negative capability
this is something i’ve been vaguely thinking about for a very long time, without realizing it was a real thing… actually a combination of two things i’ve been thinking but didn’t know how to put into words or really understand at all, especially in combination. those two things are: the idea that poetry/metaphor/philosophy are things that already exist in the world and just have to be found and consolidated, and that artmaking or writing (at least the way i go about it) is more collection than creation AND that it’s not necessary to analyze or come to conclusions about moments/ideas/feelings, that it’s okay to simply explore them and celebrate the feeling of being suspended in something you don’t understand. those things are hard to explain, so i hope that made sense….
anyway, negative capability (from the wikipedia page):
John Keats used the term negative capability to describe the artist as one who is receptive to the world and its natural phenomena, and to reject those who tried to formulate theories or categorize knowledge. In a letter to his brothers on December 21, 1817 he employed negative capability to criticize Coleridge, who he thought sought knowledge over beauty:
I had not a dispute but a disquisition with Dilke, on various subjects; several things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously - I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason - Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half knowledge. This pursued through Volumes would perhaps take us no further than this, that with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration.[1]
The origin of the term is unknown, but some scholars have hypothesized that Keats was influenced in his studies of medicine and chemistry, and that it refers to the negative pole of an electric current which is passive and receptive. In the same way that the negative pole receives the current from the positive pole, the poet receives impulses from a world that is full of mystery and doubt, which cannot be explained but which the poet can translate into art.[2]
this is a huge discovery. as in, this is what my art capstone is going to be about.
i’ll make this today
YES. this is the kind of art i want to make. i’m so in love with mark-making, and that’s enough.
5 foot 4, 115 lbs: Mini hiatus
I’ve been feeling drained the past few days.
I’ve spent the past month trying to eat perfectly and keep up with my half-marathon training and p90x schedule. I haven’t felt like that part was a complete burden, but I’ve also been working 7 days a week since august and juggling everything has been…
ditto
what teachers really want to tell parents
all three teachers who have ever seen me teach have told me i should consider doing it professionally (one told me today!), and the only reason i haven’t seriously considered it is because of everything this article mentions.
“Why would anyone want to enter our profession? If our teachers continue to feel threatened and scared, you will rob our schools of our best and handcuff our efforts to recruit tomorrow’s outstanding educators.”
pruppy kisses
learned some new yoga poses yesterday! haven’t really gotten the hang of them yet, but hopefully soon.
also started 5k training again… hoping to give it a better shot this time. running with arnold helps.
Margie Stoll, 70, took up running seriously at 60 and has racked up medals and state records ever since. In June, she competed in the National Senior Games and won. She is living proof that it is never too late to become a first-class athlete.
I can’t help but to mentally juxtapose this woman with my own grandparents. Especially because I spent 30 minutes yesterday steam-cleaning blood off my grandmother’s carpet because she cut herself and due to the blood thinner Coumadin she takes, she bleeds excessively even with minor cuts. And even though she was not actually injured, she was basically bedridden the day after cutting herself. My grandfather died a few years ago from complications due to the same blood thinner she is on, too, which is even scarier.
Both of my grandmothers live off of pills, can’t get up when they fall down, are almost completely sedentary, eat terribly, and spend far too much time and money at various doctor’s offices. As much as I love them and don’t wish to malign them and their lifestyle choices, I never want to be that way. I want to consistently take care of myself and stay active and healthy until I die. I’d be a liar and a hypocrite if I said that looking good in a bikini wasn’t one of the motivators for putting on my running shoes and eating well every day, but there are so many other, far more important reasons I do so, too.
my family is in the same situation. my grandmother and aunt are both completely disabled by their weight, but refuse to change their diet in any way. they order out almost every day, usually from loco’s or mexican places, have tons of sweets around the house, and eat enormous amounts of food in one sitting to the point that i have a hard time being around them when they eat because it disgusts me and makes me angry. though they do have conditions that disable them besides their weight (alongside all the conditions that are a direct result of it), they refuse eat better or understand that they do have control over their bodies, that they don’t have to be trapped inside them, and that it’s not too late to make healthier choices.
i could go on about this forever (especially about how their lives have become a huge unnecessary burden on parents) but i mostly want to say that they are the reason i feel the overwhelming need to stay in control of my health, weight, and body, and am terrified of gaining weight or becoming a burden to my family or anyone else. i’ll admit that i have lots of unhealthy tendencies, like a love of terrible food and sweets and not a lot of will power, but when i think about them it takes only a second to remember that those tendencies could kill me.
just bought this book. excited to get back in the studio soon.
Last night was amazing. I work at the best music venue in the country, I have not a single doubt about that. The corner of Lumpkin and Clayton is alive again y’all! Chuck Leavell tonight… another legend.
I can’t wait until Bela! Thats my night off.
<3 :) this makes me so happy! so pumped for us all to get back in there and romp around some more. glad you’re back in a happy heart place.
sassy ladiez
(Source: xanosaur)
