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experience

The mountain before the tree

A morning thought. It’s about this picture, Le Lac d’Annecy and the apprehension of reality. (I mean apprehension in its apparent 14th C meaning of ‘grasp with the senses or mind’.)  <– and that’s in parenthesis because I cannot convey the meaning in my voice in a simply font.

With reality, I don’t mean the stuff around us, but truths, and specifically the passions that drive us – whethere that is music, that sense of being in nature, there will be something. There will be something that you relish breathing in. That’s it, even if it is not a thing. It won’t be a thing, but I won’t attempt to name it or even suggest what it could be for you. The interesting thing here is not the actual thing, but how you see it.

That’s where the picture comes in. and warning, there’s some cerebral stuff ahead, but it’s worth swimming in the concepts – you will feel refreshed, revitalised, and maybe just see a bit more clearly when you blink after coming out of the water. There’s a paragraph and then a phrase. The paragraph describes how one needs to not only view, but be emmersed, as I suggested – swim, and ‘participate’ with the stuff of our reality to take it in. Here’s the paragraph and then I’ll go on:Read More »The mountain before the tree

Create, share, and learn #el30 with Amy Burvall

This hour was my first in depth experience with Amy Burvall, and with aspects of her backstory. It was Stephen Downes 8th topic, Experience, in his #el30 course, broadcast on 16 December. (I’m catching up) I was aware of Amy’s art, but without the personal, without the moments of detail, I had never looked deeper. As she says – we don’t just want stuff to consume. One of the biggest things I took away from this video was that it took me beyond the externality of Amy’s art and gave me a reason to engage.

At the beginning of the conversation Stephen asks Amy about a few of her core tenants. They talk about her premise of creating something every day. Amy says, ‘It doesn’t have to be big, but do something creative every day.’ Stephen mentions that he does these 1 para posts, and none of them is a work of art, but you develop the sills… It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking something is nothing, when actually something is something. As a musician I know that the value someone else ascribes to my creation is up to them, personal, and very often completely unknown to me. Creation has value, and just because it is not immediately quantifiable or visible does not belittle or negate that value.

‘Beauty in the broken, marvellous in the mundane, wow in the now’

Amy uses an example of having a phone and seeing rust on a fence and using the camera to capture that aesthetically pleasing moment right now, the wow in the now, and then maybe writing a poem about it later.

I loved that.

She goes on to say Read More »Create, share, and learn #el30 with Amy Burvall

Catching up on quick thoughts #el30

Last week Stephen held an open hangout for his class #el30 and I had very much hoped to join. In my work (teaching) life this week was the week of exams, presentations, and submissions for the semester’s work, and so when students asked for help I did my best to make time. Some of that time ended up being during the hangout, and so I missed it.

I did catch up and as is my practice I jotted down some thoughts. They have been sitting on a page, not quite becoming a post, but as this week is about experience I thought I’d share. The first thing I wrote down was Roland’s question:

Is a reader of a book part of the community even if they never write anything about the book?

Read More »Catching up on quick thoughts #el30