Chapter 6- The Arts: Recommended

Activities Recommended:

• Flower growing
• Motions of moving forward: Rollerskating, cycling, striding etc.
• Spontaneous outings
• Comedy
• Cultivation of Art within the inner understandings:

1. Through the observation of differing periods of artistry and their work
2. Participation in some free expression artform

• Homoeopathic prescriptive for tension and muscle fatigue

Flower growing: There is a certain paradox to be understood about the very nature of the Etheric World. The life which has inspired its life–offering properties is still as fresh and youthful (in actuality moreso) as when it first awakened growth within this world.

We may speak of the Etheric World in relation to memory in terms of its pre-material existence, yet the properties that comprise it are imbued with such Christly substance that are exuding new beginnings all of the time amongst the sturdy perpetuity of beingness.

What a comfort to know that the future has a durable nature supporting it. Within the last century there was much dialogue and concern about the natural world and its ability to regenerate - to survive the many interlopers – but we can say that from a spiritual perspective which knows the Etheric World to be implicated in all life manifest here in the Physical existence, the natural world burgeons up from its etheric realities which in essence are SURVIVAL itself - such life, growth, and ongoingness that their existence is never threatened by anything the physical world can lay cause to. Species may sweep in and out of global representation but the parent life from which they spring out from will always remain very much alive and flourishing.

The action of both ageing and death are imbibed in our very thinking because of our experience here in the physical world. Nonetheless, even this shall eventually change in accordance with the supporting principle.

This is an important distinction: that we are not contemplating such a place of the past which ordinarily would be retrogressive to revisit. Untainted and untouched, this realm exists somewhat independent to the impressions of Time and of our usage. This is a pure place, one which is unrestricted and impervious to disease and to the sin and corruption that can follow.

So when we grow flowers, we can rejoice in the existence of their (and our) parent realm. We can plant with a happy anticipation, we can marvel at the bud and the blossom to come; and for the sake of beauty alone may we attend their precious growth.

Trees can be very ancient, having memories which belong to a whole community of nature-spirits as well as themselves. A tree can hold properties alongside their column-like dignity that corresponds to the winds and the rains and the birds and the insects and then even also the planets above. Although they live in a sleep-dreamy annuity our beloved forest folk gather in wisdoms which still hold to their pasts encountered … whereas the flower kingdom arises with a typically elemental-naïve consciousness, ever surprised and delighted and quite innocent to each new moment.

They bring to the world those properties in the Etheric realm which are purely of the new futures to come and we may experience this from them in the meditation of their presence and in the cultivating of their happy and wholesome forms.

Whenever we take up a physical activity, the very action and demonstration of that activity speaks inwardly to us. We can recreate many expressions within ourselves by the gesture or activity subscribed to. This does not only relate to moderate interpretations of body language (which can and do assume also their representation by their employment) but also such larger movements that are signature to an expression of being. 

When people clap their hands, for example, they are immediately discharging the surge of forces which have been summoned by their enthusiasms just prior. We can recall the atmosphere charged by an applauding crowd that appears to give over much strength to the performers or speakers who have earned the enlivening response.

Children will instinctively clap their hands also, in rapture, in joy, with great exuberance. And so, even when we clap our hands for no particular reason, we may not have the excessive vitalities there to release, but what we may experience is the inner motion (the inner language) of this affirmative position. 

When the hands are clasped together palm to palm in prayer, the meridians to the heart through the palms are sealed in a complete circuit. This is the perfect position for an individual to become undisturbed by the influences around him for his period of inner consultation. Where the fingers meet there are balancing influences apparent (the tips of the fingers emanate actively and passively characteristic streams of function: see “The Rosary”). So here we find that the individual is harmoniously contained and the vitalities are transmuted into a higher obeisance. The forces are redirected into a circulatory journey that travels around to the heart and up through its portal in the prayer … rather than actively discharging out through the hands in an action of will. 

But when the hands meet together in the explosive collision of a clap, there is a statement of the heart going out into the world … an affirmation of that ‘something out there’ which has attracted this response and brought much inspiration within, that now seeks to return to its source.

Now, considering those activities which take us in a pronounced forward motion, such as walking or running somewhere, there is a deliberate action within that will correspond to the advancing without. The will is driving us forward with this determined walk and we are, concurrently, approaching the future faster than it approaches us … taking it upon our own selves to go forward, to go towards. This is an action which invokes an inner action that is affirmative of that future that we stride or run into. (Note: Activities such as skiing are not in this category, as the downhill propulsion goes against the act of the will directing the movement with purpose … it runs contrary to the example above.) 
Spontaneous outings give over to a yet higher deliberation: one which says – “this day is my day! This moment is my moment! And I choose to be free of my otherwise tasks to explore something hitherto unplanned, with happy anticipation!”

