Enable Beauty, 2nd ed.

 The options are always either Harmony or discord. Harmony is beautiful, discord is not.

I need to acknowledge right up front here that I bring a bias to this tenet. I don’t do dark, I don’t do horror, I wouldn’t hang Picasso's Guernica in my house even if i had room for it. I’m not saying that art works that examine the darker side of life and human nature are incapable of revealing some aspects of truth, I’m simply saying that I prefer to avoid them. I have a TV and several digital devices that do their best to drag me down the rabbit hole of human weakness, deprivation, hatred, lust, veniality, etc.

OK. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about Beauty. There is a wonderful scene at the beginning of the rather chilling film, Dead Poets Society. Which I do recommend, particularly if you thought Robin Williams only did comedy. The scene takes place in an English lesson when "the boys" are being taught how to evaluate poems by the teacher Williams/Keating will replace - according to a graph on which they are to chart variables like "meter," "length of line," "syllables," to arrive at a numerical indication of "the greatness of the poem." Having spent a few decades in the sometimes strange world of academic prose, this scene is not as bizarre at it seems at first blush but it does fall far afield of my personal process of assessing beauty. My process is almost totally physical and, strangely, could be measured numerically, but not on a chart, but rather by a blood pressure cuff.

I'll give you an example. The other night I was browsing around on my night time ritual Curiosity Stream and happened upon a site called Big Picture Earth. The site features videos of various "neat places" about 30 minutes in length, shot at walking speed, using only ambient sound. I clicked on one that featured a shot of gondolas in Venice, and for the next half hour I could feel my blood pressure drop, as the video walked me through some of my favorite places in La Serenissima - the sovereign state of Venice.

My reaction is similar when I encounter "all things beautiful," be they naturally occurring scenes out in the world, paintings, sculpture, faces, sounds, whatever. I pause. Often with an unintentional, but inevitable quiet inhalation. I smile. And my blood pressure drops. No, I don't have hard data for this phenomenon - but I am going to give it a shot. It is certainly a reaction that seems diametrically opposed to those I have upon encountering the "if it bleeds it leads" mantra of the anti-something social and corporate media.

My own attempts to enable beauty are, as is the case for all of us, constrained by my own abilities. Words are an environment in which I feel comfortable, so I share them here on The Wall. With varying success. Having come to peace with my inability to do representational drawing, instead I expand my doodles and photographs, and then marry them to lush and happy colors, drawn inevitably to the strains of beautiful music; also beyond my abilities - but still able to lower my blood pressure and put a smile on my face.

Icy Child Abuse Pt.2

 Add to the list of abusers who should be punished somehow the media decision makers who allowed their cameras to follow all the devastated young skaters around, and then had the gall to feature it all in prime time. If NBC had tried a little harder I’m sure they could have found an automobile accident or a shooting somewhere they could have featured instead.

Icy Child Abuse

 I have only seen Kamila Valieva skate twice. Both times over the last couple of weeks during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She was transcendent. I have been watching Olympic figure skaters for 30 or 40 years, and never before can I recall forgetting to breathe. I am no expert, but my amazement was echoed by those who are covering the event for NBC, at least the first time around. As she prepared for her second short program, the commentators were also unanimous, and vocal, in their opinion that she should not be there. They were silent as she finished. Except for one seemingly irrepressible murmur - I couldn’t identify the voice - “Well, I said she was the best I’ve ever seen.” However, as the camera zoomed in for a screen-filling close-up of Kamila’s face, I could not help thinking, “That is a troubled child.”

In applying Distilled Harmony to this sad event, a number of things become clear. First, Foster Harmony where celebrities are concerned is largely a media issue. At best we have pseudo-social relationships with celebrities. We call them by their first names, even when they have retained a second name. They often encourage these false relationships by forsaking their second name - sometimes all vestiges of their given names. We talk about them as if they were real friends. It creates, if anything, a sense of pseudo-harmony. Enable Beauty is likewise a media creation. Popular music, fashion, etc., are created and distributed via the media by celebrity spokespeople - "influencers." Marketers seek to create new versions of beauty every year. So the first two tenets of Distilled Harmony yield no significant insight when considering the Valieva affair.

