🇭🇷 Cijeli tekst na hrvatskom jeziku nalazi se u nastavku, a engleski prijevod čeka vas na dnu stranice.
🇬🇧 The complete Croatian text is below; the English translation awaits you at the bottom of the page
🇭🇷Kada svjesnost postane još jedan program: paradoks kontrole i slobode u argentinskom tangu
Najčešće nastojimo razumjeti svoju poslovnu okolinu, zatim aktivnosti kojima se bavimo i načine na koje one funkcioniraju. Tražimo svoje mjesto u postojećim obrascima, nastojeći im se prilagoditi, osjetiti vlastitu vrijednost i možda biti prihvaćeni, ne preispitujući pritom nužno njihovu istinitost. Zatim nastojimo razumjeti sve oko sebe. Tek poslije okrećemo se sebi i pokušavamo razumjeti gdje stojimo jer nam se čini da ne napredujemo. Pritom i samo preispitivanje možemo doživjeti kao dokaz osobnog i društvenog osvještavanja, a da nismo prepoznali obrasce unutar kojih se ono odvija. No, možda je naš GPS prisutnosti pritom isključen.
Automatsko reagiranje i zaokupljenost mislima dovode do gubljenja kontakta s onim što se događa upravo sada. Neprestano objašnjavamo ono što mislimo da jest. Vraćamo se u stanje TV novele – automatski reagiramo na stres, vrtimo scene iz prošlosti, zamišljamo buduće rasplete i gubimo dodir s trenutkom sadašnjosti. Ponavljamo ista ponašanja, a komercijalizacija i riječi okoline vode nas u san o onome što mislimo da stvarnost jest.
Nismo tu, ali smo putnici. Krećemo se kroz događanja, putovanja i aktivnosti, možda tražeći povezanost sa sobom i drugima, a pritom se sve više udaljavamo od stvarnog susreta. Ispunjavamo vrijeme na sve moguće načine, no jesmo li doista prisutni u onome što živimo?
Osmijeh, topla riječ i prisutnost bez unaprijed zadanih bajkovitih uloga, poput onih Princeze i žapca ili Trnoružice, otvaraju vrata nama samima i drugima, onima s kojima sudjelujemo u kreiranju plesnih priča.
Svjesnost je sposobnost neosuđujućeg promatranja vlastitih misli, osjećaja, tjelesnih senzacija i okoline u sadašnjem trenutku. Često prevođena i kao mindfulness ili puna prisutnost, ona predstavlja mirni, budni dio našeg uma koji samo registrira ono što jest, bez donošenja prosudbi i zaključaka. U čemu je onda zamka? Kada se konačno okrenemo sebi, mi to često radimo istim onim alatima kojima smo optimizirali posao: analizom, kategorizacijom, strategijom i ciljevima. Želimo "popraviti" sebe kao što popravljamo poslovni proces. Taj napor – to neprestano tumačenje i pokušaj kontrole – zapravo je nastavak programa. Kada je opažanje isključeno, a tumačenje aktivno, mentalni tok preuzima glavnu ulogu, a opaženo više ne dopire do naše svjesne pažnje jer je um zaokupljen.
Pojam program općenito označava unaprijed smišljeni plan, raspored ili skup uputa za postizanje nekog cilja. Onog trenutka kada um preuzme kontrolu nad svjesnošću i pretvori je u još jedan projekt, zadatak ili algoritam za postizanje produktivnosti ili smirenosti, ona prestaje biti svjesnost i postaje program. Kada si "na programu", ti zapravo ne živiš stvarnost, već njezinu interpretaciju; više ne vidiš čovjeka ispred sebe i ne osjećaš trenutak, već igraš uloge iz bajki, glumeći žrtvu ili čekajući spasenje. Izlazak iz programa nije u novoj analizi ili novoj knjizi o samopomoći, što bi bio samo novi podprogram, već u prekidu tumačenja. Biti svjestan da si "tek na programu" zapravo je prvi, najvažniji korak koji označava da je tvoj GPS prisutnosti upravo poslao prvi signal.
U čemu je onda stvarna zamka?
Kada se konačno okrenemo sebi, mi to često radimo istim onim alatima kojima smo optimizirali posao: analizom, kategorizacijom, strategijom i ciljevima. Želimo "popraviti" sebe kao što popravljamo poslovni proces. Taj napor – to neprestano tumačenje i pokušaj kontrole – zapravo je nastavak programa. Zato je naš GPS prisutnosti isključen; iako se bavimo sobom, nismo zapravo tu. Kada si "na programu", ti zapravo ne živiš stvarnost, već njezinu interpretaciju. Opažanje je isključeno, a tumačenje aktivno: više ne vidiš čovjeka ispred sebe i ne osjećaš trenutak, već si zaokupljen svojom naracijom o njemu ili o sebi. Vrtiš se u petlji prošlosti i budućnosti, igrajući uloge iz bajki, čekajući princa, spasenje ili glumeći žrtvu. Postaješ putnik u snu, pasivni promatrač vlastitog automatizma, dok vrijeme prolazi, a ti ga samo "ispunjavaš".
