I run across so many blogs that I like. I could spend all day of every day just reading and commenting on blogs! But alas, I really can't...due to life.
I have been trying to figure out how to categorize the blogs I visit. Some have to do with cult or abuse recovery. Some are people's stories. Some are written for encouragement. Some are controversial. Some are Way believer blogs. A couple have to do with backpacking. Many of them overlap in these categories.
Overlap. That is what life is. A person doesn't fit in one compartment.
I personally don't like to pigeon hole people. We are such fascinating creations. Each of us with depth and understanding, sometimes more than we give ourselves credit for. And sometimes less...ha!
I think it was Emerson that stated something like, "Each man I meet is my superior in some way. In that I learn of him."
We each are more than the category in which we or others place our selves.
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February 20, 2011
February 19, 2011
cre-ate to art-cee
Hm. I have only posted one entry on toss & ripple in February. Yet I have been writing elsewhere, mainly in my personal journal.
I haven't felt like sculpting a piece of writing. I haven't felt like trying to develop scenes so that a reader could, at least partly, envision what is in my mind. I haven't felt like detailing to that extent. Yet in writing this small entry, perhaps some sculpting will take place.
In visual art, there are different genres. Iconic. Pop. Abstract. Conceptual. Anime. Graphic. And more. Within the various genres, there is a multitude of styles, each as original as the soul designing it.
I read somewhere recently where someone stated that art is a form of love when the art blesses another,or something like that. I thought, "That isn't art." Perhaps to some it is, but not to me.
During my decades as a Way believer all visual art, music, and prose was to be "a blessing" and needed to "line up with the Word." In other words, any artistic design could not contradict the doctrine, the "right teaching" of The Way.
In The Way, we were taught that man cannot "create" because to "create" is "to make something out of nothing." Perhaps The Way is correct in their definition. The etymology of the word "create" comes from a word that means to "produce, bring forth, beget." Yet mankind is creative; that is, s/he begets an idea, often out of necessity. That necessity being physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological, or whatever "...al" one wants to come up with.
Art is expression.
For me, that's it.
Whether or not the piece is disturbing or edifying is beside the point altogether. Whether one interprets it as loving or hating, is beside the point as well.
Well, is it a form of love if it evokes feelings of anger or hatred?
An art piece is a tiny string from the tapestry of one's soul. That's not to say that string isn't important; yet it is only a snippet of a life. Art honors the various aspects and emotions of our humanity - "the good, the bad, and the ugly." Art can remind us to never forget, including atrocities and blessings.
Life moves; it isn't stagnate. Life changes. As it does, so might someone's expression of that life.
Now where was I when I started writing?
Ah yes, art genres.
"So," I said to myself about 10 minutes ago, "Why not just blog something abstract? No need to detail, unless the detail decides to display itself."
I'm preparing for a new business endeavor which shall begin in April and May. I'll get my training in April. Go backpacking along the Appalachian Trail for a couple weeks in May. Then dive in once I'm back from the trail. The business will be a family endeavor.
Family endeavors. My 20-year old son and I are going backpacking also in March on Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia. It's one of the ten protected National Seashores in the USA.
There be armadillos, wild horses, and alligators that roam the island.
Nature, the grandest of all art museums.
********************
I haven't felt like sculpting a piece of writing. I haven't felt like trying to develop scenes so that a reader could, at least partly, envision what is in my mind. I haven't felt like detailing to that extent. Yet in writing this small entry, perhaps some sculpting will take place.
In visual art, there are different genres. Iconic. Pop. Abstract. Conceptual. Anime. Graphic. And more. Within the various genres, there is a multitude of styles, each as original as the soul designing it.
I read somewhere recently where someone stated that art is a form of love when the art blesses another,or something like that. I thought, "That isn't art." Perhaps to some it is, but not to me.
During my decades as a Way believer all visual art, music, and prose was to be "a blessing" and needed to "line up with the Word." In other words, any artistic design could not contradict the doctrine, the "right teaching" of The Way.
In The Way, we were taught that man cannot "create" because to "create" is "to make something out of nothing." Perhaps The Way is correct in their definition. The etymology of the word "create" comes from a word that means to "produce, bring forth, beget." Yet mankind is creative; that is, s/he begets an idea, often out of necessity. That necessity being physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological, or whatever "...al" one wants to come up with.
Art is expression.
For me, that's it.
Whether or not the piece is disturbing or edifying is beside the point altogether. Whether one interprets it as loving or hating, is beside the point as well.
Well, is it a form of love if it evokes feelings of anger or hatred?
An art piece is a tiny string from the tapestry of one's soul. That's not to say that string isn't important; yet it is only a snippet of a life. Art honors the various aspects and emotions of our humanity - "the good, the bad, and the ugly." Art can remind us to never forget, including atrocities and blessings.
Life moves; it isn't stagnate. Life changes. As it does, so might someone's expression of that life.
Now where was I when I started writing?
Ah yes, art genres.
"So," I said to myself about 10 minutes ago, "Why not just blog something abstract? No need to detail, unless the detail decides to display itself."
