CIRPIT REVIEW MONOGRAPHS n. 2 – 2015 Gabriele Goria Active Silence Reinventing spirituality through art-research CIRPIT REVIEW Intercultural Centre dedicated to Raimon Panikkar http://www.cirpit.raimonpanikkar.it Autorizzazione Tribunale di Milano n. 105 – 03 aprile 2013 © 2014 – MIMESIS EDIZIONI (Milano – Udine) www.mimesisedizioni.it Via Risorgimento, 33 – 20099 Sesto San Giovanni (MI) Telefono e fax: +39 02 89403935 E-mail: [email protected] CIRPIT REVIEW Comitato Direttivo / Board of Directors M. Roberta Cappellini (Cirpit President) Giuseppe Cognetti (Cirpit Vice-President – Siena Univ.) Anna Natalini (Cirpit General Secretary) Comitato Scientifico / Academic Board Giuseppe Cognetti (Univ. Siena) Young-Chan Ro (George Mason Univ. Washington, D.C.) Fred Dallmayr (Notre Dame University, Indiana) Errol D’Lima (Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune) Marcello Ghilardi (Univ. Padova) Mohamed Haddad (Université La Manouba Tunis) Jacob Parappally (Tejas Vidya Peetha Institute, Bangalore) Victorino Pérez Prieto (Univ. de Santiago de Compostela) Joseph Prabhu (California State University) Giorgio Taffon (Univ. Roma Tre) Luciano Mazzoni Benoni (Dir. Uni-versum) Achille Rossi (l’altrapagina) M. Roberta Cappellini (Presidente Cirpit) Direttore Responsabile / Editorial Director Aurelia Delfino Segreteria di Redazione / Editorial Office Gino Alberti To Father Anthony Elenjimittam Contents ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ CONTENTS 11 FOREWORD - by Kaija Kangas 13 PROLOGUE AND THANKS 14 INTRODUCTION 18 BEFORE 19 Art-pedagogy 23 Spirituality 29 PART ONE – MOVING THE SILENCE 30 WHY SILENCE? 33 Ling 35 LIVING THE SILENCE 37 Time perception 40 Perception of silence 42 Active silence 45 PLANNING 47 Preconceptions 53 Vipassana 57 MOVING THE SILENCE 59 Meditation 63 T’ai Chi Ch’üan 70 Orazio Costa mimic method 75 Creative interactions 78 PERFORMANCE 79 Rehearsals 81 Master silence 85 Basic structure 87 How can meditation be a performance? 91 How can a performance be meditation? 98 SILENCE PEDAGOGY 100 Teaching 104 Facilitating 108 Looking back and forward 110 PART TWO – HERMITS IN PROGRESS 111 WHY HERMITS? 119 PRACTICES Contents ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ 121 Contemplative practices 126 Body-mind energizing practices 131 Solitary artistic practices 135 RETREATS 136 Retreat 01 – Breathing in the Woods – September 2013 139 Retreat 02 – Urban Seclusion – October 2013 143 Retreat 03 – Roaming Contemplation – November 2013 146 Retreat 04 – Daily Mysticism – December 2013 149 Retreat 05 – Simple Living – January 2014 154 Retreat 06 – Walk your Path – February 2014 158 Retreat 07 – Meeting Hermits – March 2014 163 Retreat 08 – Homeless Night – May 2014 167 Retreat 09 – Full day Meditation – May 2014 171 Retreat 10 – Sharing Practices – June 2014 174 Retreat 11 – Living Forest – June 2014 178 Retreat 12 – Empty House – October 2014 183 MAKE YOUR RETREAT 192 Examples of rules 194 AFTER 195 Art-pedagogy 199 Spirituality 203 CONCLUSION 206 AFTERWORD – by Henri Järvinen Foreword 11 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Foreword You are holding a unique and special book in your hand. It is unique in many aspects. In western contemporary art the spiritual and religious elements exist primarily as cultural historical references, personal faith and religion being understood as the most private and intimate issues. It is indeed a brave and rare statement for an artist to confess that a spiritual quest is the foundation and basic element of his work. Born in a multi-religious family, Gabriele Goria started his own spiritual odyssey at a remarkably early age. He devoted his life to the practice of meditation and training in martial arts. Not a very common combination of activities for a young person. Drawing on his lifelong training in T’ai Chi Ch’üan and Ch’i Kung together with working on meditation techniques and philosophical and spiritual enquiry, Gabriele has developed his own approach to making and teaching theatre. In this book the writer describes vividly his long and multi- dimensional way from the crucifix of the Roman Catholic Church to Paramahansa Yogananda to arrive at a synthesis which he has named Experiential Pluralism. Gabriele Goria also tells us how naturally his multi-religious background and all his other interests form the basis for his creative work. In his two long-term projects Moving the Silence and Hermits in Progress, Gabriele Goria walks the talk: he is fearlessly testing his way of thinking in practice in very demanding surroundings. During these processes the complexity of different philosophical theories is embodied in movement and silence. It is interesting to follow a narrative, in which all words become useless, and