http://www.adhumanitas.com/index.htmlComments / replies / discussionsensolihin@adhumanitas.comCopyright 2007 Solihin Thom2008-05-27T10:59:16-07:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Tue, 27 May 2008 11:06:55 -0700solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2008-05-27T10:59:16-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog.html#unique-entry-id-10http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog.html#unique-entry-id-10time passeth
and all understanding has gone
as we labor for another
Moscow
whirlwind
with uncertainty and tremor
and exultance and silent hurrahs
ringing in the upper chambers
of heart and brain
and
soul
as unforeseen
yet not unseen
events change the course
of personal, and perhaps
global dynamics
as unspoken vision collides
with spoken opportunity
and a new chapter unfolds
without a promethean
grasp nor chains
binding us to the rock
heralded from a far country
far from imaginings
yet
opening the Way
for research
school
advanced degree
practitioners in ontology
graduating - to serve
a greater vision.

]]>solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2008-04-09T16:00:19-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/06-april-2008#unique-entry-id-9http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/06-april-2008#unique-entry-id-9Much as happened as the months have sped by – on the surface little appears to have been achieved.
However, we have been to Marrakech, Barcelona and the UK since December. I am about to go off to Moscow again, and this will be followed by a June trip with both Alicia and I.
Marrakech was great, as usual and we had a wonderful group of people, different from previous, some completely new who came with friends who knew the 'ropes'. So it was an old and new class, in an exotic land, great riad – a faded-chic, grand house, with central courtyard that hosts a pool and terraced roof spaces where we conducted most of our sessions. We were fed wonderfully throughout, served graciously and with love from Moona, Rashid and others, and opened the process on the first real night of the workshop by listening to seven men sing unaccompanied, love stories and poetry to and in honor of the prophet and then, after six days, with dancing to southern Moroccan singers and a grand feast to end the workshop. We have been so pleased with the workshop that we have booked again for February 2009.
It is almost a year from when we moved in to this new house last year, and I guess if I actually counted the days, somewhat less than a year that I have actually been here. It has taken some time, but I have come to enjoy it, and if it isn't the space and size of our last home, it has afforded me a different perspective - and being 'in' Portland has been great; although we now find ourselves going out for meals relatively often - as we have plethora of great restaurants around us. Perhaps also with all our kids gone it is less expensive when there is only two of us.
We are planning our year ahead on the fly as we have business plans which are shaping up, concerning Russia, so our normal handling of our calendar is woefully inadequate, and not great for business, as others - which includes us - cannot see what we are doing later on in the year, and cannot make plans or see what is being offered. The plans are complex, in planning stage and are potentially exciting and rewarding, but I will keep them to my chest initially, until they pan out and we can actively make announcements and plan accordingly.

I will write later.

]]>solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2007-10-04T10:43:59-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/30-september-2007#unique-entry-id-7http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/30-september-2007#unique-entry-id-7
We managed to fly off to Kenya for a brief, and well earned holiday; a quick 8 days which went far too fast. However it was fantastic, as we stayed in an Italian resort three quarters empty, on the coast in Melindi. We managed a small and rather fast excursion with another couple into Tsavo, a wonderful low treed, river filled, desert savannah filled with animals. We managed to see lion, and hippo - one of which we found out in the bush, and surprised by us, went charging parallel to us, and then, turning, made a threat as if our jeep was the target. However the hippo re orientated itself and to our relief went galloping off with its small legs back into the bush and towards the river, where they normally stay submerged most of the day.

The people on the west coast of Kenya are mostly Muslim with a large Christian population with the interior peoples away from the coast a mix of indigenous faiths. There appeared to be no unrest or disquiet and the population were very fluid and mixed, socializing easily amongst ethnic groups. We managed to wander into the back streets of Melindi and thus, wondering through the real parts of town away from the tourist shops, we saw life in the Muslim quarters. We were comfortably received and acknowledged, and felt as if we made contact with what is real rather than us watching a town go through its normal business, like movie goers.

