Can you SAN?
SAN (Sarvanumati) is a technology of decision making with full consent of those involved. This means, no decision or action is taken till everyone doesn’t consent to it. The ‘it’ here could be just two people or an entire group or even you yourself (looking at several parts of yourself). Either ways it seems hard. So the question is CAN you SAN?
Let us start with yourself. Are you just one person or are there voices within you? Are there different parts that want different things? Parts which constantly negotiate and haggle till a decision is reached? If you are like other self-aware people, you must have encountered the various parts of your being. SAN begins within. Choose any one decision to begin with. Before you act on it, take time to listen to all the parts of your being respond to that decision. Tune into your body and sensations. Do you feel an alignment or congruence? If not, do not take the decision yet.
SAN takes time and internal SAN is no different. If you give this time though, the decision that you come up with is so congruent that you do not need any extra, external motivation to act on it. It is a decision grounded in clarity. It is a decision that has your whole being aligned. And hence, it is a decision that you completely own. Acting on such decisions is easy because no part of you is fighting itself. The decision is coming from the whole of you.
That is one of the features of SAN. It evokes wholeness. The whole of you, the whole of a relationship and the whole of the group body get involved. And hence, one could say that the whole truth (or closest that one could get to it) also gets evoked. In this wholeness is health. (the origin of the word health itself is whole). In this wholeness is also truth, because all perspectives are present.
The next place to move to is your relationships. In relationships, the use of force is common. We are constantly pushing and nudging each other to do things, trying to coerce or seduce, trying to argue or convince. Either ways, any use of force means SAN is not present. Where SAN is present, force is not. With that as a thumb rule, can you begin a study circle on a decision with a loved one? In a study circle, you discuss a decision in all its dimensions. You surface your own insecurities, challenges and fears. You take time to find common ground.
The product of a study circle is knowledge. This knowledge is fresh and emergent, not stale. It doesn’t sit with experts or books, it has been locally harvested by the people involved in the process itself. It is actionable knowledge that forms the basis for SAN. It is this knowledge that is precious and can only be generated in the intersubjective space. Knowledge of this type has an energetic quality and is often oral rather than written. It is very contextual and loses its energy if it is abstracted. It is based on a real problem and hence grounded in the reality of the people inolved. The key to generating SAN between any two people is this type of knowledge.
From my first hand experience, I can assert the value of such study in a relationship. The mutual unfolding of wisdom that occurs when problems are subject to study is amazing. The actions taken on a shared base are harmonious and collectively congruent. It is the joy of taking a step together, not because of one another but truly independently and together. A relationship built on such decisions and actions has a solid ground. Moreover, the culture of dialogue and discussion leading to SAN also cements the relationship very strongly.
As an experiment then, try SAN once in each of your closest relationship. Have the patience required to dialogue and discuss and apply all you know. SAN tests patience and to that extent it can be seen as a spiritual practice. It is love not in theory but as lived. It is this expression of love that we are inviting you to make. It may seem tough but its fruits are delicious.
Then finally comes SAN in groups. This is the next level of complexity and needs to be experienced to be believed. Over the last three years we at Blue Ribbon Movement have gone on an intensive journey of this. To know more, we invite you to join our campaign Sarvanumati : Our experiment with Love. Come and discover this technology that has potential to birth love and harmony on this planet!