OPM 102 picks up from the end of OPM 101 that asks the question "What is this 'conjuring art' that in-tones through invocation, that invokes with a particular kind of calling...?"
In the first attempt at reading this meditation (youtube cut me off) I was commenting on my interest in ancient philosophy. I was saying that I have always equated philosophy with the ancients across the globe, and only recently have I begun to explore the ancient cosmologies of the Native Americans, specifically ancient Andean thinking. Indeed, since the publication of Being and Learning I have called my project originary thinking. Another way of stating the project is to describe it as an interest in studying the cultural locations where philosophy as cosmology originated.
With that as context one can understand why in OPM 102 I begin by responding to the question posed at the end of OPM 101 by saying "The conjuring art of teaching is a response to the call of the divine" I then go on to describe to the response to this call as divination which is understood to be a kind of prophetic seeing and, the practitioner of this art as obtaining the title "seer."In turn, the sage is a seer or one who can "see" that is perceive in an almost cartographical way what I have been calling the open region of learning. This is the unique ability of the sage. Indeed the dictionary definition of seer that I cite in OPM 102 says "A person endowed with profound moral and spiritual insight or knowledge; a wise man or sage that possesses intuitive powers." Precisely what is intuited is up for discussion. But here I am following Heidegger in linking the unique perceptive thinking of the sage as one who is most capable of building the poetic dwelling. In OPM 102, I cite Holderlin who says "full of merit, yet poetically, man dwells on this earth."And then I cite Heidegger who responses "When we follow in thought Holderlin's statement about poetic dwelling of man, we divine a path by which, through what is though differently, we come near to thinking the same as what the poet composes in his poem." This more or less brings us full circle to yesterday's blogpost that identified the "music-making Socrates" as a Prophet of a future form of writing philosophy that is poetic and improvisational.
And this brings me to the other connotation of "the project of originary thinking," which identifies the originary as original, but not in the sense of the ancients, but as the writing that is able to express the spontaneity and improvisational character of free thinking. To summarize, we learn from the first philosophers what it means to make first philosophy.
(I want to thank Kelly Duarte for typing this blog entry, helping me to complete this work while I am unable to type because of the acute tendonitis I am experiencing in my shoulder.)
In the first attempt at reading this meditation (youtube cut me off) I was commenting on my interest in ancient philosophy. I was saying that I have always equated philosophy with the ancients across the globe, and only recently have I begun to explore the ancient cosmologies of the Native Americans, specifically ancient Andean thinking. Indeed, since the publication of Being and Learning I have called my project originary thinking. Another way of stating the project is to describe it as an interest in studying the cultural locations where philosophy as cosmology originated.
With that as context one can understand why in OPM 102 I begin by responding to the question posed at the end of OPM 101 by saying "The conjuring art of teaching is a response to the call of the divine" I then go on to describe to the response to this call as divination which is understood to be a kind of prophetic seeing and, the practitioner of this art as obtaining the title "seer."In turn, the sage is a seer or one who can "see" that is perceive in an almost cartographical way what I have been calling the open region of learning. This is the unique ability of the sage. Indeed the dictionary definition of seer that I cite in OPM 102 says "A person endowed with profound moral and spiritual insight or knowledge; a wise man or sage that possesses intuitive powers." Precisely what is intuited is up for discussion. But here I am following Heidegger in linking the unique perceptive thinking of the sage as one who is most capable of building the poetic dwelling. In OPM 102, I cite Holderlin who says "full of merit, yet poetically, man dwells on this earth."And then I cite Heidegger who responses "When we follow in thought Holderlin's statement about poetic dwelling of man, we divine a path by which, through what is though differently, we come near to thinking the same as what the poet composes in his poem." This more or less brings us full circle to yesterday's blogpost that identified the "music-making Socrates" as a Prophet of a future form of writing philosophy that is poetic and improvisational.
And this brings me to the other connotation of "the project of originary thinking," which identifies the originary as original, but not in the sense of the ancients, but as the writing that is able to express the spontaneity and improvisational character of free thinking. To summarize, we learn from the first philosophers what it means to make first philosophy.
(I want to thank Kelly Duarte for typing this blog entry, helping me to complete this work while I am unable to type because of the acute tendonitis I am experiencing in my shoulder.)
3.0a - From Philly, Memorial Day weekend. I had forgotten about that shoulder tendinitis! It was the result of back to back 8 hr drives Portland to Ithaca days earlier. No such problems these day, thanks to the Creator! I've been using that name for the Divine during this lacrosse season in a totally sincere way. This has been my second year of reffing lax in Maine, and this season before each game I gather both teams at the center of the field, which is a tradition in lacrosse, and I address them with the following pre-game speech: "We gather here to for baggataway, the Creator's game, little brother of war, what we call lacrosse. This game has been played on this land for hundred of years. We've inherited this game. Respect the game and the game will respect you. Play like a warrior today." There have been a few teams who've heard my pre-game speech, and thus far there's been enthusiasm from the players. They enjoy hearing that, and I appreciate their positivity and enthusiasm. But I truly mean it sincerely, because, as a cultural educator, I believe it's important to remind the players that they are part of a tradition, one of the few indigenous traditions that is alive and well. Bringing this point back to the OPM from this day, I relate it back to the work of the Sage as the one who is a cartographer of the Open region. When I am the referee of a game I have the responsibility of speaking to the coaches, meeting the team captains and flipping the coin (mine commemorates the Native American heritage of lacrosse), and then gathering both teams at the center of the field and addressing them with my pre-game invocation. It is indeed an "invocation" because whether or not they recognize it, I am calling them to gather in the spirit of the game. Or better, I am calling them to be open to be gathered by the spirit of the game. That is why I emphasize the phrase the Creator's Game. That is the invocative moment, the conjuring of the spirit, an appeal to the players to feel and think beyond themselves. In OPM 101 I wrote, "What is this 'conjuring art' that in-tones through invocation, that invokes with a particular kind of calling...?" That sounds awfully mystical, but I was definitely in an awfully mystical mode throughout the original writing, and that was certainly an important motivation of the project, and definitely what I meant when I claimed that the impulse for the project was getting back to the modality of study I was in when I was a student at Fordham and found myself located in that place where the traditions of philosophy/spirituality/mysticism overlap. It is from within that location, that these days I only visit but don't spend much time, that I can pose the question of the Sage as a "conjurer" or "seer," and could write "the sage is a seer or one who can 'see' that is perceive in an almost cartographical way what I have been calling the open region of learning."
ReplyDelete3.0b - Connecting the original writing with my pre-game ritual reminds me that the educational work of the sage is in part an interruption of the mundane, the everyday. That is how the periagogē is initiated. And that is also why this turning point is also analogous to the flash of illumination, with the only significant different being that the sage's evocative speech or pointing is intentional, whereas the flash of illumination happens spontaneously. For example, I can invoke and call the players to gather in the indigenous spirit of the game, but the moments when they are playing like a warrior are akin to the moments when an athlete finds themselves in the flow, which arrives and takes them into a sustained exceptional performance. Socrates was visited by the muse, but her arrival was always unexpected and happened when he was sleeping. "The figure who visits me in my dreams." Plato was suggesting that the muse visits when our 'conscious' minds are replaced, and we are displaced into the open region, the modality of receptivity, listening. Again, re-placement is the key. The re-placement of the student's intentionality. This is why Arendt emphasizes the authority of the teacher as residing in responsibility.
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