On the last day we went though Mombasa which was a large city and went into the old town and predominant Muslim quarters again. A chaotic constant movement reined, in the busy frenetic market of colour, noise, shouting vendors, throngs of women shoppers - ramadan was coming up, and they were all buying new clothes for the fast and the consequent feasting.
Unfortunately in the evening prior to flying out, I must have eaten some food unfamiliar - well that's the official line - and got Mombasa tummy for the next six days on returning to the UK. But when I worked with it with Janet March, one of our assistants in the Being Human series in the UK, we got that deep in my digestive 'core' was secreted a manipulative, secretive, dangerous aspect of the dark feminine. I needed to void or release it - hence the 'trots' but in reality it was an aspect within myself which i needed to get rid of. It was conjured up, or brought into being as we sat on the beach watching the local population walk by. The beauty, the lithe and muscular men's bodies, the flowing robes, the dark shapes of woman in hijab, evocatively drawing me into their mystery - must have been the trigger for this dark and manipulative force to rise up within me; for I certainly was tossed around mentally with these mysterious dark images – unknown largely – of a human being. The treatment stopped the runs immediately.

So life returns, and we are back here in the States, having just officiated at Beata and Michael Alexander's wedding. It was held on the slopes of Mount Hood, our glorious isolated magnificent mountain - one of a chain of volcanoes straddling the earth as if pustules emerging from a north-south vein of magma hidden deep in the earth. Michael, James Robertshaw and I were in dress kilts for the wedding, and with the rest of the party, gathered in the Mazama Lodge. The wedding was preformed by both Alicia and I, with readings and songs by various people. We were all piped in, and then the men followed by the women sang to each other - a truly jpyous and uplifting start to the wedding ceremony. It was truly wonderful, with its solemnity broken by laughter as we forgot things like the bouquet, or lines or wondered who was about to 'do' their thing or what prayer's were about to be given. The laughter truly made it 'their' occasion as they have brought laughter, fun and companionship to our lives since we have been in the States. Beata is one of our teachers of CFD, and Michael has been a pal of ours for the last twenty years.

So here I am, having a further 4 days with the wedding party down at Oceanside on the coast of Oregon. Tomorrow, is back to reality again in terms of work, but this reality of being with friends, enjoying the beauty of Oregon, rain or shine, wind or mist has been marvelous.

]]>solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2007-08-10T13:46:25-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/05-august-2007#unique-entry-id-6http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/05-august-2007#unique-entry-id-6Just arrived back
midnight in Moscow, lunch time in LA
worked 9 'til 11 at night, most nights
standing on my feet for many hours
drinking ah so much tea, little else, eating at midnight
being
patient, attentive, present, every word translated, retranslated, queried and re-framed
surrounded by students gulping ideas, concepts, protocol as much as they can ingest
hungry for knowledge, not food
observing the many types of humanity
Tartar, Uzbek, Caucasian, Russian, Georgian
unpronounceable names, places, yet common language, states, illnesses
a chance to see the beauty of a language common to all
as mudras belied the gulf of spoken language
as they eloquently spoke with gestures their personal story.

Once upon a time
one spoke
with large end plates of the long bones, ungainly gait, disorganized step
something entered
at conception
an ice maiden
and as this inappropriate identity grew
around a wall of bone
of the selfish giant
– he elegantly crafted Oscar Wilde's
archetypal story of selfishness and a cold heart:
a giant who hibernates in a walled garden where
laughter and play no longer are heard
as children are kept out of the garden
until years gone by
with ne'er a spring lark or robin heard,
snowbell or tulip blossom
where the ice maiden's hoary breath keeps eternal
the deadness of winter
and as winter bites into the fabric of the wall
a hole appears
allowing children yet again to enter
as spring comes, the ice maiden retreats, and
the giant comes out, glad for company
plays with the children
especially one
who .. small, slight, and unable to climb a tree
is helped by the giant
whose melting heart is gladdened, softened and opened
by this child
and as years go by
the giant no longer afraid of the ice maiden, for winter is always followed by spring
lived old
and one day
nearing his death
he hears yet again the spring chorus, yet in winter
and as he looks and marvels at a blossoming tree
he sees the young child high in the branches.
He slowly comes down to the garden
and gently took the boy-child from the branches.
The child, full of light and love looks up:
"you once allowed me into your garden
and today you enter into my garden"
said the child
as the giant kissed the face of Christ.

The giant was found lying at the foot of the tree, dead.

So profound and quintessential in our own development, these stories of archetypal myths,
that they show up as an actuality in our own beings
as the coldness of an embrace
enters into the conception
walling off the spiritual axis
of love
and dynamically altering the code of the child-man to endure the similum [ homeopathic model - like to like] of the giant
- oversized growth end plates - as he labors through life to open the feelings [the garden]
walled in with tubercular certainty [miasmic constitution], to look for love [the child]
to bring this into his heart.
In this way the rhythms, uncertainties and vagaries of life [the seasons] can be
weathered and assimilated, for all is always well when Love rests within you.

