Ways of Doing, Ways of Being, Ways of Thinking:
I'm very grateful to my friend for suggesting this project: Seeing the
networks of associations and ideas that develop so spontainiously -it
clarifies for me the original forces and motivations behind my other
work: The search for generative and creative structures which are
flexible and non restrictive -without degenerating into total chaos.
The form that allows a multitude of other forms to manifest. It is
indeed true that one cannot ask a fish about water..... only by being
put on dry land can it ever understand the nature of that which is so
ubiquitous that it becomes invisible. Unfortunately, without
precautions, the fish on land also dies as a result of that
understanding..... Is that true of all knowledge?
I'm very grateful to my friend for so many things. Which is why I find
it so sad that my motives are (and perhaps the very nature of my being
have) been so disasterously and so damagingly misunderstood. Sometimes
I feel as if I have a Midus like curse upon me -so that when I try to
touch the things I love, they turn to stone -instead of being warmed by
my embrace......
Indeed, a china shop is no place for a healthy bull -but perhaps the
bullring isn't always the ideal spot iether...... Maybe a very old and
tired bull could learn to stand fairly quietly in the corner and be
allowed to admire the china..... There must be some way to combine the
power of the bull with the delicacy of the china -what a wonderful
combination that would make!
Maybe the china shop could have a large window with a view into the
paddock..... but then perhaps that is exactly what this site is all
about.....
See how happy and playful bulls can be -when not being chased out of
china shops....... I can't help wondering (and perhaps hoping) if china
doesn't need a bull -just like a fish needs the land, if it is to
understand water..... I guess the problem is that fishes often don't feel the need to understand water....
How about a Carabao in a china shop?
Trevor Batten
<trevor at tebatt.net>
Manila, 6 November 2006