Anticipation itself invites much new life into us. Just as the spontaneous outing proves – that we can understand that one doesn’t have to grasp the great detail ahead of time of that which is enjoyably anticipated to savour the expectations. It is the sensation of the liveliness which accompanies the spiralling thoughts, and that liveliness adds to the exuberation later which shall take the happy wanderer through the hills and meadows of his findings.

The artist shares in this ‘anticipatory unknowingness’. He is prepared to submit to the unplanned moment – invoking the imaginative awareness so that it may keenly implicate the task before him. We may sense this from the products of his outcome. We may feel the startle or the surprise that he himself may have encountered along the way, within this experience.

Comedy surprises us also and invokes this sense experience of ‘anticipatory unknowingness’ as well. If you observe folks who have been partaking in good comedy (not ‘black’ or bleak comedy that defiles its subjects as it goes along) the attitude aforehand is very much awakened to the predisposition – being open and in anticipation of yet another laugh.

And interestingly enough there is always a certain disappointment which is apparent when the episode has finished, and there are no more unusual turns and comical quips to further expect. The primary experience of enjoyment here comes, in itself, from the lively position of this anticipation. The surprise finding of the funny which closes the joke can be enlivening also, if it is free yet in keeping with the natural context … however, what we have smiled about, been enthused and attentive with moreover, is that of our own precondition and our freedom to participate.

When we come to make a study of Art through the Ages we may feel such a freedom emanating out from the canvas or the prose. Most art does not strive to become photographically correct in that which it portrays, it seeks to communicate the inner realities which attribute aspects to form and color that are sensed inherently, and known within.

Such an ability to know the esoteric qualities of something or someone arises out from our own personal freedoms within the ego. This is not a matter of becoming relaxed (and therefore unguarded) as to various influences indiscriminately around us – nor that we are to be coerced into an identity which is not profoundly that of our own … yet, paradoxically it is a regard for the living nature within us which refuses to atrophy, that part of ourselves which is awakened with wonder afresh and anew – learning over and over – and excitedly so, hearkening to its yearnings and illustrations of soul.

If we examine and contrast the many beautiful works from differing eras we may come to recognize certain periods we have known also – eyes we have looked through – perceptions perceived – that live in the psyche today within us. We are composite of all past thought and experience collectively. Each individual enjoys reference to the communal experience of humanity – and the artists, through their imaginative documentation, have heralded advancements and changes in overall perspective, in processes of thinking, and of being. From their work we may gain impressions and insights of this happening.

To contemplate a creative expression invites us to divine that era and that experience within our own soul’s gallery. From this we can not only realise that distinction, but find also our community of experience – which goes on to teach us that for every endeavour we ourselves attempt and complete, humanity is enhanced and is sharing in the qualities. 

Participating in free art forms has long been a prescription curative for melancholy. Whilst it is true that many an unusual artist has also been a depressive, it is still truer to add that much of their working would have alleviated that condition and brought them the more happier moments of their life through their creativity.

It is important to recognize the liberality of this expression – especially in that self-criticism at the outset may thwart our attempts to venture into the imaginative realms and report our findings. It goes without saying that fine art holds an aura most holy, however we need not attempt to create something which is beyond our skill or development and then be deflated because it is less than what was unrealistically hoped for.

In this sense we can differentiate our objectives, and firstly be content in attempting the creative expression with a raw and unfashioned presence. In this way the criticisms will not prevail over our initial strivings and the imaginative process may be given free licence to ‘sense out’ that which intrigues it and commits it to recall.

The imaginations not only deliver extrasensory perceptions to us, they also embody a further innate understanding of those things we perceive- an inner window into their very nature and heritage if you like. Such imaginative faculties are true clairvoyance … being more comprehensive and interpretative of that which has been extrasensorily observed. 
 

Just as one may see images in this world, yet not see with any great detail or understanding that which is before them, psychic experience may lead men to experience, but that does not necessarily denote that they are able or equipped to interpret, to understand that which they perceived. It is with this element of artistic observation that we may go on to achieve this – to imaginatively sense the inner natures and so translate them further into a soul’s perspective, whilst also being practiced in the precondition of ‘anticipatory unknowingness’ in order that we may come freshly to our subject and understand it personally as it presents to us. 

