Cosmos Café [1/29/19] - William E. Connolly's Prelude from Facing the Planetary

Language, I am beginning to believe, is less about communicating and more about modeling a symbolic self. Language as a self technique, that would be moving towards a Second Order Culture. I have attempted ( prematurely) to flesh out a Third Order, but we would be moving into highly anarchic areas between speech and sound, when we have yet to liberate the Big State from Big Science. As the Deficient Mental Science withers away, as materialist dogma starts to fall apart, and as more of us can stay in the in-between of sense making and meaning making, Language as a tool for modeling a shared reality could begin. Some of us are feed-forwarding already through alternate realities, as you, Doug, demonstrate in your impromptu verse, and as you tune into sense zones of the white breasted sparrow, and as I deliver the howl of the lone wolf, and we are able to sustain a meta-attention, with all of that, what might happen to our arts?

I think this poet is trying this out in another forum, that may overlap with our fledgling experiments here. CL has been an attempt to use language to meta-commune with unique and the wierd way we use language. As we move from first order to a second order, embodying the binds, and liberating the Gnostic voices, we can open up to a vast field, the field of all fields…

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Davy Knittle is expressing what I have Intuitively & in my daily life struggled with all my life.Reading,Listening to Music of the 60’s & Beyond especially the Blues & Jazz ,along with hanging with the Ensemble here at the Cosmos Cafe’ has “Fucking Finally” given me a Place in Space(Cyber) to Be Sane in a Insane world!!!800-pound-gorilla-300x300

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“The perception of atmospheres is characterized by some specific cognitive attributes that are not taken into account by the current theoretical concepts. They adhere to perceptional and memorial content, but also affect states of mind. Furthermore they span over the senses-”

Thanks for the David Loffler reference, Doug. I have studied his work and find his ideas compelling. The parable of the Crow, which stimulated some conversations, was sparked by my study of his developmental theories. At any rate, what he says about atmosphere is easy to understand and also a bit mysterious. I am probably, when I ask us to pay attention, hoping that more of us, could tune into the atmosphere. Aesthetics is mostly about paying attention to atmosphere. God may be an atmosphere! And how can you have a thermostat without an atmosphere? What would happen if we had an economy responsive to atmosphere(s)? Right now, our atmosphere is full of the nullifying affects of flat screens. All the lonely people, where do they all come from?

But the atmosphere is changing, and we can co-create atmosphere, too. People get ready.

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I really like this John,it Vibes with "Speaking Into The Air’ in a broader Feeling-Sensation Way.With that I will be traveling to Portland,Oregon to witness a great nephew compete in Wrestling( a family lineage) & a favorite Metaphor of mine.So I will be taking a Chunk-Slow down approach,I will be checking the Cosmos Cafe’ for interesting Ensemble Expression of Cosmos Time.Have Fun in Cyber-Space U’All! Peace & Care,Michael

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Love the music! Totally agree about “atmosphere” being the key to so many things, and definitely around what we might call esthetics. But I confess I am somewhat lost in terms of this conversation—is this in response to a particular video gathering or?
What is the Parable of the Crow?

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The Crow story starts around 17 minutes into the Cafe.

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Wonderful, will listen. I watched an entire 2 hour recent Cosmos gathering yesterday, but somehow did not see this one!

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Highly intuitive statement. Even the best of us (or most anarchically accepting amongst us) have trouble with such third ear attempts at tuning into such frequencies.

Sometimes, when listening to such confessionals as with Davy Knittle, or, with my first readings/impressions of Nora Bateson’s Small Arcs of Larger Circles (here’s just another white woman with privilege, producing decent poetry to share amongst friends…then I read between the lines…), I find myself unable to recognize the significance, see such talk as limited and not a part of my circle or missing the bigger story. This is a closed mind at work (my own). I am caught thinking “what can I gain from someone who speaks of such great connections with a group that I cannot connect/have not connected with?” The language flies right by me. I am in an out-of-this-world atmosphere unable to be grounded in their full experience.

