Clowns for Peace
JOIN THE MOVEMENT! 17 members now!Introduction to the evolution of Love Flow
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 Siegel.
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.
The Evolution of Love Flow.
Evolution of the “Flow of Love” explained in 10 easy steps
1. What is Love Flow?
- Love flows whenever a living being cares about themselves or other beings or the world, whenever a living being shares with another being, whenever a being feels empathy for another, whenever a being shows kindness, when a being feels compassion and wants to help another being, when a being shows patience or tolerance for another being’s behavior or difference, and when a being plays with a ball or with another being even a being from a different species, or when a clown throws a pie in another clown’s face.
- Love can flow within a being, between beings or between beings and the world.
- Image?
Not a believer yet? Let’s see what Love you already have flowing through you:
Mentally check the boxes that apply to you.
[] I love myself [] I love my family[] I love my friends [] I love animals.
[] I try to help others when I can.
[] I can remember a time when I shared my love with someone and it made both of us feel better.
[] Sometimes I meet a stranger and feel a nice connection with them.
[] I care about taking better care of our planet.
[] I care about the suffering in the world.
[] I’d like to help create a world in which every clown is happy.
[] I know someone whom I’d love to throw a pie in their face.
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?
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2 The emergence of Love Flow in evolution.
- Micko spent over 10 years at Clown College studying Clown potential. This led Micko to realize that Love Flow is key for clowns to find their full potential.
- What Micko has learned is that Love Flow emerged within the flow of evolution. It’s not clear exactly when it emerged but we know that there have been archeological findings of fossils of ancient critters showing their Love Flow by hugging and kissing..
- Love Flow still occurs in many animal behaviors, including reptiles, rodents, mammals, birds, and, of course, clowns.
- Examples are turtles helping an upside-down turtle, male bird feeding female mate with damaged beak, squirrel mamas nurturing their young, and horses forming teams to play football, and dogs licking each other’s butts.
- It is unclear if animals have any conscious understanding or awareness or ability to improve their Love Flow
Can you think of other examples of animals showing Love Flow?
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3 Micko learned that Love Flows in Clowns within each clown, between clowns, and between clowns and Clown World.
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?
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Can you remember a time when you felt a special connection with a stranger?
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Can you remember a time when you felt positive feelings about your connection with our world?
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4 Micko learned that Love can flow only a Trickle, or it can Flow Freely, or clowns can do things that prevent Love Flow.
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:
The flow of water
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
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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?
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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?
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5 Upward Spirals
Upward spirals are the most powerful mechanisms of Love Flow.
BF Love 2.o, share positive, interpersonal, = Love, Love Flow back and forth = spiral dynamic
- Brains sync up
- Eye contact, leaning in, other 2
- Could grow, develop
- 3 cycles = spiral of love
- On airplane, share, reflective dialog
- Lovesight: look at your interpersonal interactions…Love flow or not? Trickle, flow, prevent?
- Comment box
- Love experiments: smile, say hi, conversation, goof around, make jokes, relax, have fun, casual conversation
- Share positivity, positive emoions…share Love…my books…
5 Unconscious and conscious Love Flow
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.
6 Lovesight
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?
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? Where to present unconscious?
do explicit experiments first, later unconscious?????
I think first,
What about Spirals, next, then unconscious?
7 Love Experiments
Micko says clowns can take steps to increase their Love Flow by doing Love Experiments.
Many clowns are already engaging in activities to increase their human potential, such as meditation, yoga, mindfulness, journaling, exercise, being in nature, cleaning trash from beaches, and of course, Laughing Yoga.
Research shows that many of these interventions do result in beneficial outcomes. Although not all of them focus specifically on LOve Flow, many focus on things that effect Love Flow, such as empathy, compassion, mindfullness (judgements), forgiveness,and kindness.
Empathy Interventions:involves an internal response to what (we see or learn) happens to another person or animal (mindsight) generating understanding and compassion. Empathy at least temporarily unites us with others. it can be considered one of the most positive emotions we have. Empathy-related interventions help us understand others, which generates compassion, forgiveness and acts of kindness.
FlowingLove, reflective dialogs
In the next section we will look at spiral processes in which a great number of outcomes can effect a great number of other outcomes related to individual processing, interpersonal relationships, and our relationships with the world.
For other Clowns:
paying it forward, volunteering at an animal shelter or senior home
For adding Love to our world:
donating money to good causes,
concerning individual Love Flow, Love Flow in relationships, and clown’s relationship with our world.
But for each clown, the clown has to decide for themselves if a certain Love Experiment results in increased Love Flow for them.
mindsight,
lovesight,
self report: changes, new stuff
Self-reports are used in psychology and other fields to collect data on people’s feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
Self-report techniques describe methods of gathering data where participants provide information about themselves without interference from the experimenter. Such techniques can include questionnaires, interviews, or even diaries, and ultimately will require giving responses to pre-set questions.
preconscious mulling over, draw into consciousness, emergent mindsight or Lovesight
increases in Love Flow within consciousness, within relationships, within relationship with world
validity issues, personal responsibility, understanding, aware of bias, etc.
What activities have you tried to increase your Love Flow and what have your desirable outcomes been?
comment box
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(8) Upward Spirals
Micko studied upward spirals at Clown College and learned that upward spirals are the highest form of Love Flow because positive outcomes get magnified over time.