Our creative attempts within this world shall carry over to our spiritual perspectives as we journey along – having more significance in that condition, being immediately apparent, as the spiritual worlds require this very process simply for their passage.

One more additive: A keynote to this predisposition to the imaginative forces is that of HUMILITY. Arrogance blocks men from true spiritual perception because it is eventually confining them to the limitations of their own self’s experience. 

It requires a humble undertaking to begin to venture into the creative unknown – not a suppression of self, but rather an apportioning of self. Arrogance is suppressing by nature, not only to those outside of the arrogant but also to the self inside, for it assumes a stifling self-sufficiency, disallowing the individual to enjoy and assimilate the possibilities amongst his freedoms. New thought, new hope, new perceptions become painful, and as a result from this incapacity the individual will eventually refuse life itself because life’s offerings of newness will upset his defined ‘stability’ of self. 

To apportion oneself correctly is to come to find certainty not in an unreal expectation of our own self’s competency, but rather in that of our beloved Father God. In this we can safely admit our own deficiencies, whilst also welcoming them (relative to the creative unknowingness), for it is through Him that we do meet and share minds with all other beings, and through Him this may truly become creative.

Chapter 6- The Arts: Contraindicated

Activities Contraindicated:

• Tap Dancing
• Consumption of Narcotics
• Bricklaying/Jigsaw puzzles/Crossword puzzles
• Bird-keeping
• Aerobic-type/Mundane exercise

All forms of rhythmical dancing execute a very large language – one which is cut amongst the ethers and deliberate in its message - for dance is speech incarnate.

Of course the unrehearsed, yet not so random movements within our everyday life, could be viewed as something of a dance also – a slow, but distinctive set of poses and placements. The human form in all of its multifarious actions holds grace and positioning which is marvelous to watch, and pleasing to interpret so.

However, when it comes to a dance which predominates over the other faculties – usually involving the whole body as one – we find that the man or the woman ceases their ordinary consciousness, and are given to a thinking which lies just outside of their limbs, in that movement, for that time.

The movements of tap dancing do not only require the feet, as the upper body is taken in with balance and flourish etc. Yet the steps are exaggerated with the metal plates beneath the shoe, and the noise itself, as it snaps the air (clickety-click) resonating its performance. It is interesting to note that many armies have required sharp foot movements (such as the clicking of heels to stand to attention) as part of their discipline.

Now, firstly there is a distinct difference to be had with our sense of touch, and that of our sense of touch being coupled with sound (a sound produced from the effect of that touch itself). When we contact something, when we feel something, we actually feel ourselves. The sensation is interpretative, yes, but in actuality that which we are experiencing is conducted within our own perimeters, our own nerve sensors, and within the matrix of invisible conduits besides. We are separated off from the actual thing we are tangibly close to – and even though physical objects can impinge upon a body to the point of violation, there will always be a ‘separateness’ regardless, in that we shall only ever be feeling the edges of our own organs and being, rather than sensing what lies outside of us. The truth of the matter is that all things are known from the inside out and not vice versa.

When we incorporate sound in to this sensory experience we find that the perimeters of the consciousness are shifted out to where the sound has gone. Sound can help us to travel out from ourselves so to speak, literally, beyond the physical borders, which would ordinarily contain the experience. We may go to the gates and then fly out from them borne up on the pinions of a sound.

All sounds have an etheric consequence. This follows for sounds that are inaudible to Man, yet resounding within the ethers. It is the action of a sound, rather than the action itself, which gives strength to the percussive effort (such as is used in homoeopathy for example). Life may stream in from the higher sources upon a sound, and equally parts of our consciousness can be drawn out upon the sound as well.

Added to this, in relation to tap-dancing we find that the consciousness is very much impelled into the feet, because that is where the greatest commotion is happening. The dancer is drawn down into that activity and given to a stupidity because of it.

It has been noted that activities which utilise the hands with particular movements (and we suggest those which create a sound because of that movement especially) will actually enhance the thinking processes (the active cognitive powers of containing and utilising the forces implied in many reasonings) having a direct effect upon that person as a result of the finger movements they have worked upon.

In like fashion, when the consciousness has been moved into the feet and out following the sound, it continues on, but without a return circuit. Contrary to the action in the hands, the activities of the feet necessarily flood the forces out through their venue – being the chief action of that ‘pole’ of our being. We excrete vitalities down and out through the toes, whilst receiving vitalities in through the head (and the heart, and other centers besides, all within the upper body).

