After an inspiring start, something strange had befallen the AO team. No-one knew quite what it was. Some said it was apathy, some said it was epistemic fatigue, others said it was something to do with not eating enough red meat.
Look, I admit it, I have made some bold claims recently about intention to post and have not come through with the goods. But I guess we're all asking ourselves exactly what the purpose of this blog is (aren't we...anyone...is anyone out there?). Is the purpose merely to post idea after idea, or to actually start constructive dialogues with the aim of refining understanding of particularly pressing questions? Personally my contributions have mainly been massive question-asking exercises. Trying to open up spaces for dialogue to start. Selfish, I know. And nothing has really kicked off. It's hard to maintain the necessary feelings of community out here in deep virtual space that would inspire one to continue to post comments, consider responses and keep thinking in the face of all the rest of life's...well, stuff.
As is my general habit, the further I look, more and more questions seem to open up, and before long some new conundrum takes my fancy. Then it's like an obsession, I'll spend weeks, months thinking, reading writing about it, conviniced it is the one thing that simply must be answered if life on this earth (at least mine) can continue. Then, as if a honeymoon has ended, I slowly begin to see the icky technicalities, deep lines of debate and impasses that the question in question leads to. I realise that many other people, most of them almost certainly alot smarter than I, have spent decades, entire careers, whole books and journal issues nutting out the critical issues involved. Already done.
Here, then, is the problem:
I am smart enough to identify what I believe to be a number of very important questions. Sadly, though, I am also smart enough to realise that I am almost certainly not smart enough to solve any of them.
Not knowing where to go with that, I'll mention something that occurred to me during meditation today:
To be aware of everything, one must focus upon absolutely nothing.
C
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2 comments:
I think it's fine for a blog post to be questioning, especially if an active conversation ensues as people comment on it.
The idea of focusing on nothing is really interesting. I've to be able to flick a switch and just 'feel' a situation or issue.
For instance, the other day I was getting in knots about whether my thesis topic was satisfying, inspiring and worthwhile. Thinking about the details and doing some kind of bizarre arithmetic was getting me nowhere, so I just tried to step back, ignore all of the intricacies (ie. take everything out of focus) and wait for an answer. The answer was 'yes'. Somehow I accepted this answer and didn't feel the need to dive in again.
Hey!
You know this is great, because I feel like I have found an "answer" in some respects to one of the many questions I have encountered.
My problem becomes that the "answer" is such that it requires a restructuring of the question and the way everyone else asks it... which leads me to how do you do that?
How does one make others aware? How does one engage people in a dialogue so that they understand the questions you are asking, and dont give you answers pertinent to the alternate understanding of the question.
How do you move people's conceptions laterally?
Is this at all connected?
I think maybe it is in a flip side of the coin kind of way.
I approach any discussion of these matters with clenched teeth, anxious that people havent considered what I have, that they havent shifted focus, that they dont understand you can...
Thats why I like the AO group. Instead of feeling Im in a dialogue with people who are resonating the questions and arguments of the past, I feel as if we are involved in a group of discussions which venture to find new questions and in that way open new possibilities.
My most recent realisation is that I liberate myself with the omission of certain words: I will try not to mention education or learning in the pursuit of my PhD in the Department of Education on Community Learning. Instead I will focus on the words: diversity, community, democracy, voice, play, involvement, activism, environment
I am goign to repost that as a post!
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