Um s lakoćom može brendirati svjesnost (mindfulness) i pretvoriti je u suptilan alat za kontrolu. Um kaže: "Sada ću prakticirati svjesnost kako bih bio produktivniji, smireniji ili bolji." Onog trenutka kada svjesnost postane sredstvo za postizanje nekog cilja i unaprijed smišljenog plana, ona prestaje biti svjesnost i postaje program. Pravi mindfulness nema cilj – on je samo mirni, budni dio uma koji registrira ono što jest, bez osuđivanja i bez potrebe da išta promijeni. Izlazak iz programa nije u novoj analizi ili novoj knjizi o samopomoći, što bi bio samo novi podprogram, već u prekidu tumačenja. Kada se odmakneš od svojih misli i samo promatraš – bez potrebe da popravljaš, objašnjavaš ili kontroliraš – program gubi svoju moć. Tek tada se otvaraju vrata za tebe i za ljude oko tebe koji s tobom kreiraju plesne priče. Biti svjestan da si "tek na programu" zapravo je prvi, najvažniji korak. To znači da je tvoj GPS prisutnosti upravo poslao prvi signal.
U Tango Argentino taj obrazac možemo prepoznati kroz način na koji pristupamo učenju, napretku i samom plesu. Netko upisuje tango zbog privlačnosti plesa, netko zbog društva, netko zbog želje da nauči određene figure, a netko zbog mentalne slike o tome što bi dobar plesač trebao biti. Sami motivi nisu problem; pitanje je prepoznajemo li ih i jesmo li još uvijek u kontaktu sa stvarnim iskustvom plesa. Možemo godinama učiti figure, usavršavati tehniku, mijenjati učitelje i tražiti nove sadržaje. Možemo imati jasnu predodžbu o tome što znači dobro plesati i prema kojim se mjerilima napreduje. No, jesmo li pritom razvili vlastiti osjećaj kvalitete? Osjećamo li kontakt, disanje i vlastiti oslonac? Primjećujemo li osobu s kojom plešemo i njezine reakcije, ili smo toliko zaokupljeni onime što želimo izvesti da nam promiče ono što se stvarno događa između nas.
Napredak postavljen kao vanjsko mjerilo – kroz broj figura, sati vježbanja, seminara, učitelja ili prijeđenih stupnjeva – lako može postati zamka uspjeha. Što se događa kada osoba, unatoč svemu tome, izgubi interes ili osjeti da ne napreduje? Najčešće traži novu metodu ili zajednicu, a da još nije istražila što se događa u njezinu vlastitom unutrašnjem iskustvu. Ples nije samo mehaničko izvođenje naučenih pokreta. U njemu dvije osobe aktivno sudjeluju u stvaranju priče koja se ne može unaprijed potpuno isplanirati. Naučena figura može biti tehnički identična, ali njezino živo ostvarenje ovisi isključivo o prisutnosti, osjetljivosti i prilagodljivosti osoba koje je plešu. Upravo se tu otvara ključna razlika između slijepog ponavljanja programa i njegova živog korištenja. Nije problem u tome što nešto znamo, planiramo ili želimo ostvariti; pitanje je možemo li, uz sve što znamo, još uvijek opažati, osluškivati i odgovarati na ono što se događa upravo sada.
Maestri nam otvaraju vrata. Njihovo znanje, iskustvo i način na koji nam prenose ples mogu proširiti naše razumijevanje glazbe, pokreta, tehnike i različitih mogućnosti izražavanja. Plesne zajednice mogu dodatno obogatiti to iskustvo kroz susrete, razmjenu i zajedničko stvaranje. No, vrata koja su nam otvorena nisu nužno granice unutar kojih moramo ostati zarobljeni. Ponekad se toliko čvrsto vežemo uz određeni način plesnog izražavanja, naučeni pristup ili zajednicu da zaboravimo kako su nam oni trebali omogućiti daljnje slobodno istraživanje, a ne odrediti sve što ples za nas može biti. Umjesto da nam stečeno znanje proširuje vidike, počinjemo prema njemu kruto procjenjivati sebe, druge i vrijednost vlastitog iskustva. Tada se neizbježno udaljavamo od onoga što nas je u plesu prvotno privuklo: od glazbe, pokreta, čiste različitosti ljudi i radosti zajedničkog stvaranja.
