Embodied Presence
"Art is the only revolutionary force in history," - Joseph Beuys
Like art, presencing is revolutionary and, as all art does, presencing—this coming into the being of Self—happens moment to moment.
The transformation of the social field is the art form of our current age.
Three artists in particular have influenced my presencing work. The first one is the 20th century German avant-garde artist quoted above: Joseph Beuys. His concept of the extended notion of art and his plastic theory deeply influenced all my thinking about social processes. It's at the ground of everything.
The second is the painter Mirjam Essen. For example, Selbst (Self) pictured to the right, shows how the opening process (open mind, open heart, open will) gives rise to the subtle birth of a second and less visible self (Self) that begins to emerge from transforming the old self.
A third artist who continues to influence my work is the dancer, choreographer and inventor of the Embodied Presence practice, Arawana Hayashi. Arawana also is a master meditation teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition and a co-founder of the Presencing Institute (PI). She leads, together with Beth Jandernoa and me, most of the current PI capacity building programs. She also leads the Social Presencing Theatre project at PI.
- Otto Scharmer
