#evolution of thought

Warning I’ve made the mistake many times of talking about metaphysics to someone who isn’t ready for it. I did it with enthusiasm, believing that if an idea had begun to bring order to my own life, maybe it could bring order to someone else’s too. The intention is good—but there’s a certain naïveté in it. Over time I’ve come to understand that no one understands before their time. And I didn’t…

Quadrivium – The four classical liberal arts

Quadrivium is a method for cultivating human wisdom brought to us by Pythagoras in about 500 BC. It was developed for about two thousand years until the scientific method was discovered as a way to understand the universe we live within. The difference between the classical method and our modern science seems to pivot on how one tests the truth of the assumptions made by an exploring mind. Science…

DESIGNA followed by SCIENCIA and QUADRIVIUM

Here is a pleasant way for an artistically inclined person who has also had a strong scientific streak to spend a month or more. It is to purchase and read  DESIGNA: Technical Secrets of the Traditional Visual Arts. Be warned that this isn’t reading a book in the usual way but requires considerable effort and endurance to weave your brain into and through the complex windings of Celtic artists…

America has a bit of an attitude problem. Rather than two groups receiving the same things and both being happy, America would rather be a little more unhappy and have the other group has way less. Like the group that has more doesn’t want to be brought to the same level for some reason, even if they both benefit.

Every advisory, I have to go to at least 3 approved events for Community Lecture Credits. It’s much more fun than I initially thought, it gives me a chance to go out and experience things with my friends. I also get to support my school, which is cool. If I am planning to go somewhere or there is a cool exhibit that I went to, I can recommend it and others in my class can go. In this video, I feature the Transformer Gallery (No Sharps, No Flats, http://www.transformerdc.org ), The Story (a Duke Ellington Theater Department Production, http://www.ellingtonschool.org) and the Renwick Gallery (Wonder, http://renwick.americanart.si.edu). Learning and new experiences are good for you. 

An Evolution of Thought

I've had a this event planned in my calendar since Ms Anderson put this in Google+. The dates have been moved around, but I had always planned to go. I had never been to or seen the Transformer Gallery. I didn't know what to expect because I didn't fully understand the synopsis for the exhibit. It was a complete surprise for me. That was all part of the fun.

My mom and I went after school on a the Friday after its opening. I was wearing my new leather jacket, one I was really pumped to have gotten. The wind was whipping my hair around my face, tangling it terribly in the process. We turned the corner and arrived at the Transformer Gallery. It was a small building, wedged between to other, bigger buildings. A large window on the building's face allowed a good look on the inside- shelved with raw machinery and cassette tapes. I pulled open the doors and a bell chimed, my mother walking in after me. I was surprised to see a loft, presumably where the office was. The space in itself was tiny. There was only room for one piece of work, in this case, the sculpture. The woman there shouted out a greeting to us as we entered.

“Hey! Just play the tapes- press the buttons with the blue tape on them. Just ask if you have any questions!” She said before returning to her work.

“Thanks.” Was our mumbled reply as we approached the sculpture. I remembered cassette tapes from when I was a toddler, specifically a cinderella one I used to listen to frequently.

I went to turn on the first one, sound filling the silent space as we did.

“Should we turn them on at the same time or…?” My mom asked, hovering over the next tape.

“Oh yeah, I’d turn them all on at the same time.” The woman said, a smile in her voice.

“Okay.” I said, quickly moving to the next tape opposite my mom. As we pressed play at the same time, I listened to the concoction of sounds and voices and music that quickly filled the room. I laughed with my mom at the funny sounds we were hearing.

Some tapes needed to be turned over, though. I, being a kid from the “advanced digital-age”, had no idea. It definitely was harder for me to work the machine than my mom. When all of the tapes were playing, we stood back and took in the sounds.

“...34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50…” sang one man on a tape. My mom and I erupted with laughter, thinking to ourselves that this was such a weird thing to put with music. It had a certain flow to it, though.

Sometime during our spectatorship a man entered.  We all went back to the machine, turning over tapes that had stopped. It got easier to work the machine/sculpture as I went. I bobbed my head to the music subconsciously a smile on my mother’s face as well. I still don’t know much about the artists and musicians that put this together, but I do know how damn cool it was. Thanks for suggesting it.  

What is the value of your best work?

If you work hard, you can get an allowance

If you work hard, you can get into a good school

If you work hard, you can get a high paying job

  The “you can get” mentality acts as the primary clarifier in our personal and professional evaluative system. In grade school we work for a letter, as we grow older we work to get into a good school, and in college we work to get a high paying job. This psychology breeds a weighty addiction to extrinsic motivation, driving us to achieve to receive rather than to achieve because it makes us happy. This may seem trivial but it weighs in heavily on our perception of the value of our work as well as our self worth. We reassess the value of our work consistently throughout our lives whether it be negotiating a salary or contemplating the potential sacrifices associated with a decision. We incorporate extrinsic factors heavily in our definition of passion, and become unclear about what we truly want. The way we learn to identify the value of our work makes it complicated to differentiate between internal and external motivators. Almost always, when the product of our efforts results in something we can get it will rank higher than when the product of our efforts results in our happiness. As this mentality develops, we adopt the belief that seeking out passion resulting in happiness is not significant. Astonishingly enough, we live in a culture saturated with statements like follow your dreams and identify your passion; however, it breeds a dichotomy in our decision making process. The significant value we place on extrinsic motivation makes the process of identifying passion misleading. Due to our inclination to seek out extrinsic identifiers we often muddy our definition of passion by contaminating it with the ideas associated with external motivation. While this can produce results, it also it also causes a fundamental shift in the way we identify with the value of our happiness. Many people have this idea so deeply engrained in their evaluative process that it is almost impossible to identify passion without extrinsic motivation. It would be inaccurate to suggest that the key to achievement is the eradication of extrinsic motivation; however, true innovation spurs when we emphasize the importance of internally defined incentives.

And each of those diseases presents solid evolutionary advantages, so we'll keep'em!