making and teaching art and a personal spiritual search flow into a single process. Gabriele Goria writes about his own process in very honest and sincere words. The reader becomes convinced that Goria has a lifelong mission, which is anything but dogmatic and restrictive. His concept of Experiential Pluralism is a true and living ecumenism. What could our times need more! Foreword 12 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Gabriele may not like to be called exceptional or unique, but all I can say is that I’ve never met anyone like him. Kaija Kangas Actress – Lecturer in Theatre Pedagogy - Theatre Academy / University of the Arts of Helsinki Prologue and Thanks 13 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Prologue and Thanks I am grateful to Maria Roberta Cappellini and to the whole staff of CIRPIT (the intercultural centre dedicated to Raimon Panikkar), since they made possible the publication of the present work. Special thanks go to Ruth Henderson for her precious help in reviewing my English writing. I thank Miso Macura and Mikael Ahlfors for their beautiful pictures and Samuli Luhtala for the cover-image. A very unique thought goes to Mirjami Heikkinen and Maija Rissanen for their presence, trust, encouragement and love. I am grateful to my large family and in particular to my mother, who is always able to respect my silence. I thank my son for his young wisdom and my father for his sharp comments on my writing. My gratitude goes also to my dear friends and collaborators: Henri Järvinen, Daniela Falconi, Alberto Severi, Alessia Pratolongo, Giulia Randone, Armando Buonaiuto, Antonella Maina, Lisa Erdman, Francesco Susan and Maria Prokhorova; to Riitta Vainio for her enthusiastic support and participation; to my supervisor Kaija Kangas and to all the artists, hermits, nuns and monks who have sustained my project with their spiritual and professional advices. I thank my wonderful research-team: Tanja Eloranta, Gesa Piper, Saija Luukkonen, Harri Rantala, Jyri Sucksdorff, Joni Valtonen, Katerina Zherbina, Tero Kaunisvuo, Helena Romppanen, Katja Luhtala, Elio Messina, Renzo Mozzone, Clara Balaso, Björn Engdahl, Veera Turunen, Wioletta Anna Piascik and Elina Perttola. Finally, I want to thank my research-partner and precious friend Eerika Arposalo, without whom this work would be much poorer. Introduction 14 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Introduction Test all things, hold fast what is good. (Saint Paul) 1 Three years ago I began an exciting artistic research in the field of spirituality at the University of the Arts - Theatre Academy of Helsinki (TeaK) 2. I was still attending my Master’s studies and I could not even imagine that what seemed to be just a routine-schoolwork would become my vocation in life. I was supposed to develop a brief research, both practical and theoretical, by leading workshops and by analyzing my pupils’ feedbacks, on a topic of my choice. I decided to combine my passion for art with my love for meditation: the main aim of my research would be to look for meditative approaches to performing arts and on the other hand to maintain a creative attitude towards spiritual practices. Now, three years later, I realize that such research is undertaking a much wider mission than the mere development of creative interactions between different fields. In a very unusual way and with artistic sensitivity my research-team has been carrying on interreligious dialogue, by diving into solid artistic and spiritual traditions and by breaking their dogmas in order to reach their own essence. Passing through failures and exciting revelations, we have been contemplating the birth of what I have baptized as ‘Experiential Pluralism’: an artistic way of dealing with spiritual practices, respectful of their own philosophical backgrounds but still flexible and free from any religious boundary; an art of understanding different spiritual paths ‘from within’, by sharing practices and not just by the mere reading of books; a place where people like me, with a multilayered spiritual background and the difficulty of choosing one single path and worldview, can find a direction or at least encouragement and support in their own spiritual search. In this book I will describe the whole experience from my own personal point of view, as I was a participant in and the leader of the research-project. Even though the following pages may look like the tale of a lonely researcher, I have been blessed by the active collaboration of many companions: our research-team is currently composed of artists, monks, 1 1Thessalonians, 5, 21 2 I attended the Master’s degree programme in Theatre Pedagogy (2011-2013) Introduction 15 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