Be Clenched - Be Curious

Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. [Don't wait] for inspiration's shove or society's kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager. 

~Susan Sontag, from a lecture about writing at Vassar College

A few days ago the Chicago Tribune posted a short article positing that distractability seemed to be a boon for creative types, spurring them to higher achievement. The idea is that people with "leakier filters notice more information in the world [and] this can lead to novel combinations of information. Some of the greatest artists in history had trouble concentrating," according to Darya Zabelina, lead author of this study. 

Conversely, people who easily filter out distraction are likely to have higher academic test scores.

A friend who has heard me complain more than a few times about the bombardment of so-called music that seems to be endemic in every store of any kind, tells me I am simply "overly sensitive to noise," saying she is seldom aware of it and, if she is, it doesn't distract her.  

I consider myself nominally creative in two or three areas and will allow that I likely have a touch of the "leaky sensory filter" syndrome. On the other hand, when I am at a task I enjoy and which demands my full attention, filtering out distractions comes easily.  

The most artistically creative person I know could be said to have a "leaky sensory filter." He is fascinated by everything and anything. It's often difficult for him to focus. 

The world holds excitement and he wants to experience all of it. His creativity comes out in sculpting, oil and watercolor painting, writing, jewelry making, crafting hand-made papers, etching, the list goes on and on. If the world holds a creative endeavor he hasn't tackled, it's as though he is compelled to experience it. 

Sontag tells the creative one, the creating one, it's all about paying attention. I understand this and I tend to agree. But, as the study by Zabelina seems to show, creative types have trouble filtering. They "pay attention" to everything!

I had the gift of knowing another highly creative person who made no bones about the fact that she simply was not "visual." She often commented on how many things I noticed, saying it was all so much minutiae to her. She also had the ability to filter out any sounds but those she chose to hear (her ears and mind became 100% focused and open when the "sounds" were the voices of those she loved). 

This woman had friends of all types and ages all around the world whom she mentored and loved unconditionally.   

Essentially, however, she lived inside her head. She thought, she read, she mulled, she parsed, she wrote poetry and prose, she created, she focused on... one...thing... at... a... time. Got it right. Then moved on. Nothing distracted her. 

I am aware creative types may be more easily distracted because they "notice more information in the world," and therefore have "more information to choose from," however, at some point they do need to block distractions and concentrate on the work at hand or else they never would "create." 

The ability to filter out and easily focus on a project right from the get-go doesn't apply only to the "academic types."

Stay eager!

Note: Second person, past tense. This amazing woman died in July 2014. The world is a darker place now that she is gone.  

"Extremism is a spiritual phenomenon"

[David Brooks' February 20, 2015 column is quoted in full below]

The intelligent response to religious extremism

By David Brooks

The struggle against Islamic extremism has been crippled by a failure of historical awareness and cultural understanding. From the very beginning, we have treated the problem of terrorism through the prism of our own assumptions and our own values. We have solipsistically assumed  that people turn to extremism because they can't get what we want, and fail to realize that they don't want what we want but want something they think is higher.

The latest example of this is the speech that President Barack Obama gave at this week's Summit on Countering Violent Extremism. It was a bad speech, but its badness is no reflection on Obama, for it was the same sort of bad speech that all U.S. presidents have been giving for the past generation.

Religious extremism exists on three levels. It grows out of economic and political dysfunction. It is fueled by perverted spiritual ardor. It is organized by theological conviction. U.S. presidents focus almost exclusively on the economic and political level because that's what polite people in Western capitals are comfortable talking about.

At the summit meeting, Obama gave the conventional materialistic explanation for what turns people into terrorists. Terrorism spreads, he argued, where people lack economic opportunity and good schools. The way to fight terror, he concluded, is with better job-training programs, more shared wealth, more open political regimes and a general message of tolerance and pluralism.

In short, the president took his secular domestic agenda and projected it as a way to prevent young men from joining the Islamic State and chopping off heads.

