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Instead of turning away from the paradox, what if we pay attention and embrace them?
How do we create a repository that is Radically Inclusive and able to include that which refuses to be embraced, but must be embraced for peace to be possible.
That which we resist most, is the part of us we must learn to love--most stop at thinking of this in terms of romantic or idealized love. That is not this.
This is Love the inspires higher aspiratons...it inspires one to create consciously, to breathe in deeply this monent of life. Love that opens us up to experience our Ultimate Answer.
Cultural Fusion is THE ULTIMATE ANSWER for me. These projects are the containers for that sharing which words alone seem inadequate to express, but I keep looking...trying to find out how to create material that in retrospect will make it easier for increasing numbers of peopleto experience their own creative potential to be a part of this.
In the same way that these artist, in some way created a spark that increasingly pointed me towards this but it was not until 10.25/6.08 that I finally created this page. What changed?
I saw/felt the value of Cultural Fusion, SoulFood, Source Art, through the eyes of the people have provide their endorsements of it and my personal experience of it-- the use your own product sales method as process art see Installation
Instead of deciding the answer is yes or no- Cultural Fusion has opened an invitation to find out.
Why do I use these as point of reference?
The most obvious was that it was source of inspiration to me early in this work because of its cultural resonance with the what is peace project at the level and in the kind of context that it is referencing in terms of how the individual is also the whole. This is the paradox of self.
This seems key to creating "free Attention" and does not seem possible as long as you remain in room paying Attention to that which drains resources without replenishment at the energy level, as opposed to sharing of Attention.which is a nourishing transaction experience.
"The point is more correctly, acceptance of the self on all levels. Absence of dishonesty seems a critical piece of how I define love (perhaps the only consistent element) and in fairness it should apply no less to myself. This being such a huge concept I had to find a tangible way to wrap my mind around it if I hoped to begin dealing with how it expressed itself in life.....
I took in the near holy words of Audrey Lorde in the “Uses of the Erotic: the erotic as power” and fashioned a life that expressed more fully who I am...
I think it is impossible to seek truth and avoid certain universal realizations. On days like today I grapple with the complexity found in being, I find myself at a loss, overwhelmed by my own contradictions and those of reality. In my moment of desperation, I look for metaphors that help me make sense of who I am and the experience I am having vs. who I want to be. Metaphors (such as lyrics) helped me weave new myths, which are based on complete honesty with myself.
What I wanted most in my quest for the ideal romantic love was to trust in someone else with no hint of doubt, now I desire nothing more than to completely trust in myself. Where to begin? The answer came as soon as I asked the right question, seeking to understand the parts that wanted most to hide. As I considered exactly what that meant, I drifted into the song that was moving from the background into the foreground and I began thinking about the song and why it came on at exactly that moment...."
Excerpt from my essay Who's Flying This Plane (2004)
The Songs referenced in the piece were performed by Elvis Costello, however at the time of this writing I feel the song "Turn You On" by Roxy Music best represents the excepts shared her as they fit into this context.
Inspiration
This clip from 1982 TV show Fame stands out as an early instigator prompting me to explore this idea of culture as a personal experience calling to be expressed. Although I was not interested in being a dance, it was instrumental in leading me to explore my own path as an artist =painter-acceptable-understandable to those around me at the time---later to realize my longing was to be an installation artist combining media-1987/8 a journey Basquiat helped along culminating in this return "home" by way of Cultural Fusion. Where CF represents a path that perpahs no one else could understand before I had the free attention to pay to it.
Historial contributor to inspiration that enriched my understanding in a way that resulted in gratitude or appreciation of the work as noteworthy in my quest=spoke to me:
Thes stand as cases where the "Tansi" was returned with time or attention that made investment to serve ball (question, greeting, etc) worthwhile. These were more like practice games-
Alice Walker with In Search of Our Mother's Gardens, Same River Twice, Anything We Love Can Be Saved,
Attended readings, presented her with a painting inspired by her work around 1992 in Atlanta Georgia at Oxford bookstore in Buckhead
bell hooks Sisters of the Yam- Transformative work in a very uncomplicated text -
Probably one of the best works on applied feminist theory I had read up until that time. She presented black feminist thought in a context that was for me revolutionary and illuminating.