The third tenet, Distill Complexity, proves more fruitful. There seems little if any debate over the central issue of the banned substances having been present in the sample attributed to Ms. Valieva in December. Unfortunately, that seems to be the single bit of evidence that remains uncontested. Everything else is up for grabs. Which brings us to the fourth tenet: Oppose Harm, which in this instance can also be read as "who is to blame, and who should punished, and how?"

Again clarity is mostly absent. There are some apparent conclusions. The sample tested positive, therefore Valieva should banned from further participation. Allowing her to continue punishes all the other skaters who are apparently competing without the aid of performance enhancing drugs. Period. However, this is where complexity enters the equation. She is 15, and the various Committees overseeing the sport actually have different rules designed to protect minors. Protect them from who, from what? It would seem to protect them from the very people who made it possible for them to participate in the first place. Their coaches, the Russian Olympic Committee. The same cadre of powerful adults who, if the 2014 games in Sochi and the drug scandal reveled there, have proved that they are willing to keep on cheating until they get caught and even after. These are the people Valieva would have to finger. They appear to be the abusers. Abused children often protect those who abuse them.

Let us think about 15 year-old girls for a minute. Having helped raise a couple of daughters, and having taught thousands just a few years older I have some real world experience here. They are fascinating creatures. They want to be liked. They often demonstrate their love of individuality by mimicking the celebrity models presented in the media. They are easily moved to tears and smiles, mere minutes apart. And these are regular, normal, teenage girls.

Now imagine you happen to have been born with a, perhaps once in a lifetime, set of skating skills. Skills that allow you to leave adults breathless. Skills that hang gold medals around your neck. Skills that cause people to say you might well be the best female figure skater in history. Skills that cause you to be given the best coaches, the best training available. And all you need to do is keep skating, keep doing what you are told. And the world will continue to love you. And you are 15.

And then, in the space of a couple of days it all comes crashing down. You are standing on the ice where a couple of days before the ice skating world was at your feet. Smiling, applauding, loving you. But now they think you are a cheat, a liar. Hating you. And all you did was do what you were told to do. And you are still just 15.

I sincerely hope the coaches and committees that paved Kamila Valieva's path to pinnacle of the ice skating world will be as attentive in the chaos that will undoubtedly continue to swirl around her in the aftermath of these disputed Olympics. Were she my daughter, I would take her someplace tranquil. Someplace quiet. I would take away her phone. I would give her hot chocolate and cookies. Give her Winnie the Pooh books to read. Because she is just 15.

Foster Harmony, 2nd ed

Foster Harmony seems like it should go without saying.  It seems like every culture writes its particular version of this tenet into its various cultural canons. Having been born into middle America in the midst of the 20th century, I was raised with this version, commonly referred to as The Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  Wikipedia tells me that this particular version stems from a couple of places in the Christian New Testament.  But that is far from its singular source.  I have yet to encounter a faith, philosophy, belief system, etc., that does not include this core concept somewhere in the canon of its worldview.  It is hardly surprising that it claims first place among the four tenets of my worldview - Distilled Harmony.

There are a couple of reasons that Foster Harmony is the most important and the most trying of the four tenets.  First is the notion that Foster Harmony is a 24/7, all day everyday objective. It is not a characteristic we can dip into occasionally, when we feel like it, or when we worry that someone is watching or listening. What I mean by that is that we must attempt to make Fostering Harmony a real part of our everyday language and behavior. We need to guard against reacting to, or seeming to condone, the common, daily doses of discord that confront us. From the person who steals your space in the mall parking lot, to the politician or grocery store clerk who informs you that “Those People always do that!” Assuming that you know who “those people” are and what “that” is. It is those snide little pricks of presumed mutual distaste that pop the balloon of harmony. I should point out that this aspect of fostering harmony, because it is so difficult, needs to be seen as a goal. We should not beat ourselves up over occasional, and probably inevitable, slips toward discord.  And it is those slips that reveal a major reason why fostering harmony is so difficult.

