Why do you climb the philosophical hills? Because they are worth climbing.
Margaret Thatcher
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Hello Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
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Why are they worth it? What is the value in huffing and puffing up the steep trails of ethics, aesthetics, politics, poetics and economics? Where is the profit in struggling through the jungles of logic and semantics? Then what is to be gained from coming out onto the sheer and treacherous slopes of cosmology and metaphysics?
Why make the effort? Why not just order a pizza, kick off your shoes, crack a beer, flick on the TV and enjoy a good ball game? I must admit there are many times when I just want to relax into the simple, limited thinking of my own mental world. And I would if I hadn't been permanently alarmed at my own lack of knowledge and understanding of the world of ideas that are shaping everything around me and will eventually affect me and my life, if they haven't already.
Some of the gentler philosophers like Bertrand Russell will take me by the elbow and lead me this way or that. The more vigorous ones like Friedrich Nietzsche will grab me by the beard and yank me into understanding. Either way it's a life changing experience to be thrust into a place high up in the rarified atmosphere of thought where few have been before.
The philosopher, like the artist and the inventor, is searching for the invisible, cataloguing the unknown. A philosopher may attempt to understand and define the short term and long term destiny of humanity by observing human history and human behavior. He may attempt to define man's relationship to the universe, as a creature of it, through cosmological observations. He may reach the enlightened place in his thinking where things disappear and are replaced by thoughts. If he achieves that inspired place he will have fulfilled all the duties of his watch.
I, following, stumbling and tripping, climb as best as I can, the slippery philosophical hills.
DB - The Vagabond
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SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
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This Week's Contest
This is one I put up a few years ago and people seemed to enjoy it, so here it goes again.
You are now ordered to take a famous remark, a cliche or otherwise and restate it in the most verbose manner possible. Example:
Night is an inappropriate time for the manufacture of animal feed.
(Make hay while the sun shines.)
Get it? Ken Riches won this contest the last time, so you're up against some heavy competition.
5 entries so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Good luck. Enter as often as you wish. The decision of the ornery, biased, curmudgeon is final.
DB
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Showing posts with label Margaret Thatcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Margaret Thatcher. Show all posts
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Don't Let Go
It's all about finding the right note at the right place and knowing when to leave well enough alone. And that's a lifelong quest.
David Sanborn
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I used to say I reinvent the art of acting with each new role I get. It wasn't strictly true but it often felt that way. In any art form there is always a frequent return to the basics: the line, the tone , the word , the step. And every time that return happens the adventure begins again, or rather a new adventure begins.
The Bible says "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." One could say the same for any simple element in the artists hands. A beautiful piece of pottery begins with a lump of clay. A beautiful painting may begin with the mud pie of colors on the artist's palette. The creative process for humans is about turning chaos into order. It can't be done with a to do list or a template of practices. Originality is the only rule that works.
Art does not imitate life, it imitates the essence of life. It is not a reproduction of nature, it's an expression of nature itself. "Pots are fashioned from clay but it's the hollow that makes the pot work" said Lao-Tzu. A careful poet searches for the right word. An almost right word points out the door to understanding, while a right word eliminates the door. It seems to be a magical, mysterious moment when the right word is found, when the right tone is found and applied.
I knew an art student who told me this event about a day with her teacher. She was working on an abstract painting and everything on the canvas seemed to be a mess. The teacher came to look at it, took a pen from his pocket and drew a single line on the canvas then walked on. She looked and saw her whole painting come into focus. The teacher had placed a golden apple in her silver picture.
How did Mozart know to use precisely the right notes? A great piece o music not only plays but also listens. Paul Hindemith wrote a book on musical composition in which he discusses cocreation, the participation in the music by the listener. When the music is great you know it is because the right notes are heard, the logical tones, the one's you expect. The music has told you what it is and so you can go along with it making it happen as you go. A great novel unfolds in the same way.
Why does this happen? Because the creative act is germane to our human experience. We cannot survive without art any more than we can without air and water. Pathetically, there are many people who don't understand that and so suffer and make others suffer.
