Thoughts today 9-22-2020 /
A piece of me feels mightily reticent to make comment on anything else for some duration; particularly in consideration of the passing, and consequence of the passing, of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
—-
I’m geeking out over batteries and “Starships” (see: pressure vessel) today.
Re: Batteries – It seems that this is what happens to the progress of energy storage technologies when the systemic and systematic suppression/oppression of trillions of dollars worth of legacy ‘monied interests’ (oil), are at long (looong) last shunted aside; and capability, cooperation, engineering, and innovation, are given the latitude and space to take the metaphorical ‘floor.’
What with ‘the world burning,’ it seems about time to see if we’ve got what it takes to pull ourselves from the fire.
Here’s hoping!
Ruth Bader Ginsburg /
I literally just now heard about the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
I've read nothing on any news site; I have encountered nothing to influence, cloud, or otherwise inhibit this expression.
What we have collectively witnessed in this country over the past few years has been an utter abomination.
We are better than this.
----
We should not collectively accept any motion to nominate a successor to her vacant seat on the Supreme Court until after the (would that I could say 'popular') election, and occupation of office of the next President of the United States.
Thank you RBG - you did what you could.
Let us be better.
"In Gardens" — 3-21-2020 /
/
An Immediate Impression on November 8 at 11:30 in the evening. /
In these times I feel invited to recall the impression of mind left by the example of the works of Lao Tzu, Socrates; various poets, philosophers and "warriors" and instances of exceptional endeavor; exemplars of those who heed the call to higher inquisition and understanding and determination. I think of the acts of Muhammad Ali, and what is said to be so of Jesus and Buddha and Muhammad.
Those brave to seek Truth and the telling.
As Issac Netwon himself is said to have said, 'If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.'
Nikola Tesla in a moment of rapture recalls passages from Goethe’s Faust.
The Arts, often seek to express fundamental truth; often in the vein of a humanistic expression and character.
There is value in these things, because in these things; fundamental human truths, I find the tremendous power of a common ground, the experience of living a human life.
‘All is one, one is none, none is All’
Remember unity. Also the mathematical expression for a quantity divided by the equivalent of that same quantity = One.
I have enjoyed the works of Hermann Hesse; and Edmund Fitzgerald’s “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ver. I-V, Stephen King (Lisey’s Story in particular has something of a ring), I have been moved by the work of Jack Kerouac “On The Road” in particular for its determined whimsy and the heeding of the Dreamer – the abandon of a time and Time and youth and Truth and other when’s that speak of things with common ends, common themes, truths --- to sit on an evening gazing on a river, or riding in a car under stars –
Harvard Classics Vol. II – Emphasis on Socrates and Epictetus
The Dhammapa is admirable in its resonant brevity; what William Shakespeare characterized as the ‘Soul of wit.’
I love Sam Cooke’s singing, his freedom and technique and exploitation of his instrument and perhaps most, his surrender –
Samuel Barber; Antonin Dvorak ; Beethoven;
Dali’s contemplation of roses and ‘persistence of memory’
The intrepid vision of ‘gardens of earthly delights’ of Hieronymous Bosch ca.1550 ; the texture of van Gogh;
I enjoy documentaries – and realized tremendous benefit in the formal study of Calculus and the reading of Albert Einstein’s Relativity and Nikola Tesla’s “My Inventions” among so many myriad others…
- - -
Dean Koontz’s : Lightning, Odd Thomas, Life Expectancy, The Taking, Velocity
Stephen R. Donaldson’s ,Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and Mordant’s Need
Nelson DeMille’s Plum Island
F. Paul Wilson’s The Tomb
Stephen Kings: Dark Tower, Lisey’s Story, The Talisman (w/Peter Straub), The Night Shift
Remember fun and puppies.
And sometimes a rum and coke is the thing; in lieu of venerable cannabis.
*grin*
Cheers guys
4 years; it is an age of consequence, of exponential change, and we require greater than we’ve allowed ourselves to claim, however the young are strong and learning, and knowledge, “Scientia potential est” grows, as a light.
Learn from and seek out instances of exception in multiple milieu’s; refine and grow, remember hope and the fruits of your open inquiry and learning.
Tomorrow approaches fleetly; diligent attendance to the present best will find you well to meet it.
-ramble-
Tesla, SolarCity, & Liberty For All. /
Long story short – welcome to the future.
It’s a bit of a shock – but in truth, of the momentous catalysts on the horizon (see: ubiquitous high speed wifi/connectivity, A.I., P.rimary I.nterface (advance/shift) etc…) this one about solar panels is not too difficult to “square to the good” as Socrates almost certainly never said.
Change is coming as fast as the charge.
The E in E.V. – yeah that electric bit.
Solar panels help with that.
SolarCity produces highly efficient solar panels and are in the process of finalizing construction of the largest solar panel manufacturing facility (Riverbend ‘gigafactory’) in North America in Buffalo New York. This is pertinent in the capital leverage that it represents, in addition to the advantages of “vertical integration” to Tesla’s gain; this taking “in house” the ability to deliver to every customer their own “fuel depot/station” in addition to true Energy Sovereignty, Liberty, perpetual in-situ, on site, energy production and storage.
