Hudsonian Godwit pair: Where Harbin visitors & residents soar, beyond the familiar flow-patterns, are in the freedoms and serendipities of this place

Harbin ethnography:


... These flow-patterns have emerged since 1972, and are pretty familiar to frequent-floaters, as well as Harbin residents.

Where Harbin visitors and residents soar, beyond the familiar flow-patterns, are in the freedoms and serendipities of place. The Harbin valley generates much Harbin serendipity, here, meaning “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way, {originally coined, in 1754, “by Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of}” (Apple Dictionary 2007, v. 2.0.3), and referring, in this ethnographic interpretation to happy, beneficial, hippy, chance events, whether unexpected loving intimacy, or remarkable 'flow' experiences at dances, or at musical happenings. Synchronicity, in terms of Harbin as place, refers to “the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection” (Apple Dictionary 2007, v. 2.0.3), - for example, to the little things that happen when sleeping on a tent platform, or visual-instantiations or beauty in the pools, or around music, or seeing a wondrous, old friend, here, in my experience. It's partly the effects of the waters, the nudity, the intimacy in the air, and the hippie ethos, with related radical envisioning, - and when it all comes together (synchronistically), a kind of peaking can occur that's difficult to explicate, unique-to-the-individual, and has to do with Harbin as counterculture. As a last example of place-based serendipity, envisioning and freedom, “The idea of Harbin as a University was explored in the 1960s, before Ish bought the property, and I've seen it mentioned again in 1996 in a publication which I think Ish likes, and hand a hand in writing, called "Living the Future," which gives an idea of how they were envisioning Harbin then. I need to find out how Ish thinks about the term 'heart consciousness church' and how that emerged around 1977. Whatever happens in the pool area, including a kind of wonderfully and deeply released envisioning that then gives rise to well being and serendipity, as well as in some ways the extraordinary gestalt or milieu of Harbin, where intimacy and sexuality are valorized, seems key to the Harbin experience” (MacLeod, Harbin Field Notes 2007-2008, April 5, 2008). And, further, here's an ethnographically reflexive example, focusing on narrative and serendipity: “How do unfolding narratives and serendipity work in the particular at Harbin? If this is my work here writing this, as part of ethnographic field notes, it’s great to do it in the pool area at Harbin, where I am at present. Can I tie each word to the cultivation of loving bliss, neurophysiologically? Using words as feedback mechanisms in the ‘flow’ experience of writing, can I bring forth new ways of experiencing loving bliss while doing this, as well as share this with others” (MacLeod, Harbin Field Notes 2007-2008, February 13, 2008). Here place informs ethnographic narratives and gives rise to enjoyable serendipity and synchronicity. (More on this later). As a last example, ”In places where desire is {more} in the air {than other places}, relative to clothed culture, for example, serendipity and certain kinds of empathy, understandings, and shared experience may exist. I’ve found that to be the case at Harbin a fair amount” (MacLeod, Harbin Field Notes 2007-2008, April 20, 2008). As a whole, and as a sociocultural process, and in terms of temporality, as well, it's place – the pool area and the beautiful, Harbin valley, which informs both qualities of serendipity and synchrony. The inclusive, open, envisioning, hippy Harbin, as exemplified by the pools and unique art are what brings people home. That Harbin, as place, gives form to kinds of serendipity and synchronicity which I associate with soaring and freedom is significantly influenced by the clothing-optional warm pool and the pool areas effects on people's bodyminds. (Modernity is fortunate to have Harbin, and that Harbin has hippy-navigated the possibly many stormy countercultural seas it's faced, since 1972).


HARBIN BUILDINGS AND ART

Harbin's buildings and art are further architectural, aesthetic and, significantly, symbolic expressions of place. …

(http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/03/hudsonian-godwit-pair-where-harbin.html - March 11, 2011)