Let’s talk about transmission. One can distinguish between transmission of skills and transmission in this teaching but basically they are quite similar.
Exercise: Transmission of competence
Transmission has two sides: the instructor who has the knowledge and the apprentice who wants to acquire it.
1. The instructor – when alone doing what he plans to convey – develops his instructions through internal dialogue and structuring his future transmission mentally. Example: O. starts cutting the grass and he is alone. He knows what to do and what not to do. While he begins to put everything in place (preparation), he does it as if there is someone with him that he will transmit his knowledge to.
Another example is when A. is preparing to paint a door, she thinks at the same time how she will do this when transmitting her know-how. Preparations: what tools? Where to go first? Etc. Where to start, what to pay attention to? What not to do? Etc.
Include everything from A to Z, also the cleaning up which is often the cleaning and putting back the tools.
2. To begin with, the apprentice only observes the instructor in silence and does not help him. He listens.
3. The apprentice listens, asks questions and takes notes if he feels like doing so. The instructor ensures that the apprentice has understood. Start with things not too complex, such as: the use of a tool (kitchen or workshop), etc.
4. When the learner feels he is ready to do, he does it from A to Z under minimal supervision of the instructor who intervenes only when the apprentice is committing a mistake.
6. Everyone who has received a transmission becomes in turn the transmitter to the learned skill.
I have had the feeling that I stepped aside to let transmission operate and I didn’t have the impression that I was transmitting.
Two thoughts about transmission in this teaching: The first one concerns my email dialog with the teacher: it is possible to transmit via email. And before I even met the teacher for real, transmission had already happened. So the transmission can occur without direct contact. The second one is that I don’t speak French. And even though I don’t understand all the words, however I can capture some sense through emotions, body language, and listening to the silences.
Same for me: It is not always necessary to understand everything.
Focus on what happens when you’re receiving a transmission.
I place myself in an open, receptive state.
When I observe different contexts, I try to see what happens in me that is common to all of them. But it’s necessarily related to the quality of the transmitter also. In my examples, each time, it put me in a relaxed state, as if the one who’s transmitting, because he masters its topic, is in a relaxed state.
Maybe relaxation is not the right word.
Tranquility, confidence, certainty. But at body level.
The words that come to me are listening and resonance. With some humility. And even though I do not know, there is a resonance.
This is the absence of doubt we talked about last time.
I know this when people come to me because of a problem with their computer: although I do not know the issue, I have no doubt. I feel that they relax. And I think it’s in the body, it is not caused by what I say.
Let’s remain with the physical, non-verbal quality occurring during transmission.
There is a kind of incentive, for me. There is the relief occurring through the no doubt, and also the call to do likewise, inspiration. Like some energy that pulls ahead.
Where does this energy come from? How does it set in?
It is not in the head. It is an inspiration. I experienced that when I saw one of the group washing the window panes. It motivated me and later, I did it at home with pleasure. There is an ease and a joy inside.
Another facet is that there is always change. This is not “more knowledge” but rather a change of perspective. An ability to highlight. This is not an addition, but an internal transformation for the receiver.
I have another word for “no doubt”: it is a big YES to what is given to me, teaching or whatever the subject.
I return to what was said. There is humility, acceptance. The transmitter can use any means to transmit. And you follow the method he chooses. You don’t discuss it.
I have the feeling that what we are talking about are actually basic prerequisites. But I also realize that many people do not have them: they will discuss and question it. And then the emitter cannot do anything.
I know that in my karate practice: some students do not follow the instructions. They prefer to do it their way.
This is a good example of how the receiver will not only cut oneself off from the capacity to improve, to acquire competence, but also of the Baraka that guides the one who puts himself in the right attitude to receive. Baraka is more than luck, it is God’s grace. It is part of the teaching.
Sometimes my tango teacher gives me some instructions and 6 months later, another one that seems to contradict the first ones. Some people would be lost, but I don’t care because it’s happening in the moment. And anyway the emitter also evolves.
We must not forget that there is a permanent movement. Transmission is not about you doing like the transmitter. It is a gift given to you so that you can transform it inside you and make it yours.
Two things: Firstly, transmission is a universal phenomenon, and it is the receivers who have to adjust to what is transmitted at a given time (the great YES). This is also true for any good teaching, whether it is about learning how to repair a car or a spiritual teaching. The second thing is the example of the tango master. It’s right on point. His teacher gives him directions which make him rearrange his neural circuits and allow him to go further and become master in his turn, because he has given more than competence itself, he has given this extra thing that goes with it. The “transmission” part of the teaching, how would you put it in words?
What I said earlier, mainly: “say YES”. This is not only about receiving and understanding, even though if it is part of it, but it is above all the willingness to accept rearranging my neural circuits. This is not something I do, but I allow it to be done. Without this, it could be a way to be a better human being, but it is not transmitting.
