Our mental maps are tuned to predict the patterns on our nerve terminals (senses). Our consciousness rises from the deep dark ocean when our predictions fail. When our belly hurts because of too much chocolate, we become aware of it. As soon as our belly is stroked and kissed with love, it will heal and dive back into the unknown.
Our consciousness rises if we have to update our automatic subconscious algorithms. The purpose of control is deeply wired into our human nature. Control and correction.
This fits a recent study that concludes that the “fear of the unknown may be a, or possibly the fundamental fear”.
“Improvisation is the art of being completely O.K. with not knowing what the fuck you’re doing”
- Mick Napier
This fits my experience in Improv Theater. Improvisation is in its nature unpredictable, you are standing on the stage and you have no idea if your partner is playing our wife, a white rabbit on drugs, or a stone. You will be placed in a horror genre, romantic comedy, or existential drama. In order to not get overwhelmed, there are some guidelines for young and wrinkly improvisation artists:
Accept the reality you are presented with
Accept the ideas of your fellow players
Listen to your fellow players
Yet we often catch ourselves still wanting to control the uncontrollable jungle of crazy impulses. We prepare lines in our head, we think of possible jokes, try to control the story that emerges.
That Top-down approach of control is our human nature. Yet is the Bottom-Up wild jungle, where deep art emerges. Art that surprises us. Honest art feels channeling, your hand writes yourself, your mouth speaks and you listen astonished.
When we are in our element of playing Tennis when everything is in The Flow State. When we are in The Zone, we are beyond control, consciousness, or even any perception of time.
As soon as a mistake happens, a ball hits the net or the out, we lose the flow. We are thrown back from the heaven of godly powers to the dull world of space, time, and self-awareness.
Yet exactly this burden of human self-shaming awareness of mistakes has its purpose. Evolution is not always a sadistic dirty bastard, sometimes it even helps us to adapt to our environment.
If we did not need to update our subconscious mechanisms, we would not need consciousness. The balance between implicit & explicit, between flow and control, is the secret to the sweet existence of playful learning.
“Most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz”
— Robert Christgau