mirages
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Post by mirages on Sept 24, 2014 15:36:00 GMT -5
I'm not normally drawn to scifi/fantasy work, but whenever a friend has recommended a book or series in that genre, I've really enjoyed it and come away with images that, as you say, speak just as truly (and often more vividly) than those of the more realist writers I do gravitate to. In case you haven't already, might I recommend reading Ursula LeGuin... The Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favourite books ever; The Dispossessed is also amazing - both fall into sci-fi, but they are so much more than what a non-initiate often imagines sci-fi is (there are no killer robots whatsoever, and the Earth is not invaded by aliens! lol). She is best known for sci-fi, but she has written fantasy as well: Earthsea has a lot of magic  . OK, gotta go now. I get the sense from this post and the ones earlier where you talk about your writing that you have almost since childhood had a fierce sense of who you were and had to be, and the ability to resist all the persuasion and coercion that comes at us trying to get us to be more like the cookie-cutter. To me, that's magic -- I'd be interested in hearing more about how you found the courage to be who you really were so early. This is a tough one to explain. I don't really know how myself. I was always different, even from my family, not to mention other people. I was also lucky to have parents who instilled in my brother and me the love of reading since the moment we were born. Books were certainly my first window into what existed beyond the home, which is what affects a child the most during those early formative years. Books were my teachers alongside my parents since I was 4, which is when I learned to read--two alphabets, because I first learned to read a language[Serbian] which uses 2 different scripts: the latin script and the cyrillic [not mixed, you can use either one or the other in a text]. I also acquired another language [English] between the ages of 7-8, which made me bilingual, and bilingualism has been proven to increase the ability of children to understand abstract concepts. What I mean to say is, these things can open your mind perhaps faster or wider than it would usually take. Couple that with a very self-sufficient disposition, which does not require constant attention or constant companionship, but can easily look within for sources of entertainment; a curious mind, which craves information and exploration; and an imaginative spirit, which always seeks to shed new light upon everything it comes into contact with; and I guess therein lies part of the answer. Need I add that I didn't have many friends as a child? Children are smarter in some things than adults: they still possess certain instincts that are later usually lost, probably through the influence of the environment. I'm sure they don't know how to express what they "sense" through those instincts, but they still react, and through their reactions you may sometimes glimpse the truth. I wasn't rejected by other children, but they certainly sensed I was different and they sometimes reacted negatively towards me. There are several ways our peers' negative reactions can affect us: we can change our behaviour so that we no longer provoke a negative reaction; we can avoid our peers so that we are spared the hurt that their negative reactions cause us; we can fight our peers and try to hurt them as a kind of revenge for their negative reactions... The first one is conformism, the second one is self-isolation, the third one is bullying. I don't think any of the three are good, but I probably did have a slight case of the second one - not complete, because it went along with a fourth method of dealing with it, which is: hiding, acting, pretending, being a chameleon- in other words, laying low, not letting all of your colours shine through. It didn't always work, and I didn't always hide or run away (in a metaphorical sense, I mean). The truth is I always stood out, and sometimes I would decide I wanted to. But I should also add that I was never tortured as some children are, so I was lucky in that respect: I grew up in a rather safe environment overall. I did wish to escape that environment, though, since I realised that it was not for me, that I could not really grow there, and thinking that I could not really be myself openly, because I would not be understood. So, I left after high school and went away to university (I read English language and literature and later got a master's in linguistics). You may ask, but did going away, changing the environment, improve my social life? Not really, not greatly. As an adult, people generally like me: I'm nice, polite, easy to talk to, a good listener, I don't engage in gossiping or doing bad things to other people... but I still don't have many friends. I'm still just as different and stand out as much as I ever did, I don't conform, I don't care what other people think of me, I will sometimes voice my opinions even if they are "not the norm", and I require solitude every day: a time to think, a time which is only my