my experience in Inner Space, Manila- JOAN

This is the my recount of what happened at Inner Space Manila, September 18, Saturday.

Gaggles of laughter streamed out of the room as I entered the studio of Inner Space Manila. A comfortable atmosphere welcomed me and my classmates as we fell in line to register our names on the front desk. We chose our seats and started joining the talking and laughing that filled the room. The noise stopped when Sister Lucy Perez went in front & introduced herself. When she started talking, the students became quiet to listen to her. On a light tone, she asked why we suddenly seemed shy when we were already enjoying ourselves talking to each other. She continued addressing us, talking about how Inner Space Manila was formed. Inner Space Manila is a branch of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. It is a place where you do meditation, knowing yourself, and such. Our purpose at that time was a creativity workshop. Sister Lucy noticed me smiling and asked me to stand with her in front. She asked me why I was smiling and I told her on the microphone, that it felt good being there. She asked me why I was there, at Inner Space, and I answered truthfully that it was a required activity that our professor prepared for her art studies classes. She did not take in the answer negatively (I assumed that she knows that, too.) and addressed the rest of the audience about how it is good that I told the truth. Then, she said something encouraging: that it was still our own choices that brought us to that place. If we did not want to, even if it was an academic requirement, we would not have come. That was true. And it felt good to hear her saying this.  She continued addressing us and asking other students after I returned to my seat. After a while, a song played as Sister Lucy persuaded us to dance and move our bodies to practice being flexible, a characteristic of someone creative. Inner peace lets you flex with changes. Even in dancing, it can be seen how deep you are at peace. (Let me explain that I call her Sister Lucy because they treat each other as brothers & sisters in their institution.) Ma’am Corpuz came in with the rest of her students and the place became more lively as some of the students went in front and showed their dance moves. Sister Lucy told us to do other dance moves, show our originality. Originality develops creativity, you see.

Wonder Child

Do you remember when you were still seven-year-olds? Do you remember the emotions you feel? The curiosity that wells up inside you? How do you express yourself?

Sister Lucy asked us to group ourselves into three, all the members from different classes. She asked us to think as if we were seven-year-olds. The she asked us to think of a name we would have preferred as seven-year-olds. The names are our very own wonder child.

When we were just seven-year-olds, we always wanted to create. Whether by drawing or painting, by sculpting using play dough, by using our imagination. We express ourselves loudly and in a wide range. Our movements are not limited. We feel happy with just what we have. We still have inner peace. We are still ourselves.

As we grow older, we forgot what we used to do. Our actions became limited. We became conscious of the social realm where our movements might be judged. We stop being creative for fear of criticism. We stopped being a person. The society shapes our being by stripping us of our creativity. Sure, we still draw. We draw using rulers, stencils, and other tools that make our lines limited. The infinite possibility of what we can create on our drawings when we were young became bounded by the characteristics of materials things.  For example:

I got an example from ‘The Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint Exupéry. See how a child can transform a seemingly ordinary material to an unusual one? This is the power of the wonder child.

Listening and Imagining

The old version of the song “When You Wish upon a Star” from the Disney movie Pinocchio played. Pieces of paper containing the song were given to us as we listened, followed, and sang with the song.

To appreciate further our being wonder children at the moment, Sister Lucy read us a story.

                “Joni is an elf. Being an elf, he knew all the secrets of ‘being’. Because he knew all the secrets, he was given a mission. He needs to share it to the snamuh. The Snamuhs are selfish. They only care about material things. Joni was given a snamuh family where he should share his secrets. He was born in a royal family of the snamuh and given the name Farquhar. Now Farquhar tried to share his secret to his parents. But they were always busy ‘doing’. They would always send Farquhar to his room. They would even hit him when he forced them to try to listen to him. Farquhar’s parents had curses. His father was always being bothered by the little ghost of Harriet perched on his shoulder. Harriet is his father’s mother. She always commanded him to DO. When Farquhar’s father stops, Harriet would scream continuously until his father returns to doing. Farquhar’s father grew restless so he did everything to acquire a potion to stop his heart. Because of the potion, his father did not feel anything even from Harriet’s demands. On the other hand, his mother has a lightbulb on her forehead. The lightbulb always flashes to remind Farquhar’s mother to DO. Soon, Farquhar grew and forgot about his mission. He grew and did. Then he tried using his father’s potion. Because he was using this potion, he was sent to a Snamuh hospital. As he lay down at the hospital, his memories of being an elf returned to him. He remembered his mission. When he opened his eyes, Joni had his soul back.”

The story was left open ended for us to continue it. Different outcomes came from the groups. The general ideas were similar but the details had variations:

One group said: “No longer Farquhar but still in a Snamuh body, Joni started to continue his mission. First, he went to his mother and smashed the lightbulb on her forehead. His mother would not be reminded anymore about doing. They went after his father and took the rest of the potion from him to give it to Harriet. Harriet would stop feeling so she would not bother his father any longer. Because his parents did not need to DO anymore, they began to listen to him. And Joni successfully shared his secrets to his Snamuh family.”

Another one said: “Farquhar went to his mother and broke he lightbulb. Then he faced his father and broke his potion container. He picked up a shard piece and stabbed Harriet. Then, his mother and father listened to him and he completed his mission.”

Another said: “Farquhar took the rest of his father’s concoction and gave it to Harriet. Then he told his secret to his father. Together, they went to his mother just as the light out of his mother’s bulb went off. Then they shared the secret to his mother and he completed his mission.”

Hearint the different versions of the continuation of the story entertained us and even made us laugh. See how creative we can get if we wanted to?

Creativity on paper

After the storytelling, was the most prepared for segement of the workshop. The one we thought we would be doing the whole time we were there: painting. Sister Lucy  asked us to each paint a tree before she bid us goodbye early because she had another important meeting to deal with. We bid her goodbye and continued thinking how to start. Using watercolor on watercolor papers, we painted our trees. Different colors, different shapes and sizes. All creative. One looked like it was burning. One looked like an ice cream. One was portrayed swaying with the wind. Another looked like it was running with the wind. Another was done on crumpled paper. I remember a pink tree with a yellow trunk. The colors of the leaves were taken from cherry blossoms. My tree was colored brown, green, and blue.

Now those trees are what we call the products of our creativity.

As a parting present to all of us, we each received a quotation, either an affirmation or a reminder for us. We listened one last time to “When You Wish upon a Star”, now the version by Jesse McCartney.

When You Wish Upon A Star

When you wish upon a star

Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires will come to you

If your heart is in your dream

No request is too extreme

When you wish upon a star as dreamers do

Fate is kind

She brings to those who love

The sweet fufillmetn of their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue

Fate steps in and sees you through

When you wish upon a star

Your dreams come true