The Historical Beast

( bucultureshock.com )

Change – we’re in it –

It is interesting to me how this blog, and my relationship with it, has changed.  It began as a performance, a persona who is probably closer to who I was, am, or will be,  than any face I could ever offer the world in my physical body.  And indeed, it is still that.  In my current life, I have a name, a face, a physical being that probably does not look like the woman you imagine could write these words.  I struggle, in essence, because the being inside of me is not the face my body presents to the world.  (I suspect that is true of most of us right now, and it is our challenge, on this earth, to come to terms with the contradictions between what we appear to be and what we really are.) 

I am, in essence, a very old soul who is troubled about the state of the world we live in.  I see us going through monumental change, and yet not acknowledging how profound that change is, and how important it is for humans to accept their role within it. 

( daviddeen )

We are historical beasts, we humans.  I would argue that is one of the things that makes us different from every other animal on the Animal Planet.  My cats, for instance, are not historical, though they each have a history.  They, however, are oblivious to that; they live in the Now.  Right now, all my cats know is that I am not with them.  

I am traveling right now.

Traveling and thinking.  Asking very hard questions, and contemplating their answers, and the hardest question I like to think about is the nature of the change we, as a race, are currently going through –

I have long felt that we are in a paradigmatic shift, and right now, I am participating in a conference where that language is being very readily used.  It is a conference on education, on the changes needed in education to make it a viable industry for our children to participate in.  And our children are not us, in the most dramatic of ways.

Those of us who made their earthly entrance in the late 1950's, early 1960's, can be labeled in any number of ways: in the United States, we are the end of the Baby Boomers, the end of an age of prosperity that was born out of a victorious war. We were born at the peak of a wave that felt our culture is fundamentally right and good, and we were born right before that wave crested and broke against the rocky shoals of the 1960’s.  We were one of the last ages to trust our parents and others in positions of authority. 

We were one of the last ages to be nursed on Great Books, to be led to believe in the Rightness of the Book, and to love Great Authors.  Our age produced an abundance of English majors, because being an English major allowed us to analyze the by-products of Great Human Minds.  Yet we were also the age that was influenced by the questioning of our immediate predecessors, those who asked why all our Great Books were written only by White Men, thus causing a reassignment of Authority to Women and “Minorities.” 

We were also the first age to be raised solely on television. 

( nogreenbananas )

We were a cusp age in that regard, because we have lived our lives in a world where we appreciated and understood the values of the last few centuries, and yet we are the first age that can say that there was never a time in our memory when television did not exist: one might say, we were the first Human Age raised and influenced by a virtual, visual imitation of ourselves.

I hope, dear friends, you can follow this logic, because that’s what it is: logic.  This entry is the painful burden of an unencumbered human mind unraveling the cues that the world provides.  My mind is still an Enlightenment Mind, a Mind that believes that Humans can and do know without technological assistance, and that knowledge can come to us through rigorous study, careful examination of the artifacts of the world around, creative risk, and a good sprinkling of intuition. 

An Enlightenment Mind is profoundly grounded in the Written, Published Text – the Linear  Book, and in language that has been produced for that media.  That’s right: books are a Media, and for a few hundred years, they were the most radical media for disseminating knowledge and provoking creativity.

But the Age of the Book is over. 

Books are now antiquity, and

text

laces through space in a delicate filigree of complexity.

My words,

The words of this blog,

Are part of an increasing cacophony of other words,

A multilingual, unilingual digital embrace which,

Combined

Embodies the workings of the Human Mind.

And we, we lucky Historical Humans alive today

Have been born to witness the rapid transition

From the Age of the Book to

The Age of the Cyborg.

Our children, the current children

Who sit so complacently in our classrooms,

Repugnant

Indulgent

illiterate

Have been born into a New Literacy,

Just as we

Were.

The children of today are “digital natives” and

As such

They are wired to think digitally –

Digital literacy is not Textual literacy

Though Textual literacy is a part of the Digital.