Možemo naučenu figuru ili slijed pokreta izvoditi mehanički prema obrascu koji nam je prenesen, a možemo razumjeti njihovu unutrašnju strukturu, osjetiti povezanost s glazbom i prilagoditi ih osobi s kojom plešemo i trenutku u kojem se nalazimo. Znanje je isto, ali odnos prema njemu je potpuno drugačiji. Možemo duboko cijeniti način plesanja nekog maestra, a da ne moramo svaku njegovu odluku pretvoriti u vlastito kruto pravilo. Možemo pripadati zajednici, a da njezina mjerila ne postanu jedino mjerilo našeg osobnog razvoja. Tango Argentino ne obuhvaća samo određeni stil, tehniku ili skup figura; u njemu postoji bogatstvo glazbe, ritmova, melodija i orkestara, kao i različitost ljudi s kojima plešemo. Kada se ponovno otvorimo toj raznolikosti, možemo otkriti da napredak nije samo u onome što smo naučili izvesti, nego i u našoj sposobnosti da doživimo sve što znamo s radoznalošću, osjetljivošću i veseljem, bez potrebe da svaki trenutak pretvorimo u dokaz vlastite vrijednosti.
„Onog trenutka kada svjesnost u argentinskom tangu postane alat za postizanje cilja, ona prestaje biti bivanje i postaje samo novi, profinjeniji program kontrole.”
— Jelena Somogyi
Hvala vam na čitanju i plovidbi kroz osjet tijela, slušanje, uzemljenje i prostor bivanja u trenutku sada.
Ukoliko želite podržati stvaranje novih dvojezičnih autorskih tekstova, prijevoda i projekata Instituta argentinskog tanga LiberTango, svoju podršku možete uputiti putem PayPala.
🌞 Podrži putem PayPala
Jelena Somogyi
@LibertangoJelena
🇬🇧When Awareness Becomes Another Program: The Paradox of Control and Freedom in Tango Argentino
We most often seek to understand our professional environment, then the activities we engage in and the ways they function. We look for our place within existing patterns, trying to adapt to them, feel a sense of self-worth, and perhaps gain acceptance, without necessarily questioning whether they are true. We then seek to understand everything around us. Only later do we turn toward ourselves, trying to understand where we stand because we feel we are not making progress. In doing so, we may also experience the very act of self-examination as proof of personal and social awareness, without recognizing the patterns within which that awareness unfolds. Yet perhaps our GPS of presence is switched off.
Automatic reactions and preoccupation with our thoughts cause us to lose touch with what is happening right now. We constantly explain what we believe reality to be. We return to a state of living in a TV soap opera — automatically reacting to stress, replaying scenes from the past, imagining future outcomes, and losing touch with the present moment. We repeat the same patterns of behavior, while commercialization and the words of those around us lead us into a dream of what we believe reality to be.
We are not really here, yet we are travelers. We move through events, journeys, and activities, perhaps seeking connection with ourselves and others, while growing increasingly distant from genuine encounters. We fill our time in every possible way, but are we truly present in what we are living?
A smile, a kind word, and genuine presence, free from predetermined fairy-tale roles such as the Princess and the Frog or Sleeping Beauty, open doors to ourselves and to others — those with whom we take part in creating stories through dance.
Awareness is the ability to observe our own thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and environment in the present moment without judgment. Frequently translated as mindfulness or full presence, it represents the calm, alert part of our mind that merely registers what is, without making judgments or drawing conclusions. Where, then, lies the trap? When we finally turn inward, we often do so using the exact same tools we used to optimize business: analysis, categorization, strategy, and goals. We want to "fix" ourselves just as we fix a business process. This effort—this constant interpretation and attempt at control—is actually the continuation of the program. When observation is turned off and interpretation is active, the mental stream takes the leading role, and what is observed no longer reaches our conscious attention because the mind is preoccupied.
Where, then, lies the true trap?
When we finally turn inward, we often do so using the very same tools we used to optimize our work: analysis, categorization, strategy, and goals. We want to “fix” ourselves just as we fix a business process. This effort — this constant interpretation and attempt at control — is actually a continuation of the program.
That is why our GPS of presence is switched off; although we are focusing on ourselves, we are not truly present. When you are “following a program,” you are not actually living reality, but rather your interpretation of it. Observation is switched off and interpretation is active: you no longer see the person in front of you or feel the moment; instead, you are preoccupied with your narrative about them or about yourself.
You keep spinning in a loop of past and future, playing roles from fairy tales, waiting for a prince, waiting to be rescued, or playing the victim. You become a passenger in a dream, a passive observer of your own automatic patterns, while time passes and you merely “fill” it.
