Blog Archives - Northern Overexposure

Anthony Demello on Self Observation

4/28/2012

The Jesuit psychologist Anthony Demello has some very good words of wisdom relative to awakening, awareness and spirituality. Influenced by Hindu, Buddhist and Christian streams of thinking, he defines spirituality as waking up. Enlightenment means being woken up, aware and fully conscious. He offers a specific prescription for attainment of it through a process of self observation. You can hear him in the selection below.

He contrasts self-observation with self-absorption. Self-absorption is is self-preoccupation.. You are concerned about yourself, worried about yourself. Self-observation means watching everything in you and around you as far as possible and watch it as if it were happening to someone else. You look at yourself and the situation as if you have no connection with them whatsoever. "Don't interfere, don't fix anything - watch and observe".

Great book that I will return to in the next two months. It is available on line on here: Awareness.

Steve Coleman - Ritual

4/28/2012

An interesting display of the jazz process at work from NPR. Present is a trumpeter, saxophonist and vocalist. Coleman says that as the vocalist learned their language, she began to adapt what she did to their style.

Coleman describes the process as a symbiotic connection of music. "It's a lot of different influences, coming from different places — plus, whatever's coming from inside you, which is the main thing."

He describes "invisible paths". After listening the first and second time, I found the music discordant and had difficulty locating the paths of harmonic convergence. After sitting with it for a time, it became clear. In terms of literary analogy, I was reminded of James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake with its stream of consciousness style. I would not describe this work as stream of consciousness as there is a structured coherence to each component part. If you listen, you can hear the sharing of each component part which leads me to hear this as a pleasant afternoon conversation; each with their own influences and perspectives but all coming together to share in a mutual conversation through the idiom of musicality.

Supporting Bruce Hyer

4/27/2012

I support Bruce Hyer, former NDP representative for Thunder Bay-Superior North who opted to sit as an Independent in the House of Commons. I supported Bruce in the last election and support him in his decision. The Chronicle Journalwas critical of him, but I think his rationale was sound. His prescription for fixing parliament that he wrote in a separate piece published by the Chronicle Journal is very good. It is regrettable that the parliamentary procedures do not permit him to act and advocate on those issues that are important to him and important to those of us in his riding. Hyer wrote that:

“I have much respect for most Members in this House. But our three main parties require lockstep discipline, with little room for meaningful public debate... or for putting constituents ahead of party politics.” “Instead of cooperation and compromise, voters often see mindless solidarity, where political parties are always right and voters are always wrong. One example is the long gun registry, where there has been no real compromise at all. Mr. Mulcair has made it clear he will bring back the long gun registry, and will use the whip. I am also concerned that Mr. Mulcair does not seem willing to co-operate with other parties on issues. And on climate change, parties are hopelessly locked to Cap & Trade or outright inaction, making compromise to achieve even piecemeal progress impossible.”

Good decision Bruce and shame on Mr Mulcair for using the whip on an issue like the long gun registry. As Nietzsche once quipped, the party person is by necessity a liar. We need to remember that we elect politicians not to sit as robots for the party but for their judgement and conscience.

The F word

4/22/2012

Good post on failure from Nicholas Bate. He writes that it is not so much failure of result but of the process:

learning, improving, iterating, removing slack, becoming lean, becoming fighting-fit, installing effectiveness, developing wired-in muscle memory, just knowing, getting really really good, broadening, widening, gaining wisdom, picking yourself up and smiling and trying once again. Yeah, that. The whole process requires lots and lots of crappy failure. And we don't like it: we want approval, we want love, we want accolades. But hang on a minute: no, you don't. You really want to grow, you really want to discover who the heck you are, you really want to see just what your limits are. You want to start creating your personal greatest works. And you do all of that by failing.

Below is a famous video of famous failures.

Using social media for medical information

4/19/2012

According to this interview from the Wall Steet Journal, people are using social media to share health care information and educate themselves on their care. More people are turning to social media to use information or misinformation on health care. The interviewee argues that providers should be using the vehicle of social media to engage with clients who are choosing to use social media as their preferred option. According to this result, 50% expected to receive and answer relative to appointments, etc. within a day.

All of the information is not actionable but does help people share information about their condition and symptoms.

Interview: here

Why Poetry Is Essential to Democracy

4/17/2012

Very good article by Tracy Smith on why poetry is essential to democracy. Smith writes that "when a poem can lead you into an unfamiliar place, where what you must do is watch and listen closely, think and associate quickly, and find your footing from scratch, it is imparting a set of skills that are yours to keep."

In this regard, she is similar to Emily Dickinson who wrote that “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?”

Poetry can convey meaning in a way that prose cannot and the loss of poetry in our culture has impoverished our culture.