Energy sovereignty is going to be a fundamental expectation of the future. Like reliable communications devices, and data networks today. Distributing energy infrastructure into community “hubs” at the neighborhood and individual home level, allows for a degree of energy security and robustness that far exceeds the capabilities (while avoiding key liabilities and weakness) of sole reliance on the traditional (legacy) grid as we have known it.
The story of human history has involved a perpetual necessity to go out, bring in, and burn, consume energy, often somewhere down the line as oil or coal, to get to work, to grow the food, to power the appliance, to heat the water, to pump the water, to power the television and gaming console, the internet modem and router, the air conditioner, the oven, the automobile et. al ---
Tesla Energy changes the equation. It’s not perpetual motion, because the system receives energetic input from the sun everyday, but it may as well be, because if implemented effectively, your internet is always on, your refrigerator is always cold, your oven is always hot, your lights are on, your Model 3 is fully charged – after a single initial capital investment--- (here’s the liberty bit) a substantial portion of what was a regular expense can be bundled into a singular, freeing consideration --- do you want to bundle your power?
Instead of piecemeal - subject to the vagaries, contortions and unfortunate distortions of markets –one can largely free themselves of the consideration of crude; “Price Per Barrel.”
Pair powerful, modular, and mobile --power generation and storage, with advances in home design – and you have a recipe for the next-generation “life equation”, a new level of liberty, and a different kind of freedom, -- where innovation has outpaced the necessity of persistent acquisition and burn --
Efficient, effective, energy; as sure as the sunrise.
This is the future…
Coupled with the rapid rise of college tuition, and the increasing quality, breadth, depth and availability of educational resources online – in 2020 what is a better investment of 100,000?
A smart, connected, forward thinking and durable modular modern home powered by Tesla Energy in Austin or Melbourne or Cairo? A home that requires very little additional input to keep the occupants whole, happy, vibrantly alive and engaged with their local and global community?
Or a “sensible” MBA?
---
I’ll take the awesome future home, a cup of coffee, participating in the augmented and virtual engagement economy, authorship, creative collaboration and expression, all with a low overhead – powered by Tesla Energy --- and their solar panels.
“2020 me” can’t help but admire the savvy of that SolarCity acquisition those four fast and exceptionally dense years ago.
And now, about this … truck *grin*
"Surcease of Samsara" /
Re: Tesla Entire & Model 3 Event 3/31 /
Notes on Presentation
The scope of narrative/concept and story are integral and considered comprehensively constitute the sum of the potential; as presented/apprehended; at present.
Key points:
- Be cool. (HA! ) No, but … really – this is about humanity and the visceral.
- "3" must be visually gripping – X’s appeal in this regard doesn’t cut it for the lift the "3" is seeking to achieve. What it must be for the company to make the next necessary step.
- The customer has to imagine the experience. They have to be helped to “see” themselves experiencing/integrating the product into their lives. (What? How?) #200+ Miles Per Charge(*grin*) , Compelling price, E.V. specific virtues (unprecedented acceleration/performance/ease of maintenance) Model specific special features, myriad implications and advantages of autonomous tech, options with respect to fast charging membership/subscription and access to Tesla Networks/Infrastructure.
- For “Tesla Entire” see (Energy/Solutions/Technologies) – there must be weaving along the LARGER narrative too – this is crucial in allowing for the necessary latitude with respect to public perception, anticipation and of perhaps utmost import – expectation. Tesla has to deliver, must continue to innovate, and craft/wring into being, the legend, the path, the product(s) and the solution; the evolution of “Energy” entire. Vis-à-vis the implication of the – sovereignty, freedom, security and choice that distributed energy production/collection and storage represent; light, clean water, heat, education, an uninterrupted internet connection and all that represents (re: google reality 2.0; riftwalking/crossing uncanny valley/V.R.) and of course, sustainable human transport--- to assist in the redefinition of what it means to wake up and live a human life, changing our immediate conception of what we believe to be possible. How can I? ---Energy. Sure, food, water etc.. HA…But Energy. THAT is the macro. And THAT Tesla can deliver. --- In chapters and moments and months and quarters and years; delivered in beats … along with which, things like markets and the sentiment they constitute, might come to be in better keeping with the rhythm of Tesla's rhyme…*grin* – Engage; convince, ergo evince. – Do they see/imagine – Do they feel??? (With respect to the above, of course, not all at once, the centerpiece for 3/31 is "3", but setting the the narrative architecture, trajectory and scope for Tesla broadly even in vaguely suggested, intimated outline helps coordinate expectation and "forethwart" inevitable "trollery" while at the same time mediating and alleviating to some degree the pressure on "3" and the critical though hardly comprehensive role it plays in Tesla's portfolio. In short and as always; there is more to the story. *grin*)
- Gotta be sexy, re: Elise/Roadster. The S strikes a nigh perfect balance in this sense. (Much can be said of the X – beyond the intention/scope of this communique ±)
- Have Fun --- Get good sleep. Eat an orange and have an avocado that day, consider petting a puppy and have a good personal playlist on the lead up – a random assortment/selection of suggestions that I’d consider leading up to a presentation like this to get you in the right frame/energy/swing/mood –(see:swagger/smoove/cool) *grin*
---You got this E.