The mind can easily brand awareness (mindfulness) and turn it into a subtle tool for control. The mind says, “Now I will practice mindfulness in order to become more productive, calmer, or better.” The very moment awareness becomes a means of achieving a specific goal or following a predetermined plan, it ceases to be awareness and becomes a program.
True mindfulness has no goal — it is simply the calm, alert part of the mind that registers what is, without judgment and without the need to change anything.
Stepping out of the program does not come from another analysis or a new self-help book, which would merely become another subprogram, but from interrupting the process of interpretation. When you step back from your thoughts and simply observe — without the need to fix, explain, or control — the program loses its power.
Only then do doors open for you and for the people around you with whom you co-create stories through dance. Becoming aware that you are “merely following a program” is, in itself, the first and most important step. It means that your GPS of presence has just received its very first signal.
In Argentine Tango, we can recognize this pattern in the way we approach learning, progress, and the dance itself. Some people take up tango because they are drawn to the dance, others for the social connection, some because they want to learn specific figures, and others because of a mental image of what a good dancer should be.
The motives themselves are not the problem; the question is whether we recognize them and whether we remain in contact with the actual experience of dancing.
We can spend years learning figures, refining our technique, changing teachers, and searching for new material. We can have a clear idea of what it means to dance well and of the standards by which progress is measured. Yet, in the process, have we developed our own sense of quality? Do we feel the connection, the breathing, and our own point of support? Do we notice the person we are dancing with and their reactions, or are we so preoccupied with what we want to execute that we miss what is actually unfolding between us?
Progress measured against external benchmarks — through the number of figures learned, hours of practice, seminars attended, teachers studied with, or levels completed — can easily become a trap of achievement.
What happens when a person, despite all these efforts, loses interest or feels they are no longer progressing? Most often, they look for a new method or community without first exploring what is happening within their own experience.
Dance is not merely the mechanical execution of learned movements. Two people actively participate in creating a story that cannot be fully planned in advance. A learned figure may be technically identical each time, yet its living expression depends entirely on the presence, sensitivity, and adaptability of the people dancing it.
This is where the crucial distinction emerges between blindly repeating a program and bringing it to life through actual experience. The problem is not that we know things, make plans, or want to achieve something. The question is whether, alongside everything we know, we can still observe, listen, and respond to what is happening right now.
Maestros open doors for us. Their knowledge, experience, and the way they share the dance can expand our understanding of music, movement, technique, and the many possibilities for expression. Dance communities can further enrich this experience through encounters, exchange, and shared creation.
Yet the doors opened for us are not necessarily boundaries within which we must remain trapped. Sometimes, we become so attached to a particular style of dance expression, a learned approach, or a community that we forget these were meant to enable further exploration and freedom, not to define everything that dance can be for us.
Instead of allowing the knowledge we have acquired to broaden our horizons, we begin to use it as a rigid standard by which to judge ourselves, others, and the value of our own experience. In doing so, we inevitably move away from what originally drew us to dance: the music, the movement, the sheer diversity of people, and the joy of creating together.
We can execute a learned figure or sequence of movements mechanically, following the pattern passed on to us. Alternatively, we can understand its underlying structure, feel its connection to the music, and adapt it to the person we are dancing with and to the moment we are sharing. The knowledge is the same, but our relationship to it is entirely different.
We can deeply appreciate a maestro’s way of dancing without turning every decision they make into a rigid rule of our own. We can belong to a community without allowing its standards to become the sole measure of our personal development.
Argentine Tango encompasses far more than a particular style, technique, or set of figures. It holds a richness of music, rhythms, melodies, and orchestras, as well as the diversity of the people we dance with.
When we open ourselves to this diversity again, we may discover that progress lies not only in what we have learned to execute, but also in our ability to experience everything we know with curiosity, sensitivity, and joy — without needing to turn every moment into proof of our own worth.
“The very moment awareness in Argentine Tango becomes a tool for achieving a goal, it ceases to be pure being and becomes merely a new, more sophisticated program of control.”
— Jelena Somogyi
Thank you for reading and joining me on this journey through bodily sensation, listening, grounding, and the space of being in the present moment.
If you would like to support the creation of new bilingual original texts, translations, and projects by the Argentine Tango Institute LiberTango, you can contribute via PayPal.
🌐 Web: WWW.LIBERTANGO.EU
🌐 Web: WWW.TANGOCROATIA.WEEBLY.COM
📝 Blog: WWW.ARGENTINSKITANGOLIBERTANGO.BLOGSPOT.COM
Argentine Tango Institute LiberTango