Tap-dancing in relation to the Arts is especially contraindicated because of the very nature of the activity. When we wish to inspire the forces which contain the ‘new’ futures into our world and into our being we can begin with a lively intelligence which seeks out ways in which we can combine with elements within our Life which give back to us also.

Many activities cause much to wash out and away from us, returning nothing. The ingestion of narcotics is one such indulgence, where the ego of the individual is eroded as his consciousness departs him, out into the ethers, lost to a swoon of certain morbidity. There is no spiritual or mental renewal in the process; the man is deplete of himself, essentially, ethericly and all too easily – and sadly, the anguish which follows afterwards knows of this only too well.

The individual then may go on to patternize his behaviour by expecting that the narcotic substance he has taken into himself previously may return to him that which he lost in the first encounter – and yet it only scores more. His starry suit ruptures into many leaking holes and the vitalities seep out intermittently.

Bricklaying and puzzling relate to the activity of fulfilling a foregone conclusion with a mundane repetition. Often we can learn much about the properties of a given subject by understanding those which run contrary to them. The free spirit of Art and her attending muses flees any environment where such repetition is given precedence to her company. This is not to say that the talents of brick-building and puzzling do not lend themselves admirably to engineering and to language, but rather to make the case herein, at appropriate times, for a differing perspective.

On the subject of bird keeping we are given a picture image of the human condition as it was described above in relation to its captivity within the physical experience. Many folk will understand the freedoms they have experienced when having moved out from their body’s restraints during dream periods – when they have perhaps flown swiftly, or moved with an infallible strength. They have experienced what it is like to have left the constraints of their bodies. 

The purpose of this paragraph is to bring to mention that the images we keep around ourselves, say for example, that of a bird in a birdcage as a painting (and of course also the very realities, if the birdcage is real) impact upon our consciousness and moreover on our very attitude of being. 

Everything within this world, belongs, in part, within us also. It is known by us and recognized in a living way. The bird in the cage is not a healthy emblem for the fledgling ego of an individual to strike within his thinking, as it resembles such restraint within the physical boundaries as to be never overcome by the highest imaginative forces that would otherwise be carried buoyantly, pressed against the ethers, flying along with the spiritual song-call.

Mundane exercise does not fulfil the needs of the co-operative body when compared to the exercise we can experience when given to a primary and beneficent purpose. Purpose itself (whether apparent in a game or in a labor) drives the will throughout those regions we move with intent. The greater the intent and the more purposeful, the greater the benefits we shall find from the exercise itself.

If the exercise has no primary reason to it, other than just for the fulfillment of the exercise itself, the body knows and responds accordingly. It is actually dangerous to move the body with great exertion when there is little or no wilful intention enacting it. The physical danger lies in that the forces invoked by the mechanical action are received but not dispelled as they would be during a mindful work-out. 

Even if we are bicycling in the countryside, we are overtaken with the experience of the surroundings outside of us, and the vitalities there inspired within us are expended back into the environment our attention goes to – and the creative circuit of combining is therefore complete.

If, on the other hand, we choose to travel nowheres but work the body itself upon an exercise-biking-apparatus, and do not soulfully, energetically, enthusiastically experience going anywhere at all … then regretfully the vitalities summoned can actually become deleterious to the hopeful bloke on the play bike who cannot indefinitely contain them. Do you get it?

With Art we are seeking to incorporate the past, the present and the future in a living, connecting way. We may go on beyond ourselves and into the unknown horizon, because the elements of the future enable us, providing our investments are real in the here and now, and depending upon that which we work out from importantly in the first place.

With the invention of the exercise bike came also the demonstration that men have quite forgotten their living links with wholistic purpose – a purpose which will not only strengthen the legs and their constitution supporting, but shall also bring newer roads to come and a life that will take them far along them.

Chapter 6- The Arts: Prayer

A Prayer for Artistry

Dearest Christ:

Every morn you paint the sunrise,

Illumining a different landscape each time,

Inspiring the day before us

We are in awe at the ineffable beauty

Lighting the hills and the plains.

Show me such grand celebration

That I may have a hand in this Creation,

Please teach me this artistry

From You, the Master Himself

That with divine technique becomes

The expression of Pure Love.

Chapter 6- The Arts: Contemplation

Contemplation

A Work of Art

Having found the place for the deed

And with a separate time being made

To gather that which you will help to shape

And the finest of tools in the trade ...