So this person carried within them a force which had precipitated this unorthodox bone
growth, creating the characteristic facies and skeletal deformity that mirrored a 'giant'
because the ice maiden - a cold heart - had entered.
Phew - we have little understanding of the subtly and power of the forces.

And so, I flew back, thankful for all those who fed us
at the end of the day
talked and made fun, our long days
learnt and asked questions
observed and chipped in their observations and guesses as to the mudra to use;
I left heartened that we have strong cadre of people who are really bringing the work alive in Russia.

]]>solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2007-07-27T01:08:56-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/22-july-2007#unique-entry-id-5http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/22-july-2007#unique-entry-id-5"once upon a time.." piece it would be as if I were to marginalize what might be happening or what happened.
Phew .. which really means that I exhale in a moment of exhaustion and "oh my gosh"

I woke up the other day
well perhaps I woke up
I wanted to cry
tears were just under the cheekbones
they didn't spill
but were almost spilling over
like a dam deluged from the spring melt
or the sudden deluge
and there I was
unaccustomed to this
early to rise .. facing the desk and monitor
tears nearby
gosh
never felt this
what may be rising is inexplainable
but when we pull arms
oh those arms
and
perhaps, better still, those modes
or mudras
answer the questions better
than a mere pull
but it is curious how things
'pop' up out of the blue
ready, fecund, ripe
ready to pluck
mere forces dominant
usurping the rights of the
human
perhaps, we are not
what we suppose
but tarry not
deal with this and forget the rebuke
carry on as if ..
until the next time ..
amen
]]>solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2007-06-25T10:53:26-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/24-june-2007#unique-entry-id-4http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/24-june-2007#unique-entry-id-4Inner Dialogue'. This was a compilation of work which I used to teach from various modules of [the old] work but now have brought together as a neat, precise and specific series of module(s). This is also taught as a comprehensive 7 module series entitled 'Ontological Kinesiology' in Austria under the auspices of a large secondary education organization called WiFi. Stephen, Marcus, Amalia, Sylvia have done a very successful job of presenting this to students looking for a new occupation for their lives. They also present the Cranial Fluid Dynamics course, that runs parallel to the OK course.

My purpose, in this new compilation, is to introduce students to more of the art of dialogue, to really listen to the client and be able to range through the many modes [mudras] to enable a fluid conversation to occur between client and ontologist. All of those attending had taken other courses - Cranial Fluid Dynamics, Qi-in a rhythm, Allergy-from symptom to Source and Myths and Archetypes, so between them they had a subjective yet wide grasp of the material. In practice, however, it is much harder to actually bring your thoughts together whilst conversing with a client. To have the fluidity of thought, flexibility of knowing the modes without having to look them up, and to be attentive to what is really being said takes time and practice. To enable us to enquire deeply, and to understand the real ontology of the problem, and to know that our clients - as well as ourselves - needs us to also understand that we [or them] will often 'fudge' the reply [answer]; not because they want to, but because the human organism is composed of levels, that can answer for us. In this way the client can tell us what is going on from the perspective of their feelings, but ignore what their humanity may be saying. Likewise our historical self can pipe-up and start talking, but its ability to speak the truth may be marred by old patterns of inherited trickery and obfuscation. At the same time this obfuscation is issuing from the mouth of the client and looks as if it is true, honest, and authentic. We must be aware that each one of us can bend the truth, which makes this work so fascinating as it it behooves us to really pay attention, have an understanding of the full range of modes [mudras] that must be learnt, so that as we converse with our clients we really are able to pull up, straighten out and cleanly transcribe [so to speak] the underlying message, free of interference, masquerade and 'red herrings'.

I mentioned several times during the workshop that we, as companions, may find ourselves walking with our clients towards a proverbial cliff, and that our job is to gently take them off a precipitous path without occurring wrath, dismay, reaction or disquiet, so as not to fall helplessly into their state - otherwise we do them nor us any good. This constant vigilance, attentiveness if you like, is a prerequisite of any good companion, so that we accompany others and are able to offer a 'truth' as we travel with them, and are able not to step back, parody, mimic or simple 'let be' - for our societal modeling of being 'politically correct' may lead us, as practitioners, around the wrong corner when we don't exercise our own authority, and allow the client, in their distress and dysfunction, to lead us down their own path.