But the Digital Text is not solid –

It practices a New Linearity

                         It is fleeting and acknowledges

The rapidity

With which

It can and will be challenged,

And the children

- if they can survive the education system we still have, an education system that was made to serve the Enlightenment Mind -

Major in Psychology

Because the most provocative fiction they can read

Is the working of Human Mind itself,

And the altered worlds it is capable of producing

At any given moment.

( zapatopi )

Living through a Major Turning Point in Human History,

Which is what we are doing right now,

Is not without trauma.  It is, in essence,

A Birth,

And in our case right now,

Because of the role our own Technology is playing in it,

It is a New Birth into a Different

Physical Form –

The form of the Cyborg,

And any given Cyborg has an absolutely different relationship with the collective human mind (ie: this internet) than we have had with our own minds for

Centuries.

Indeed, the Cyborg accepts unequivocally

Its own participation

In the collectivity;

It relies

On this wealth

Of Knowledge Production and Reproduction

And laughs fondly,

With warm sentimentality,

Over the antiquity of the notion

Of Originality.

Nothing is Original on this earth, in this realm of reproduction and imitation.  From the moment when the Creative Force (aka God) sought to reproduce an entity in His Own Likeness, we (aka: the likeness) have been doomed to Not Be Original.  And now we have finally figured that out, and accepted it, and at some time, perhaps in the not to distant future, we will come to terms with the fact that once we stop trying to be Original, Once we stop trying to be Authentic and Right and True, we will actually Be

That.

But as I was saying, that will be the future,

Perhaps tomorrow,

Or this evening

When that will happen,

But right now we are Trapped in a Moment of Historical Change,

And we will be that Moment’s By Products.

Our delicate all-to-animal human entities will indeed die

In time

And we will be replaced by a generation that will recognize

That time is inconsequential because

The body is inconsequential

And yet,

The body is sweet –

Perhaps the Human Animal will live on through stubbornness (stubbornness is one of our more endearing qualities).  There will be some of us who will refuse to participate in the Rise of the Cyborg, sort of like Apes refused to participate in the Rise of Man, and we will live and toil on this earthly domain,

Sweetly,

Admiring its beauty,

Nurturing it lovingly,

Accepting our mortality

As a fact of life,

And that too

Will be beautiful –

The sustenance of that type of animal life,
of the Human Beast life,

if the Cyborg allows it,

Will be Eden

All over again.

excerpt one: "The Sole Origin is Sound" by Hazrat Inayat Khan

"The life absolute from which has sprung all that is felt, seen, and perceived,

and into which all again merges in time,

is a silent, motionless, and eternal life . . . .

Ever motion that springs forth from this silent life is a vibration and a creator of vibrations.

As motion causes motion, so the silent life becomes active in a certain part

and creates every moment more and more activity,

losing thereby the peace of the original silent life.

It is the grade of activity of these vibrations that accounts for the various planes of existence.

These planes are imagined to differ from one another,

but in reality they cannot be entirely detached and made separate from one another.

The activity of vibrations makes them grosser,

and thus the earth is born of the heavens. . . . "

(from: The Music of Life by Inayat Khan)

a tomato is a tomato is

I am making a salad tonight,

and wondering why I bought

those damned tomatoes.

I really don't like American tomatoes

from the grocery store,

they are the blandest,

most vaguely structured

replicas

of tomatoes that I have ever

tasted.

But I bought some.

1.

You see, I had this extraordinary experience

a week or so ago,

when I made a recipe that called for

"heirloom tomatoes."

( ediblediaries )

so I ate a bit of an heirloom

tomato

and thought:

hot damn, now that's a tomato!

Yeah, we're talking

red, firm, juicy surprising

tomatoey tomato 

~ ~

To tell the truth, I suspect

that deep in the annals of history

someone rewrote 

the story,

and said it was an apple,

because I am certain 

that the fruit

that Eve offered to Adam

was a tomato.

I mean really:

an apple is no big deal:

an apple is

an apple is an apple,

but

a tomato,

if it's really a tomato

is something to talk about.

