Banter 13 - Is Art an Important Condition of Human Life?

Frederick Sandys' Love's Shadow (1867)

Video of paintings of women's faces & Bach's Sarabande (click here)


Guten Tag,

Thank you for last night's banter about human nature.  My favorite threads from the evening, or perhaps my favorite veils of Maya, were Shawna's hand gestures of the veils before one's metaphorical eyes and their removal; Mitch's calm drive to find that thing that separates human nature from animal nature & coming up with perhaps a consensus on "the telling of stories;" Jill's soft articulation of that sense of something quite beautiful and quite there behind the veils, and later tying that into the old Montanans whose "eyes themselves are like looking at a mountain"; Mike's surety regarding the social system being human nature on display, the doing equating with what/who we are without separation; Isaac's early tone of fatigue for one extreme (goodness) or another (meanness) when we discuss human nature; Gerda's example of how human nature likes to guard its post, as do the tenured professors at the U. of Auckland, with fervor at the expense of the rest of the "pack" and stirring the thoughts of when/how this might change eventually; and, my realization, after you'd all left, that I used to most value the ripping down of the veils and stories before my "eyes."  Whereas now, I most value the pulling them down, folding them, setting them aside, and then hanging certain ones back up when I want them there, and not feeling that I am less (any longer) because I like to lean on props (or enjoy the touch of the veils on my "face") like the rest of the humans (such as those old Montanans or old midwesterners who'd like to "bomb the bastards" but would share an afternoon with you that brims over with generosity and warmth of heart).  In conclusion, we're no simpler and no more complex than a hive of bees capable of the beautifully impossible, and capable of a full on swarm, and everything in between.

Onto #13.  We're thinking Tuesday, June 7 at 7pm for the next banter.  Topic:  Is Art an Important Condition of Human Life? (Which invariably begs the question to be sorted out first, What Even is Art?)

Assignment in the mean time:  Find a piece of art (visual, literary, musical composition, dance, etc) that means something to you, pulls on you, makes you soar, or maybe kicks you in the gut, but impacts you in some very noticeable/visceral way.  Share your brief thoughts on the above question with the group before June 7th (email me), but save your art for the night of June 7.  Bring it, share it.  I can play cds or youtube videos for those of you that take that route.  Stacy, you're welcome to give us a dance perf. in the flesh!

I've also attached some bits and pieces of Leo Tolstoy's "What is Art?" that is sure to agitate the waters in one way or another.  Perhaps take a look at it while you're contemplating the question "Is Art an Important Condition of Human Life?" and choosing which art to share.

Also, I'm craving a new person or two to fold into our mix. If you know of someone who would be at least mostly committal, a blend of generous/bold-minded, & revved up by our banter nights, please invite them along.

My best,

Sabine

Banter 12, continued

Prep materials for Banter 12 - Human Nature - sent via email from Jill Fanning, Mike Fanning, Isaac Cohen, Theresa Vash, Sabine Brigette, and Anna Stene:

From Jill:  brief summary of 4 different visions of human nature:  Lord of the Flies, by W. Golding, The Course in Miracles, the Buddhist view, and the Shamanic view (Native Americans Jill has personally worked with).  (doc file in Jill's own words)

From Mike:  "Morals Without God?" by Frans de Waal  (doc file The Stone)

From Isaac:  http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/12/the-science-of-success/7761/

Isaac suggests "thinking of the 'greenhouse care' for 'orchid children' as not necessarily always a matter of coddling, caution, climate-control and such, but as potentially including non-easy things like vigorous activity, discipline, and accountability."

From Sabine:  Read Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and "Mending Wall."

From Theresa:  Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" - "if this town is just an apple, then let me take a bite"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BlKDXmdiUQ

From Anna:  (swiped from her email signature)

In riding a horse we borrow freedom. ~Helen Thomson

____________________________________________________________________

Good morning,

I, for one, have yet to read the Banter 12 readings on Human Nature, but look forward to it for evening reading tonight...& maybe a little saved for tomorrow.  This is a reminder note that we're meeting tomorrow night, May 15 (Sunday), at 7pm at my house for Banter 12. (Or, for Anna, post-shift!).  If you've received this invite to your inbox but have yet to come, please do.  We'll envelop you like a bee hive (that is, like a fellow bee, not like a swarm with stingers out).

That bee note is a reference to the E.O. Wilson I was reading last night On Human Nature.  I'm reading the chapter about Altruism, because this is an aspect of "human nature," or as it turns out bee nature, that I am interested in.  I treasure the Amelies of life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sECzJY07oK4), but disdain the times I (or others) approach an Amelie-like act and then end up talking about it, even when we think we're being modest, while instead engaging in full-on bragging in our subtle human ways. I think of people at my church, the Unitarian set out on Trumble Creek (lots of liberals, a fair handful of atheists, largely for social justice & tolerance), and I somehow resent the pressure to be a good human (when I go there lately).  Last week I was at church, and I just wanted to carry on with the conversation I was deeply enjoying with two other people, when the wife of one (who is volunteer #1 at the church) swooped in and suggested that we all help put chairs away.  Our conversation and connection was dispersed as if a bomb had gone off; our sentences stalled out mid-way; no grand conclusion was reached, no further camaraderie; and, we separated, a bit dazed by how quickly things went from really meaningful and engaged to much less so.  Who in that scenario was being altruistic or selfish, really, I wondered to myself, as I watched the wife buzz around with little eye contact doing many needed-to-do things, as I watched the husband break from the conversation and quietly stack chairs, as I watched myself stack one and then go outside to resume deep conversing with two other people well-known to me to be generous in intellectual conversing, and frugal with church volunteerism.  I see no altruism in that scene.

Here's a quote from E.O. that I liked from last night's read:  "Generosity without hope of reciprocation is the rarest and most cherished of human behaviors, subtle and difficult to define, distributed in a highly selective pattern, surrounded by ritual and circumstance, and honored by medallions and emotional orations.  We sanctify true altruism in order to reward it and thus to make it less than true, and by that means to promote its recurrence in others." (Wilson, 149)

I hope, to high heaven (and deep space), that no one will ask us to stack chairs tomorrow night right when we've gotten underway.  

Can't wait,

Sabine