In the work we have two modes: 'prepare the soil' and 'reciprocal'. The first infers that we, as practitioners, should be careful about how much information we give to the client, inferring that the information brought out of their system is powerful and has a resident 'force' and which has taken power over them. Too much talk may exaggerate its previous power and make it difficult for them to deal with it. Conversely the mode cautions us to be quiet, as we engage in our initially non verbal questioning and that when we pull up some important information, be cognizant that further or too much talking may cover-up important information, or take us in the wrong direction and so hide the data. The second mode 'reciprocal' infers that we as ontologists, either have the experience of something and so implicitly 'know' it, or, we are also patterned into a similar [but not always identical] force which may allow us to unconsciously collude with the client - it's like an early warning mode that helps us to keep on track. However there are lots of times neither mode goes in, and yet the client can still pull the wool over our eyes.

The work last weekend was to train the students to really begin to master their craft, and see the width and depth of the language of modes, and develop a relative vigilance as to veracity - the capacity to be an editor as well as companion whilst working with the client. It also engaged the students into understanding that we, as companions, can offer our own 'maps' and proclivities and ideas [that are often 'attached' to us] which have no relevance to the client, fill them up with one's own models and yet has no relevance to their story that is emerging. This work is unique in that we train students to listen to the client's story - it is true that we ask the questions, but their being or at the least, their differing elements or selves answer back, and we then, as companions, use the next mode to challenge the pathway of the conversation. In so doing we extract a detailed, precise and ontologically accurate picture of the story that holds the client in their state. By doing so, we enable to client to expunge, clean, blow-out the offending forces that have held their organism in unease, disquiet, dysfunction or illness.
In all, it was a successful workshop, for the relatively small numbers of students were able to acquire a deep appreciation yet again of the complexity of the human organism through the simplicity of this medium of ontological kinesiology. I was very pleased.
]]>solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2007-05-26T09:06:43-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/20-may-2007#unique-entry-id-3http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/20-may-2007#unique-entry-id-3
Unfortunately this time, one of best pals was moving to London permanently whilst we were visiting. Alicia and I transferred from our new house in Portland with its myriad boxes and half unpacked state to a similar situation in Vienna with Hussein. We slept on mattresses with boxes all around, and then watched two slight yet very strong Czechs remove all his gear into a large truck carrying much of it down five flights of cold, echoey stone steps. It was sad to say goodbye to him, having spent the better part of our lives together, albeit in stretches of three or so weeks twice a year. We have watched our children grow and develop - he has five, and watched as lives change, situations alter, loves lost and fortunes upend. His departure will give us reasons to go back to England more often!

Vienna was hard also as we are arranging our workshops with a new organization, WiFi Wien, who have not got the marketing quiet right, so we were at the mercy of others and their respective competencies, and so I feel in a hiatus, but with patience and refining our tactics, will see my contribution in Austria again climb. I have been teaching here for twenty years. We have several teachers independently teaching the work in much of Vienna through the same organization, and that has become very good, efficient and paying off for them.

I popped into one of their cranial classes, sorta un-announced, and gave a demonstration of the forces in action when we palpate, and how differing arrangements within our own being changes the rhythm of the cranial system. THe class of 17 were thrilled to get first hand attention from me - a new face and I guess, also the originator of the work - and then was asked to show them how I would conduct a session in CFD - cranial fluid dynamics. I believe I was successful in helping them to see the breadth and depth of the work, and what can be accomplished with a few modes eliciting a sophisticated dialogue with one of the participants, which touched many of the women there, as it was also pertinent in their lives.

Alicia and I conducted a small Being Human workshop with Faustina Ramos the head teacher and owner of a Montessori based school in Modling, outside Vienna. Faustina had got all her teachers in the school to participate, and all had come willingly. It was, I believe, a very successful workshop, enabling the teachers to see and recognize their state whilst teaching or interacting with students, or indeed whilst making decisions and engaging with life situations. We provided the tools, if you like, to help them change their state, realize what gets in the way of efficiently, creative teaching and also helped them to see what may occur within the state of children that they teach. This gives the teachers the inner nous to help them set up environments that help children change their own internal order and arrangement of their inner selves.

