Travelling without Moving — Pause
This post is part of a series of essays bundled under “Travelling without Moving”.
Intro of that series can be found here.
After the Silence post of last week, we continue with Pause.
In “Silence”, I mentioned “Stop the clocks — Manifesto for a Slow Future”, Joke Hermsen’s book about Silencing the Time. Minutes after I published that post, I got a notification of a new book by Joke Hermsen
“Ogenblik & Eeuwigheid” or “Moment & Eternity” opens with Joke’s reflections on a Kairos/Chronos exhibition she curated in 2017 in the Gaasbeek Castle south of Brussels. Coincidence or not, but I happened to be there, and here is a video of one of the installations exhibited then.
I wrote about this exhibition in “ About Time “
“This is about that mysterious moment when our soul is unguarded and spreads out its wings. Kairos manoeuvres virtuoso between two worlds: the measurable and the immeasurable, the known and the un-known, backing out of our knowledge, covertly showing us a glimpse of the possible”
Her new book is once again about Chronos and Kairos and the potential of art to move us into the surplus of Kairos
Het surplus aan tijdservaring die de kunst voor ons in petto heeft verschilt aanzienlijk van het louter meten van tijd op de klok.
The surplus of time experience made available by art is quite different from the pure measurement of time
Artists covered/mentioned are:
Sean Scully Virginia Woolf
Hilma Af Klin t
Marlène Dumas Thomas Mann Mark Rothko Hannah Arendt Edmond Jabès
But this post was to be about Pause.
Robert Poynton wrote a book about it.
I highly recommend it.
Robert lives between Oxford and a remote Spanish town west of Madrid. In Spain, he lives off grid — literally and metaphorically.
His remote, hilltop house is even off the electricity grid.
It is also the place where he contemplates.
Intro https://www.robertpoynton.com/
Together with Josie Gibson from The Catalyst Network, we started some 1–1 calls to share what these books trigger for us and our communities. We decided to start a small experiment: we read a chapter of the book, schedule a 1–1 call to let flow our minds, record it, and share it with our communities.
Very down to earth, no tricks, no gimmicks, just a gentle and calm wandering and meandering of minds from two opposite sides of this earth. One person from Melbourne, Australia and one from Aalst, Belgium; one person in autumn, one in spring.
These are very calm conversations; so best is to take a pause, install yourself in a quiet corner and enjoy!
Episode-1 on “Why Pause?” is here.
Episode-2 on “What’s in a Pause” is here.
Episode-3 on “Habits” is here.
Episode-4 on “Design” is here.
Episode-5 on “Culture” is here.
Episode-6 on “Tools” is here.
Episode-7 on “Time to Pause” is here.
Episode-8 on “Afterword” is here.
“Everything is an offer”, Robert writes in Pause.
It is an invitation to calm and tranquility as powerful sources of vitality ànd relaxation.
Yes! They can go together.
But sometimes the rhythms of an ordinary day offer stillness as well.
Even the ticking of the Chronos clock as a background soundscape can bring me in a state of calm and stillness.
Like monks doing their miniatures.
I found this online clock that ticks for 12 hours.
It’s the only thing it does.
And in the meantime, I am drawing thousands of little bricks in brick bonds.
It’s useless, I know.
But it brings me in a Zen state, a state of deep calm and happiness.
I am literately and metaphorically losing my time.
In a recent newsletter update about “pottering” in his garden, Robert wrote:
“When I do what I am drawn to, I am absorbed by my surroundings — by what I see, or hear, or smell. My attention is open, soft, pliable. This stills something inside me and I find a kind of quiet calm.”
“This stillness is something that is given to me, not something I create. It is a gift; and one I cherish. It is settling, if not nourishing to be reminded that the worries and concerns that bother me so, are mostly of my own invention. And that moving around can help me to be still.”
I am attracted by Robert’s pause, his stillness as a gift.
A place where I want to hang-out, where I can lose my Chronos time.
In the meantime, I got many conversations with Robert. I shared with him my ideas on creating better gatherings, beyond “conferences” as entertainment, but more as learning experiences, resonating beyond the cognitive, and how we can do much better than just copying the analog.
(Not) to my surprise, Robert spent a lot of time as well on how learning can be done better, differently. And together with Alex Carabi, he created Yellow Learning. I mention it quickly here, as Yellow is one of the other keywords in this series Traveling without Moving.
Check it out:
https://www.yellowlearning.org/
I was part of the second cohort ending next week. Yellow is fee based. But worth its money, trust me. If you are interested, the call for the next groups Jan-June 2021 is open now.
Apply here: https://www.yellowlearning.org/apply-to-join
Next time, we’ll talk about “Play”
Hope you enjoy the series.
Warmest,
Originally published at http://petervan.wordpress.com on November 29, 2020.
