Thank you for this. What a powerful talk and then sharing from your colleagues. You all gave me such hope that the feeling I've had of intentionally getting lost, of looking away, of trying to access some other runway from which to approach thinking about *all this* isn't meaningless or gutless or wrong. I was also moved to tears by Bayo's story of his son and everything he expressed after. There is an English version of Burattino that doesn't cost a million dollars as far as I can see (but is alas on Amazon) https://a.co/d/byDz5Ty. I am looking forward to reading your book Dougald.
I'm not easily led to speechlessness. But something in me can now rest, knowing such voices as yours are in our world today, dear brother Dougald. I might even take a daytime nap today! I carry less weight than I did before hearing your talk.
Simply astonishingly wonderful .... a convergence of the best of the spirit of poetry and of 'sound sense.' A convergence of worlds! Lovely beyond all comparisons, and a balm to a weary soul.
The great poet, Marie Howe, noted that giving up is a necessary, if mysterious, part of the creative process. She said this in an interview about the experience of writing her sublime poem, “Annunciation.” (Which I wrote about in the Dark Mountain poetry issue.) Thanks for this timely reminder. 🌟🙌
Yes, that is so true to my experience and that of pretty much every writer or artist I've spoken with about these things. It also takes me back to the beginnings of Dark Mountain, because I don't think it's an accident that this strange move of "giving up" which sounded like a heresy to many of our friends in the environmental movement was voiced by two of us who were also writers (and not only in a journalistic sense) and embarking on what was consciously a *cultural* project.
Dear newfound friend in the "Industry of ChangeMaking for the Urgent Needs Fulfillment",
When it comes to the Q on "What the Institutions of 'Higher Learning' can do ..."
It is always with a bottom line:
"It depends!"
I would gladly point you to my mentor, bonus dad and chief troublemaker thru the years (happenstance tutoring my academic stuff, to which I feel obliged to return, since trust in the Uni-Versities still calls for my personal action) —
Give it 12m, and you'll not go 'there' ... "empty handed":
Thanks for the suggestion, Anders, I shall give it a listen! And it strikes me that there are a lot of questions in this world to which an honest answer should start, "It depends..."
Tack för förslaget! Min tanke har varit att vänta lite med att ta boken ut på turné i Sverige eftersom jag hoppas att kunna hitta ett förlag som är intresserad i att ge den ut i översättning. Men det kommer hända, det kan jag lova!
Hi Dougald, at that time of the ‘giving up’ I was thinking of the work I had been doing, mainly in community arts, and wondering how it was worth carrying on. I decided to ‘let go’. I was hanging onto to ways of doing things that was not working for me. I’ve been wandering since, mainly through a world of meditative being and a touch of spiritual (re) awareness. And beginning to feel lighter and more open to ways of being. Enjoy your tour. Tony x
Thanks, Tony! It's nice to hear from you and to be reminded that there are old friends reading these posts who were there at the time of the stories I find myself telling. It's good to hear of that lightening and opening that you describe. And your message brings back good memories of those 'unplugged' mornings on the Southbank. It seems to me now that we were learning to 'do' less that we might 'be' more. x
Thank you for this. What a powerful talk and then sharing from your colleagues. You all gave me such hope that the feeling I've had of intentionally getting lost, of looking away, of trying to access some other runway from which to approach thinking about *all this* isn't meaningless or gutless or wrong. I was also moved to tears by Bayo's story of his son and everything he expressed after. There is an English version of Burattino that doesn't cost a million dollars as far as I can see (but is alas on Amazon) https://a.co/d/byDz5Ty. I am looking forward to reading your book Dougald.
I'm not easily led to speechlessness. But something in me can now rest, knowing such voices as yours are in our world today, dear brother Dougald. I might even take a daytime nap today! I carry less weight than I did before hearing your talk.
Simply astonishingly wonderful .... a convergence of the best of the spirit of poetry and of 'sound sense.' A convergence of worlds! Lovely beyond all comparisons, and a balm to a weary soul.
The great poet, Marie Howe, noted that giving up is a necessary, if mysterious, part of the creative process. She said this in an interview about the experience of writing her sublime poem, “Annunciation.” (Which I wrote about in the Dark Mountain poetry issue.) Thanks for this timely reminder. 🌟🙌
Yes, that is so true to my experience and that of pretty much every writer or artist I've spoken with about these things. It also takes me back to the beginnings of Dark Mountain, because I don't think it's an accident that this strange move of "giving up" which sounded like a heresy to many of our friends in the environmental movement was voiced by two of us who were also writers (and not only in a journalistic sense) and embarking on what was consciously a *cultural* project.
Dear newfound friend in the "Industry of ChangeMaking for the Urgent Needs Fulfillment",
When it comes to the Q on "What the Institutions of 'Higher Learning' can do ..."
It is always with a bottom line:
"It depends!"
I would gladly point you to my mentor, bonus dad and chief troublemaker thru the years (happenstance tutoring my academic stuff, to which I feel obliged to return, since trust in the Uni-Versities still calls for my personal action) —
Give it 12m, and you'll not go 'there' ... "empty handed":
The Third Task for Swedish Universities!
With STEROIDS!
https://entrepreneurship-erd.com/podcast/episode-55-bengt-johannisson-academic-entrepreneuring-as-a-long-term-commitment-to-regional-development/
Thanks for the suggestion, Anders, I shall give it a listen! And it strikes me that there are a lot of questions in this world to which an honest answer should start, "It depends..."
:)
// regards from a man listening to "Exodus" by Robert Nesta Marley Jr.
#musicistheanswer
PS,
Dougald –
Considering a SWEDISH Tour, as well? Eventing is a Key Part of 'me' ... So attending a talk in Norrköping, 'aight? Doable! Yes?
DS.
Tack för förslaget! Min tanke har varit att vänta lite med att ta boken ut på turné i Sverige eftersom jag hoppas att kunna hitta ett förlag som är intresserad i att ge den ut i översättning. Men det kommer hända, det kan jag lova!
För mig finns bara ett förlag för detta. I min värld.
Volante.
Och det uttrycker jag på ren intuition, bok oläst!
Hi Dougald, at that time of the ‘giving up’ I was thinking of the work I had been doing, mainly in community arts, and wondering how it was worth carrying on. I decided to ‘let go’. I was hanging onto to ways of doing things that was not working for me. I’ve been wandering since, mainly through a world of meditative being and a touch of spiritual (re) awareness. And beginning to feel lighter and more open to ways of being. Enjoy your tour. Tony x
Thanks, Tony! It's nice to hear from you and to be reminded that there are old friends reading these posts who were there at the time of the stories I find myself telling. It's good to hear of that lightening and opening that you describe. And your message brings back good memories of those 'unplugged' mornings on the Southbank. It seems to me now that we were learning to 'do' less that we might 'be' more. x
Thanks Dougald, and for me re-finding that gentler being that became lost in the doing.