What was that texture?

What was that taste?

And that surprising fluidity

amidst all the hardness?

A tomato make you aware

of fluids 

and non-fluids

and surprising tastes

that you never thought you would enjoy,

but yes, yes, you do, don't you--

Tomatoes are dangerous.

Eating a good tomato

makes you want to eat another,

whereas

eating a good apple

helps you shit better.

2.

You know,

I can't help but notice

that when I flip through

Blogger

(and I do)

I find I'm surrounded

by happy families.

Now, I have

nothing against happy families,

I come from one,

and

I wish I had one,

but

I don't.

I trudge

endlessly through time, dreaming

of just one more good

tomato.

But in America,

tomatoes suck,

because American tomatoes are reproductions of tomatoes,

not tomatoes.

They are generally present to represent

"tomato"

(ie: the signifier, idea of tomato)

As some American chefs and mothers

might say:

just drop in a tomato for color.

And that is essentially 

what many American tomatoes have become:

color.

( ecoscraps )

3.

So,

a few weeks ago,

this recipe called for

"heirloom tomatoes,"

so I got them and while constructing,

I nibbled

and thought

hot damn, that's a tomato

$3.29 a pound

It was such a wonderful discovery, though,

that today I bought two

made a salad,

and now I eat it,

anticipating

the taste of tomato

There it is, but

it's not so strong; still

it would pass 

as a modest homegrown.

The only other way I could get the taste of tomato

is to grow my own

But I don't have time.

This is the problem with America

4.

America is the land of reproductions

gone amuck.

Brittney Spears is nothing but

 ( bittenandbound )

Madonna to the next degree;

Jakob Dylan is his daddy's son,

just goin' his own way

( spinner )

Green Day reminds me an awful lot
of U2, but I still kind of like them

Washington DC is
an imitation of Athens Greece,
and
like many Americans citizens,
New Amsterdam
lost sight of the city it imitated
because of a name change,
though the traces
of the original intent
still linger.

5.

Essentially,
America inherited
the compulsion to reproduce
even as it contained
a spirit that wouldn't settle
for the error of its fathers --

to put it another way:
nearly every group that moved
to America
did so because
something wasn't working out at home,
so they wanted to do it
their own way

But so many came to America and immediately sought
to reproduce
their impressions
of the best their father gave them.

That is the essence of the American split personality:

Americans are idealists
who want something better
but
Americans are trapped
in the compulsion to imitate
the best their father gave them;

unfortunately,
America began identifying too much
with the compulsion to imitate
and too little
with the compulsion to be bold and
to leave the unrealistic demands of the father
and create something better

to the point where America is just full of
empty signifiers
and bad tomatoes.

6.
A month or so ago,
I wrote about my coincidental connection
with the German philosopher
Walter Benjamin.

One of Benjamin's most influential writings
is called
"The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."
That article helps me a little
in explaining what is happening
in America:

In 1936,
Benjamin contemplated how
mechanical reproduction
(ie: cameras & cinema)
could have a resounding impact on original art
(and ultimately, originality itself)

As he says,
"The technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object
from the domain of tradition.  By making many reproductions
it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence."

Now, of course if we consider
a piece of art
like the Mona Lisa,
even if we're standing in front of it,
we're already looking at
an act of reproduction:
DaVinci looked (we imagine)
at an actual woman
and reproduced her appearance on canvas.

The original, that Lisa
is dust today, but
that fabulous fabrication endures
and because it manages to capture a certain
spark - a certain
authenticity -
that painting has come to represent,
over time,
genius.
And over time, too, it has gained
more and more value
because it is an original,
and appropriately featured at
an artistic mecca.

Now, back to Benjamin:
as he so accurately foretold,
one does not have to follow the arrows
at the Louvre to behold the
Mona Lisa anymore;

one can buy it on a t-shirt,
or simple Google it.
Many are content to eyeball
Mona Lisa's reproduction,
a multitude of times removed from its hallowed source
so much so
that she has becoem fodder for defacement
or belittlement,
proving Benjamin's claim
that reproductive technology depletes the almost religious
"aura" of an original piece of art,
and with, it the value of originality itself.