Cheers !
Freedom - Django Unchained Soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdOykEJSXIg
Lady You Shot Me – Har Mar Superstar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzH-2kFMpus
Who Did That To You – John Legend (Django Unchained Soundtrack) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA_iIINZJ-U
With respect to the "politick": /
With respect to the “politick”: I choose to abstain from participation in the traditional narrative and exchange.
I’ve had my fill in seasons past, seen and said enough to accrue sufficient savvy with respect to the state of play and nature of the game afoot – and will not participate in the perpetuation and generation of the “static” that has come to constitute our political discourse; will not abide a game whos end is so obviously not in the best interest of the general welfare – but rather, has become the national equivalent of “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” a game of ”do/focus on this so you are not doing/seeing that”.
It’s much --- easier to control a populace that is divided --- “fighting”/focusing/arguing over conveniently constructed narratives/scapegoats and middlemen than it is to govern a well informed and unified one.
The conversation would become notably more nuanced, and far less convenient for those who occupy offices of “representation” (also a charitable characterization) if we ceased to allow our standard of inquisition and metrics of meaningful success to be artificially lowered, squandered and stunted for the sake of personal gain, political power and influence.
Which is not to say I do not vote, I do. – VOTE. Make choices, be determinant; craft, wring and wrest if you must; participate particularly in those ways which do make a difference, the vote matters and the manner of participation matters as well.
The bastardization of our public and political discourse this election is in equal measure heartening and utterly frightening.
On one hand, it serves to highlight and underline in triplicate the extent to which “Private Interest(s)” have infiltrated the public process, and the degree to which, he or she who spends or has the most, says/matters/is heard/represented the most. --- I refuse to wax explicitly prolific on this issue, if the myriad ways in which the above can be applied to our present political-landscape escapes your attention – then this communique entire is likely lost regardless. – One who would choose to call a green triangle a red square for instance, is beyond the purview of logical argumentation and debate; in other words, willful ignorance is just that, and very little else can be said or done. Adopting a position or view that is so obviously contrary to factual comportment and the things of sense ---see birthers, a presidential secret muslim, skewing "end of life" consultation with doctors being covered under a public plan into "death panels" -- nonsense -- etc… is to be complicit in the goal of intentional obfuscation; redirecting energy that could be better spent identifying real problems and implementing sound solutions. And while reason should disallow these childish and ridiculous exclamations and excitations from coming to the fore, these insincere, purchased and pushed narratives largely come to constitute the majority of the “argument” (a charitable characterization, given the laughably insubstantial nature of the claims themselves) forwarded by an entire wing of our political establishment; the majority in fact -- when lies become a matter of course, what are we doing but playing plays; telling, selling, tales, stories and fables? Sides of hocus to go with our pocus. *grin*
– When the dollar reigns -- what becomes of the difference between “Made for TV/Hollywood/Fiction” and “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President” - but the budget for FX and the talent of the script writer?
We are witnessing the vanishing of the delta that spares us the aforementioned epsilon. – Which is to say that very little separates the players in politics from characters in scripted drama, particularly when the most visible participants in our political process are beholden to decades old ties, obligations and well established interests.
--Have I mentioned I do not “politick” anymore? It is not a game of the people; though it is certainly intended “for” us ---- to our detriment or betterment is, as it has ever been, a matter of our collective choice and action; --- I for one like the idea of access to a Universal Single Payer Healthcare system for all U.S. citizens, I like phasing in a living wage, I like free tuition at public institutions provided the student maintains a decent academic standard of achievement, I appreciate the second amendment, I believe some debates are beyond silly – I think debating over marriage equality is silly, I think public debate over a womens personal reproductive rights is silly, I think people in jail because of cannabis is silly – these are the anachronistic and archaic echoes of a puritanical past which constitute the persistent momenta of an outdated era, insufficient to and unbecoming of the potential of our modern age--- I think the tax code is atrocious and obviously deliberately obtuse and incoherently labyrinthine precisely because it allows greater latitude for “creative accounting and fiscal indiscretion” – I think a Federal tax code can fit in less than 50 pages and be efficient, across the board legible and largely agreed upon to be broadly equitable ---
though …if we allow ourselves to be successfully sequestered; divided and conquered --- and find ourselves busy talking/focusing/arguing about who’s putting what in whos where – and who said what latest outrageous thing (precisely because the outrage takes the focus off things of substance) – then we are falling in line with the script as written --- if the “elected representatives” that are supposed to be having these substantive discussions, finding these refinements and implementing efficient changes are in fact “instituted,” bought and paid for by “Private Interest(s)”--- then something as, frustratingly straightforward as publicly heard/debated and then enacted tax code overhaul/simplification --- is beyond laughable to even begin to suggest as a matter of serious policy.