Setting forth on an unknown quest

Yet with confidence strangely free of the past -

To the vaguest inkling of that to be done

With your mind and your heart holding fast ...

Perspiration your qualification,

Inspiration, Father God’s Gift -

The framework at times seems familiar

But for the pieces,

Through Heaven you sift ...

Now it’s done!

Stand back and relax,

Alone with your child, prior its release,

Accept that the mundane won’t know

What to the seeker will bring chymical peace.

Chapter 6- The Arts

CHAPTER 6

The Arts

Dietary Exercise Suggested:

The presentation of imaginative, colorful, most beautiful banquets.

Commentary:

Co-ordinating and displaying the dishes at a banquet can involve themes and levels of richness. The meals offered can be deliciously delicate or voluptuously flavoursome; spicily exotic; nakedly raw, wild and wholesome; inspired from just one country’s fare, or from many all at the once; with condiments of savoury sauces, sweet chutneys, creams and toppings; all manner of breads: puff, grain, crisp, moist, unleavened; desserts that excite the more trivial of appetites, decorated appealingly, inviting - at the very least - a happy curiosity!

Attention can be given also to the supporting ‘props’ displaying this wonderful table laid of foodstuffs. How so the colours in the arrangement? The materials of the plates and dishes themselves? How much is too much? Should it detract from the platters? Yet how may we enliven the cloth? - Perhaps with flowers, with a central table display (if large enough a small altar for special occasions can be decorated accordingly, or with a miniature font or fountain); or, for small settings the theme of the seasons brought into the presentation; and for community dinners there can be photographs displayed at the buffet itself, of those fellows who could not actually make it to attend the event (placed somewhere tastefully of course, not necessarily as the main feature to the overall setting).

Individual baskets of sweet treats, nuts or seeds; cordials and teas, juices and carbonates; a cross or a candle, a miniature ribboned maypole, a decorated tree (all seasons, not just Christmas) with nougats or truffles or something similar which can be easily tied to a tiny branch and plucked off from it to eat.

At no time should animals of any kind be present in the dining area. It is acceptable and correct that if the animals are given to the run of the house they are to be dismissed to the yard just prior to serving and for the duration of the eating. Here is something of an explanation as follows:

When we are preparing to eat something, and then given to enjoy that eating, we are immediately thankful within to that which is bringing us the pleasures of certain nourishment and of taste. The experience is quite large upon our beings, even though this is something performed throughout every day by most. It is a time when we are most ‘open’ and susceptible, having relaxed the veneer of our egos, of our self-sense, that we may take this food into ourselves in the first place. It is a disposition of openness, and this is precisely why many dealings are seduced over dinners (a practice we do not recommend, should you wish to decide any important matter wisely). Meals make for communal benefits, or family bondings, or soulful interludes, because of this ‘open’ factor for which we are so given to.

This is one of the reasons why the dietary exercises are so useful, because during these periods the student will be receptive to that meal-lesson taught much moreso than by other means. The receptivity works through to many other levels besides, and this is precisely why it is quite dangerous to have an animal’s presence during the consumption of food. This is not an influence that we should readily endure, and many children and adults are given to physical illnesses as a result of the anima (in the breath, smell, astrality) around them. No matter how beloved these companions may be to us, their evolution and lifestyle must hold to its respectful perimeters, not being encouraged to impinge upon that of our own, for it is simply not conducive to our wellbeing and as a matter of health most apparent.

Preparing food in a creative manner brings much added love and care to the meal itself. When we deliberately arrange our meals to be as attractive as possible we are being respectful both to the consumer and also that life which is there before us. This does not have to denote some lavish arrangement. It might mean that the beauty is in the moderate simplicity, with but a simple adornment besides ... there are many differing expressions to this art.

For the inartistic to begin to pursue this creative talent there becomes a further challenge in this, one whereby their efforts will have an immediate and appreciative audience, whilst also an almost immediate disassembly of their effort. Of all of the mediums to work with, this one does encourage the aspirant in these two diverging ways satisfactorily. Whether it be done in sculpturing doves in icing, or bread twisting into mystical knots, we find that the nature of the culinary artist at work is tried and tested because he knows that his expression will be short-lived - and yet he still labours. He knows he must give up his art at the end of it all, for the fulfilment of a successful meal implies that his work is demolished - piece by piece it is gone, it is no more!

