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Continuing with the theme of music, pardon the pun, my husband is listening to flamenco guitar right now and I find it virtually impossible to concentrate. The plucking of the stings has a percussive quality that knocks my thoughts aside before they can make their way from my head to my fingers. It is impossible to complain about the virtuosity of the performer, but at this moment I am unable to appreciate this particular music that I would normally perceive to be beautiful.
This observation seems to support the idea that beauty can only be defined as a perception not as an object - that an object, whether physical or auditory or scented or flavored, does not contain anything that can be called beautiful - that maybe beauty can only be described as a feeling like joy, or sadness, or fear.
When we recognize that an object seems to give us feeling that we are in the presence of beauty I question what is it about our relationship with the object that causes this perception?
I have often observed that interactions with objects and situations we call beautiful seem to reveal basic truths to us, truths that we may otherwise ignore while we are going about the business of our days. Often when we experience beauty it is in a moment when we are attending to truths; that life is precious, unique, and ephemeral.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Do you here what I here?
Click on today's title to open a Washington Post article about a unique experiment in perception.
The friend who forwarded the article asked, "If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?" I couldn't sum up my thoughts any better.
The friend who forwarded the article asked, "If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?" I couldn't sum up my thoughts any better.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Waking up (to a truth)
This morning was one of those mornings where nothing seemed to be getting done. Even thinking felt like a laborious physical task. Then came the necessity of answering a friends email and an admission to that friend that I am a Terrible planner. It was embarrassing to admit and yet I found myself smiling and feeling able to face the rest of the day.
Truth may not save the world, but it sure brightened my day.
During my years working with people I have often noticed this phenomena. People are too often weighted down with feelings of inadequacy, fears of letting people down or being discovered to be less than society expects. In our discussions there would commonly come a time when they "owned up" to these feelings, the ones that really were holding them down. You could always tell when they had come to the deepest most ingenuous ones. A smile would begin to push its way up the corners of the mouth, the curve of the cheek. If they were asked to repeat it the expression would deepen and even approach a chuckle.
I hesitate to tell real stories, but there was one man who arrived for an appointment looking like he hadn't shaved or changed his clothes in days. He was a young man but he told me his story with a voice that sounded both weak and old. On Christmas morning his wife came downstairs and announced that she was leaving and taking his two girls with her. The poor man was dumbfounded. His days, all his thoughts, revolved around the girls. They were the reason for getting up in the morning and for just about everything he did.
He arrived in my office three weeks after this incident. He had not been to work since his family left on Christmas day. He had, in fact, done nothing. He had done nothing because he had no habit for taking care of his own needs. His image of the perfect family out there in front of him had been the biggest motivation in his life so that is where we focused, on the image, making it brighter and brighter until it was awash in light, and fading. He no longer saw it as real. He recognized that the family he thought existed was an image that he held like a picture, a representation of something, not the reality.
At that moment of recognition his eyes and his voice became clear and strong. He announced that his wife had no right to prevent him from seeing his girls and quickly pronounced his plans regarding access to them, returning to work, seeking out a lawyer, etc. As he spoke he inclined towards the door and soon left with a sense of being in control of his own life. The impression of such sudden and dramatic change was shocking to observe.
He had been a victim, but not of his wife's behavior. He had been a victim of his failure to acknowledge the difference between truth and desire. But the truth reopened the connection of his body to its spark of life.
Truth may not save the world, but it sure brightened my day.
During my years working with people I have often noticed this phenomena. People are too often weighted down with feelings of inadequacy, fears of letting people down or being discovered to be less than society expects. In our discussions there would commonly come a time when they "owned up" to these feelings, the ones that really were holding them down. You could always tell when they had come to the deepest most ingenuous ones. A smile would begin to push its way up the corners of the mouth, the curve of the cheek. If they were asked to repeat it the expression would deepen and even approach a chuckle.
I hesitate to tell real stories, but there was one man who arrived for an appointment looking like he hadn't shaved or changed his clothes in days. He was a young man but he told me his story with a voice that sounded both weak and old. On Christmas morning his wife came downstairs and announced that she was leaving and taking his two girls with her. The poor man was dumbfounded. His days, all his thoughts, revolved around the girls. They were the reason for getting up in the morning and for just about everything he did.