Ah, would that it were not so – but we’ve been left with our Liberty, no? *grin*
Lines of argumentation Re: Unified Field Theory & General Unification via consideration of Planck’s constant /
A Note on “Law of Constant Action”
Ran into R.F. briefly this evening; he posited an interesting proposition re: Planck’s constant – upon first reflection, the direction of his inquisition certainly yields (bears) ample argument (fruit) for the justification of additional inquiry, in part because this method/measure of/for discrete quantization allows for concrete quantification of discrete “quanta;” fundamental packets of mass/Energy. Planck’s constant holds a fundamental place in the framework of our conception of/for the behavior of matter and intervening space‑time, – an exploration of our understanding of the nature of matter via the lens of Planck’s constant, --the minimum energetic threshold a local field/instance must attain, in order to express itself, jump the valence, propagate independently through space-time in the form of the electron; photon; light, collectively; Energy -- could hold tremendous value in assisting in the further synthesis and general apprehension of the fields of physics and chemistry.
See – Boltzmann Distribution, photo-electric effect, limits of Heisenberg uncertainty-, to name a few. Minimum distance for consideration of frequency of lights propagation --- ramble ramble…
*grin*
A wonderful proposition.
Cheers Professor!
Notes on : "Law of constant action" - In concert w/ R.F. -grin- /
#OnShouldersOfGiants /
On Methods of Professorship and the Tao of Teaching /
The questions we lead students to ask matters.
----
Particularly if a student takes those questions seriously.
For instance, I took a class once, where the mid-term and final were known from day one of the class. You had all semester to ruminate and formulate and plan and then hopefully pontificate.
We were asked to discuss what happened during a roughly 500 year span of time through the “lens” of economics, politics, or art. These are questions of tremendous scope. As such I do not believe such questions should be asked lightly.
Because that is a serious undertaking; to educate yourself well enough, to even begin the task of formulating a narrative and perspective of sufficient magnitude; commensurate to the prompt. This requires a tremendous deal of effort, consideration and time.
Be that as it may, as a student, I did not begrudge these questions too much. For while they were dauntingly large questions, the expectations were sufficiently defined, and our time and intelligence was respected. We were afforded time and the Professor’s consideration of the difficulty of the undertaking was evident, and given due credence as cases warranted. Further, we were afforded excellent materials and texts; instruction and lecture; it was fair.
--This style…has obvious downsides. The “eggs in one basket” deal. The fact that if it doesn’t click..if the question does daunt…if one can’t begin…its..the majority of the grade. In this case, these large essays were the mid-term and the final exam. So while I think it affords a student a very fair opportunity to “prove their merit/learning/effort” it is also a considerable challenge.
Another approach is to be more varied and fluid, and to assign numerous and varying assignments. Which, depending on the subject and intention of the class, also be effective. Particularly for those students who begin the course only peripherally engaged.
Though if improperly conducted, this approach can condition a sort of, “drudgery response,” a, “check the box, get it done and move on,” a feeling of jumping through a series of trivial hoops, if the assignment is not paired with a sense of meritorious inquiry and excitement. I believe this, to be the work of the Professor. To communicate the “why’s” of the subject and field. What has excited you? Excitement is an enticement to self-motivated learning.
The huge up side to more assignments is the more definite path to success, provided the grading criteria and standards reflect the standard and quality of the questions students are asked to begin with. Poor questions often yield poor work; though sometimes they can inspire better questions and good work – this largely depends on the qualities of the individual student.
Would it not be an absolute absurdity to ask someone to learn and synthesize 500 years of history over a weekend in an essay? I’d say so. It is a disrespectful question.
I once took a course in US History I, which spanned the early colonial period up to the civil war. The Professor would come to class, notes in hand (that is important, the notes in hand) and proceed to lecture for an hour and a half on material that was generally at least tangentially relevant to the material being covered in the corresponding chapter in the text. Rinse and repeat…then the mid-term and final.
As with the Western Civ. Professor I mentioned earlier, the mid-term and final were these “all the marbles” style essays, however, we had to write them within two hours, in class, longhand, at 8:30AM.
…I won’t begin to detail the seemingly obvious flaws with this approach, but again, the “whys’’ matter; the “whys” of a Professor matter greatly. Does one adopt the position for the authority; the assuagement of ego? Or is it the opportunity to impart an excitement for the cultivation of gnosis?
One remark however on the second Professor’s approach. Given that this Professor required an entire semester, in addition to several pages of notes, each lecture to impart the material to the students. I contend that any student would could successfully synthesize the span of material that was covered in the course, into a handwritten essay, in two hours, early in the morning – should immediately assume the Professorship of that course. Because they have so obviously surpassed the Professor, who required weeks and weeks and pages of notes. – Poor questions are an insult to both student and subject. That kind of in-class mid-term seems somewhat arbitrary, undertaken largely as a metric for culling; with a predetermined expectation of x percent of passes, x percent of failures, stratified, and made to fit, like so, and so, and so. I really dislike this approach. It’s a bit too common.
Whereas – a student who is given a well-defined task, and afforded the necessary material and time to complete it, has a more equitable and meaningful opportunity to acquit themselves well in demonstrating their mastery of the course content and their ability to adapt and synthesize their learning in their essay. In addition, I would venture to suppose that the actual content of these essays, and therefore the academic achievement that they represent, is likely of much higher quality as well, when afforded proper time, preparation and latitude.