So in both an effort of will and of selflessness as well, we find that unlike other more lasting expressions of creativity the banquet-making prepares the soul for the pure effort - that perfect moment, giving to the moment for the moment, wholly best to where it is suited to.

When we consider that the elements within the Arts comprise those forward cosmic impulses approaching us from the very futures, then we can understand that it is only by this conception of working for that very moment at hand can we begin to invite these new and reviving forces.

One cannot seek to stultify them, contain them ere they have arrived or then conceal them - block them, or pervade them with the past. The very forces which are of the ‘new’ are given and to be received in their spirit of purpose made apparent in the moment, for it is there where they are most needed, pertinent and best fitting for the World.
 

Economy: Weaknesses Transformed into Strengths

Characteristic Weaknesses Transformed into Strengths:

Virtues are natural to Man, and when desired, when called upon, when prayed for sincerely, deliberately and needfully induced, their messengers will beckon and their characteristics shall be grafted to our being. The weakness shall be restored into that which it was originally destined to become, as follows:

Thievery transformed pertains to empathetic responsiveness to the higher example - it does become the ability to characterise oneself thoroughly and entirely on such virtues which lie outside of one’s own egoic development. This in itself is a remarkable potential given to the being of Man; that he can indeed become in attribute the very best in that which the Cosmos has to offer. Not only can we ‘assume’ the most splendid of virtues, but also may we take on their personas, to be deified so purely, that the transformation is quite real and perfect within ourselves - not as replica, but within as a self-earned and qualified right.

Piracy is an attitude of coveting so acted upon, and the virtue which may become retrieved from this sin is that of selflessness. You see it is the assumption of piracy that one has desired something outside of their own domain and wishes to have it. It is also this perspective which can bring us to sympathies and honesties that embrace the worth of individuals who live independently from our own egos. We may begin to honor them as we would ourselves, and act (at times) on their behalf quite naturally because of it. It becomes a virtue of being able to appreciate this worth without needing to personally alter it or take it to ourselves - to give to that which we love, rather than desire to take from.

Grandiose delusions of self, of possessions and of ability actually inhibit the many layers of selfhood from realising their true worth, potential and glory. In time, when the individual has become far greater than his adopted portrayal, he will be content to appear as he is. At the root-core of this virtue we find contentment, which although it represents itself cosmically as a Grace, it is also quite active in Man by the nature of its effect both within and without the individual.

It is one thing to try to steal another’s glory by edging up that close to it, and wearing a little of its light; and another to become that light (with the necessary effort required) yourself. Effectively, it begins and ends with contentment.

One might ask: “But how can I improve if I am not discontent with my current position as to who I am?” However, discontentedness is only valuable as the springboard to such change and once that change has been evaluated, it needs the very contentedness within the self to carry it forward with the further strength and confidence required for the change. This can be found when the desire to be someone else has been exchanged for the stern evaluation of one’s own merits and worth… and the resultant contentedness will surely follow.

Chapter 5- Economy: Exercise 2

 Exercise 2

Tools required:

• Matchsticks
• Seed/nut of tree or seedling prepared

Part 1:

Without the assistance of glue or of twine, take the matchsticks and build up the form of a miniature house.

As you are building examine each match being mindful of the tree which it must have come from. Try to picture the whole tree - the size of it, for example - in relation to this match now in your hand. Now go on to contemplate further the forest community from which this tree must have belonged, and the very spirit of the trees in ages past, soaking sap and standing firm, right into the age of today, in same ground.

Say a prayer for the life which was this tree and is now a match.

Sovereign one of the matches as a reminder of this exercise.

Part 2:

Go and plant a tree.

Chapter 5- Economy: Exercise 1

Exercise 1 ‘Counting Sheep’

Tools required:

• A partner in conversation
• Small glass container

• Very small bag of white rice
• Very small bag of black rice

In an effort to observe and record the threading and relaying of a conversation, place a small ‘herd of black sheep’ (the black rice) into the palm of one of your hands, and a ‘small herd of white sheep’ (the white grains) into the palm of the other.

Having the container (opened) and within reach, commence conversing with your friend. Take notice just how many times you reply to some point that they have made (this needs be a relevant reflection or expansion on the idea they have brought before you) and each time this occurs, place a grain of the one color into the jar. Then, for each time that they respond with a point or comment, carrying the conversation further that same way (not by changing the subject, but in purely relating to what was formerly said by you) place a grain of the other color into the jar to represent their connective thoughts.

After the duration of the conversation count up the ‘sheep’ and see how the conversation has fared.