But people don't join the Islamic State because they want better jobs with more benefits. The Islamic State is one of a long line of anti-Enlightenment movements, led by people who have contempt for the sort of materialistic, bourgeois goals that dominate our politics. These people don't care if their earthly standard of living improves by a few percent a year. They're disgusted by the pleasures we value, the pluralism we prize and the emphasis on happiness in this world, which we take as public life's ultimate end.

They're not doing it because they are sexually repressed. They are doing it because they think it will ennoble their souls and purify creation.

On Thursday, Mona El-Naggar of The Times profiled a young Egyptian man, named Islam Yaken, who grew up in a private school but ended up fighting for the Islamic State and kneeling proudly by a beheaded corpse in Syria.

You can't counter a heroic impulse with a mundane and bourgeois response. You can counter it only with a more compelling heroic vision. He was marginalized by society. He seems to have rejected the whole calculus of what we call self-interest for the sake of an electrifying apocalyptic worldview and what he imagines to be some illimitable heroic destiny.

People who live according to the pure code of honor are not governed by the profit motive; they are governed by the thymotic [hunger for recognition] urge, the quest for recognition. They seek the sort of glory that can be won only by showing strength in confrontation with death.

This heroic urge is combined, by Islamist extremists, with a vision of End Times, a culmination to history brought about by a climactic battle and the purification of the earth.

Surviving Stupidity - Part 3

Wisdom is the reward for surviving our own stupidity

~Brian Rathbone, Regent

Twenty-five years ago I'd never ridden on a motorcycle. Never wanted to, for that matter. Then into my life came a man who did like to ride motorcycles. He bought a new one and I discovered I enjoyed being carried along on what I came to feel was the "catbird seat."  Right, left, front and overhead, nothing escaped my vision. 

He'd come home from work on a warm summer evening and ask, "Want to go for a cool-out ride?" Sure, why not? I'd pack some sandwiches and a couple of beers and off we'd go, usually out of town and away from traffic. Back roads carried us for an hour or so and then we'd stop and have our picnic. 

You do not need a therapist if you own a motorcycle, 
any kind of motorcycle!
~Dan Aykroyd

Soon we two were taking longer and longer bike trips. At this time there were no laws about wearing helmets and ... we didn't. I never thought about it. Goggles or glasses to ward off the wind and keep the bugs out of our eyes, yes, but no helmets.

The inanity of not wearing helmets never crossed my mind. I felt secure on my perch and supremely confident in my partner's ability to keep us upright. 

We took a 600-mile trip out of state and when we returned to our home city we were stopped by the police because we weren't wearing helmets. As it happened, in the three weeks we'd been gone our state had passed a helmet law. We were given a warning and bought helmets the next day.

So, we don't sound so stupid, right?

However, later on, and maybe because the helmet made me feel so very safe, I'd actually fall asleep on the back of the bike as we traveled long, straight country roads or on the freeways at over 80 mph! Supremely confident in my partner's ability, as always. 

Now when we talk about those days ... those rash, caution-to-the-wind times of 80 mph-plus motorcycle rides, we both wonder, "What were we thinking???" 

Motorcycle drawing Wikimedia Commons Public Domain

Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More*

Well, now, that was fun! Portland Sunday Assembly on January 11, 2015. 

Sunday morning I readied myself to attend my first Sunday Assembly; then decided "no," then decided "yes." I'm so glad I chose "yes." 

Friendly, open and honest faces greeted me at the door. The positive energy from the 150 or so in the room was palpable. 

After a short welcome message to all, two musicians, tagging themselves as the "Crazed Weasels," played a couple of sing-along folks songs on banjo and guitar. That definitely got the juices flowing. 

A young man read a beautiful poem he'd written, another gentleman spoke for a few moments about where his life had been going (not good) and how his life has been changing (for the better). 

The main speaker was Vicki Reitenhauer, a professor at Portland State University. She teaches courses in the Women, Gender and Sexuality program at PSU. Dr. Reitenhauer spoke eloquently and informatively. 

Then, more music by the "Crazed Weasels," a couple of minutes of silence and, for those who wanted to have lunch (which I did), down one floor to McMenamin's Ringler's Pub. 

