Thursday, July 06, 2017

primordial faith

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

14 comments:

Liz A said...

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

Liz A said...

Hmmm ... this link may work better

http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20170706

Judy Martin said...

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

Hazel said...

There is such a forever-ness to your work, in all directions. Much appreciation & admiration.

Mo Crow said...

had to look up the term phenomenology, beautiful process and sharing and that poem is purrfect!

Montse Llamas said...

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.

susan hemann said...

an amazing piece of work! I love your prose, I'm a sky watcher

Cris Winters said...

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.

Caterina Giglio said...

magnificent work.. as always and ...I understand.. sky watching.. I always turn to nature.. it is my constant friend.. x

Sue McQ said...

Sometimes, I cannot find the words to express how beautiful your work is. It always moves me.

Carol Wiebe said...

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.

Carol Wiebe said...

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.


Judy Martin said...

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

Lori Shaw said...

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.