Fostering Harmony is a difficult mindset to manifest, because, unless you have been very fortunate, or living in a cave, we have few real models for cultural or intercultural harmony. Far more common, in our nation’s - and our world’s - history, are models for conflict, distrust, war and prejudice - sexism, racism, etc. Even the words of historic pacifists get stolen as motivations for mayhem - holy wars of one strain or another. As I write this the media are all a buzz with several stories: 1) The Olympics, in which the “purity” of international competition unfolds against the threat of one “sort of country” seemingly on the verge of invading another. 2) Suspicion of banned substances being employed by a teenager to gain an advantage. 3) A plethora of stories regarding harassment of some sort or another in a variety of personal, professional and social arenas.

One often feels completely powerless to address this heritage of discord that seems inextricably interwoven with the entire history of our species. So let me posit what might be a helpful first step in helping ourselves down the challenging path to Fostering Harmony: let us try to free ourselves from the frightening notion of “the other.”  Again, a rather simplistic notion: it takes two to have a fight. I am not advocating that one simply backs down from bullies, whether they are on the playground, at the office, or charging up the front steps of the Capitol. But I will address that issue in the fourth tenet, Oppose Harm.  What I am suggesting here is that we avoid our cultural history's inclination to lump people into convenient groups and assign particular characteristics to all members of those groups, and in doing so "demonize" the entire group - make them "the other" whom, again our national and global history tells us, it is OK to demean, incarcerate, or actually kill. Because, somehow, they deserve it.  It is the mindset that underlies all "-ists." Harder, but more harmonic, is the seeking of options to opposition that lead to a third solution which becomes fuller understanding and the chance of win-win.

In closing this particular post let me emphasize a couple of points. Taking a personal role in Fostering Harmony needs to be an objective. It is a slippery slope, narrow path, choose your own descriptor. It is hard. It is often made harder by our failure to recognize discordant inclinations in ourselves. It is so much easier to blame "them" - fill in your own convenient "other." We need to work at Fostering Harmony. 

Distilled Harmony, 2nd ed

It's really not so much a second edition as it is a bit of a refocusing, perhaps a clarification. I have been binging a bit on Curiosity Stream videos that focus on early, say 1400 or so BCE, writings, art and architecture. Most recently a three part series called Genius of the Ancient World that focused on the lives of the Buddha, Socrates and Confucius. But early Islam, Judaism and Christianity, etc., all got their close-ups along the way. What I found fascinating, and frankly depressing, was that many of these faiths, philosophies, belief systems, call them what you will, eventually worked their way around to worldviews similar to the one I advocate in Distilled Harmony, and then promptly chose to behave quite differently than the behaviors seemly demanded by their faith. The bloody battlefields that sadly have become testaments to human history are gruesome reminders of this shared human failing.

I am moved to clarify what I mean by Distilled Harmony by the seeming acceleration of its antithesis in the world around us today. Harmony's antithesis lives under many guises; discord, chaos, intolerance, hatred, deceit. All are simply varying shades of the same dark human inclinations. It is not my intention in these few posts to point accusatory fingers at the individuals or epochs - present or past - who have led us astray. Rather I want to remind us of, and perhaps clarify, the four tenets that form the core of Distilled Harmony: Foster Harmony, Enable Beauty, Distill Complexity and Oppose Harm.

I will treat each in a separate post. For many of you they will be old friends, for those of you who have joined The Wall more recently, they may help you to understand some of my more oblique musings. 

More. 2nd. ed.

 More  .  . circa  9.19.03

 

More than the finished manuscript

Is the beckoning empty page.

More than the drying canvas

Is the expanse of white.

More than the gleaming sculpture

Is the unformed block of stone.