Review
Sisters of the Yam makes more sense, covers more ground and offers more meaningful healing strategies than most of the self-help literature combined. Grounded in an astute analysis of how a racist and sexist culture wounds us, bell hooks calls for us to heal ourselves by struggling against both institutionalized and internalized patriarchy. This thoughtful book suggests approaches to healing the self that are practical and attainable for any woman, such as renewing our relationship with nature by gardening, wearing comfortable shoes, or spending time in a park or wilderness setting. Not just another feel-good approach to feeling bad, Sisters of the Yam analyzes the forces which make us and keep us dysfunctional and carefully shows us how we can overcome these powerful limitations. The suggested self-help strategies are simultaneously simple and complex: to be truthful in the way we present ourselves to the world; to overcome our hunger for acceptance and assimilation; to read, not pop psychology, but poetry and novels; to struggle to find work which affirms and excites us. Community, sexual passion, work, loving and caring for others: these are the antidotes to our alienation and loss of self, suggests bell, and the key to our self-recovery. -- From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by Patricia Pettijohn
Meriln Stone When God was a Woman 1991/2 Was important in opening questions about acculturation and religion that I had not previously considered. Definitely more questions than answers but marked some important changes.
Dr. Jan Vanisina with Oral Traditions as History -
telephone conversation in late 1990's (98/9)
Dr. William Pollitier Gullah People and their African Heritage -
telephone conversation and provided letter of support The Storyteller documentary project around 2000
Connected me to Nicki ? research assistant - telephone and email exchanges, provided letter of support, and information about her work in genetics research
Dr. Michael Mullins Africa in America Slave Acculturation and Resistance in the American South and the British Caribbean, 1736-1831
Extensive archival and anecdotal sources support Michael Mullin's description of slavery as it was practiced in tidewater Virginia, on the rice coast of the Carolinas, and in Jamaica and Barbados. Drawing upon case histories, Mullin offers new and definitive information about how African's met and often overcame the challenges and deprivations of their new lives through religion, family life, and economic strategies.
"Africa in America is more than another account of slave resistance and accommodation. It is a brilliant and provocative work of historical anthropology and a synthetic account of slavery that firmly places the subject in a comparative and long-term context. . . . Mullin's three-part chronology of resistance and rebellion is attractive in its simplicity and flexibility." -- James D. Rice, Southern Historian
- telephone conversation
Dr. Constance Hilliard Intellectual Traditions of Pre Colonial Africa
When I contacted Connie she had already had cause to run across my name so imagine my surprise when she knew my name and had read/considered my articles on mothering. We developed a kinship and have had telephone conversations, email and snail mail correspondence that spans almost ten years. She has been very generious in sharing her work with, even while in progress. One of the most notable occassions was early in my work on culture, I was considering the concepts of Soulfullness as part of my historical, not merely cultural as in racial heritage, but at spirtual level that there had been something hidden in oral traditions beyond merely the words. I called Connie to get her insights on this idea and she was at the time working on text book. She sent me the chapter on Soulfullness. I am certain that the early exchange of ideas which she helped me clarify made a significant contribution to my choice to pay attention to the path tha led to this project. I began to consider this work in oral traditions at a much deeper level than any work previously. Connie's work was the closes I had encountered in academic circles, to address these issues in a way that felt meaningful for me.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Ground-breaking work!, August 17, 1999
By A Customer
Dr. Hilliard, transcends the limitations of academia to provide viable insight into a people with stark honesty and innate wisdom. Often misrepresented and misunderstood, she avoids this trap by presenting the traditions as a representation of an intellectual system....without extraction, for the Western mind to perceive. A remarkable accomplishment, and generous gift.
Gerald Jampolsky Love is Lettig Go of Fear - Read around 1992/3
This changed my life and put me on a path of forgiveness and releasing rage.
An inspirational classic since 1979, LOVE IS LETTING GO OF FEAR remains one of the seminal works in the transpersonal movement. Psychiatrist Dr. Gerald Jampolsky's timeless message may be timelier today than ever: the only thing that stands between us and the awesome energy of love is fear. To live without fear, we must stop analyzing it, stop agonizing over it, stop fighting with it, and simply . . . let it go. How? By releasing our paralyzing preoccupation with the past and our chronic apprehension over the future-which is, needless to say, easier said than done.
Louise Hay You can Heal Your Life-
This was the first "new age" self help book I read with intention- 1991/2. It came along at a time when it was needed and it supported me in changing my life and likewise havig a more positve effect on those I met.
Ossie Davis & Rubie Dee- With Ossie & Rubie: In this Life Together
My husband gave me this book as a gift around the time it was released (1999 or 2000)
This book was written around the time of their 50th Anniversary and receiveing the Presidential Medal of Honor ( at least i think that was the title) At any rate, the point is that I learned from this book about love and intimate partnership. I used to refer to relationships as emotional entanglements (still an idea/concept to play with--tenicles) but this book more than any other I have read about marriage and relationships speaks to the essence of what it is to be in love with the same person for 50+ years and to have love that grows stronger rather than wearing thin. I found in this book the sort of wisdom I wish my elders had been equpped to provide to me growing up.
Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee met in 1945, when they were both performing in the same play on Broadway; Davis, resuming an acting career that had been interrupted by a World War II tour of duty in Liberia, was cast as the male lead, while Dee was originally hired as understudy to the female lead and soon found herself taking over the part. Three years later, still working together, they took advantage of a rehearsal-free day in their schedule to get married--and have been together through thick and thin ever since. Trading turns with one another, Davis and Dee discuss the high and low points of more than a half century in each other's company. With Ossie & Ruby has enough stories for at least three books, covering the world of stage and film, the history of the civil rights movement, and the endurance of love and marriage. Their telling, in alternating first-person narration, is unflinching in its portrayal of the hardships they endured for being black-skinned and "left-wing" political activists--and equally firm in their continued dedication. This is a first-rate memoir by a man and a woman--each with a thriving career--who have collaborated to form a union even greater than the sum of its parts.
Richard S. Tedlow Giants of Enterprise
Freakonomics
Both of these encouraged me to explore ideas that have led to my paper/book still in progress.
In my concept paper I suggested that FOSS and ICT will be for this movement (infusing Attention and Love into business via CRM Strategy) what the Bessemer process was to the steel and railroad industries that transformed the world by making a quantum leap in product transportation to give birth to the Industrial Age...this time I feel it will be what Robert Florida termed the "creative class" only I expand this term to be what I call "radically inclusive" reaching out to create bridges between the developing and developed worlds.
This has evolved into consideration for the impact that p2p and self referencing creativity will have organizations and institutions.
Daniel Pink Why Right Brainers Will Rule the World -
probably the most professionally affirmative and relevant book I have ever read yet :-) Greatly validated my ideas about art based solutions. In addition it supported my ideas about the impact ICT, virtual reality in the future of regional economies. The threat to them was made more clear as were the solutions for integrating glocalization and globalization....also prompted consideration about how this relates to the future of institutions, the workers they produce and the impact on regional and national economies.
This conflict was resolved over the last twenty years leading up to embarking on Cultural Fusion and for certain one healing force that helped facilitate this flow of awareness and what for me was a clarifying process has been the musical influence of Bill Laswell.
From my Last FM recorded scrobbles, these tracks have been played more than any others.
Saul Willians explains his experience of coming to his own Source as part of and one. I was struck by the way he expresses his understanding through his work...being true to the integrity of the work/play and still remaining open to success with some of the benefits of commercialization.
The process of developing markets and producing and delivering products for sale (whether by the originating party or by others). ...
When Ailey began creating dance, he drew upon his "blood memories" of Texas, the blues, spirituals, and gospel as inspiration, which resulted in the creation of his most popular and critically acclaimed work "Revelations".(part 1 of 5)
Although he created 79 ballets over his lifetime, Alvin Ailey maintained that his company was not exclusively a repository for his own work. Today, the company continues Mr. Ailey's mission by presenting important works of the past and commissioning new ones to add to the repertoire. In all, more than 200 works by over 70 choreographers have been performed by the Company.
I recall Rothko helping me to be with, instead of turning away at that critical moment when the choice is to pay attention to your core message, to resonate with it or resist it.
I was looking at issues that seemed dominated by regional economic development and why innovation could not fundamentally happen with institutions, at least not as they have been.
In opening to find inspiration by releasing the idea that I knew what their problem was based on xyz I was able to be where they were without judgment and still see what I felt wanting to express.
Echos back to what is peace so Self Refrencing is connected to Self Acceptance.
This morning I was looking for a CD I still can't find....I wanted to listen to Aretha Franklin's cover of Nessun Dorma.. I believe that performance was a trigger for my shift in the direction of SoulFood.
Why? Because of one of the major issues I was grappling with at the time. I had watched the Grammy's that evening just to see her performance as I don't typically pay attention to award shows. But the fact that she would stand in for Pavarotti was regarded as big news. The Queen of Soul " gave a soulful and highly improvised performance in the aria's original key..."
At anyrate, the issue I was concerned with was the puprose/value of history and what has been deemed the classical. I had been made to read "classical book" lists and very few of the works proved memorable or meaningful to me. Overwhelmingly this kind of imposed artistic/intellectual values system encouraged my selective consideration at best.
