Social Self-Inquiry (SSI) session...
Words cannot express the complexity
of our intentions. From the time we first chatter, we are both served and
enslaved by a lifetime of bewildering experiences, according to how well
we communicate in and with words. Social self-inquiry (SSI) seeks to facilitate
a process where we can individually and collectively achieve an embodied
sense of connection through open dialogue. By engaging in a conversation
where both spoken and unspoken cues matter equally, the level of miscommuni-cation
fades and a felt-sense of congruency is tapped by the group.
Intrinsic to our development is
a tendency to vary, diversify and ultimately fragment our focus for the
sake of understanding the world we live in. This takes us to a place where
every this and every that "compete" to capture a sharehold of our attention,
as we subjectively weight them according to their usefulness and value to
us. This dynamic sets up a political atmosphere of alienation. SSI affords
group members an opportunity to recalibrate their internal bias by recognizing
it's presence in everyday conversation. The insights that emerge connect
the inner and outer lives of the group members beyond the confines of the
session. It is through this process that each individual can begin to realize
the how the quality of his or her own consciousness has both a direct and
indirect influence on others. 
What we recognize as "self"
determines how we arrange our lives from the smallest aspects of survival
to the greatest disciplines of spirituality. The innovative psychoanalyst
Trigant Burrow revealed two distinct neurophysiological states of attention
that arise in the individual according to what he or she references as "self".
Burrow coined two words to name these states of attention: ditention, for
fragmented attention created by the predominantly disembodied, symbolic
"self"; and cotention, for the immediate attention and coherent living of
the "self" that recognizes its existential level.
SSI asks every group member to actively assess the degree and
extent their culture has influenced how they express them-"selves". This
requires actively looking at and experiencing the layers of unexpressed
and unrecognized assumptions embedded in each one's embodied history.
Rather than feeling attacked or coerced to participate, the group sets
a tone of cooperation whereby everyone can learn to inquire within themselves
-- mind and body -- prior to, during and after their interactions. In
a sense, an SSI session serves as a practical training ground, a living
laboratory, preparing group members for a new society - a society of more
direct and genuine communication, less fragmented attention, and a clearer
understanding of who we are.