A Deeper Side of Dance (#1)

by Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz

No doubt, the last century has witnessed one of the most remarkable spiritual movements in human history: the rise of the "12-step" groups originally associated with Alcoholic Anonymous. Worldwide, these groups have helped more people addicted to various substances than all other therapies combined.

From a spiritual point of view, their appeal and success stem from a simple proposition: human beings achieve health in relation to each other and their environment by surrendering to a "Higher Power," however defined. In his visionary poem-cycle "The Jerusalem Trilogy," Murshid Samuel L. Lewis, founder of the Dances says something similar. To free itself from the chains of both material-economic and mental-ideological domination and oppression, humanity needs to recognize the divine. To achieve truly universal peace, we need to remember that we live, breathe and move in a Sacred Universe. Everything that prevents us from feeling this Unity is "addictive" to use the current term. Buddhism might call it "samsara," Hinduism "maya" and Sufism "hijab."

Critics have also taken the Twelve Step groups to task over the past several years for limiting the horizon of their members: in this model, an addict usually identifies her/himself as an addict forever. This should not diminish the groups' accomplishment, however. No other spiritual movement in modern times has communicated to so many people both the necessity of surrender to the divine and the limitation that we all face as part of the human condition.

While it is popular in some circles to view human material possibility as unlimited, in reality we do have limits which are set by our environment. Human material prosperity directly impacts the health and diversity of our ecosystem.

In addition, as we face each other in the Dance circle, we bring all of our family and cultural history with us. The miracle of the Dances initially makes it possible for us to leave this behind for an hour or two, but the more one Dances, the more we are called upon to transform this "family" history, in its larger or smaller context.

And here we face the unique challenge of the Dances. Older forms of meditation called for little interpersonal contact. In sitting across the room from you with my eyes closed, I did not have to include you in my "spiritual experience." The Dances ask us to touch, embrace and move with each other, keeping both the personal and transpersonal dimensions of our beings balanced in the heart. In Murshid Samuel Lewis's visionary revolution of group spiritual practice, you and I are in this together. I am constantly challenged to bring my realization into the deepest aspects of my being, including my touch.

How many of us can say that we have had universally healthy experiences of touch in our lives? No one needs to do a questionnaire on this topic. Daily news reports overwhelm us with the extent of the "addictive" quality of touch in Western culture. Just as we are not educated to touch nature with respect, we don't have many models for ways to touch each other--or ourselves--with respect.

In this area lies one of the greatest possibilities of the Dances. The heart can hold the feelings of clinging and freedom, abuse and respect. addiction and detachment, sexual passion and unconditional love. The heart that is willing to become wide enough, and which is not afraid to break, can accept all of these feelings and realize that it has a choice. The Dances provide fertile soil for this growth of the heart, if we do not simply settle for a good time.

Both Dance leaders and Dancers who create this soil from the compost of their living experiences can become teachers of healthy touch for all who enter the circle. If we don't do it, who will?

Of course, this subject also takes us into the area of Dance ethics. This subject often gets sidetracked into talk about judicial due process, authority, law and bureaucracy. Our past history and cultural inheritance also influence our views of these areas. In fact, if the history of every spiritual group of the past two decades teaches us anything, the mere presence of high spiritual ideals does not insure against the abuse of intimacy, Perhaps you begin to see why the Twelve Step groups propose that we surrender to a "higher power."

In formulating new guidelines for teachers of the Dances, many of us have wrestled with these issues. We have committed ourselves to lifelong education in healthy touch and intimacy, an education that can only take place when we keep our hearts open, against all odds. With all of this in view, the new guidelines try to break through the denial that we are not affected by our personal and cultural karma, but at the same time affirm that we will continue to move toward the most profound realization of our dharma. In part, the new guidelines for teachers read:

"We recognize that we are all, leaders and dancers, affected by the less healthy parts of our culture around issues of money, sex and power. We are all in this together and no one is exempt from these influences of our society. We also recognize that mistakes and accidents happen. In this regard, we will continue our own process of healing and surrendering to the Only Being. At the same time, out of respect for the Dances of Universal Peace, for ourselves and for those who dance with us, we regard ourselves as responsible to act in the most ethical manner possible at all times. We will uphold basic ethical guidelines common to the precepts of all sacred paths and religions."

In short, there is no separate salvation. We all stand, fall or dance as a circle.