We live in times where there is much turmoil about masculinities and femininities. Here I focus on the archetypal dimensions of these terms. In these dimensions, Masculine-Feminine is a polarity that must be resolved in a movement of dissolution. Ancient ritual dances were these movements of transformative dissolution. In dance we do not simply balance this polarity, rather we allow for the emergence of an embodied intelligence that is other and beyond the polarities. This emergence is conditional upon the ongoing dance of dissolution. In other words, it is not a conclusion or a destination.

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As I prepare for my intensive on the Rasa or archetypal practice of Unease, I have encountered a dimension of many of the Deities of this sensation which intrigues me—solitude. Deities of Unease such as Mahakala and Dhumavathi are explicitly dwellers of solitudinous domains including cremation grounds and forests.

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I have always been curious when people are advised to “return” to their former states of being after sessions of meditation or some other inquiry practices including dance. And this has seemed rather self-defeating when the intention of these practices is transformation and not returning to status quo.

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In ancient Body-led philosophies, creative energies are associated with the material domains. Aesthetic or artistic expressions are about Body, senses, beauty, pleasure, Earth, and our manifest existence. Sometimes these have been associated with “Rakshasa” consciousness, which evolved from a sense of Body-centred awareness to demonic sensitivity, as philosophies rejected Body as sacred and intelligent.

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Recently I have been watching the Netflix documentary series on food. Much of the series presents things we already know about the industrialisation of food and water and its devastating impacts on environments and life. I sensed the ancient Natya Sastra warning of the descent into barbarism in the mountains of plastic that litter Earth.

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The ancient pre-Vedic and Vedic people had sophisticated insight into the movement of Consciousness (as Reality) that is typical of the ancient peoples of many cultures. Their ritual, artistic and creative invocations of Consciousness allowed for Self-inquiry that connected the intimate and the cosmic is wondrous and powerful ways.

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The Earth is the macrocosmic Body that distils the intelligence of Reality in all Her manifestations. She brings into form what nourishes and supports the constellation of Truth/Reality and removes what is not necessary in this time. This mirrors the digestive process in our microcosmic Bodies.

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I sense the intimacy of the unease at individual levels. I sense the so-called optimistic returning- to-what-used-to-be stance as escapist. I also sense the mystical emergence of a new order as equally escapist. The truth, as always, is something in between. The radical unease and disintegration may hold within it the emergence of another approach to life. However, we may have to develop skills to dwell in the unease without the duality of escape or suffering of catharsis. Because either of those extremes may not provide the energy to recognise the radical emergent intelligence, if indeed this is a possibility.

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Unease is a humble sensation. It does not have the drama of fear or the poignancy of grief. It is a lurking sensation in our bodies, an aversion or revulsion that does not command the respect that fear begets.

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Mystery has largely become a romantic notion in our times. Having disconnected it from ancient ritual traditions, mystery becomes a sort of aspirational space for everything we desire, and we do not always find in our ordinary lives.

Ancient ritual traditions that invoked mystery inevitably had rather ferocious deities. This signaled something about the nature of mystery and its experience in our consciousness.

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