I'm preparing for a new business endeavor which shall begin in April and May. I'll get my training in April. Go backpacking along the Appalachian Trail for a couple weeks in May. Then dive in once I'm back from the trail. The business will be a family endeavor.
Family endeavors. My 20-year old son and I are going backpacking also in March on Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia. It's one of the ten protected National Seashores in the USA.
There be armadillos, wild horses, and alligators that roam the island.
Nature, the grandest of all art museums.
********************
February 14, 2011
Rereading Me
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Technology. An ever evolving entity, sometimes monstrous and overwhelming. A behemoth, that if we don't regulate in our lives, can swallow us in its gadgetry and information overload. We can become a cog in the machinery; or rather, a byte in the architecture.
I utilize a statistics tracker on my blogs. I don't pay for the service, and after 500 hits I have to start the tracking process over. Thus losing the previous tracking information. I could pay and upgrade to accomodate more than 500 hits. I could figure out how to install a different type of free tracker which might track more hits; but the information isn't valuable enough for me to spend bucks on, and I don't feel like learning how to install something different. I'm happy to simply adjust my tracker to 0 at 500 hits and start again. (I can look up all-time total hits on my Wordpress blogs.)
I typically check my stats daily. It's interesting to see how visitors arrive at my blogs, the odd searches that lead to certain entries.
Sometimes, upon checking my stats and seeing what a visitor has read, I'll click on that same entry and reread what I wrote in the past. It's fun. Plus, I get to correct in typos I happen to see.
To reread entries is similar to reading a journal. After all that is how blogs got started. When I read some of my older entries, it is a reminder. "Re-mind-er"....to mind again, which makes me think of to "care" again and to "mine" again. "Mine," like a diamond or ruby or coal miner. And also "mine," like in me, my self, and "mine."
I've been known to then post these re-found entries onto a discussion forum or similar community-type online venue. "Re-found"....to found again. "Found" like in "start." Which is literally what happens when I copy and paste my entry from here onto an online discussion forum - I "start" a new topic. It might get discussed and it might not.
Technology, that ever evolving microscopic macrocosm. Microscopic as in tiny bytes relaying amorphous soul bits - that is our thoughts. Macrocosm as in universal - the ability of a tiny chip to hold vast amounts of information and to even be able to communicate it using giant geometric bodies in orbit around our earth.
To me, one being almost clueless as to how the world wide web works, it seems that a day will come then the internet crashes. That at some point the capacity will be saturated. Or perhaps technological weapons will simply destroy satellite systems and we will again have to use wood to heat the water.
Our water heater broke last night. Really it did. The floor got quite wet. Today, I'll shower at the neighbor's house or take a super quick shower at home.
Tonight man versing IBM's computer, Watson, can be viewed on the Jeopardy game show. I wonder who wins?
I think it will be Watson.
*****************************
Technology. An ever evolving entity, sometimes monstrous and overwhelming. A behemoth, that if we don't regulate in our lives, can swallow us in its gadgetry and information overload. We can become a cog in the machinery; or rather, a byte in the architecture.
I utilize a statistics tracker on my blogs. I don't pay for the service, and after 500 hits I have to start the tracking process over. Thus losing the previous tracking information. I could pay and upgrade to accomodate more than 500 hits. I could figure out how to install a different type of free tracker which might track more hits; but the information isn't valuable enough for me to spend bucks on, and I don't feel like learning how to install something different. I'm happy to simply adjust my tracker to 0 at 500 hits and start again. (I can look up all-time total hits on my Wordpress blogs.)
I typically check my stats daily. It's interesting to see how visitors arrive at my blogs, the odd searches that lead to certain entries.
Sometimes, upon checking my stats and seeing what a visitor has read, I'll click on that same entry and reread what I wrote in the past. It's fun. Plus, I get to correct in typos I happen to see.
To reread entries is similar to reading a journal. After all that is how blogs got started. When I read some of my older entries, it is a reminder. "Re-mind-er"....to mind again, which makes me think of to "care" again and to "mine" again. "Mine," like a diamond or ruby or coal miner. And also "mine," like in me, my self, and "mine."
I've been known to then post these re-found entries onto a discussion forum or similar community-type online venue. "Re-found"....to found again. "Found" like in "start." Which is literally what happens when I copy and paste my entry from here onto an online discussion forum - I "start" a new topic. It might get discussed and it might not.
Technology, that ever evolving microscopic macrocosm. Microscopic as in tiny bytes relaying amorphous soul bits - that is our thoughts. Macrocosm as in universal - the ability of a tiny chip to hold vast amounts of information and to even be able to communicate it using giant geometric bodies in orbit around our earth.
To me, one being almost clueless as to how the world wide web works, it seems that a day will come then the internet crashes. That at some point the capacity will be saturated. Or perhaps technological weapons will simply destroy satellite systems and we will again have to use wood to heat the water.
Our water heater broke last night. Really it did. The floor got quite wet. Today, I'll shower at the neighbor's house or take a super quick shower at home.
Tonight man versing IBM's computer, Watson, can be viewed on the Jeopardy game show. I wonder who wins?
I think it will be Watson.
*****************************