Laughing at yourself

I've been on a George MacDonald fairy tale reading kick this year. Recently, this meant reading his fairy tale The Light Princess. [Note: This is your chance to stop and read the fairy tale before I discuss an unexpected element of the story.]

Tangram No. 7

Completing one project creates a new beginning.

One beginning project creates a new completing.

Project completing creates beginning a new one.

Creates one new project: completing a beginning.

A new one completing beginning creates project.

New creates one project completing a beginning.

Beginning creates a project completing one new.

Tangram No. 6

Connecting beginning to accomplishment is hard work.

Beginning accomplishment is connecting to hard work.

To work hard connecting, beginning is accomplishment.

Accomplishment is connecting hard to beginning work.

Is hard work connecting beginning to accomplishment?

Hard connecting to work is beginning accomplishment.

Work is connecting to hard accomplishment beginning.

Tangram No. 5

Success through trying until failure teaches clarity.

Through clarity, failure teaches trying until success.

Trying through failure until clarity teaches success.

Until trying teaches clarity, success through failure.

Failure through trying teaches clarity until success.

Teaches clarity through failure: trying until success.

Clarity through trying teaches failure until success.

Tangram No. 4

Genius solutions are made by limited resources.

Solutions are limited resources made by genius.

Are solutions made by genius resources limited?

Made resources are limited by genius solutions.

By genius resources are solutions made limited.

Limited solutions are genius made by resources.

Resources by limited solutions are made genius.

Tangram No. 3

Thinking up puzzles to exercise the mind.

Up to thinking exercise, the mind puzzles.

Puzzles exercise up the mind to thinking.

To the exercise: thinking up mind puzzles.

Exercise the puzzles to up mind thinking.

The thinking mind puzzles to exercise up.

Mind puzzles to up the thinking exercise.

Tangram No. 2

Mine to discover where you have not.

To not discover, mine where you have.

Discover where you have to not mine.

Where have you not mine to discover?

You have to discover where mine not.

Have mine to not discover where you.

Not mine: Where you have to discover.

Tangram No. 1

Using creativity is exhausting all the options.

Creativity is using all the exhausting options.

Is using the options exhausting all creativity?

Exhausting creativity is using all the options.

All using is creativity exhausting the options.

The all exhausting creativity is using options.

Options exhausting all the using is creativity.

[July 18, 2014]

Honesty

I'm going to waste some of your time
With enough words
As from both faces of a hypocrite.

From painted mouth there flies forth painted word
Whose meaning flutters at the speaker's will;
For it is not the truth meant to be heard,
But skylark's saccharine song to scrutiny still.
Loquacious lips spill swill when spitting out
A draft they call fine wine whilst whining pour
Forth libel labeled truth, and loosely spout
Off hearsay heard about those they abhor.
From veneered sneer shoots rhetoric born of spite,
Unquivered from a loudly quivering tongue
That snaps off barbs to strung-up crowds incite,
Who, thus directed, will themselves be stung.
We silence fear, but truth has no such fright;
'Tis better not to speak than lie and blight.

Where “Yes” means not “Yes,”
Or, likewise, “No” means not “No,”
Language lies murdered.

Language is an ever growing tree--
Growing to feed mouths and fill books' leaves.
Branches hold us up as we find store
Of descriptions of all we explore.
Language has a growing canopy,
But, unseen, its roots must stronger be,
To uphold the weight of flow'ring words,
And invented passing language birds.
Where we sever branch from rooted trunk,
There we lose stability and plunk
Into treacherous shadowlands of sound,
Where confounding meaning may abound.
Here deception sounds the same as truth,
For there is no way by which to sleuth
And determine if both ears agree
What the word they hear purports to be.
Severed language leads to only loss
Of all truth and meaning, into gloss,
Which, though sounding wise, leads to chaos,
And results in only spectral dross.

When word play deceives
It is not the words that lie--
They mean what they say.

How to distort a text:

1. Create a pretext
2. Ignore the context
3. Insert a subtext
4. Keep clear meaning suppressed
5. Accept no protest
6. Ensure distortion stays impressed

I misspeak or err.
You gently correct or ask
Clarification.

The writer slips and paper cuts
To cause ill-chosen words to bleed.
The reader sees clear sign of stain,
That hint that there is more to read.
Instead of salving writer's wound
And seek to heal the pain-filled source,
They cause the writer mortal guilt,
And, frenzied, feed on the remorse.

Communication:
It requires practice and thought,
Often forgotten.

I speak to you a window to my mind,
But all you see is opaque glass
And, thus, no meaning find.
You ask for me to make the window clear.
I scrub the glass to clarity
That lets you message hear.

Listen patiently.
Speak plainly.
Tell the truth
Or be quiet.


[July 20, 2013]

Borrowing, Stealing, and "Same-Saying"

"Amateurs borrow. Professionals steal."