Then I read between the lines. I tune into the atmospheric pressures that cause the third ear to awaken. That high pitched frequency is a sure sign that I have tuned into the collective aesthetic-sphere (perhaps God, as you say) that awakens us to what words so crudely convey. I readily connect to the creative means of communication found on this site (see @Ariadne’s latest poem dedicated to past Cafe participants for an in-the-moment example). Can I connect instantly with individuals outside of my realm of communication, such as with Davy Knittle?

I made mention in a past Cafe that I imagine, with all of this technology being tossed onto children and adults, a storytelling society would ideally arise out of the ashes of the techno-malaise. YouTube is a wealth of stories. Yet I am talking more about the in the moment creations; impromptu connections; a society of story-telling explorers, seeking the right language to share. We “bottom-feeders” (those outside of the story being written for us) are passing down stories. No need to write a book; no need to publish the story to tell…simply tell it; speak it in into the air, record it on the spot. Creativity arises from the ashes of the old stories. In my mind, these conversations we share have a bit more life than that of the written word. We are taking elements from the somewhat limited, “in-time” (set-in-stone) one-sided conversation of a non-fictional account in writing - for example, I loved Connolly’s Facing the Planetary and collected many new threads to pursue from his writing…but I would much rather keep a constant conversation with him, hear his daily stories, have him participate in our weekly Cafes…make the Cafes daily… The arts never die…the arts will always thrive. The technologies allow for such creativity and novel stories to arise within the momentum of monumental modica.

I will not be able to attend the “economic edition” of the Cafe (TANSTAAFL or There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) set up by @achronon set for Tuesday, but I imagine there will be connections between the recommended reading and the atmosphere(s).

Speaking of money and changing atmospheres…I find this promising, though I know very little about the man Grantham (or the combating of overpopulation)…good luck, ye wealthy denizens of earth…perhaps ye are our only hope to change things at the top as we tell stories as bottom-feeders:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-17/jeremy-grantham-s-1-billion-plan-to-fight-climate-change

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In many contexts, this would be considered as “throwing a turd in the punch bowl”. I have to say, it looks a lot more like gooseberries to me.

It’s too bad that Mr. Granthanm won’t be participating in our little get-together – and it’s too bad that you can’t either @Douggins – but I’m sure we’ll have a worthy crew to bite into this particularly sour apple.

Is such a player a one-off eccentric or a ray of hope in an otherwise dismal situation?

I have to admit that seen in (almost) purely biological terms, we humans are in for a rude awakening – be it famine-wise, war-wise, or some-other-species-deflationary-wise – and it’s none too welcome for me personally (as I know many individuals – friends, family, and lots whom I do not know) who will be the casualties of that deflation), but it is a plausible reality with which I have to come to terms, regardless of what any of us do individually (or collectively) at the moment. But for me, that’s all the more reason to redouble our efforts to gain clarity and understanding, and use that to develop reasonable courses of action that will benefit more than just our individual selves.

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Thanks for this article----it’s strong, intelligent and, for me, the kind of thing from the kind of person that will work… where many other equally worthy groups/people are failing every day, because of the way this capitalist culture is structured and the attitudes (aware of them or not) that too many people (still) hold. I don’t read a lot of business publications, but am glad to know about this one.
He clearly knows what he’s talking about re: investment dynamics, the urgency of climate chaos (“change” is far too weak a word for what’s happening), and how to use time to motivate himself and others he influences, on all levels. His dedication and clear-eyed view is admirable and just what’s needed.

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In Chapter 5, Connolly writes:

So we challenge the practices of neoliberal capitalism, gradualism in geology, neo-Darwinian versions of species evolution, conceptions of freedom locked into markets, strong intentionalism, sociocentrism, agency confined to human mastery or organically disposed to us. So what? [emphasis added]

A man after my own heart.

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