In addition to what has been said, thinking back to my teachers, the word that comes up is loving kindness. To transmit, you need to have a lot of loving kindness.
Yes, for me, it’s included in loving kindness.
What happens when something is transmitted, apart from what is transmitted?
I see the duty of one who has received.
This was already mentioned, I think. We talked about the one who shoots the arrow and about the target. Now, what happens in between?
I think there are both: guidance to the group, but also individual support to each person.
Personally, I see a rise, an elevation of the two, of the transmitter and of the receiver, but I don’t know if that’s what you aim at.
It’s getting close.
It’s as if everyone was reaching the next octave.
It is as if there was a third force, as if a transmission was not between two people but that a third arises and it happens to be the most important thing, that around which the tension of the two converge; as if there was the birth of a third.
There is something that I realized a long time ago: as receiver, I must also trigger the transmitter’s essential value, which cannot be expressed if I’m not there. So I have a responsibility to seek it like the transmitter has a responsibility to pass it on.
The transmitter, who has the experience of consciousness, conveys awareness for you to grow consciousness.
It’s getting closer. When one puts aside all words, what remains about the transmission?
It’s like plugging the coffee machine. That’s good, but what happens?
There is a flow of energy.
Yes and what is the relationship between energy flow and transmission?
It is not only in one direction, it goes both ways.
Ok, but what makes the coffee flow?
There is a certain transformation. The energy is converted but does not disappear.
So in transmission, there is a transformation. What is the part of the transmission that transforms? How do you live it here in this teaching?
For me, there are things that are happening on their own. We can do the work, we talk, but I feel that there are things that grow in me on their own accord, without my doing; I can just see that it’s happening.
You speak about the transformation part; and what is the part of the transmission?
The transmission part is in the pieces of the teaching that I can re-express.
Of course, but that’s not what I’m looking for here. We have seen that there are two related processes, transmission and transformation, and they are happening at a non-verbal level, though sometimes triggered by words and language processes, but also by my gestures. Are you aware of it?
There has to be a resonance in the receiver for it to happen. Like a radio, if you don’t tune it well, you don’t receive anything.
Right. And that’s what I’m doing from the beginning. Now you know it. 🙂
To me it’s obvious!
Yes, but I’ve never revealed it. And for some, it might not be obvious.
Finally, you’re about to explain that you are a teacher and that you are teaching? (laughter)
Was it not known to somebody here?
I had total confidence, but I didn’t know why. So for me, it was not so obvious.
Confidence in what?
Confidence in the teaching. Knowing that he is a master who guides me.
Towards more awareness, to find oneself.
In her case, she didn’t know how it works. What about the others?
For me, it is still not clear. I don’t know if I know what you talking about but that I don’t understand the words that you are putting on it, or if you talk about something I’m not aware of. For example, concerning silent transmission, I can make great fantasies on it.
I have not talked about the silent transmission.
Others have talked about it, and we also talked about the non-verbal.
I simply explained how I transmit. I have clearly said it. Some have understood, right?
For me it is clear that the way you talk and say things at times, was the means to trigger something in me.
I might have not said gestures as I wasn’t aware of those. But it seems obvious to me when you say it.
For me it is the same. It is clear that you point out for every one of us what must be exposed, and possibly produce necessary suffering.
Okay, but this is already too much concerned with the content. What I have said is that it works through words and gestures.
Yes. Through words and gestures. For example, I remember 2 or 3 times when you put your hand on my shoulder and where, for me, suddenly, it had a certain value: it was not just a hand on a shoulder; and it created some kind of resonance in me.
For me it is completely obvious. Whatever you do or say, you have a particular way of talking to each person with words and gestures.
Yes, for me too. And for gestures, I would say especially through the eyes.
And laughter, too, is part of gestures!
But there’s a difference between him and Napoleon, the great French dictator. Both manipulate with words and gestures, but in the case of Napoleon, it was with personal interest (laughter).
Of course, the great dictators manipulate, but they don’t transmit and don’t generate the transformation in others.
To transmit, is it not necessary that your whole being is involved? Which is impossible for dictators.
To me, it just happens.
What I mean is that it could not happen without the implication of your whole being. You cannot do that with only a part.
From this point of view, I’m totally transparent. There is nothing more than what I show here.
There is no separation between anyone’s essential value and the teacher. Somehow, it is not a question of a relationship between two persons.
More generally speaking, would it be possible to have a separation between the essential values of two people?
(Unanimous group): No.
(to A.): and for you, was it’s obvious or not?
A.: I don’t see much difference between the positions. It’s obvious, but it’s not the words that speak to me. However, the tone of voice, a lot. Like a kind of bombing, like a radio talking. Bombarded by something about which I don’t know exactly what it is, but that reveals. It is rather this image that I have.