He arrived in my office three weeks after this incident. He had not been to work since his family left on Christmas day. He had, in fact, done nothing. He had done nothing because he had no habit for taking care of his own needs. His image of the perfect family out there in front of him had been the biggest motivation in his life so that is where we focused, on the image, making it brighter and brighter until it was awash in light, and fading. He no longer saw it as real. He recognized that the family he thought existed was an image that he held like a picture, a representation of something, not the reality.
At that moment of recognition his eyes and his voice became clear and strong. He announced that his wife had no right to prevent him from seeing his girls and quickly pronounced his plans regarding access to them, returning to work, seeking out a lawyer, etc. As he spoke he inclined towards the door and soon left with a sense of being in control of his own life. The impression of such sudden and dramatic change was shocking to observe.
He had been a victim, but not of his wife's behavior. He had been a victim of his failure to acknowledge the difference between truth and desire. But the truth reopened the connection of his body to its spark of life.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Cinema Paradiso
If what we call beautiful is never perceived is it still beautiful? Or is beauty a quality of perception, an experience that may be attached to an object, or a sound, or an idea?
Listening to the Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso I become transfixed somewhere outside of time and space. A tear sits in my eye as my eyes close to block out the intrusion of the computer screen into this separate hallowed inner space. Something inside me shimmers, but it is not the music. It is not even a thought. The music enlightens something inside, something that is so often ignored or rejected as unimportant or unworthy.
Is the music beautiful? Or is it simply, eloquently, a call to awaken.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
A Gathering With No Purpose
Thousands of small birds gathered in the field just beyond my office window, simple sparrows I think. The sound was audible even though the windows were closed. The reason for the gathering was never obvious and the behavior quite uncommon for these little birds, at least here in our fields. For a several minutes new birds continued to come as I tried to find the tripod for my video camera. The golden field that had been a harvest of wheat only weeks ago was covered with a noisy blanket of dark feathers. Then, as I was setting up, the entire mass rose at once and flew a few feet overhead towards the west and there was silence.
Sometimes an unexpected event takes me beyond the clockworks of my mind and reconnects me with the world outside. Lucky for me that it happened today.
Sometimes an unexpected event takes me beyond the clockworks of my mind and reconnects me with the world outside. Lucky for me that it happened today.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Can Beauty Save the World
When architectural students arrived in San Diego from Mexico, Russia, the People's Republic of China, northern California, and New England many people questioned whether they could communicate well enough to design and build a park together. Others questioned whether they would even try. This was not the first project lead by James Hubbell. He knew what was possible. He repeatedly told everyone involved that "when chaos is everywhere only beauty and truth can communicate." In this case he was right.
Since that time in 1998 I have been curious to see whether other people could relate to this idea that became a mantra to the participants and supporters of the Pacific Rim Park. I have watched the news of our relationships with each other during contentious political debates and races. I have watched the news of our relationships with other countries and cultures. And I wonder about the truth of these words that James has clung to.
With that in mind I have decided to reach out to people; to talk to them about their perception and experience of beauty, to ask them to attempt to define beauty, to attempt to define truth, to ask them if they believe we can use beauty and truth to communicate effectively in our lives.
In these blog posts other people's stories, definitions, and beliefs will be the major thread. There will also be links to the thoughts of artists, scientist, writers, performers, maybe even a politician or two. The first link is to the story of the Jardin de Ninos La Esperanza, a school buit in Colonia Esperanze by volunteers who believed in the power of beauty to change the lives of children growing up in devastating poverty.
Please join in with your thoughts.
Since that time in 1998 I have been curious to see whether other people could relate to this idea that became a mantra to the participants and supporters of the Pacific Rim Park. I have watched the news of our relationships with each other during contentious political debates and races. I have watched the news of our relationships with other countries and cultures. And I wonder about the truth of these words that James has clung to.
With that in mind I have decided to reach out to people; to talk to them about their perception and experience of beauty, to ask them to attempt to define beauty, to attempt to define truth, to ask them if they believe we can use beauty and truth to communicate effectively in our lives.
In these blog posts other people's stories, definitions, and beliefs will be the major thread. There will also be links to the thoughts of artists, scientist, writers, performers, maybe even a politician or two. The first link is to the story of the Jardin de Ninos La Esperanza, a school buit in Colonia Esperanze by volunteers who believed in the power of beauty to change the lives of children growing up in devastating poverty.
Please join in with your thoughts.
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