So I am back, and enjoying our new abode, and wanting to engage in the local community and get the feel of what is new around here. Everyone eyes our house as they walk along the leafy broad road and cross or turn round this corner lot that we are on. Many stop and chat, most smile, we have made passing remarks to many .. gosh, what a difference to our past two houses and their respective environments, which gave back little except isolation. When we moved from our previous house we realized there were only our two neighbors that we cared for or knew, to say goodbye to. Hopefully this new city life will begin a new change in our or my life style and how I interact locally.
]]>solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2007-04-25T08:59:56-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/22-april-2007#unique-entry-id-2http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/22-april-2007#unique-entry-id-2The word 'fill' being the operative word, as box after box went down into the entertainment room - fancy word for a basement windowless room, and the garage, which filled with extra beds, armoires, tables that we wouldn't need any more or that we can't find space for. One of the young men broke a finger [or two] running through one of the doorways with boxes on his back, and hit the door jam - proprioceptors awry! Not a happy camper!
Anyway, here we are; new house, new space, new set of troubles as we iron out the idiosyncrasies that each new space provides. Phone lines absent, WiFi signals not being picked up, interference in the phone line or signal - vital lines of communication. So bear with us, as we struggle with phone companies etc whose automatic digital operator do not appear to be able to decipher the message, and to get real live people not in Calcutta, on the phone appears almost impossible.
Everyone around the neighborhood has been fantastic, coming over and introducing themselves, a far cry from the lack of communication that we experienced out on the sticks; so this is very encouraging. People stop and talk about the house being their favorite in the street, and it appears that the last owners were sociable and well liked - that entertainment room downstairs is decked out for large screen movies - he left the gear for us; so potentially we can have Wednesday evening movies with popcorn, ice-cream and intermissions - but not sure about the seats - perhaps unpacked boxes!
A week today we fly off to Austria for a shortish visit, Alicia will be back again after 8 days, so we leave Rebecca in charge of our new domain. I am sure she'll be pleased to be able to party here whilst we are gone; she just came back from Morocco after doing a short immersion course in Arabic in Fez. Found it diffficult there, I think mainly because she was always feeling as if she had no privacy and was being watched all the time. These cities can be difficult places when you are on your own, gregarious, white, woman and sassy. She was ready to come back.

]]>solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2007-04-20T08:55:04-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/15-april-2007#unique-entry-id-1http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/15-april-2007#unique-entry-id-1This outer move has me struggling with an inner move - a change of state, of place, or recognition, acknowledgment, successes and failures, opportunities found and lost. A downsize perhaps, as we shape the next part of our lives. Or maybe just a recognition of our own state and the tasks ahead. The other day I had a profound inner experience when asked to receive - through surrender - my purpose [at the present moment]. I stood there in this place of stillness, only it felt as if I was of stone, a monolith, sphinx-like except I felt like I was a granite block, and then slowly my body was made to move as if the block of stone was coming alive and breaking free of old constraints. I realized at that moment, that I was being shown that my purpose - at an inner level - despite all the grand ideas and wishes which we try to put out into the outer world as Ad Humanitas, is to free myself and family from the material, fixed, rigid, fundamental pattern that we granite-like Scots emerged from and to bring this family line alive. The experience was humbling, bewildering and yet liberating as my purpose-driven life [to coin a phrase] was brought down to the nitty gritty - that the life of my soul is more important than the life in the outer world - and that my real inner job, at this present moment, is to recognize that this journey of liberation still has a way to go.
So downsizing - never an easy choice, liberates us in many ways - releases funds for us to invest [what funds!], it provides the opportunity to let go of old things we have kept [not as much room], brings us into community [back from the 'sticks' or countryside] involves us in other people's lives due to their and our proximity, and changes our open, wooded and green space into one which is more resonant for most others - the life of a city.
We'll add to this blog as the next few days go by, providing a glimpse of a family life in transition, and the chance to change old patterns and reinvent new creative possibilities.
Insha'allah

Solihin
]]>solihin@adhumanitas.comNone2007-04-14T17:45:46-07:00http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/08-april-2007#unique-entry-id-0http://www.adhumanitas.com/Information/Information/AdHumanitasBlog_files/08-april-2007#unique-entry-id-0Never done this before, and it may be a mistake. However we need to make this work and understanding of it more wide spread, and more accessible, so we thought it might initiate a more robust conversation and questions answered amongst the community of those who use the work.]]>