I would add that the teacher gives weight. It’s like a weight that allows you to stay grounded.
The gaze, the presence and words too.
We talked about the tango, where the master taught with words and gestures also.
Yes, and that’s why I was wondering if it was possible otherwise.
It is possible. Some teach by silence. It may take other forms, by painting, by music.
Concerning my tango maestro, it is extremely clear that his transmission passes through his body language and the words he uses.
And the way he uses them.
Absolutely. It’s also the feedback of those who receive his teachings. During the course, they are in a particular state.
Because he “manages” them with his words and gestures.
What is striking is that he, the maestro, is not aware of it.
It’s possible, but perhaps he also knows certain things.
I talked with him, and there are things that he is aware of, but others not.
There are perhaps things he understands but of which he doesn’t want to speak to you, because it is not yet the right moment.
I think that’s very important with you. In your teaching, there are the words, gestures, but also what is not visible, what is not expressed. There is a self-restraint, modesty and that is what is the strongest.
A caution, a respect.
One thing I would add is the notion of timing. Words or gestures will not occur anytime, but at the right time. And it would not be the same word or the same force at another moment.
And the modesty, I really insist. Not revealing everything. It is not “reserved”, it is “modesty.” If you like, this is the first time he expresses what he said today, on how he teaches, it is as if he was taking off his clothes to stand naked. And I have been seeing him naked all along, but he remained modest. He doesn’t care, really, but he is cautious. And today, he exposes it.
Yes, and it fits in the notion of timing that has just been expressed. Today I felt it was time.
What’s funny is that it is the transmission on transmission.
Yes, that’s exactly the point.
We will continue on transmission. There is verbal and non-verbal, but also a third unknown force, a force that re-organizes neural circuits. It’s the same force that transforms you when you welcome the necessary suffering. There can’t be any true teaching without this component. That’s what creates the transformation.
We can say that it is an integration that settles without explanation and rings true in itself.
What happens inside of the receiver?
When I did my training in family constellation, it was in German, and my German was not very good, so I was forced to be more in the feeling and observation. In general, when there are words, especially on something new, there are representations that block or hinder pure listening and transmission. For a new subject, it is better to cut off the mind to be more present.
It is primarily gratitude and humility. There is something in the order of reverence.
It is a double recognition: recognition of something in me and also of the transmitter.
There is a kind of Eureka. And I wonder if it’s possible to get something we don’t already know. As if the strongest transmissions were those which allow me to access knowledge that was already inside and this leads me to emptiness.
In the words of Rajneesh (Osho): you come with your ego and my role is to find the breach to go where there is no ego. Everybody has an ego, or unwanted residues of the ego. To find out what’s behind, with the transmission, it’s easier because, having agreed to lower your defenses, you are open. Stephen Wolinski said: the master is on your side, so you open yourself to him and then he can transmit.
When we talk about recognizing what is already there, what I hear is a YES from all eternity. And that’s the difference between small Eureka and the EUREKA.
It’s very simple: the teacher gives the hand, I take it, and hand in hand, I say “thank you”. And this thank you is not a thank you from one to the other, it is higher than that. And if you give the hand, that is not enough, it is necessary that the other takes it. This linking creates the mystery.
There is also the word “truth.” In transmission, there is a feeling of truth. Even when I don’t understand the words, I know it’s true. Sometimes I know that it’s exactly on the point even though I cannot find the words to express it.
I would like to express huge thanks for the sharing of last night, about your way of teaching. It spoke to me and I feel I know a little bit more what body consciousness is.
I feel I’m both: generator and receiver. It’s like a loop, a wheel.
And where is the transmission: what is transmitted, from whom, to whom?
On the physical level, you transmit to me but it’s much more than that. It is life that transmits to life. There is a form of agreement, of resonance. It’s like you’re walking in a cloud of fog, at the beginning you feel just a little moisture, but in the end, you’re soaked. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when something was transmitted. But I note that later, someone will mention something, and I recognize the truth behind.
Does that mean that the truth already in you is revealed by transmission?
What prevents you from living this truth continually?
Being married (laughter). More seriously, it is the fear that if shit happens, I will not be able to regain body awareness.
This is a permanent threat to all here. For those who have read Asterix & Obelix, there is always the fear that “the sky falls on our heads.” But it is easy to live with that: as long as it doesn’t happen, that’s ok. In other words, there is no need to worry about that. There is always a doubt, but that’s ok. The doubt is a reminder that we must always remain humble. One is never sure. Grace comes and goes. It does not depend on us. You have been touched by Grace when you were 19 years old. It never left. You can be grateful for that. The only thing you can do is to be vigilant to not to fall into oblivion. The rest does not depend on you.