Slow thinking

In bed with my body. Cedarstruck. First Tuesday. Had my Monday morning meeting this morning, sketching out a first divine week while eating cheese grits that were just a pale imitation of Cheryl's, but still a fine beginning. May not make it through all my choices today. Rest reared up and took precedence.

Want to share this from a book by Matthew Goulish, of the Goat Island performance group. 39 microlectures in proximity of performance

[after speaking of Pina Bausch, Kenzaburo Oe, and Andrei Tarkovsky, receiving their work:]

Slowness of thought requires in individuals either: 1) slow thought by nature, 2) slow thought by practice, meaning patience, or 3) slow thought by sheer force of will, meaning courage. Most of us live in fear of slowing down our thinking, because of the possibility that if we succeed we might find that in fact nothing is happening. I guarantee this is not the case. Something is always happening. In fact, some things happen which one can only perceive with slow thinking.

I am intrigued by this. I recognize in it some of the mechanism of the unfolding of meaning that I have seen from the other side of my thoughts (from inside them, I mean, perceiving what I am perceiving, not my perceptions) --when looking at Senalka's work, Wura's work, watching Laurie Anderson perform live, immersing myself in the water of some of Ana's layered pieces. It's not just that it takes slow thinking to understand/experience the work --- the work itself induces slow thinking. Gives us a clock we can feel, so to speak! I'm embarrassed to realize this, but I think this was the nature of a comment/compliment Ana just gave me on my work. (Shucks.)

Okay, but I'm also thinking about the slow thinking required to create the work. The slow thinking required to create the work that induces the slow thinking that allows people to perceive the work. Perceive the work/the world in another way. The patience and courage that evokes patience and courage. Huh. Because this can't be contradictory, for an artist, to the flashes of inspiration, the spurts of productivity, the sudden connections made in the working. There is speed. But also slowness. A crucial slowness.

Thinking about what this means for my own process and work. Fast talking/slow thinking.