On the other hand if I was assigned 5 essays of similar length on similar theme it may begin to beg either repetition and repeated form..OR…it may ignite creativity out of fruitful rebellion. There is merit perhaps in this approach, and I would relish the opportunity to argue in its favor, in a “Saturday at the pub” style debate, along with a few rum and cokes with friends.
I also understand the thought of “playing to the middle” …though I don’t know if it is the best philosophy or not. I ask myself, why not teach via beacon? Teach via excitement?
If there is merit in it for you, if it excites you, and invigorates you, and inspires you, why can that not be shared? Why can that not be the structure around which a class is formed?
What if there was a “guided portfolio” option and a “self-study” portfolio option.
Where the student can either do the selected assignments if they are not confident enough to write a piece on their own…
But if the point is to get students to engage and write; submit work that conveys “considered thoughts, opinions and supported positions,” that are either relevant to the course…OR…exhibit nuanced care and attention to detail, cultured learning, refinement; beyond a cursory familiarity, paired with creativity and novel perspective, insight, care, excitement – that I think may hold resonant value.
If it is well written, as in, communicates the author’s intention, and is of substance. I would consider it valid coursework.
Because there is an obvious difference between something that shows intelligence and perspective and thought and time, and something that either, isn’t, or, is rushed and poorly done or attempted. (As adjudged on a case by case basis.)
The well-written word is becoming a rarity, in part, because people are not inspired.
If the student does not care, or is not excited; is not helped to understand the gift and power of an education, and assisted in knowing the truth of “Scientia Potentia Est” by experience, and of “standing on the shoulders of giants,” then it is no wonder that these things should pass.
But then, I’ve never taught an English class. *grin*
- - -
I think you do an excellent job. You are engaging. You care. You communicate. You are there. You inspire question. And..my god…the…freedom..the honest and true spirit of academic inquiry .. it is alive in your class room in a way that is unfortunately rare.
I appreciate you. And I value the experience of having taken your class, and of having met you. I am grateful to have done so. Thank you.
Keep doing what you are doing. Inviting curiosity, and expression and exploration and assisting in the cultivation of synthesis and the development of the critical faculty.
Well done Professor.
*grin*
/
Of substance
It strikes me, just now.
How a poem can capture with its form.
Its evocative beauty.
It’s abrupt “entre.”
Quickly – bynote .
Beauty.
Fully.
Like so. *grin*
And perchance woo’d by the seeming,
Invited by its subtle gleaming,
You find yourself careening
Toward that farther shore,
Evermore,
Potent
Sure
Scientia
Potentia
Est.
Inured.
It seems perhaps that we are engaged by proportion and order and symmetry, irrespective of an acquaintance with mathematic’s methods and notations, there is something in these elements of form and format that speak to, I think, a very resonant fundamental quality of our humanity, such as it is, coupled with our intelligence.
And this makes a lot of sense, in that through time our development as a species has relied on the gradual accumulation of syntheses that we call technologies, often, the foundations of these discoveries have been rooted in a quest for an aesthetic beauty; an admiration of form. This cannot be discounted in the making of a work of art, or a poem….the potency of form alone; the delivery, the feel, the look. Even a haphazard assemblage of components can be made to exhibit form ergo content.
Then there is the matter of content; semantics, the meaning of what is said in the work, the poem, the book, the equation, the song. This runs the gamut, as it beautifully should, in logical accord with the character of disparate authors. Which is to say, different minds will say different things for different reasons with varying degrees of success, often based on time, experience and motivated inclination and application, but I digress.
Poems are interesting because in them we find this wonderful collision of form and content. I think it the hallmark of a master when these elements are in balance and complementary proportion. One could argue on the basis of mathematics alone that a proper observation of proportion moves a work a step closer to something that might be more "universally apropos." I find these qualities elegant – valuable "heuristic tools" of – which is to say, that the more broadly a theory or statement can be applied, the more useful that statement or theory is, as a “metal detector for meaning” – a tool for separating the “signal from the noise.”
e.e. cummings pioneered many effective exploitations; expressions of form. A hallmark of his work. His creative disregard of customary and expected elements of proper form.. and in so doing, he often managed to be
-- even more precise than what the “rules” would have you do.
*grin*
Though he kept content firmly in tow. I think of his metaphorical use of a car being described in a state of escalating (almost alarmingly; out of control) careening into an a imaginary field, spent and exhausted.…and he breaks it up -- in little chunks… just so, -- such that one sees the literal car of the narrative, in concert with a parallel narrative, that rather explicitly describes a robust and engaging sexual encounter. Wonderful work and balance. And it is precisely that balance; mastery of form and content, that allow for an artist like cummings to express the multiple narratives, threads, and expressions.
It’s wonderful.
