Well said, Arlo. There is beauty in a well-built, well-designed rotisserie. And whatever the work, to be able to say, "beautifully done" is the apex of the universe's purpose.
Quoting ARLO J BENSINGER JR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > [Marsha] > But that is exactly what it is for me. I am manipulating symbols and > spinning a > story with a brush. > > [Arlo] > I've used the analogy in one of my classes that "Sculpture" is to "metaphor" > what "rotissiere building" is to "literal". Pirsig reminds us that even though > its been a while, the latter is a long-long cousin of the former. > > ""Well, it is art," I say. "This divorce of art from technology is completely > unnatural. Itâs just that itâs gone on so long you have to be an > archeologist to find out where the two separated. Rotisserie assembly is > actually a long-lost branch of sculpture, so divorced from its roots by > centuries of intellectual wrong turns that just to associate the two sounds > ludicrous."" (ZMM) > > I could say, "This divorce of metaphor from literal is completely unnatural. > Itâs just that itâs gone on so long you have to be an archeologist to find > out where the two separated. Literal language is actually a long-lost branch > of > metaphor, so divorced from its roots by centuries of intellectual wrong turns > that just to associate the two sounds ludicrous." > > In this sense, please realize, that I use "art" and "metaphor" almost > interchangeably. Painting, dance, theatre, literature, poetry, music, > sculpture, design, weaving, landscaping, chautauquas, are all "art". But so, > too, is tea making, motorcycle maintenance, home building, gardening, brewing, > letter writing, cooking, woodworking, etc. This was for me a primary message > of > ZMM. There are two ways to do anything. A Quality-filled, enthusiastic, > artful, > Buddha-minded way, and a mundane, uninspired, quality-empty way. The elites > have told us that only "High Art" is "art". Pirsig reminds us that fixing our > motorcycles is a form of art as well. > > To your point, I've argued that "art" (or "metaphor") is any act that uses > culturally-bound symbols in such a way as to allow those within that culture > to > see beyond what their symbol-systems afford them to see. In other words, art > is > the use of symbols to point at meaning that is forever outside its > symbol-system... aka Dynamic Quality. > > Those who listen to Bach's Art of Fugue, and come away amazed at his skillful > mastery of contrapunctual composition, have gained appreciation for the > "literal", but those who, in engaging with the music, have an "out-of-body" or > "other-minded" moment when something inexpressible becomes clear, have touched > the "art". I often refer to that "other-mindedness" as "Flow". It can happen > during listening to Bach, or listening to Rage Against the Machine. We gauge > these on larger cultural scales as what has brought more people to flow over > longer periods of time. > > Or take painting. If someone sees one of Marsha's paintings and is impressed > with her use of perspective only sees the literal form, but if in that moment > is swept away in a loss of self, then they have experienced "art". Or, the > have > experienced "Dynamic Quality". > > > > moq_discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