President Obama spoke recently about the need to improve our education facilities, especially in the fields of science, math and technology. He is absolutely right about that. But our education shouldn't stop there. It needs to include art and philosophy, two most important ingredients for understanding who we are and where we are going.
One says "I need to get through school and get into the job market, fast. I don't have time for philosophy and maybe, some day, when I've made it, I'll think about art." And so he finds himself knee deep in muddy water and doesn't know how he got there. This nation was formed by philosophy, not by religion or economics. Even Margaret Thatcher noted that about the USA. If we forget that, if we stop listening and cocreating, if we give up the lifelong quest and let go of our grasp on the ideas which make civilization, as we seem to be doing, there's only one way down.
DB - The Vagabond
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AUTUMN QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?
5 responses so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
************************
David Sanborn
********************
I used to say I reinvent the art of acting with each new role I get. It wasn't strictly true but it often felt that way. In any art form there is always a frequent return to the basics: the line, the tone , the word , the step. And every time that return happens the adventure begins again, or rather a new adventure begins.
The Bible says "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." One could say the same for any simple element in the artists hands. A beautiful piece of pottery begins with a lump of clay. A beautiful painting may begin with the mud pie of colors on the artist's palette. The creative process for humans is about turning chaos into order. It can't be done with a to do list or a template of practices. Originality is the only rule that works.
Art does not imitate life, it imitates the essence of life. It is not a reproduction of nature, it's an expression of nature itself. "Pots are fashioned from clay but it's the hollow that makes the pot work" said Lao-Tzu. A careful poet searches for the right word. An almost right word points out the door to understanding, while a right word eliminates the door. It seems to be a magical, mysterious moment when the right word is found, when the right tone is found and applied.
I knew an art student who told me this event about a day with her teacher. She was working on an abstract painting and everything on the canvas seemed to be a mess. The teacher came to look at it, took a pen from his pocket and drew a single line on the canvas then walked on. She looked and saw her whole painting come into focus. The teacher had placed a golden apple in her silver picture.
How did Mozart know to use precisely the right notes? A great piece o music not only plays but also listens. Paul Hindemith wrote a book on musical composition in which he discusses cocreation, the participation in the music by the listener. When the music is great you know it is because the right notes are heard, the logical tones, the one's you expect. The music has told you what it is and so you can go along with it making it happen as you go. A great novel unfolds in the same way.
Why does this happen? Because the creative act is germane to our human experience. We cannot survive without art any more than we can without air and water. Pathetically, there are many people who don't understand that and so suffer and make others suffer.
President Obama spoke recently about the need to improve our education facilities, especially in the fields of science, math and technology. He is absolutely right about that. But our education shouldn't stop there. It needs to include art and philosophy, two most important ingredients for understanding who we are and where we are going.
One says "I need to get through school and get into the job market, fast. I don't have time for philosophy and maybe, some day, when I've made it, I'll think about art." And so he finds himself knee deep in muddy water and doesn't know how he got there. This nation was formed by philosophy, not by religion or economics. Even Margaret Thatcher noted that about the USA. If we forget that, if we stop listening and cocreating, if we give up the lifelong quest and let go of our grasp on the ideas which make civilization, as we seem to be doing, there's only one way down.
DB - The Vagabond
*********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
(This is not a contest.)
At what event of the past do you wish you could be present? Why?
5 responses so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
Thank you.
DB
************************
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Precocious Prophecy 5/17/09
We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
Thomas Paine
*****************
Come in, make yourself comfortable.
----------------------
A band leader once said "No matter what tune you play someone will come out to dance." Sometimes I wonder how people get set up as teachers. I have written about Mr. O'Conner, my elementary school science teacher, who, when in my 11 year old enthusiasm and interest in the solar system said that I would like to go to the moon, scornfully said "Don't be ridiculous. Man can never go to the moon." I bet if I hung out a sign offering instruction in something I don't know anything about, someone would come knocking at my door to sign up.
Yesterday I spent a few hours watching the astronauts repairing the Hubble telescope. It still amazes me how far we have come in space technology since Mr. O'Conner's faulty, authoritative pronouncement of "scientific fact."
