Starting to witness: noticing a break in flow

In order to notice, something would have to have occurred that is not quite in sync with everything else. For example in studies looking at groups, Gill found that the moment one person’s body goes still for longer than it is supposed to go when being in flow with the rest, it becomes noticed.

That person becomes noticed. Only one person needs to notice in order for the rest of the group to suddenly become aware. Awareness here is peripheral awareness. Something is not happening as it would be, the flow has been altered, so then you notice. There is a change in spatial temporal trajectory. The moment a person notices, their body changes. As that body becomes still, the person next to this person becomes aware that there’s this stillness; they then look. And it creates an entire group awareness of this one moment that triggers noticing. So it may very well be that to witness, the person that is being witnessed has altered something in the dynamics of the special-temporal coordination of the group, of the environment. If someone or something is not working in flow, it becomes noticed. This may be a starting point when thinking about the moment that witnessing starts.

CN