Paths to Ignition

How can you spark a quink?  This is the central question around the Ignition theme camp at the upcoming transformational celebration, Quink Fair! July 12 thru 15 in central Virginia.

Put another way, what kind of guidance can you provide to someone who is coming to a festival so that the experience will be positively transformative and healing?  From the start we have to recognize we are guessing. We do not actually know much about these mysterious quink things and we know even less about how to induce them.  But our ignorance is no excuse for not making clever guesses and trying to figure it out through imaginative experiments how we might do this. This post is a bit of what we have come up with so far.

Photo Credit: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

In contrast to the Temple of Oracles, which uses various different divination techniques (tarot, runes, I ching, etc) to help people consider future paths, Ignition uses personality tests, typology systems and self reflection tools to help people figure out who they are and thus where they might go. Ignition is a theme camp at Quink Fair! located near the entrance to the festival designed to guide participants towards quinks .

While we are still deep in the design phase of this experience, what we have come up with so far is certainly worthy of discussion.  

Photo Credit: Image by John Hain from Pixabay

Ignition will offer Myers Briggs tests, one of the better known systems, and help participants interpret their results. This pseudoscientific analysis is based on a theory of different personality types and how people differ in making decisions and interpreting the world around them. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) is based on the analogy of psychiatrist Carl Jung that there are four different psychological functions with which humans experience the world: sensation, intuition, feeling and thinking. 

A different tool set being used at Ignition is the Enneagram of personality, which is a set of 9 personality types. Again using tests and assessment tools, Ignition guides will help participants figure out how the information directs them to experience the festival and where accessible quinks might be in their lives. If you want you can take a free online Enneagram test here.

Transparency Games are being used in some intentional communities to help members self reflect and build empathy and trust. These tools have been developed to make it possible for people to have intimate conversations in a safe environment without lots of training in advance. One of the most common and powerful games of the transparency suite is called Hot Seat.   

Tell me how you really feel?

5 Paths to a Quink.  This is the new stuff which we are developing for Ignition. The basic idea is that you might well come into Quink Fair with an idea of where your breakthrough experience might be lurking. These 5 paths represent some of the largest vectors for personal change. The job of the Ignition guide is to start asking you the pair of most central self reflective questions for each path.  Our best guess as to the 5 paths is the following:

1. Love
2. Spirit
3. Community
4. Project
5. Don’t Know

Love while the simple path name is “love” really this is a more general category of love or alliance. It is seeking the person who will be your principal ally in getting to your quink. It could certainly be a romantic relationship, but it might also be a coach or counselor or guide – either in a peer relationship (as thru co-counseling) or a professional who you pay, or someone who is willing to volunteer these services.

The guiding two questions to the participant for this could be:

1. What are the key things you have learned from your love/alliance relationships?
2. What do you most hope to find in your new significant relationship? [This can be an existing relationship which is being amped up for the quink experience.]

Photo Credit: Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay 

Spirit is the name for the spiritual path to quink.  We give enlightenment as a quink example, but there are books and books and gurus and guides on enlightenment and it is hardly a clear process.  Of the 5 paths this is the one that i am most uncomfortable giving advice in. Here are the two guiding questions I would ask of a participant who is excited about seeking quink through spiritual means:

1. What are your core spiritual beliefs?
2. Where will progress on this path take you?

Community is the path which Quink Fair! is most excited about introducing people to. There are lots of different ways to explore this, and the starting two questions for Quink Fair participants excited about community as an entrance ramp to a quink experience might be:

1. What can you offer community that you believe is desirable to them?
2. What do you want from community?

Project is again a short hand label which includes all jobs (existing or new) and avocational activities (unpaid projects) which might help you find purpose and direction. There are definitely quinks over here, and there are all manner of other distractions and problems. The two questions I have here are:

1. What endeavor inspires you ? 
2. What does success in this endeavor look and feel like?

No Clue – Some participants will show up with no idea where their quink might be hiding.  And we will have directions for them.  Of course the same tools can be used like transparency games and different personality tests. There will also be opportunities to integrate workshops to explore different paths and opportunities to have a follow up with a chosen advisor during the festival for people who desire.

The guiding questions will range from “Which circumstances made you feel most empowered or aligned in your path?” to “What are the circumstances that trigger you the most?” We hope/believe that these types of inquiries can help people get in touch with the hopes, desires, fears, and challenges they can address at QuinkFair or after.