Another thing I note with astonishment is, after all the comings and goings of earth life, the societies, the governments, the tribes and nations, wars and trade, the history books and artifacts collected and gathered into museums, we still know very little about this place we live on, this globe floating around in space for no apparent reason. We live on one tiny, insignificant speck on the nose of the universe and Hubble keeps giving us more and more information of the immeasurable vastness of it all. But there is still something else even more amazing.
When Mr. O'Conner gave forth with his "expert opinion" man had never been to the moon, yet. During the NASA program there was a lecture about the plans to put astronauts on Mars; 6 months to get there, 6 months to poke around, 6 months to get back. Considering the starscapes presented to us by Hubble, a trip to Mars seems like a baby step. And so it is.
There are those who think all this space exploration is a total waste of time, money and resources. Those are the same people who did not wish to precede Thomas Paine and his friends. But those who did, did begin the world over again: two new continents, a new story and a new way of life. As Margaret Thatcher said, America was built on philosophy.
Is there life on Mars? It's likely, in some form. Is there intelligent life in our solar system or in some distant galaxy? Most probably. And that means we are citizens of the universe. It means our world is now part of a larger society, a grander civilization than we have known. Our world is much larger than it has ever been. It's a new world, begun all over again.
In 1959 my girl friend and I went to a Dave Brubeck concert at the Revere Beach outdoor stadium outside of Boston. While listening to "Take Five" I leaned back and stared up at the clear night sky and saw a slowly moving star. It was Sputnik. orbiting overhead. Sputnik's successful journey began the world all over again with one small baby step.
Ii is in our power to begin the world over again, every day.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
_____________________
You have a happy Sunday now, your hear me?
*****************************
Thomas Paine
*****************
Come in, make yourself comfortable.
----------------------
A band leader once said "No matter what tune you play someone will come out to dance." Sometimes I wonder how people get set up as teachers. I have written about Mr. O'Conner, my elementary school science teacher, who, when in my 11 year old enthusiasm and interest in the solar system said that I would like to go to the moon, scornfully said "Don't be ridiculous. Man can never go to the moon." I bet if I hung out a sign offering instruction in something I don't know anything about, someone would come knocking at my door to sign up.
Yesterday I spent a few hours watching the astronauts repairing the Hubble telescope. It still amazes me how far we have come in space technology since Mr. O'Conner's faulty, authoritative pronouncement of "scientific fact."
Another thing I note with astonishment is, after all the comings and goings of earth life, the societies, the governments, the tribes and nations, wars and trade, the history books and artifacts collected and gathered into museums, we still know very little about this place we live on, this globe floating around in space for no apparent reason. We live on one tiny, insignificant speck on the nose of the universe and Hubble keeps giving us more and more information of the immeasurable vastness of it all. But there is still something else even more amazing.
When Mr. O'Conner gave forth with his "expert opinion" man had never been to the moon, yet. During the NASA program there was a lecture about the plans to put astronauts on Mars; 6 months to get there, 6 months to poke around, 6 months to get back. Considering the starscapes presented to us by Hubble, a trip to Mars seems like a baby step. And so it is.
There are those who think all this space exploration is a total waste of time, money and resources. Those are the same people who did not wish to precede Thomas Paine and his friends. But those who did, did begin the world over again: two new continents, a new story and a new way of life. As Margaret Thatcher said, America was built on philosophy.
Is there life on Mars? It's likely, in some form. Is there intelligent life in our solar system or in some distant galaxy? Most probably. And that means we are citizens of the universe. It means our world is now part of a larger society, a grander civilization than we have known. Our world is much larger than it has ever been. It's a new world, begun all over again.
In 1959 my girl friend and I went to a Dave Brubeck concert at the Revere Beach outdoor stadium outside of Boston. While listening to "Take Five" I leaned back and stared up at the clear night sky and saw a slowly moving star. It was Sputnik. orbiting overhead. Sputnik's successful journey began the world all over again with one small baby step.
Ii is in our power to begin the world over again, every day.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
_____________________
You have a happy Sunday now, your hear me?
*****************************
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