LoveBlossoms (Barbara Fredrickson) has studied and written about upward spirals, and, in fact, her work is what helped Micko understand the great importance of upward spirals. [] add a little.
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, and which create a series of cascading positive events.
- These cascading positive events can involve feelings and ideas within a clowns self- awareness, interactions between clowns, feelings or beliefs about the world, or a combination.
- Cascading events often result in unforseen outcomes in which the outcomes are magnified.
- Cascading effects can involve desirable or undesirable events; upward spirals or downward spirals. We are focusing on desirable events involving Love Flow: Upward Spirals.
- A cascading spiral could start with what has been called a “kick”: an event that starts the cascading process. This kick could be in a clown’s personal processing, an interaction between two or more clowns, or perceptions of one or more clowns involving feelings or beliefs about the world.
- The initial kick can then lead to a multitude of possible outcomes within the clown, between clowns or between Clowns and the world.
- [] good place for a diagram?
- self spiral, relationship, world
- [] go to new block?
- cartoon sequences? self, other, world
- New block
- Most of these outcomes are not fully conscious, but the cascading spiral continues to produce more positive outcomes below consciousness. in what Micko calls our other levels. unconscious, preconscious
- diagram conscious and below conscious, unconscious work
- Sometimes the not fully conscious (preconscious) cascading spiral becomes so powerful that some outcomes burst into consciousness as a sudden insight or epithany or feeling of joy or love. These wonderful experiences have been called mystical experiences or peak experiences. This is Love Flow emerging in real time.
- Maslow peak exp.
- mystical exp. One, joy,
- Sometimes clowns can facilitate this process by using Lovesight, which is simply focusing consciously on what is going on in one’s inner mind about what positive outcomes are emerging. mulling over
- [] Goofy examples: not experiment; lovesight about inner events, insight. Examples of non awareness and Lovesight.
- New Block
- And what’s really powerful is that clowns can create their own upward spirals.
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.
- Lists of things to try , [How many? a link to a page?
| 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 | ||
- Pick one to start with, to create a kick, either an experiment about your Love Flow or your Love Flow with other clowns, or your Love Flow with our World.
- Using Lovesight, measure outcomes for that first experiment…what new feelings or ideas or outcomes emerged about your own Love Flow?,
- triangle diagram again, with outcomes
- unconscious diagram with bursting into conscious
- preconscious
- incubation?
- Try same experiment again or try another, find which one works best for you, [later: your way of adding Love]
- Over time, Be open to things emerging spontaneously…feelings, pos. emotions, caring, feeling closer to others, your place in world, Lovesight
- Micko does a conscious Loving Kindness routine in store, public, and driving…thinking about others with Loving Kindness, even when they cut him off in traffic, and over time Micko has noticed spontaneous feelings of closeness to others…other day, driving, following a truck, truck turned and Micko felt Loving Kindness for the driver…[] image, cutting off?
- Spontaneous emergence of Love Flow
- springs from our other levels, not yet conscious but bouncing around within our un-conscious and our preconscious……This refers to something that one is not currently aware of but could be brought into consciousness at any given moment.
- Then, again using Lovesight, monitor other emergent outcomes in the other two focus areas.
- examples from literature???
- [] outcomes online-found many outcomes for gratitude alone, will be many pages to link to from lists, to include blurb and outcomes, also will be included in different triangle diagrams.
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
- Add to above strategy
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
- Create a few interventions to try, designed for real or goofy outcomes/emergence
- Start with interaction: smile, eye contact, start conversation, compliment, open door, pay it forward, let other driver go first, offer to help, volunteer
- What outcomes for you
- For other clown
- For witnesses
- Agree with Micko: Love to world?
- Micko examples goofy
- bf joiner study RC pos em. broadened minded coping
- another study gratitud
- small group, organization, cultural evolution/evolutionists
- Start with interaction: smile, eye contact, start conversation, compliment, open door, pay it forward, let other driver go first, offer to help, volunteer
9 Larger spirals
- small group,
- organization,
- networks
- cultural evolution/evolutionists
- global
- generational
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 outcomesAll 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 harmonyinterventions (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 resonanceSmall group Love Experiments
-discussion groups in classroom
-discussion groups in community
-action groups in classroom
-action groups in communitylarger 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 resonanceMulti-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 IDstronger 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,
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?
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The potential we have.
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!
10 Global Spiral
Micko thinks we should create a Global Spiral in which each of us clowns understand their Love Flow and finds their way to manifest Love Flow that work for them. In this way we will be increasing World Love Flow in a major way.
global spiral
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
11 Generational Spiral
Micko believes that the key to creating a World of Love, over many generations, is helping young clowns understand their Love Flow and find their way of nurturing their Love Flow.
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
12. Creating our Superorganism
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).
Clown identity: We-Them vs. 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
Swarm intelligence and behaviour.
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!
Omega Point
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.
Omega Point
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?
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.
Self-assertive and integrative emotions.
Koestler relates clowns’ self-assertive tendency and integrative tendency to two different types of emotions: self-assertive emotions and participatory or self-transcending emotions.
Self-assertive 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.
Self-transcending or participatory emotions.
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.
Holonism.
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.
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15.Clowns for Peace Movement.
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