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Giving Back to Teachers

We meet a lot of teachers in life. It’s starts with our parents. People who give us all of their time and attention, to help us figure out life. Then we go to school and in the classroom some people try to teach us more. With friends, relatives and in relationships, others try to help us learn and unlearn, hone and strengthen. But the mistake we too often make is taking the things they give to us through their teaching and only passing it on to others. Never returning the gift to the teacher themselves. How often have your parents tried to fill you with lessons of patience and kindness, only to receive anger and resistance in return? Or the partner that tries to help you learn how to manage your time only for you to use it for yourself.

Think about the lessons you have learnt, and the people that have taught you, and make sure that you take the time to use those new skills to celebrate the people that gave them to you and not just new people you meet along the way.

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Making Mountains - Part I

So I know that there is a mountain to climb. And I know that a mountain is just a series of smaller steps. So which is the first one? Well, I guess that depends on what kind of mountain you're climbing.

You can't just put all of your ambitions in one pile and aimlessly strive towards them. Each one requires different steps, different tools. That might sound like an even bigger task, but every time you split up a mountain, it gets smaller.

The three above are examples, but as a metaphor, this helps me hugely. Being able to visualise goals like this is a way for me to be able to start breaking them down and reaching them. 

So what next?

Now that I have a mountain to climb, it’s time to ask some questions. Just in the same way that you would ask some questions before climbing a real mountain.

1. What does this mountain look like? What does reaching the top of it mean? 2. How long will it take you to reach the top? 3. Who will you need help/support from? 4. What gear/tools will you need? 5. When you reach the top - where’s the next mountain?

Now let’s put the mountain metaphor to one side for a second and these are just good questions to ask yourself before taking on a new challenge or setting a personal goal. This might seem obvious, but to me, setting out a plan like this is new and it seems to be working. Plus, I get to make myself cool climbing badges without getting cold. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll make The Mountain Mountain. 

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The most tiresome task is the one that is never started. 

I’m reading a book called ‘Manage Your Day-to-Day’. It’s about building routines and focusing your creative mind. One of the early chapters looks at frequency, or what I think of as little and often. When you're trying to achieve something, one of the hardest things is knowing how and where to start. The idea of the finished 'thing' in your head can be a barrier to even starting. 

The key is to realise that taking small steps regularly will eventually add up to the finished 'thing' and that we underestimate the power of these tiny increments. 

Climb the mountain one step at a time.

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Unformed.

We are all born like balls of clay. Malleable shapes without real form. We take in and take on anything, and every moment is an opportunity to learn.

Somewhere along the way that changes. We begin to harden. Whichever way life has pulled and pushed us begins to become our shape, as we settle into permanence like cake mix in a baking tray. 

We have to remind ourselves of this on a regular basis. Remind ourselves that we were never completely finished. That we were not meant to stop growing and changing with the world around us. But just like clay that has become cold and firm without being kneaded, it takes extra effort to get back into the rhythm and mindset of being a work in progress. The state of mind that allows us to improve ourselves. 

We are all unformed. In life, love, work and everything in between, and every minute of every day is a chance to learn and shape ourselves. In a world that constantly tries to present us with the finished article, it's important to start focusing on the journey. The process. The fact that really we don't always know what we're doing but that we can learn from everything. If we take fear out of the equation, and accept our unformed state, we can keep improving at every opportunity. 

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"This project began from the theory that humans are made of cosmic matter as a result of a star's death."

Ignacio Torres - Stellar

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Bookshelf #3 - I, robot - Isaac Asimov

This took a little while to get into. I started off thinking that Asimov was clever because of the imaginative nature of the subject, rather than because of the quality of the stories, but as they started to develop an impressive picture of his future worlds emerged.

The stories use ideas of robots to reflect what it means to be humans, and some of Asimov's thoughts on how the world will develop are amazing, especially considering he wrote this in the 60's. 

The final story is the most impressive. Set beyond the third (and final) world war, he describes an Earth that has lost it's nationalist view of itself and has begun to understand - and live by - it's place in the universe. Data is fed into machines which in turn make decisions for humans like where to place factories and how to fairly distribute resources. Looking at the way we rely on data today, it's easy to see how this could become a reality and the fact that people were imagining a future like this over half a century ago is pretty astounding.

Buy it here.

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He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it, namely, that, in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.

Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

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Enter the Void – The film is certainly open to interpretation/criticism, but there are some stunning visuals that try and capture a spirit-like moment between life and death. 