More than the soaring opus

Is the blank score.

The promise of harmony yet to come

Is sweeter far than all the notes

That have led us to this place and time.

The Subjectivity of Truth

 Interestingly we live in a world where the massive amount of information available to us threatens our ability to discern truth. I found myself in a recent conversation where my honest response to another’s remark was “I don’t believe you.”  Hey, I’m getting up there in years when the old filters don’t work as well as they ought to. Still, I am embarrassed by having made the remark which would probably been better left unsaid. The problem is that the phrase “I don’t believe you” could easily be interpreted to mean “I think you are lying.” . . . 

Slim turned slowly.  A hush fell over the saloon.  “You callin’ me a liar?” Slim stood, without having seemed to move. His hand drifting toward the worn handle of the colt 45 slung with deceptive innocence low on his hip. . .  “Actually, no Slim, What I meant to say was that you, perhaps innocently, prescribe to a difference sense or interpretation of reality than do I.” Slim’s hand flashed like lightning, but not as swiftly as I disappeared beneath the table . . . 

Well, you get the idea. As I thought about it, and I have been, I realized that I really didn’t think my partner in the conversation was lying. “I disagree,” would have been a far more politic and equally truthful response.  But the tenor of current public discourse in America these days has sunk to such deplorable levels that I have found myself thinking more seriously about how does one actually discern truth in the hyper-mediated maelstrom of claim and counter-claim that invade our eyes and ears 24/7?

My current position is uncomfortable: truth is what we decide it to be.  No, I’m not advocating that we throw data, evidence, research and the scientific method out the window.  It is more complicated than that, but not as divorced from that simplistic worldview as I would like it to be. It is easy to take pot shots at sports figures who believe the world is flat, or that “vaccinated” can means something other than having a vaccine injected into your arm, or that the moon landing was staged, and - one would assume - as was the case with all the subsequent space launches by countries, corporations, and the hyper-rich of varying stripes and motivations. But when we dig a little deeper into our own “truths,” life here under the table gets a little less certain. After all, Slim is still out there with his shootin’ iron.

You see I was among those nasty professors who required essays to have footnotes. At this point in time I would like to invite anyone who has graded essays that demanded said footnotes would love to chip in with their own wildest examples: e.g.  “3. This came to me in a dream.” True story, as I live and breathe. Anyhow, the point is that we really do choose what and who to believe. And there are now out there on the internet “sources” to provide support for any, and I do mean any, strange and wild reality or “truth” you wish to cling to.  So what branch out there in the Internet jungle of truth do you want to cling to and why?

I’m not actually asking you to make a list, but I do that from time to time - well, more honesty from year to year, oh, OK, several times each decade.  I am somewhat comforted by the fact that as I grow older there is less variability in the lists, and they seem to reflect an increasingly consistent narrative, a worldview. And, of course, if you have been hanging out here on the Wall for 10 or a dozen years you know that I call my narrative Distilled Harmony, a worldview supported by four pillars or tenets which are, in descending order of import: first, most important, Foster Harmony, in your words, actions, everything. Second, Enable Beauty, again in everything, your the tone of voice and meaning of your words, what you paint, draw, cook, everything. Third, Distill Complexity.  Look for the cleanest, most precise understanding of the questions you face. And forth, Oppose Harm. When all else fails one must confront the people, policies, and practices that are manifested in behaviors that run counter to other three tenets of Distilled Harmony. But, and this is really difficult, you must, in your opposition, still seek to manifest the other three tenets.

I have found, in these monthly, yearly, “decadely,” reviews of my narrative that the components of Distilled Harmony seem to be consistently manifested in the writing, behavior, creative works, language, tone, touch and gaze of the people in my life whom I love and respect. So it seems I share my most central narrative, my most important truths, with those to whom I will always open my door and heart, because I know that no matter how egregious my unfortunate and repeating foibles, they will, in turn, open their doors and hearts to me. And so together we construct trust, forgiveness and truth.