phenomenology is not a theory, it is a practice
have 'primordial faith' (merleau ponty)
have faith in my own perceptual experience
perceiving is not theoretical
this is just how it is
this is just how I experience it
a primordial dimension of experience
phenomenology does not replace everything that has gone before
it just tests it
phenomenology is lived experience
not denying anything
just clarifying
believing in the world
including myself in the world
sensuous
not forgetting
letting my heart break
things keep happening
sometimes it is confusing
whenever I don't know what to do
I look at the sky
it is accessible all the time
have 'primordial faith' (merleau ponty)
have faith in my own perceptual experience
perceiving is not theoretical
this is just how it is
this is just how I experience it
a primordial dimension of experience
phenomenology does not replace everything that has gone before
it just tests it
phenomenology is lived experience
not denying anything
just clarifying
believing in the world
including myself in the world
sensuous
not forgetting
letting my heart break
things keep happening
sometimes it is confusing
whenever I don't know what to do
I look at the sky
it is accessible all the time
14 comments:
Couldn't help conflating your post with today's Writer's Almanac poem entitled "Sincerely, the sky"
http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20170706/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+writersalmanac+%28APM%3A+Garrison+Keillor%27s+The+Writer%27s+Almanac+RSS
Hmmm ... this link may work better
http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20170706
Thanks Liz - very much. I copied and pasted the poem you linked to below - am glad to incude it with this post. xoxo
Sincerely, the Sky
by David Hernandez
Yes, I see you down there
looking up into my vastness.
What are you hoping
to find on my vacant face,
there within the margins
of telephone wires?
You should know I am only
bright blue now because of physics:
molecules break and scatter
my light from the sun
more than any other color.
You know my variations—
azure at noon, navy by midnight.
How often I find you
then on your patio, pajamaed
and distressed, head thrown
back so your eyes can pick apart
not the darker version of myself
but the carousel of stars.
To you I am merely background.
You barely hear my voice.
Remember I am most vibrant
when air breaks my light.
Do something with your brokenness.
“Sincerely, the Sky” from Dear Sincerely by David Hernandez, © 2016
There is such a forever-ness to your work, in all directions. Much appreciation & admiration.
had to look up the term phenomenology, beautiful process and sharing and that poem is purrfect!
I had to look up for the term too. I remember studying the concept in my school years but do not remembered anything about it. Thanks for making us think slowly.
an amazing piece of work! I love your prose, I'm a sky watcher
What a beautiful post and resulting conversation here! Judy, I wrote your poem (it is one) in my journal to revisit and understand. It spoke to me in ways I don't quite understand yet. Thank you.
magnificent work.. as always and ...I understand.. sky watching.. I always turn to nature.. it is my constant friend.. x
Sometimes, I cannot find the words to express how beautiful your work is. It always moves me.
Your poem, Judy, and the Hernandez poem give me so much to think about that I have to look up to the sky to find a container expansive enough for all my thoughts.
Another sky poem for you . . . . by Dorianne Laux
What’s Broken
The slate black sky. The middle step
of the back porch. And long ago
my mother’s necklace, the beads
rolling north and south. Broken
the rose stem, water into drops, glass
knobs on the bedroom door. Last summer’s
pot of parsley and mint, white roots
shooting like streamers through the cracks.
Years ago the cat’s tail, the bird bath,
the car hood’s rusted latch. Broken
little finger on my right hand at birth—
I was pulled out too fast. What hasn’t
been rent, divided, split? Broken
the days into nights, the night sky
into stars, the stars into patterns
I make up as I trace them
with a broken-off blade
of grass. Possible, unthinkable,
the cricket’s tiny back as I lie
on the lawn in the dark, my heart
a blue cup fallen from someone’s hands.
Phenomenology is something I have been doing for about 10 years. I am continuing to learn about these idea of knowing through lived experience - of understanding through the body's movement. There is a new book out on the subject that makes things very clear. Much of this post is derived from my notes on the first two chapters. The title of the book is Modernism and Phenomenology and the author is Ariane Mildenberg.
It's synchronistic that Pema Chodron's meditation guidance to bodhichitta (having a tender awakened softened heart) meshes well with the practice of phenomenology.
Thank you very much for your encouragement of my writing. xo
I would just like to add my gratitude for your art, voice, and sharing. Dipping my toes into this wise and vibrant community has been deeply moving. Lori.
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