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"Projecting ‘THIS SPACE IS NOT FOR SALE’ and ‘GOD IS FOUND IN THE SHIT’ onto the wall of a church shocked me slightly. My first thought was: surely you’re not allowed to do this, the church wouldn’t stand for it. It’s an act of rebellion and nonconformity, this is bound to be looked down upon by an institution of such conservative values. But I wasn’t quite sure why I thought this, it’s been niggling me ever since."

Matt Ward - This Space Is Not For Sale

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"A Handy Tip for the Easily Distracted" - Miranda July

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"We are in space already, it's just that we haven't brought that into our perspective as we live here on earth. The overview effect is simply the sudden recognition that we live on a planet and all of the implications that it brings to life on earth."

– David Beaver, Co-Founder of the Overview Institute.

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I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.

John Adams in a letter to his wife, 1780

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For Murdoch, what so often keeps us from acting morally is not that we fail to follow the moral rules that tell us how to act; rather, it is that we misunderstand the situation before us. When we describe the situation to ourselves, we simply get it wrong. To get the description right — to accurately grasp the nature of the motivations at play, to see the relevant individuals in their wholeness and particularity, and to see what, morally speaking, is at stake — is to grasp the ‘shape’ of the situation, in the words of Jonathan Dancy, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. It is to see things in the right way, from the proper angle, and with the correct emphasis. Once this is achieved, according to Murdoch and Dancy, it will be apparent what needs to be done, and the motivation to do so will follow naturally.

Troy Jollimore - Godless Yet Good

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The world is a machine and we are it's parts.

Some of us are cogs, some are spindles. Some are seen as being more or less vital but all contribute to the overall running. Some are aesthetic some are purely functional. Some recognise the role they play, some merely play it. Some see how they fit into the machine in it's entirety, some only see the parts that surround them.

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Making a habit.

I’m starting to write more than I read. Apps like iA Writer have genuinely helped with that. It’s easy to pick up and a pleasure to use, but maybe there’s more to it. Maybe it’s good timing. 

Time.

Firstly, I’ve started spending my time more carefully. At uni I had lots of time, but didn't know how to spend it. Hours were spent just trying to work out what to do with them. Now, every hour is precious. I still waste a bunch, but a train journey could be a chance to write a long piece like this one. 

Tools.

Like I mentioned before, tools have shaped the way I write, especially the ease with which I can write. I can pick up a device that's next to me and crack on without any pause or trouble. I tried writing in books before. I liked the idea of it more than the practicality. When sitting down with a notebook, I find myself thinking about my handwriting more than what I'm writing. I'd often ask myself, 'does this page look good?'. If not, I'd tear it out. There's another egotistical reason I wanted to write in notebooks; and it's embarrassing. How could anyone read my writing if it's all stuck on my phone or computer. I genuinely hoped that future generations would somehow stumble across my notebooks in some old dusty shed and be wowed by my words. I hadn't even written a thing and was already thinking like that. Which brings me to my next point. 

Ready to write.

It's that coincidence thing I was talking about. The stars aligned, or however you want to talk about it, and I had something to write and a reason to write it. The ego dropped back (slightly) and the expectation of readership was reserved for after I had actually written something. Whenever you write there's always the hope that someone will read it, but if you think about the reading before you've done the writing you’ll never start. I now don't really care if anyone wants to read what I write, and that comes with the freedom to actually do it.

Lastly, the Internet. 

A few things have changed recently that make the Internet a better place to write (and read). Take Medium, for example. Who would have thought that people would actually read long articles online. That's probably a lot to do with tablets and smartphones and changing face of long-form publishing, but either way, people are happier reading long articles on the web than they ever have been. That, combined with how easy it is to create a blog, makes the Internet a much better place to put written thoughts than previously. It gives a writer the feeling that there is an audience out there, and the chances that someone might stumble across what you write is greater as a result. Even if they don't, the act of putting a piece of writing online is a process that helps. Before you put it on your blog you read through, you spellcheck, you think about the reaction that your words might provoke (should someone actually read them). That process is an extra step, like a step towards publishing.

Lots of professionals would probably disagree with that, and I see where they are coming from. Self-editing is not the same as going through a rigorous editing process, and putting a thought on a blog is a long way from being a published writer, but taking those steps helps you take things forward, if only just a little bit. And that's accessibility.