T.S. Eliot – in particular his earlier work, is so potent a concentration of unbridled young intellect challenging its-self to contribution after a thorough observation of those who had gone before…and he managed to, in this authors opinion, further the forms in which he participated, notably poetry and his essays on the the art of critique. T.S. Eliot was not nearly as experimental with form as someone like ee cummings, which is to say he didn’t break up words and substitute spellings and get creative with punctuation, though he of course dabbled…but what TS Eliot focused on was an absolute precision of expression that almost disallows misinterpretation. That is rare. Rarer still if it is beautiful. (Again…beauty, symmetry, visceral ringings…almost light a lighthouse; guiding.)
Eliot managed to experiment heavily with the surreal to express very concrete, and generally, universally resonant human emotions and experiences. Interesting is the “narrative voice” and perspective of his work. Almost like he had to remove himself from “the picture” in order to capture its beauty, because he knew if he painted himself into the picture, he couldn’t even begin to encompass it in any frame that he could attempt to create, express, construct, conceive, wring into being, while subject to the ”passions” of involved-experience.
One of my favorite poems is his “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock”
--- FORM AND CONTENT –
One simple model for these is something like an infinity symbol; an 8 lying on its side; imagined to be two balloons inflated and conjoined at the center. If you squeeze the balloon on the right, the left side inflates a little more, if you squeeze on the left, the right receives more of the “internal energy/creative force/material/substance” and so it inflates a bit more.
If one balloon was content and the other form; exceptional concentration on form alone, may come at the cost of diminished content. Conversely, proportionally more focus on squeezing the “content-ballon” may result in diminished form. An excess of either area can break the “message” of the work entire…and it’s this balance between things that allows for resonant expression. So that knowledge that can be passed on to the observer, reader, audience, posterity.
By developing your singular aesthetic, through study; the systematic exposure to, and assimilation of, the foundational texts and records in primary fields of inquiry…this is like gathering tools and techniques and clay to build your own works – eventually you begin to more consciously manipulate proportions of form and content to best suit and manifest “intention.”
I am reminded of a quote often ascribed to Issac Newton, something along the lines of
“If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”
Which seems an acknowledgement of the fact that the human story is one of brief accumulation and advancement, hopefully followed by a record, so that those that come later, can take that baton and keep running with it, keep advancing in potency of expression, and subject of content…in technique…expanding precedent and achievement.
- - -
-Prufrock is I think an important work because it represents a profound synthesis of much of the classical perspective, but also the results of the industrial revolution and age, the changing perception of our humanity in the midst of the first world war…he blends the mélange of Shakespeare and the Greeks with a formidable foundation of substantial western-anglo poets, in addtition, he was well acquainted with eastern traditions and works…perhaps that is where some of his more ambitious surreal expressions spring from – he often expresses an awareness of the inevitable attrition of “time”, and the encroachment of death – and he laments it openly, while calling out, making what seemed to him a knowingly futile note in the stillness of fluid time.
Starkness and beauty; often in concert.
Eliot paired a novel distillation of western prose, with his observations of the human experience and condition, leaning heavily male and masculine, owing to his time and the circumstance of his observation. Much can be gleaned of his time and his sense of history and of his sense of our place in it…much, done well. I remember the first time I began “Prufrock”…I was compelled to place the book, print-down, on my pillow, so that I could better marvel at its brilliance. Words and phrases flow largely logically, in adherence to form and expectation, all the while he manages a musicality and an aesthetic “ring,” while painting new portraits of the human experience, that had not existed before. And he captured these words in that brief window of his life in which he was capable of doing so.
That is another whole aspect of artists and their art; their location in their arc of learning. When he wrote Prufrock he was a younger person, he still had experiences and questions he had not even known would come, or that he would be forced to contemplate and answer. Life changes. And there is a universality to so much of the experience..the blindness of youth…and the necessity of life’s navigation nevertheless. T.S. Eliot captured…a lot of this in his work…Prufrock marks…a special synthesis…of time, an age, and the state of the form (poetry) and essays at his time….there are tenors of ambition that only exists when of a certain age, when one if forgiven the brashness of an expectation of time… much is there in his work; well done.
Then there are poets like Pierre Reverdy who was somewhere between these two. Nowhere near as proper or concerned with a certain kind of crispness…Reverdywas a pioneer of unconcerned surrealism. The joining of disparate ideas, scene, milieus and concepts with respect to both their independent and collective existence without stopping to think if that interpretation comports with conventional expectation and acceptance.
A flying bird with the smudge of an ant body, on a bar top, trapped in an errant bead, of water perspired from a beers stein…though more…comparing the laughing of a woman in a red dress, to the leanings of the buildings on particular street, the creamy chalk of a lamplight with the terror or a midnight creak….the funny smoke that exudes from hopeful things in desperate places…
And yet to achieve …the creation of abstract novelty that still bears a communicable meaning…he had to so very carefully balance his form and content. He couldn’t have the disregard of cummings because it would lack the necessary form to convey the content. Part of cumming’s work was the disregard itself, while Reverdy had a different specific intention; as though to invoke a particular feeling, mode or image, a moment.
