Something I just came across…
Alan Seale, in Create a World that Works ( a book I haven’t read, and no doubt should) described four levels of engagement with experience – from the most easily accessible to the most creative:
Drama – the blow-by-blow, he-said-she-said reliving of events, in a breathless spin of emotional reactions.
Situation – setting out to solve the problem and fix things.
Choice – choosing how to relate to a situation, who to be or what role to play.
Opportunity – seeing what change is possible.
It doesn’t take much of a mental leap to see this as a very handy framework for looking at our questions to the oracle – ways that readings can become more creative. Indeed, the introductory articles I’ve been reading on these ‘four levels’ (like this one) often characterise them in terms of what questions we’re asking.
You can imagine…
Drama: ‘What is he doing? How does he feel about me? What will they do next?’
Situation: ‘How can I make this work? How can I solve this?’
Choice: ‘What is my role? How best to relate to this?’
Opportunity – and here I’m simply ‘borrowing’ directly: ‘What is the opportunity here? What wants to happen?’
‘Situation’ questions are probably the ones I most often ask, but those ‘Choice’ and ‘Opportunity’ questions strike me as intriguing ways to open up the conversation with Yi and invite a new way of seeing. (Also as things Yi might tell me anyway – something I’ll be altogether more likely to notice if I’ve consciously asked the question.)
People’s descriptions of the levels seem to come with a coating of judgement we’d probably be better off without. The lowly ‘Drama’ or ‘Situation’ levels may just be where we are, and basic questions like ‘What’s he doing?’ or ‘What can I do?’ may just be the ones we’re asking. (And solemnly choosing a ‘better’ question for Yi that’s not the one you’re really asking now is a splendid recipe for confusion.)
Still… when I have the mental space to contemplate, or when I’m asking a whole string of questions about the same situation, I think I’ll come back to this and try asking from different ‘levels of awareness’.