Gregorio Allegri: Miserere

4/15/2012

It is Divine Mercy Sunday in the Catholic liturgy and in honour of it, below is a rendition of Allegri's famous composition of Psalm 51 composed in 1630. It is sung by the choir of Claire College, Cambridge. The composition is haunting and deserves its longevity.

Just by way of background, Psalm 51 is attributed to David and is said to have been composed after Nathan confronted David on his illicit relationship with Bathsheba. David had a large number of wives and mistresses but became enthralled with Bathsheba, the then wife Uriah. In a calculated move to gain possession of her, David arranged to have Uriah killed in battle. His sin is less about adultery and more about covetousness, deceit, manipulation, and greed.

Following the confrontation, David went into penance and contrition and it was out of that experience that Psalm 51, Miserere was composed. Miserere is the Latin term for mercy. The beginning of the psalm is "Have mercy on me God in your kindness." I have put the Latin of the text below as Allegri's composition is in Latin. The English version can be found here: Psalm 51.

Miserere mei, Deus, secundum misericordiam tuam;
et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum
dele iniquitatem meam.

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea
et a peccato meo munda me.

Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco,
et peccatum meum contra me est semper.

Tibi, tibi soli peccavi et malum coram te feci,
ut iustus inveniaris in sententia tua et aequus in iudicio tuo.

Ecce enim in iniquitate generatus sum,
et in peccato concepit me mater mea.

Ecce enim veritatem in corde dilexisti
et in occulto sapientiam manifestasti mihi.

Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor;
lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.

Audire me facies gaudium et laetitiam,
et exsultabunt ossa, quae contrivisti.

Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis
et omnes iniquitates meas dele.

Cor mundum crea in me, Deus,
et spiritum firmum innova in visceribus meis.

Ne proicias me a facie tua
et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me.

Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui
et spiritu promptissimo confirma me.

Docebo iniquos vias tuas,
et impii ad te convertentur.

Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meae,
et exsultabit lingua mea iustitiam tuam.

Domine, labia mea aperies,
et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.

Non enim sacrificio delectaris;
holocaustum, si offeram, non placebit.

Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus;
cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies.

Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion,
ut aedificentur muri Ierusalem.

Tunc acceptabis sacrificium iustitiae, oblationes et holocausta;
tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.

The Heretic - Inspired by Emo Philips

4/15/2012

A little humorous Sunday funny interlude.

The myths of overworking and productivity

4/13/2012

In this very interesting talk, Tony Schwartz debunks the myth that investing more time in a given enterprise actually is productive and leads to greater returns. Time is a finite resource.

He suggests that productivity is not related to expending more time but through more energy. Drawing on a physics analogy, Schwartz argues that energy cannot be created but it can be made available through a process of conversion.

If you manage your energy well you can get more done, in less time, more efficiently. The more energy you have the greater the capacity you have.

This is in the context of creativity and the creative enterprise. He argues that you can systematically build positive emotional energy as easily as building a bicep.

He actually draws on the value of attention (the philosopher Simone Weil discussed the value of attention) and how absorption in given activity draws the creative impulse out.

He demythologizing the work ethic built from the industrial revolution. We are not meant to operate the same way our digital devices do. And when we try to replicate them, they end up running us. Physiologically we are designed to operate between renewing and expending energy; more pulsating then linear. If we do not naturally renew, we will do so artificially through coffee in the morning and wine in the evening.

He suggests the ultradian rhythm which is a process of rest periodization. It is overided through natural hormones such as cortisol and artificial stimulants like coffee. Align with the ultradian rhythm. Practice renewal and recovery. The more emotionally fit you are the quicker you recover. Sleep is the most important thing to get right and the most basic thing we all get wrong.

Tony Schwartz: The Myths of the Overworked Creative from 99% on Vimeo.

Richard Pryor on the "N" word

4/10/2012

Just the other day, a CNN correspondent repeated the "n" word from a racist e-mail surrounding the entire Trayvon Martin tragedy that has been occupying the attention of the United States. Once again race is highlighted and the dry tinder of racial scars in the US are beginning to ignite.

The use of the "n" word is a source of debate in the black community. Some see it as a way to reclaim the word and use it as a term of solidarity. Others see it as belonging to the shame based history of American slavery.

In the clip below, Richard Pryor describes why he chose to never use the term again in his stand up comedy delivery. He had previously freely used the"n" word but after visiting Africa, he had a conversion of sorts and opted to excise it from his vocabulary.

Personally, I think the term should not be used and I think the CNN correspondent who used it, even though she was reporting on a news item, was wrong to do so. Social taboos can have a useful purpose and language has power. I don't doubt that certain terms can be reclaimed by an oppressed minority and be transformed (e.g. queer). But some terms have such heavy baggage associated with them that it is better they disappear. Pryor does an excellent job explaining it below.