Seekers and Finders

The day after the gig, I shared that story to a co-worker. He used to be the bass-player in a metal band and immediately shared his experience with building on energy of the crowd. Gogol Bordello came on stage and you could immediately feel that they were going for it. The crowd in the AB responded to the energy by dancing, jumping, singing along. And I felt that the crowd's energy took the energy of the band to the next level. And again the crowd responded to it. That is what interaction between performers and audience was all about. The beauty is that as a human being, you really feel connected and your body gets filled with that energy. I wanted to know a bit more about that, so I started searching for an explanation on that. 

This interaction between performer and audience is the essence of "collective energy". When the energy starts flowing between both parties, it starts to feel like a transcendent experience according to what literature is stating on that. And so I stumbled upon the term "collective effervescence", a concept coined by French sociologist Emile Durkheim. Collective effervescence happen in events that transcend everyday lives. A group of people experiencing intense moments of joy together, creates a powerful connection between all of them. This connection is rooted in the social cohesion and group identity. People feel part of something larger: "they get a glimpse of eternity" when they experience a moment that will outlive them. Yeah yeah, it's true, it is all philosophical but it seems there is more to it than Durkheim once described. It has now become clear that it is not only part of rites and rituals as Durkheim described from his studies of religious rituals,  but that it also occurs throughout other types of shared gatherings like a concert or a sports event.  It's clear that experiencing a concert, creates a connection between all attendees: they like the music and they are at the same location at the same time. That bond between all attendees makes a live concert a real experience. It is all about that energy that flows between crowd and performer. It is that collective experience that creates collective consciousness. People bond in that moment as they share a common belief and same emotional states. 

Collective efferverence is more than the moment itself. It doesn't fade away. For some of us, the afterglow sparks lasting new connections, ideas or a sense of meaning. And now neuroscience is able to prove what Durkheim,  based on the behaviour of individuals and groups, once observed and described. Without being anything near an expert in neuroscience, I did understand that big experiences of joy releases some happy hormones in our brains. Oxytocin is the one hormone associated with bonding and connection. So it makes sense to create rituals in which people really bond. If I reflect on that, I think those real experiences and rituals go further than your typical team building moment.

In 2017 Gogol Bordello released their album Seekers and Finders. The album's title track also features guest singer Regina Spektor. The song really spoke to me because the song explores the duality between those who seek answers (seekers) and those who find answers (finders), while recognising that the roles are not fixed. Everyone person is both at different points in life.  It changes constantly from seeker to finder and the other way around. Both life and work are a continual dance between seeking and finding. True progress emerges from the willingness to explore, question, and transform along the way, not from fixed endpoints. It evolves. Seekers embrace curiosity, while the finders bring clarity. I truly see the dance between seeker and finder as supportive for connection growth, building resilience and ongoing renewal within yourself or within your team. 

The dance of Seekers and Finders explores the complexity behind the human quest for meaning. The value is in the quest itself: it's about that self-discovery. Often we start to discover things about ourselves through practices related to gaining self-awareness and through doing self-reflection. In the song they frame it as 'ripping of the masks' and 'tearing down the blinders'. 

It's more than a philosophy, it's about emotional intelligence

So if both life and work are a continual dance between seeking and finding, than true progress emerges from the willingness to explore, question, and transform along the way, not from those fixed endpoints we have in our heads. I've already wrote that above. Life is a journey, not a destination, right?  So, in the light of that discovery, the dance of seekers and finders is one related to growing your emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognise, understand, manage, and effectively use one's own emotions and those of others. Through introspection and reflection, you seek to understand. 

Embrace the dance in stead of the fight. The value of life is in the daily experiences, growth and learning is in the reflection after the experience. It is some much more than just achieving specific goals. Focus on the present moment. That is why experiencing a Gogol Bordello is quite the experience and you'll understand once you go see them. You'll get sucked in to the moment because of the high energy experience, and once you reflect on what just happened afterwards, you might found something new... belonging.