I wrote the other day about exercise and how it has become more accessible. When something becomes popular, products and services arise that make it easier for people to get involved (or is it the other way around?). Take photography for example. Camera phones and apps like Instagram have made everyone feel like they could be a photographer, and the process of taking photos and putting them online sort of makes that belief a reality. There is a big discussion about what this does to quality and the careers of those who want to do these things professionally, but surely accessibility is a good thing? 

I think it is. The GuardianWitness app is the next iteration of this idea that ’everyone's a...’. It's an app from the Guardian that invites people to take part in assignments at contribute thoughts and articles to their collection. Just like how Instagram 'made everyone a photographer', now everyone can be journalist. The difference here, is moderation. Unlike the open access (and quality) of Instagram, there is a level of moderation with the guardian app that means if your writing isn’t seen as being good enough, it won't be used. Now that might not seem fair, but that's how the world works, and that's probably how future services are going to continue to be, to shape the content that we create. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It should be easier for people to write, and it should be easier to feel like your writing is doing something, even if it's just a small contribution. As a result, there needs to be some sort of moderation so that when I'm looking at a giant pile of everything that is being written and put on the Internet, I get at least some help choosing where to begin! Who makes the decision as to what is ’good’ writing (or content) is still open for debate, but these are still early days and different experiments will continue to shape the landscape of writing. For now, it's better that we all have the chance to try, even if we are scribbling on napkins. You never know where that might take you.

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23.05.13

Yesterday a man was murdered in broad daylight in Woolwich. The off-duty soldier was run down, then beheaded by two men with knives and machetes. When confronted by police, they charged, and were shot dead.

It's a confusing thing to have happened. A lot of different reports surfaced through the now widely accepted online channels, and 'terrorism' was quickly used to describe the incident. Today, it covers the newspapers, with every possible piece of evidence being examined. Often this is an attempt to understand why something like this would happen, especially when the culprits cannot be properly interrogated. Naturally everyone wants to grasp the reasoning behind this, and of course, they want justice.

Terror attacks are symbolic by nature. The attacker often doesn't see themselves as a violent criminal, but as a vessel for a message that needs to be delivered to a wider audience. The message doesn't even need to involve a specific individual, anyone will do. This is a perspective that is hard for people to understand, a psyche that the modern world has been trying to get to grips with after events like the Omaha bombing, 9/11 and bombings in Pakistan. The symbolic nature of the crime has prompted a symbolic response from governments around the world. George Bush's 'War or Terror' was as symbolic as it was vague, as they tried to find solace for  a nation that was in pain. Similarly, David Cameron has spoken about the events yesterday, saying that 'we will not buckle' under the pressure of terror. I'm not sure what that means, and I don't think it quite captures the feeling of fear and uncertainty that I feel. I don't know what will happen next. I also know that this is a fairly unique incident in our country, but not in the world. There are savage murders across the globe every day, and some people face this barbarism on a daily basis. Let's take a quick step out of the Western, British context and view this incident. One example of horrific murder, perhaps evidence of underlying tension. Meanwhile, war continues across the world, with people dying every day. Now, I'm not trying to compare death and say which is more important/shocking/painful, I am merely saying that the first step for me in understanding incidents like the one yesterday is looking at it in a wider context. Like I said, yesterday's incident was not unique when viewed on a global level. People have the capacity for murder, and can justify their actions if they believe their cause is worthy. Secondly, we have still not found a way to understand those that hurt, those that feel they need to bring that hurt to others through acts of violence. Which brings me to my next point. I fear more for the murderer than the victim. Death will take us all, but fear and misunderstanding will live on like venom in the blood of the earth. Across the world there are examples of people, young and old, that feel like the world is not right. They feel as if their future is in jeopardy, and the only solution is murder, symbolic or otherwise. Is it not more important for us to try and understand these examples of life rather than the death they impart? What beliefs still split us? How do we talk about fear in a way that helps us understand it? There are so many questions, and I think that's the point. We should be asking more questions, not immediately drawing conclusions. Both are attempts to understand, but I think one is more dangerous than it is helpful. By calling something ’terrorism’ we can all attribute our own understanding to it based on our past experience, in the hope of feeling united against the common enemy. But that just leaves us searching for an enemy. We need to be more careful about the way we search for justice and why. We need to break down the symbolism rather than perpetuate it, and we need to find a way to heal the broken hearts of those who feel the need to kill.