In the Alexander Technique, we talk often of psychophysical unity, the idea that mind and body are inseparable, or at least very intimately linked. A well-known quote from FM Alexander himself drives the point home:
You translate everything, whether physical, mental or spiritual, into muscular tension.
FM Alexander
However, as an Alexander Technique teacher, I’m also interested in the next level up, as it were: the relationship between our psychophysical selves and our environment. But is there a word for this unity of self/environment?
In general, the English language fails at this point. Although various academic fields offer up a few abstruse words or phrases, I’ve recently grown to like the Chinese Neo-Confucian term Cheng. Cheng can be translated as ‘the integrated cohesion of any natural living system’ and it also means ‘integrity, authenticity or sincerity’. Here’s Jeremy Lent’s useful description:
Modern systems biology explains how natural entities from cells to eco-systems achieve cohesion by a continuous dynamic process in which the separate elements interact to form a whole, while the system as a whole acts on each of the separate elements. This describes the Neo-Confucian concept of ‘cheng’: the inherent integrity of a coherent, self-organized system that both arises from and forms all subsystems within it. In Neo-Confucian thought, living according to cheng was a path to achieving spiritual fulfilment.
Jeremy Lent, The Patterning Instinct p.266
If we accept that Cheng describes a real phenomenon, it begs the question: ‘What does it mean for us as humans to act within the scope, or purview, of Cheng?’.
This is clearly a big topic, and one I’ll address in a future post. For now, though, one helpful clue might be as follows: seek ways to attend to what’s around you with relationship in mind, rather than distance, separation or control.