own and which I don't want to or haven't learned how to share with others. Is this good or bad? Good and bad are terms from morality; and morality, like every other set of rules designed to describe or proscribe human behaviour, is human-made. In other words, it is all a matter of perspective: it depends on whether you accept that particular set of rules. Dogmatic sets of rules are fixed; some others can be changed; others still can be fluid and changeful - but it is up to you to decide what the rules are or aren't: in your mind. And the mind can do anything, because thoughts can go anywhere. If you want to, you can be everything, and there is no limit to everything. Like I said in an earlier post, the mind can decide that there is no box. , thanks so much for this rich, deep answer. I have known a few people in my life who always seemed to know who they were, and I enjoy them so much. I think for most of us, we lose a lot of time trying to look like the box or fit in the box or get on top of the box or reject the box -- it takes a long time to figure out that the box, all boxes, is/are irrelevant. I had this thought reading your last sentence about the mind deciding that there is no box -- first, that at least in my experience, it's the mind that made the box in the first place and which resists recognizing the reality of there being no box. Yesterday I was listening to an interview with a guy named Arjuna Ardagh reframe the classical mystical insight that "all is one" while also affirming the perceptual reality that we are also many ... he used an ocean/wave metaphor which grabbed me more than other metaphors have, probably because of my deep attraction to moving water. He said that as an individual wave on the ocean, you or I (well, apparently not you but certainly I) might think, "Oh, look at those other waves -- they're better/taller/faster/frothier than I am -- they are different and must be made of something different." But if the wave stops looking around at appearances on the surface and looks down into itself, it sees limitless ocean, and that there's no dotted line between its little manifestation of wave and the rest of the ocean, although its wave certainly isn't the whole ocean. So this core mystical insight is basically boxlessness, and the realization that all appearance and manifestation springs from a single source and so can take many forms. And that opening-up of possiblity is also what you're saying that magic points to -- am I approaching what you're saying? A lot of this (like the good/bad judgment you reference above) requires a move away from dualistic thinking, which is challenging for western minds but awareness seems to be spreading. I think one of the most suffocating and often unconscious assumptions is that there is a right or wrong way to do X or Y -- or, worse and more frequently, that there is only ONE right way to do X or Y and myriad wrong ways. No wonder so many of us are scared to move, to improvise at all -- what are the chances we'll get it "right"? I try to teach my kids (and myself) that there are usually many, many ways to do X or Y "right," that it's a big, wide and potentially diverse target. Listening to the news we can forget just how desperately most of us want to "do the right thing," or at least not do the wrong thing! I was reminded of that recently while working at a plate recycling booth at our local folk festival. The festival organizers had decided to reduce the amount of garbage at the festival by using re-usable melmac plates. People paid a deposit of $2 whenever they ordered a meal that required a plate from any vendor at the festival, and then they brought the plate back to the booth to get their $2 back. At the booth, we had a bucket of water with a spatula in it so people could scrape their plates, and a big bucket into which they could put their plate and then get the $2 back. SO many times I saw people approaching our booth hesitantly, questioning and almost anxious look in their eyes, and as soon as I told them what to do, where the organic recycling box was, how to use and rinse the spatula, they'd beam, scrape their plate, pop it in the bucket and thank me for the $2 back as if it hadn't been theirs all along. You could watch the anxiety drop off of them the moment they knew how to "do it right" and it made them so happy for a second -- I found it really touching. And heaven knows, when it comes to recycling there ARE a lot of boxes and it is hard to know which one is the "right" one for the thing you're about to dispose of! I'm envious of your bilingualism and bi-alphabetism (I speak French, but badly and only enough to get into a conversation I can't always get out of)! I also read a lot as a kid and although I didn't realize it until later in life, also require a fair bit of solitude to function well. I suspect that may be the case for many After Hours folks. |
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mirages
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Post by mirages on Sept 24, 2014 15:38:44 GMT -5