What I felt in Aretha's performance was this awareness and appreciation for both her Ingredient and the base recipe...I think the nature of her Ingrient includes her love/appreciation of the base recipe (song) and for Pavarotti. So I feel this is evidence of an Ingredient as a formula (algorithm) as opposed to a singular Ingredient. In SoulFood quality of ingredient is shaped by the quality and variety of applications - expressed potential. You have to see deeper than the apperance....music as entertainment is only one level-
There have been many studies that uphold and demonstrate the psychological physial, spiritual health benefits of music therapy-- expressive therapy and public art. But I am also considering this in relationship to emerging economic opportunities (personal fabrication, green/sustainable living, economic stimulation/development) and what we know-historical data- it clearly supports creative economies-arts based revitalization as fiscally rewarding and delivering higher quality attention. In as much as theyse also touch on different markets and sectors, they are also associated with different cultures.
This speaks to the value of the intangible assets applied in the kind of context Cultural Fusion is creating.
Ron, there are several crossovers here, let me know if you see them.
That gave way to initial ponderings of institutional critique as an embracing of protest art with its alternative- Ron called it a protest to protest art :-)
L's Black Factory project was a great source of validation when I was feeling particularly pressured to sort out what Cultural Fusion is as a business. My feeling remains that it is not a side issue that this is an art series, that is very much the heart of the matter.
The most vivid example that immediately comes to mind of protest motivation I have experienced was my visceral response to Elementary Particles the novel. It took me several months to read it because I became enraged by it on more than one occassion and threw it across the room. I left if to some time before coming back to finally complete the novel. I felt its connection with a whole range of other issues, most notably social and political that were being expressed at the personal levels through that work.
Women's Movement
Immediately I knew I would create a retort. Instead of an exclusive women's movement, what is called for is an inclusive humanistic movement from an inclusive perspective (as in including male and female). I have several pieces written and some in development ....about seven of the written pieces have been published in print. One of the pieces in development were inspired by creation storie.
When I encountered the Ingredients for this piece I understood why it have be collaborative and that Shantala, Pras, Irena, and Kerry firgured prominently into what I was envisioning.
During the time that I was working on the concept I struggled with what I thought were to be core components...two of them became something completely different but still connected to the feeling beneath the surface...connecting the seemingly unconnceted. See Framed Installation in Pinewoods.
Within this was the concept of sexuality as an expression of political or spiritual idealism or the complete absence of the same, having no ideals. Now I am less interested in the ideals for the sake of themselves. I am interested in how the ideals lead to the reality. It illuminates the bridge that makes a quantum leap possible?
Now while the aboved informed and resonated but the following resonated and inspired.
This is the difference between an Ingredient I have in my kitchen and one I need to put on the shopping list.
How mark off when something on the list is acquired?
This is what I am considering as the quest in the game. I wonder if I need to study more games for this? No, it works if I connect with someone who has studied/played games and also understands how this game is different.
This led to fleshing out of a conceptual piece I conceived prior and it connects to both the Mandala Genesis series and what is peace?
Ron's books was important but the dialogues based on this work was deeply transformative, having led to this work. It is directly related to my decision to express the insights from SoulFood and commitment to Cultural Fusion. Both represent the culmination of a life long dream, passion, and intention being expressed. In addition it helped shape what makes this art series and movement distinctive as it embodies many of the insights presented in his book.
Bilocality and the inner world of attention trusts you, the reader, to be capable of seeing and appreciating its brilliance.
To say the revelations of bilocality are life altering is an understatement because embarking on the quest to experience the reality of bilocality opens up a world of infinitely more questions that only serves to bring more clarity to the situation which seems to prompt the journey. What the book does is approach this incredible set of concepts with the streamlined elegance of an artist, so that any fear of complexity evaporates as soon as it emerges...as he says in this text, it is better to see it as a work of art. And as such it touches on and illuminates areas as diverse as business/organizational development, CRM and marketing strategy, philosophy, community development and health care. It's easily applicable because the ideas are so available in the context of stories.
This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the place where reality and experience meet!
Although Hundertwasser first achieved notoriety for his boldly-coloured paintings, he is more widely renowned today for his revolutionary architectural designs, which incorporate natural features of the landscape, and use of irregular forms in his building design. Hundertwasserhaus, a low-income apartment block in Vienna, features undulating floors (”an uneven floor is a melody to the feet”), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. He took no payment for the design of Hundertwasserhaus, declaring that it was worth it, to “prevent something ugly from going up in its place”.
These Native American artist whom I stumbled upon on YouTube shared music that lingered in my heart- they had a vibe that I felt inclined to share.
The followning more than any of the others repsresent the parts i found myself resisting. Especially true of Jean-Michel Basquiat who I had a historical connection with that I was more aware of than say the one I discovred with Rothko.
Basquiat attracted my attention in the 80's when I needed to see people living outside the box and it took years before I conceded and actually explored his work.
Hirst's diamond skull is on the market for about $100 million, which will be a good return on the artist's investment as he spent about $20 million on putting the thing together. That's an $80 million dollar idea!
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