INTERVIEWS

An Interview of Markus Alexander by Carrie Macleod

Art making involves a certain level of mystery. What is the relationship between mystery and phenomenology, which is essentially based on the notion of the phenomenon, that which shows itself to us?

Perhaps what bridges phenomenology and mystery is the arts. Isn't the role of the arts to give us a vehicle for moving through the mystery, a way to embody the mystery, a way to actively participate in the mystery as a co-creator of any phenomena that takes us closer to It, that takes us farther into It, isn't It the mystery, and when we say It arrived, isn't that another kind of tangibility of what is in the room? Isn’t It arriving a phenomena? In that moment, the mystery of the intangible phenomena becomes somehow tangible, and isn't that what we are going for? To touch the intangible mystery just enough to tease It out of hiding.

Explain more how you see teasing It out of hiding?

Isn't mystery just veiled reality? Coaxing It to emerge, and wooing something delicate through reverence, respect, delicateness, joy. Isn't all of that wooing unfolding more subtle levels of life and living? Again subtlety becomes the key to unlock this mystery that is wanting to be entered into, wanting to be unveiled, wanting to be found out. Deeper levels of reality require a finer attunement with all of the mechanisms involved in the 'entering into' process. Why else would we take creative expression seriously if not because of its protective garb? Isn't mystery what we call naked truth that is covered by the habitual perception of the conventional mind?

So if there is an "entering into" mystery, is there also a delicate process for "moving out of" through the Expressive Arts?

In a way, the actual act of moving into mystery demystifies it. The normalization of something that was magical before automatically integrates it at least to some degree into the person's world on a conscious level. This is a healthy deromanticizing of mystery. A consistent willingness to demystify one's relationship with reality is not only grounding but increases the chances of us constantly entering the mystery and integrating the reality of what we've discovered, and moving on again and again. It's never ending. In the old days I referred to it as the marriage of the sacred and the mundane.

So therefore would you say that a deeper knowing of oneself correlates with opening up a deeper mystery of oneself? And can the Expressive Arts create a space for both to happen simultaneously?

The word that comes to mind is surrender. Yes, I give myself to something whether it's the painting or the dance or the infinite or delicate Meaning. In giving myself to It in a way, inspiration is having It's way with me, through me, or as me. My least favorite of those is the concept of through me. I don't think that's quite true or accurate. It somehow leaves out my role as a skillful being to give It form. So 'as' me seems more correct. I change, and I as It informs as an evolving me, whether I'm in an artistic discipline or not.

You use the word surrender, change or evolve. Can you describe how you have surrendered to your own evolution as an Expressive Arts practitioner?

As long as I'm consistently willing to let what I deem important or essential move around in a hierarchy of value, I will change and develop as a practitioner and a teacher. Surrender implies a hands off attitude with at least one significant component of the development process. Of course, some of my choices are quite conscious. And ultimately my decision to surrender to my deepest knowing is what keeps me and my work fresh, honest and evolving. When I'm not fresh it's usually because an old agenda is given more value than whatever is showing up in the new context. This consistent discipline of respecting past successes as just that - past successes, gives me both the confidence to know that I'm capable of succeeding and a clear directive to move forward so that the very thing that caused the past success will be in motion. So there are two main currents. The involvement of the accumulated wisdom, experience and developing skill as well as the movement of an agile sense of how to bring this accrued ability forward in the right next subtle new way, and in some rare cases significantly new way.

So how would you differentiate between accumulated wisdom and using your intuition as an Expressive Arts practitioner?

The first is intuition that's been proven.

What would you say the ultimate meaning and purpose of this work is for you now?

As a way to cultivate newness.

Is this purpose different with community art making and individual clients or is it the same?

Moving a group forward in newness is more complex. There are more variables and more unknowns. If it's a group that is consistently the same and meets regularly, then it increases the chances that the movement forward will be similar to working with an individual. If a group shares a singularity and purpose, the cohesiveness makes it easier to have one string going that everyone will be flowing in. Spontaneity for both the individual and the group can and must include new structures to accommodate the evolving expression. The challenge is then to constantly renew the framework for newness to build upon. Transparency in a group, that is a consistent willingness for everyone to put their cards on the table as best they can, increases the chances that the facilitator will make choices that match the needs of the group. This of course is also true for the individual. Of course it's possible to have a very protected individual and a very open group, which would then make working with the individual more difficult than working in a group context. It all just requires consistent and profound paying attention to all the basics of the unfolding process.

So what would you say the role of the Expressive Arts is in playing with the tension between discovering new meaning for our lives and accessing what is already there?

Being rooted in what we know and having those roots move deeper and deeper through what we know through the creative act will show up in its mirrored reflection above ground.

How do we know if we are rooted in what we know?

If there's nurture in it. Even if it's seeing something difficult, there's a tender appreciation to touch something and be touched by something that has meaning and value.

What have been some of the most nurturing moments for you as an Expressive Arts practitioner in the last twenty years?

There are thousands of nurturing moments, thousands of nurturing moments with individual clients and students at EGS, the symposiums, and during my quiet reflective time. Perhaps what is common to all of these moments is seeing how openness is not entered into, it's created. The co-creation of delicate and delightful openness over and over creates a rarified atmosphere and I breathed that rarified atmosphere a lot. Sometimes it looks like the incredible abandon that can happen at a symposium during a night of spontaneous revelry, it's like falling in love. I remember falling in love with a musical instrument I picked up in the midst of a jam session in Germany. It took me to such playful new places I'm sure it was quite obvious what was happening to me. The person who owned the instrument insisted on giving it to me. It continues to be one of my favorite instruments. In contrast to that, the profound nurture of stillness in an individual or group setting, while It is on the way is so deeply nurturing. Tending the It, it's a wholesome act like nursing a baby. The variety of opportunities that this work gives us for profound nurture is mind boggling. Taking on difficulties and challenges in the work when approached with an open hearted keenness strengthens our resolve to find nurture in the essence of all genuine desires to express something that is newly emerging.

I love the artful mystery of coincidence. Just last week I pulled into a parking lot and at the same time, a good friend who I knew twelve years ago in an entirely different city pulled up right beside me and we both headed into the same store at exactly the same moment. I delight in these synergized moments and although this one seemed like a "big" one at the time, they are happening everywhere, all the time, throughout each day. Every finely tuned function in our body reflects this synergy of mystery. Muscles contract and expand in each moment, breath is constantly responding to our movement, and the mind is responding to the breath. The mysteries are infinite. I think the Expressive Arts can make visible, audible and tactile connections to these every day mysteries. Other than through my direct experiences with the Expressive Arts, the only other time that I experience such a heightened awareness of this mystery is when I'm sick, or something goes drastically "wrong" and disrupts the familiar rhythms of ongoing daily events. It is a shame to wait for sickness or something to go "wrong" to shed light on the constant mysteries that dwell within us and around us all of the time. Rather than depending on disruption or sickness to be a wake up call, creatively exploring how mystery penetrates through every layer of our being seems like a much more holistic way to identify the incredible intricacies of life that are always with us. As I tune myself in to the multiple layers of mystery in the areas of life that are deemed as simply being "mundane," I can start to expect that the art of mystery will continue to unfold again and again. Focusing on this eloquence that exists everywhere is a way to constantly nurture the beauty of our existence.