I'm not normally drawn to scifi/fantasy work, but whenever a friend has recommended a book or series in that genre, I've really enjoyed it and come away with images that, as you say, speak just as truly (and often more vividly) than those of the more realist writers I do gravitate to. In case you haven't already, might I recommend reading Ursula LeGuin... The Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favourite books ever; The Dispossessed is also amazing - both fall into sci-fi, but they are so much more than what a non-initiate often imagines sci-fi is (there are no killer robots whatsoever, and the Earth is not invaded by aliens! lol). She is best known for sci-fi, but she has written fantasy as well: Earthsea has a lot of magic . OK, gotta go now. Ooh, thanks for the recommendation -- a dear friend of mine, a water-colour painter, loves Ursula LeGuin and I've been meaning to read something by her forever -- this is the nudge I need. Off to see if she has anything on Audible -- I love to walk and listen to books. |
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Post by mirages on Sept 24, 2014 15:51:21 GMT -5
I couldn't resist stealing this photo of augenpoesie's from the daily thread. Picasso said the sincerest form of flattery isn't imitation, it's outright theft, right? Worlds within worlds, all wordless ...  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2014 9:23:39 GMT -5
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mirages
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Post by mirages on Sept 25, 2014 14:34:08 GMT -5
Exactly.  |
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Post by mirages on Oct 5, 2014 15:32:36 GMT -5
Greetings! I was intrigued recently to read a couple of Atoppers saying they had made fractals, the beautiful graphics created by the generation, repetition and modulation of mathematical equations. I've loved these things since I first found out about them (very late in life for this scared-of-science artsy type), and I love how they seem to express the infinity loop (TM AFL) of energy and matter. How numbers turn into patterns like this I truly can't imagine:  The idea that mere mortals could generate their own fractals rocked my socks, and last week I googled it and lo and behold, yeah, we can. If you're interested, here's a site with a tutorial as well as a link to a fractal-generating program on the first page:  fractalarts.com/ASF/Tutor1.html(Warning, this is another rabbithole!) |
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Post by mirages on Oct 5, 2014 15:34:35 GMT -5
toramenor, thanks for the encouragement to check out Ursula LeGuinn ... it also gave me an excuse to check in with a good friend from long ago who loves her work, and between the two of your suggestions I'm starting with the first book of the Earthsea series -- I found an audiobook of it on Audible and it's ready to go for our next road trip!
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Post by mirages on Oct 5, 2014 15:56:54 GMT -5
I am enjoying reading everyone's thoughts about boxes, poetry, and magic! I wanted to offer a few thoughts about magic -- in regards to Adam. Remember when Adam gave his monologue before "A Change is Gonna Come" at The Music Box at the end of the Glam Nation tour? He spoke about how there are always people out there who can give you a list of reasons of how unworthy you are, and how you need to change yourself, and how "you're never gonna fuckin' make it." In Adam's reply (words and song and attitude) was a kind of manifesto, words to live by. One of the things I love about Adam is how he has never failed to live up to his principles. He has had many opportunities to sell out in the four years since then, and still you often see calls for him to do so. Yet never once has he failed himself. Though we wouldn't know it for another year, when the Queen + Adam journey really began at the EMAs, out there Adam had an unlikely but perfect match. Two old guys who were constantly bombarded about their own unworthiness. At best, they were long past their shelf life, the critics said. At worst, money-grubbing oldsters without the wit to realize no one wanted to hear them anymore. But like all great artists, Brian, Roger, and Adam failed to respond to the voices. Instead, all responded to a deep inner voice that told them how strong and brave they could be. Because failure was a possibility. What if the critics were right? Did anyone else hold their breath when the tickets for this tour went on sale, hoping the boys knew what they were doing?  