And so he had to carefully pick the elements of his subject that created these inspirations…like..what exactly about the smell of autumn leaves brings with it strong associations of the fall season, and the temperature etc etc..what is it? To attempt the expression of the “qualia” of a thing..the essence of its most resonant qualities…you have to be brave enough to think new things and venture new comparisons, but you have to be adept enough at bringing these ideas together in a form that can communicate this synthesis while leaving the work itself, independent of the expectations of outcome.
#publicwritingassignments /
Beating Dead Horses, Beyond Shadows of Doubt:
In Retrospective Summation
Doubt.
“Doubt thou the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.”
- Shakespeare
Hamlet II, 2.
Doubt is a rite of the human condition, and a fundamental aspect of the experience of living. All descriptions of measureable phenomenon are predicated upon ultimately doubtful theses. This contention is perhaps most explicitly illustrated in Heisenberg’s “Uncertainty Principle,” which is the notion that our ability to measure phenomenon, and therefore accurately represent it, has certain fundamental limitations that have to do with things we observe with respect to what Niels Bohr sometimes refers to as “quantum of action;” physical activity at very small scales, atomic scales, quantum scales; more specifically, Heisenberg’s Principle states that the more precisely we seek to define and measure the specific position of a “particle/phenomenon” in space/time, the less certain we are of its momentum and vice versa (velocity is a close approximation of momentum, though specifically momentum = mass x velocity), this principle rises in part out of the consequences of the “duality” of light; light expresses both (discrete) particle and (continuous) wave behavior depending on circumstance. This illustrates some small measure of the limitations of our present ability to accurately determine what is and is not so. Nothing is ever so certain.
I wrote a diagram upon a time, and on the top left I put Doubt and Sister A and Sister James and Father Flynn and Child Donald and Mother of Donald. On the top right was Young Goodman Brown and “Faith” (his wife; her ribbon), “The Devil (/temptation(?)/suspicion/the “lesser angels” of our nature?), and some scribbling nigh that on general disposition, like grittily graying grout.
At the center was “doubt”
And off to the left was a True War Story with a preface about “rarely true” and “voices in the mist” (Opera and laughing, and parties, and talking, and mothers mothering and children sleeping while dawn wakes up the farther sky breaking into morning.) –I remember the haunting eyes of the “water-buffalo,” I remember it was breathing,.. I remember vivid shadows, limned silver; Lemon stepped from shadows into light, young, alive, Kerouac mad, and smiling – and then he was in the tree, and the men picked him; singing.
----
Should one eschew decorum and expectation of comportment?
Is it human not to? Is one taught to? Ought one ever ought to?
I often like thinking about the thoughts of others with respect to my estimation of who they are; I try to account for my error, and I ascertain as best I may, then I seek to foster most that which I see in them. ( Perhaps that “light” that sages often reference?) I love that I think. I love art. I think of Arthur Rimbaud, I’ve walked a similar “way” a awhile as many, mayhap most, will do. Embracing the immediacy of myriad Kerouac nights, those instances of vibrant abandon, often when breaths plume like fog, and somewhere, neon lights begin to flicker in defiance of the gathering gloaming. Rimbaud made of his soul a canvas, upon which he embraced the examination of the Nietzschean abyss that lies in abandon to the starkness of dregs, to the fragility of humanity, to night things and the passionate dark. I’d venture a comparison to Van Gogh, and though, while kindred of spirit, they are hardly alike except perhaps with respect to their torture? As can likely be ventured with respect to any who display(ed) great endeavor? HA…Rimbaud ended up finishing saying what he had to say by the time he was around twenty-eight or so, though he’d largely written what he’d be remembered for by the time he was twenty three. He ended up living in Africa doing freelance trade-work, or so I fallibly recall. Arthur Rimbaud was mad and undaunted. I’d love to hear his words on doubt. –
Once again I find myself making mental note to read more Rimbaud…sparingly of course, these are after all the works of one destructively indulgent instance of a Langston Hughesian “genius child.”
I could at this point wax lengthily on the merits of various translations, as French is known to be notoriously difficult to translate well without a sort of translatorial exposition leaching in, to influence the text, perhaps this stems from the passionate responses the work invokes, and incidentally is often expressly striven for in works tied in some measure to the notions expressed in classical Romanticism. But that would not only be unnecessarily erudite, it would also be even further afield than I intend to wend, while laying this yellow-brick narrative—
I highly recommend Narcissus & Goldmund by Hermann Hesse. I once lived with an ex-nun in the desert, and she’s gifted me books on Christmas – I’ve thought to recommend this book to her. I’d ask her; who do you think is who? *grin* Have you read it Professor? Hermann Hesse examined doubt masterfully in his work. I think one of his most ambitious approaches to themes of doubt can be found in “Klingsor’s Last Summer” entire, though, I found the last three pages of “Klein and Wagner” to be astounding in their richness. Hesse’s ability to be explicit in his articulation of abstraction is something special, this coupled with his particular balance of poetry and prose; the form never suffering for want of the visceral – and therein lies why some may call him a master, that wonderful balance of a poetic aesthetic, a seeking to not only convey a notion but to invoke a feeling. His work like Picasso, and Van Gogh and Kerouac and Lao Tzu, and Socrates, ad nauseum, escapes into that rarified ether in which a work can no longer be considered with respect to a single frame of reference, but rather strives for a more comprehensive existence beyond singular definition and intention.
