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love of better being | ||
| dear casual tourist gary e. davis |
Dec. 8, 2018 |
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What do you want to judge in the presence of a face? You don’t want to be disappointed? You want to be entertained? Not merely, of course—maybe not at all is OK, if you’re drawn into something engaging—enchanting, thrilling—thought-evincing, thinking newly—profound discoveries to be had! When we’re truly with each other, we see beyond a face, as a vitality of being here—with each other. Like reading through a bookface—the textuality of narrative—vitality in a way of wording, dissolving textuality into our presence, being now here. I don’t especially care about Google results, stats on page views (my site host pushes into my mailbox, as if I’m a business concerned about customer levels). I do care about the tenability, integrity, and fidelity-to-Project of my work offline, deeply: to be flourishing well, yet only for the sake of online sharing (eventually) “translations” that might be worthwhile for non-tourists. Apparent hermeticism is avoidable, but not at points in the processes of the Work. “Make things as simple as possible,” said Albert Einstein (there are other Einsteins, too, ordinary ones), “but not too simple.” Here’s everything about process, though too simple: Grow up, achieve [a lot], pay forward, move on. Even so—even with an eventually easy degree of reading that’s not too simple (What can be truly original in evolving context, and so gratefully worthwhile that its translation feels adequate, yet becomes another preface?)—I don’t expect non-casual interest, let alone others giving lots of time to dwelling there. But my point isn’t defensive. Rather, I say the above with young writers, artists, researchers in mind: Keep fidelity to the integrity of engagement. It’s not primarily about getting recognition. It’s about fulfilling work. Then, recognition that does come from that will have the value of something authentic shared, not something conceived for market. (Something authentically done, then made—translated— for market is not kindred with something conceived for market. In other words—a rather hermetic point now, maybe—an authorship is derived from its authoriality, just as genuine teaching has a hermeneutical relation to what is to be taught.) I know that most workers have to think first of marketability. But insight worth sharing and discovery with promise derive from the heights or depths or distance brought to shared presence, not from gaming the theater for the sake of novelty (let alone monetary profit). I’ve whined a lot, through postings in past years, about not yet having much to share, while claiming that work is going well. I know that’s probably read as a procrastinator’s apologetics. [Here’s a passage he deleted from some posting that floated around for possible use, now useless, but just to mention: “I’m not going to write something that tries to capsulate work of the past few months, let alone something conceptually dense that pretends to capture the time (a comprehensive Conception densely elaborated?).Whatever, right? Poor soul: He’s doing something profound that’s just too difficult to put simply.] So it goes. Exactly two years ago, I wrote that “excuses for not writing online get easier with age, like an old cellist immersed in playing alone... possessed by auras of memory mirrored in being drawn on” {“in light of leading minds”]. Besides, I prefer writing to specific others via e-mail (or blogging to specific others, which is troped by posting to “you”). Again, when we’re truly with each other, we see beyond a face, as a vitality of being here—with each other. |
| Be fair. © 2019, gary e. davis |