individuals, we join clubs, and we form new nations, therefore this is not a radical idea that we create a new form of social identification at a higher level of social existence.
One clown can be “part” of a family, a troupe, club, a team, a workforce, an ethnic group, a religion or spiritual discipline, a nation, a biosphere, a universe.
But one clown is also a whole, composed of separately functioning biological systems like a circulatory system, a nervous system, a respiratory system, separate organs that are parts of those systems, and all the smaller “parts” that together, allow the clown to live.
Laszlo
Omega
Micko thinks of the totality of all holons-all wholes and all parts-as a type of supra-organism Micko calls Holonism.
Micko created this website to create a workspace for clowns all over the world to talk about these ideas, to share tips, and to work together in other ways to create a world of Love.
You don’t have to join this site, all you have to do is find your way to share your Love and you will be in the Movement.
However, if you join (no charge) you can create your personal profile, make friends, send messages, create and join groups, and get a lifetime supply of seltzer for free.