( lovelywallpaper )


And what do we have left?
A multitude of imitations
of an inspired
imitation
on t-shirts
coffee cups
refrigerator magnets
busses,
posters,
advertisements  --

Benjamin sees this as inherently political, because
it turns artwork into commodities,
and I would have to agree:
artwork today is often produced to be reproduced,
as that's where the big money is.

~ ~ ~

As American film and television
became such a dominant force
in the 20th century, the same
became
true of people:

Bette Davis,
Mae West,
Marilyn Monroe,
Clark Gable,
George Clooney, even
Andy Griffith
Archie Bunker
Bill Cosby -
all became prototypes,
images to imitate
by a public impressed by impressive imitation.

7.
The scary thing is: now,
some of the dominant public figures are not even real;
they are cartoon characters, line
drawings filled in with confused
stereotypes
that people actually think
are authentic and real

( topnews )

( ringdrangonz )


A bit like a grocery store tomato,

these figures are just vague outlines

of people,

several times removed from

the flesh and bone creatures that may

have inspired them,

and imminently much cheaper to produce

than a television show with actual actors.

8.
O.K., so I don't 

have any answers to this rather lengthy

diatribe, but it is something

that I have wanted to say --

because I think America is such an important piece

in the puzzle of what humanity is all about,

but America seems to have gotten lost,

in a spooky hall of mirrors

and yes,

bad tomatoes -- but the real sin is:

people keep buying them,

and keep being content with color as opposed 

to taste; taste being the final effect 

of prolongued original attempts

at reproducing an original

authentically.

Endlesstime & the Palindrome: Tragedy and the Original

4.

As Aristotle says, a tragedy does not have to be focused on character, because characters--individuals who are based on authentic, raw, momentary reactions--are really few and far between.  Most of the people of the world get where they are because they are so good at representing what they think is the right thing to do.  In other words, most people are relatively empty vessels, waiting to be filled.  Easily influenced by the actions of those around them.  Some might say "stupid."  I would not say "stupid," but I would say these people are not "original."  "Original" people are those who are one of a kind, and, quite frankly, there are very few of those, because most people are classifiable and countable.


When you meet a true "original," you know it.  They are unclassifiable.  Just when you think you know them, they surprise you.  They exceed all of your expectations.  They defy your judgements.  They are not quantifiable or countable.  Poor things, they are heavenly things in earthly bodies; it is kind of like they are the bridge between us and the nether world.  They are prophets; they are angels; they are devils, too.  Them embody larger spirits, and it burdens them throughout their lives.


There are not many originals in this world, but it is quite amazing to witness one at a moment of encounter with a clumsy human experience.  They react honestly.  If they trip, they trip, and they don't lie about it.  If they fart, they fart, and sometimes even apologize.  If they laugh, their laugh is infectious; if they cry, the world cries with them.  This is why we often make them the performers of the world. 



There is, however, a multitude of the ordinary.  The ordinary seek out "originals" because they need role models for how to act authentically.  Without those role models all they have to go on are other imitators, like themselves. 

age-of-the-sage

Sooo, that was the premise behind the justification for Aristotle's tragedy: in tragedy, ethical, original characters must re-present a perfect plot (which is, of course a complete action).  It does not matter who the character is who represents that plot, the plot and its lesson will remain the same.  And the real point of tragedy - the lesson learned - is the end result of tragedy.  Aristotle demands that that lesson be an ethical one.  It is most ethical when it is performed by an original character, but one should never forget that it is the action that makes the character ethical.


Indeed, tragedy is fundamentally ethical. And it is ethical because it is very honestly positioned at the juncture of timeless death and the palindrome.  Tragedy attempts to teach us an ethical lesson at the time of our encounter with death, so we will continue to live our lives ethically.  This, too, justifies the claim that the essence of theatre is ritual, and the essence of ritual is theatre.

Because that is absolutely true.