Brain Washing my First Yr. Seminarians

Environed Mentalism
(Framing a Frame of Minding)

Everything has changed & is changing;
human nature remains
the same.

Fundamentalism:

The heart of thinking is drawing distinctions.
The heart of academics: arguing them OUT.
The 3^rd heart: relating them.

(Need we argue?)

Attitude Adjustment:

“Every kid with a laptop is the smartest
kid in the class.”

“Imagination is more important than
knowledge” (Einstein):

It’s not what you know that counts, but
whether you can put it in PLAY.

“Without Contraries is no Progress…
If a fool persist in his folly, he becomes wise…
The road of excess leads to the Palace of Wisdom”
(Wm Blake)

Here’s a PATTERN (form, structure, algorithm):

X) on the one hand: _______
Z) on the other hand: _______

Y) the difference & the relationship: _______ _______

Sample Representations (famous & infamous binary pairs):

x) masc y) fem
order random
news noise
republican democrat
linear constellational
digital analogue
figure background
“good” “evil”
ethics aesthetics

To Put these In Play: a) personify (deify) and b) characterize:

Ethan Ethics & Alice Aesthetics
Grant Good & Emily Evil
Fred Figure & Betty Background
Lionel Linear & Connie Constellational
Rex Republican & Darlene Democrat
Ned News & Nelly Noise
Oliver Order & Rebecca Random
Mike Masc & Fanny Fem

Chose your pair—any pair (they look different
but they’re all variations on the SAME THEME,
yes?. Don’t let the diversity eclipse the same—ness
& vice versa)

Lionel Linear & Connie Constellational, say,
bump into each other at the cross roads. A minor
fender-bender. They repair to the Dew Drop Inn to
talk it over till the polite politically correct police arrive.

Imagine the converse-actioin. Who will dominant?
Subordinate. When? Why? etc. Watch how your
characters take on a life-of-their-own as you dramatize them..

This is called “mythologizing.” The play's the thing.
Embody and manifest abstract notions: reify,
personify, even deify.. How else represent in
order to understand & put into play the
dis-embodied “no things” we call
IDEAS? Tell me.

It’s what we do. Human Nature.
we human-ize the inhuman..
****
Something to fool with on your ride here next week.
Maybe we’ll be able to “put it in play” when we first
meet as a group with Jane Fidman Monday afternoon,
after the chapel convocation:

“Get Real” on the one hand (X)
“Keeping IT Real” on the other hand (Z)
What’s the difference? What’s the relationship (Y)

I’m just asking. Is this a stupid question (stunning &
therefore prerequisite for study) or just plain stupid?
What’s the difference (between stupid on the one hand
and stupid on the other hand)? What’s the relationship?

.xxxooo, Sam