Somehow, for great artists, the future never stops glowing with possibility. It would have been the path of least resistance for Brian and Roger to live in the past as far as their music is concerned. Accept what the voices said about embracing their past hurt and pain, or contenting themselves with memorializing their past glories and accomplishments. But the truth is that there are ghosts who we may love but can no longer be part of who we are. You can remain in the past among those lost souls whose best years are behind them, or move forward to explore what life has to offer now. As for Adam, there was any one of a hundred ways he could have choked on this collaboration! There are those who follow the numbers and believe there is a formula for success, a way to build a Frankenstein's monster in a great lab in some studio. If only we could find it! Maybe those people are even right. But Adam is not one of those people. For him, there's something magic in our dreams, the creative power of the imagination, and the deeper vision of who we can be. Has Adam not been telling us this from the beginning and continued to tell us this from every platform he gets? The real magic is hope within our own hearts and souls. , it's taken me forever to get back to this post of yours after a very glancing reply way back when. But I'm glad I had a mental "note to self" to return to it, because it's just about the perfect thing today. I've been really waking up to what the realities of climate change and over-consumption are doing and will do to our planet in the very near term, and it's easy to let the enormity of it all crush the hope out of you. And of course, that just paralyzes you and keeps you from doing whatever good you could do -- so more than a little hope, and magic, is called for. This morning I listened to a great web-based conversation among Buddhist mindfulness practitioners and teachers on this subject ( www.oneearthsangha.org/programs/mindfulness-and-climate-action/), and was struck by the huge hearts of these folks, as well as by how very much of what they are saying about acting from love rather than from fear and greed resonates with the best messages of all spiritual traditions. Not long ago, I listened to a podcast of an interview by Arjuna Ardagh who is currently unaligned but much influenced by Vedanta practice and philosophy, and his sense is that while things look dire, that there is huge hope in being at a place where our species is "bottoming out" and being made to look at the foolish way we over-consume. Sorry for the polemic -- it's better placed in the social action thread. My point is that very often, what looks like defeat is actually a doorway, viewed through the lens of magic/alchemy/transformation. Adam seems to get this, as do Brian and Roger (well, Brian and Roger have lived it, and Adam is beginning to). To focus on Adam, can you imagine how it must have felt to him to be rejected when he tried out for "We Will Rock You"? Yet if he'd been given a "yes" for that, would Adam have tried out for AI and eventually become the frotnman for the real Queen? How often is one door closing a way to direct us to something better? So, to get back to your post, I think much of the angst about Adam succeeding this way or that way really does, as he often put it, "come from a good place" from fans who want him to succeed, but who may be a little too invested in what "success" has to look like. Sometimes, maybe, it has to look like a door closed in your face before it can look like a window opening someplace better. |
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Post by Jablea on Oct 5, 2014 16:11:54 GMT -5
Greetings! I was intrigued recently to read a couple of Atoppers saying they had made fractals, the beautiful graphics created by the generation, repetition and modulation of mathematical equations. I've loved these things since I first found out about them (very late in life for this scared-of-science artsy type), and I love how they seem to express the infinity loop (TM AFL) of energy and matter. How numbers turn into patterns like this I truly can't imagine: The idea that mere mortals could generate their own fractals rocked my socks, and last week I googled it and lo and behold, yeah, we can. If you're interested, here's a site with a tutorial as well as a link to a fractal-generating program on the first page: fractalarts.com/ASF/Tutor1.html(Warning, this is another rabbithole!) Thanks for the tutorial link. I wanted something like that since I've been following the fractal convers here. My mom hand drew some fractals when I was a kid for posters for my dad's biology room. We have an artist sell his fractal creations at our local art show. My kid likes math, hoping maybe I can get him into them. (lol disconected thoughts, I should be better here in the conversation zone....but fractals) |
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mirages
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Post by mirages on Oct 5, 2014 16:26:55 GMT -5
Thanks for the tutorial link. I wanted something like that since I've been following the fractal convers here. My mom hand drew some fractals when I was a kid for posters for my dad's biology room. We have an artist sell his fractal creations at our local art show. My kid likes math, hoping maybe I can get him into them. (lol disconected thoughts, I should be better here in the conversation zone....but fractals) No, no! There's no means test for contributing to this thread, and what you brought is great! Your mom hand-drew fractals??? Tell me about that! I do understand that they're the repetition of a theme (taken somehow into infinite beauty and life), but still, how? One of the best-known fractals in nature:   Hope you can get your son interested! |
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