----
On the bottom I list Lottery. – victim, victimizer (?SisterA? Flynn? Donald? But not that) doubt? Or certainty? It almost seems like it would be a twisted certainty that leads people to willingly agree to stone a neighbor to death, but perhaps there is much, much more to the tale. Though that does seem largely to be the case in general doesn’t it?
And last to the right I’ve got Trifles and “reasonable doubt,” though that is never really the question. Both women seem to believe she did it, but they believe that perhaps there was justice in her having done so. I love how this entire “meta-narrative” is suggested/implanted in our minds and the author never comes out and says it. There really is a wonderful mastery at play in Trifles. We are invited to know all three of these women far beyond what is spoken aloud in the text – I think it says much about the author’s view of women in her time, and the fact that women are obviously far more than meet the eye. Some of the most resonant language was her use of the “stillness” and “the quiet”…that was…brilliant and visceral. I also really liked the remark that went something like ‘we all go through the same thing in different ways.’
Ambiguity, ambiguity, ambiguity – I’ve heard it’s good for the brain.
Can’t ever appear too coherent!
*wink* HA!
When Young Goodman Brown ceased to doubt that people might not all walk at midnight with strangers, he became miserable. Sister Aloysius has perhaps learned to doubt. Maybe she wasn’t miserable, maybe if she was, she won’t be anymore, maybe Meryl Streep is pretty good at what she does, though from what I’ve read of the authors work his authorial merit cannot be discounted. The True War Story emphasizes that some things can’t be believed, that in order to even understand a “true” war story there has to be elements of the incredulous to “set the stage” for the “truth” such as it can be said to exist – what with picking people you knew from branches and watching rivers. The Lottery is creepy maybe because there isn’t enough doubt. People don’t doubt there, they do. Trifles…I doubt that I can stay awake to keep typing, cause its 4:43 AM and if I never actually “wake-up” this morning, the coffee won’t taste right.
--On today: excerpted tweets /
Ritualized reading does wonders for retention; comprehension - for a period, I lit a candle in the evening; reading for awhile before sleeping
This can be applied to assimilating texts; learning. "Human capital" -- desire helps, but is not necessary; diligence will suffice;& follow?
Today was wonderful. I've earned this tired. Ye, lo; midnight oils burn. *grin*
"If a man has any greatness in him, it comes to light, not in one flamboyant hour, but in the ledger of his daily work. — Beryl Markham
#TeslaS70D Stationary Storage(?) Announcement #$TSLA 30 April /
Excited about the debut of the Tesla S 70D.
HUGE step forward. Bold and unexpected. *grin*
(Forward looking to anticipate, educate; integrate the standardization of dual motors; given the inherent efficiency advantages(- -) . Also funny what that does to streamline manufacturing process re: X *grin*)
This is an accessible novelty; the future car, now; Tesla.
Stay tuned for April 30 announcement @elonmusk
( -- ? -- ) I've been thinking about batteries alot lately; economies of scale; drivers of demand; modular design, integration and scalability. And that's just lithium!!! HA! *grin*
@Cliff_McCormick (twitter)
Cheers!
-cliff
*grin*
-an exchange with a friend- /
Read a good book!
I've got a wonderful selection of 100 works of ee cummings (the guy was so damn prolific its nice to have someone else gather some instances of "him" and say -- "hey I like these! check em out!" -- This is good because it is A. beautiful and B. often so evocative that your brain wont have room for woe. *grin* and -- to mix it up -- you could try a copy of "Narcissus & Goldmund" by Hermann Hesse!!! (I'm about half way through -- it's wonderful! ... a great trip for your imagination; ergo you! -- a way of taking a break -- and helping see from a new perspective; Hesse is great at looking at us in his work, word, art. Love the guy -- and if you want to relish the dark & the vibrant -- you could go with "Klingsor's Last Summer" also by Hesse -- F - ING brilliant! The last 3 pages of Klein Und Wagner; I am convinced; if stumbled upon in a dusty old desk drawer in many times in our history -- could literally change a person. It's just so damn vivid; descriptive; it boldly creates a tapestry your brain may not have considered constructing before -- literally gushing forth metaphor and symbol, shadow and light life and death -- in a man willfully falling backward from a boat. F!!! (AND THATS JUST THE MIDDLE STORY!) The full arc is 3 stories 1. A childs heart (the story from the perspective/time of a child) 2. Klein und Wagner (a man in mid-life; his crisis) 3. Klingsors Last Summer -- an artist who senses; sees his imminent end; what he does with his "last summer," and how exquisite he wrought; how brightly; deeply; passionately? furiously? lived -- like how a bulb first shines brighter -- . And those choices with the last fleeting days; between sensation; the sensual; and his art; who IS he after a life? That all examined through the mind of a lifelong painter; who lingers in the hills outside of towns to capture the sunset; forgoing much to see more. ??? Or at least...that is one of the questions I found the story inviting me to inquire ... he rambles. *grin*
- hedwig era photos- *grin* /