The above quote was a comment by the wonderful conductor of my college choir after I was remarking on Facebook about always feeling like I'm inadvertently stealing the writing in my musical compositions. After completing a composition project, I always feel like the piece sounds familiar. It makes sense that I would feel this way since I "hear" what I want the piece to be in my head before and while writing it, but I always wonder if I have, in fact, heard it outside of my head before. I'm not necessarily a fan of the above quote itself*, but I think it is making an interesting point about depth of understanding and ownership.

Amateurs only borrow because they never have ownership of the material they borrow. They do not have mastery of the material. The material borrowed remains associated with the original source. Professionals steal because they can claim a certain ownership of the material. They have mastery over the material.

When thinking about this, it brought to mind the confessing or "same-saying" aspect of the Christian faith. The Church uses creeds and prayers as confessions of faith that may have been written many, many centuries ago, but we "same-say" them. We are making them our own. We are claiming ownership of them as our own personal creeds and prayers. They did not originate with us and they will endure after we are gone, yet they are ours. We do not borrow them only to let go of them and give them back later, but we receive them as a gift that multiplies through giving since in giving them we also keep them.

To bring this back to my original discussion of musical composition, I do not wish to steal or borrow the work of someone else (unless I'm "borrowing" in the sense of arranging). Yet, even though I say this, I have and will intentionally "same-say" using compositional vocabulary borrowed from other composers as an homage. I use their language as my own to preserve their voice from the past, add my voice to it in the present, and share this voice into the future for others to continue to "same-say" along with.

*I would prefer a variant something like "Amateurs borrow. Professionals own." or "Amateurs copy. Professionals pay homage." or "Amateurs borrow. Professionals 'same-say.'" but they aren't as striking.

Home away from home

Last week, my adventuring took me away from Fort Waynederland to Iowa for a family reunion. The entire week was great, but Sunday gave me an opportunity to both be a congregation member without having to play organ and visit a new church.

I attended Bethany Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with extended family. I'd never been to the church before and didn't know anyone except my relatives, but I had a unity with everyone anyway. They had the same liturgy and they said the same prayers and creed in the same cadence as here. The voice and heartbeat of the services was the same.  In the past, I've had the same experience at my grandparent's church: Immanuel Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Fairmont, Minnesota. Of course, there were small differences depending on the church, but the substance was the same. Even though I was physically away from Indiana, I was home.

I was with people who pray along with the psalmist at the start of a few of our liturgies:

"O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise." (Ps. 51: 15)

I was with people who pray along with the psalmist in a Responsory used in a few of our liturgies:

"Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells." (Ps. 26:8)

I was in the house of God where He gathers us to come and hear His Word and receive His Sacraments, and opens our lips to declare his praise. I was gathered with others who share a common identity as the baptized children of God. I was home.

Constraints, the World Cup, and lack of thought

The World Cup is being contested and I am an American that likes soccer. I'm perfectly fine with people having different tastes in favorite sports. I mean, my favorite sports of tennis and soccer aren't exactly in line with the tastes of most of my fellow Americans. However, I do get annoyed when people deride sports such as soccer without thinking through their arguments.

I've been seeing this criticism leveled against soccer during this World Cup: "It isn't natural to not use your hands."

This kind of argument shows a lack of understanding of constraints and how constraints are necessary to have a unique sport with consistent rules. If different sports didn't have their own unique constraints to create rules of play, we would basically have a form of Calvinball where everyone does whatever they think is "natural" and it is different every time.

It doesn't matter if a sport has a constraint that works against a perceived "natural" instinct because the challenge created by the constraint is uniform and foundational to the uniqueness to the sport. The challenge is part of the appeal of the sport because it requires a unique skill set. Soccer has no hands allowed for field players and offside, basketball has dribbling and goaltending rules. baseball has tag ups, Football has forward passing constraints, etc... We could make a long list of constraints that create the distinctive rules of each of the sports out there. Without the constraints, we have no sport.

A criticism like "It isn't natural to not use your hands," doesn't mean much unless you are going to define what exactly is natural and disqualify all sports that don't meet this criteria. If you do this, you might find that no sport is completely "natural." All sports use "natural" motions, but different sports place different "unnatural" constraints upon how those natural motions can be used including completely excluding certain natural motions. For example, biting is a "natural" motion to the human body, but it is excluded as a way to weaken opponents in sports.

I find the lack of thought behind arguments like "It isn't natural..." troubling because they are really criticizing the concept of constraints and rules. They are saying we can't constrain behavior or define proper conduct. They are denying the governance of laws, rules, and regulations. They are rejecting the foundational nature of institutions. Even if they don't realize it, they are promoting a society described by the phrase "everyone did as he saw fit."** If this sounds good to you, I hope you are never unwillingly on the receiving end of someone doing as they see fit. You might find you have rejected the only recourse you have to protect yourself or anyone else from the whims of the individually-defined "natural."

**Judges 21:25b