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#Post#: 57--------------------------------------------------
Art, our aim as a society - Rilke and Socrates as guidance
By: xavierhn Date: September 13, 2017, 12:57 am
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I want to learn more about art. Perhaps as a way to help us
think, because science ain't gonna do that for us not only
because it 'calculates', but, rather, above all else, it cannot
show us its own ground. However, contemporary art is much like
what we've discovered here with philosophy, a pleasing
distraction from the abyss.
With our reading group now, I was thinking we could have times
where we go to galleries seeing visual arts, share poetry we
like. Discuss novels. And also reading some art history.
I know of one person who is studying music atm, and he's into
philosophy. I reckon he'd be down for this and he could teach us
about classical music.
The bigger picture here is overcoming nihilism, meaning, we are
capable of having urgency behind our thinking. That we have
things to say. In someway, I feel we can look to the arts to
help us with this urgency. Rilke, the great German lyrical poet,
wrote once to a young poet who was doubtful of his writing, that
the question he needs to ask himself, is at the most silent hour
of night: must I write? Rilke went on to say, if your answer
rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a
strong, simple "I must" then build your life in accordance with
this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most
indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this
impulse.
This is what we need to find; we must be able to take up Rilke's
question. We can also look to what Socrates said in his trial,
that he lives to philosophise by the gods direction, and he
would rather die than give that up. To which he did.
#Post#: 58--------------------------------------------------
Re: Art, our aim as a society - Rilke and Socrates as guidance
By: Sam_Milch Date: September 14, 2017, 9:01 pm
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Inspiring stuff Xavier!
I refuse to believe artistic experiences, from which I draw so
much deep meaning and feeling, could be nothing but pleasing
distraction from the abyss. Rather I believe that when I connect
fully with something truly beautiful there occurs a genuine
obliteration of nothingness. One of my favourites, Simone Weil,
said "Everything beautiful has a mark of eternity."
There are other phenomenal benefits of art of course, but for me
its greatest lesson is the extraordinary nature of our internal
selves. To think that this immense plethora of artistic creation
exists in the world, ever growing, springing from the depths of
individuals themselves. Sure, they may be directly inspired by
external stimuli, but all great works (in my opinion) contain
the imprint of the artist's soul (or any metaphor you'd like an
individual's deepest qualities).
I'm hugely into classical music also! I'm a cellist with fairly
unrealistic dreams of playing professionally, so if anyone ever
wanted to chat specifically about music I'd be more than
interested.
#Post#: 85--------------------------------------------------
Re: Art, our aim as a society - Rilke and Socrates as guidance
By: xavierhn Date: December 28, 2017, 11:10 pm
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Where has everyone gone?
The streets walk without us,
orderly with pace,
stricken I halt: “where have we gone?
Where are we heading?” –
Like a shell from a mortar,
Looming towards impact yet
never able to hit the ground,
sounds alarm, scattering life,
thereby leaving everything in tact.
And we few ones in between unbroken hails,
retreat and distress,
carried along in the greatest empty –
Nothing is to be found anywhere.
In streetway, no
In a book, hardly
nor homebound
(not even the homeless
Are sighted in their transparency).
Fathom this question:
Where have we gone to,
When there stands everything with everything,
Without anyone without.
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