I sat with three vivacious women of varied ages and occupations. We found it easy to talk and share, opine and discuss. Perfect! 

The fish and chips: not bad either! 

*Motto of the global Sunday Assembly

Finding Her Here

No need to post any introduction to this poem by Jayne Relaford Brown. Those who know me well will understand why and how it touches me and the reason I chose to print it here, today, the first day of my own "new year." 

Finding Her Here

I am becoming the woman I’ve wanted,

grey at the temples, soft body, delighted,

cracked up by life

with a laugh that’s known bitter

but, past it, got better,

knows she’s a survivor—

that whatever comes,

she can outlast it.

I am becoming a deep

 weathered basket.

I am becoming the woman I’ve longed for,

the motherly lover

with arms strong and tender,

the growing up daughter

who blushes surprises.

I am becoming full moons

and sunrises.

I find her becoming,

this woman I’ve wanted,

who knows she’ll encompass,

who knows she’s sufficient,

knows where she’s going

and travels with passion.

Who remembers she’s precious,

but knows she’s not scarce—

            who knows she has plenty,

plenty to share.

Brown, Jayne Relaford. “Finding Her Here.”  I Am Becoming the Woman I’ve Wanted. Ed. Sandra Haldeman Martz. Ca: Paper-Mache Press, 1994. 1.

Live Better Eclectically

For quite a while now I've been feeling the need to expand my "friend base" and delve into new social areas. 

I'm very fortunate in that I have many fine, caring, intelligent, active and informed friends. We gather one or two or five or six at a time. These gatherings usually involve a bottle or two of wine and some potluck food. What they "involve" on a deeper level is good conversation and the further cementing of our friendships. 

I'm also more than fortunate, I am blessed, to have two sons and daughters-in-law who fill my heart with joy and spark my mind with a myriad of things to think about, talk about and share (of course, their busy lives mean this doesn't happen near enough for me!). 

So, it's not that I lack mental stimulation. I've simply decided it's time to step into some new arenas.   

One of those "new arenas" is Sunday Assembly Portland. They meet regularly every second Sunday at McMenamin's Lola's Room in downtown Portland. After the meeting many attendees stay for conversation and lunch. There are also smaller, more spontaneous gatherings during the month (hiking, playing games, etc).

   

I'll be experiencing my first Sunday Assembly this coming Sunday. I look forward to meeting new people, hearing their thoughts, their ideas. As time goes on, my hope is I will add to my eclectic mixture of acquaintances and forge new friendships.  

                            What is wanted is not the will to believe, 

but the will to find out, 

which is the exact opposite. 

~ Bertrand Russell

As a secular humanist, Sunday Assembly's doctrine appeals to me. Following is information from the Web site(s):  

Meaty and Minimal Conversation

All words are pegs to hang ideas on.

~Henry Ward Beecher-1813-1887 – American politician

A writer friend and I had dinner together Sunday evening—a mellow, slow, relaxing dinner, albeit in a busy, bustling restaurant. In the process of easy and light conversation, my friend said one of her old and dear acquaintances didn’t care to engage in small talk, refusing to participate in such. As a result, long, uncomfortable silences ensue once the deemed “important stuff” receives its coverage.

That comment sent us on a round of discussion about just what constituted “small talk,” and whether it had a place in otherwise intelligent conversations. Our conclusion: yes, small talk is an imperative part of civilized communication.

A casual nod of acknowledgment to those we meet as we move through the day; a “Hi, how are you doing?” or a few minutes of light conversation with a neighbor; inquiring as to how a friend's day is going, all connect us to our world. "Small talk” does not have to be small-minded talk.

Good friends certainly have every reason to engage in a smattering of small talk -- catching up on the latest news in their lives and even a bit of that old “talk about the weather.” In congenial conversations, this talk can be interspersed with other, deeper communication. Of course, these same good friends acknowledge and appreciate some contemplative silence; there's no need for continual chatter. 

As with the comfortable satiation my friend and I received from our dinner, a minimal helping of small talk often serves to enhance meatier conversation.