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"Danvers, John"
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Agents of Uncertainty
Through an analysis of many different examples, Danvers articulates a new way of thinking about mysticism and scepticism, not as opposite poles of the philosophical spectrum, but as two fields of enquiry with overlapping aims and methods. Prompted by a deep sense of wonder at being alive, many mystics and sceptics, like the Buddha, practice disciplines of doubt in order to become free of attachment to fixed appearances, essences and viewpoints, and in doing so they find peace and equanimity. They develop ways of living with impermanence and the unexpected by letting go of adherence to dogmatic beliefs and by suspending judgement. In common with many artists and poets they act as agents of uncertainty, actively disturbing the routines and habits of day-to-day thought and behaviour in order to demonstrate how to maintain a sense of balance and spontaneity in the midst of life's difficulties. Topics explored include: being and self as process; mysticism and language; scepticism and dogmatism; Buddhism, interdependence and emptiness; Daoism and impermanence; dialectics of doubt in art and poetry. Written in a lively and accessible style, accompanied by drawings and photographs by the author, this volume is aimed at scholars, artists, teachers, and anyone interested in philosophy, religion, art, poetry and ways of being.
eBook
Picturing Mind
In this book the author takes an unusual multi-disciplinary approach to debates about contemporary art and poetry, ideas about the mind and its representations, and theories of knowledge and being. Arts practices are considered as enactments of mind and as transformative modes of consciousness. Ideas drawn from poetics, philosophy and consciousness studies are used to illuminate the conceptual and aesthetic frameworks of a diverse array of visual artists. Themes explored include: the interconnectedness of existence; art as a way of interrogating appearances; identity and otherness; art and the self as 'open work'; Buddhist concepts of 'emptiness' and 'suchness'; scepticism, mysticism and the arts; and mind in the landscape. The book contains an important and distinctive visual dimension with photographs and drawings by the author and texts employing unorthodox syntax and layouts that exemplify the themes under discussion. The author hints at a new aesthetics and philosophy of indeterminacy, paradox, uncertainty and discontinuity - a contrarium - in which we negotiate our way through the instabilities and contradictions of contemporary life. Written in a lively and accessible style this volume is of interest to scholars, arts practitioners, teachers and to anyone with an interest in art, poetry, consciousness studies, philosophy and nature. Artists, poets and philosophers discussed, include: Cy Twombly, Helen Chadwick, John Ruskin, Ad Reinhardt, Richard Long, James Turrell, Anish Kapoor, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Agnes Martin, Land Art, Arte Povera, Minimalism, Charles Olson, Kenneth White, Robin Blaser, Fred Wah, Gary Snyder, RS Thomas, Alice Oswald, John Cage, Jorge Luis Borges, Guy Davenport, Kenneth Rexroth, Heidegger, Marjorie Perloff, Thomas McEvilley, Merleau-Ponty, Spinoza, Wittgenstein, Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, David Abram, Thomas Merton,
Pyrrho & Nagarjuna.
eBook
Introduction
The goal of composition, is \"not to reach conclusion but to keep our exposure to what we do not know.\" - the American poet, Robert Duncan, (Duncan 2010) The book as a narrative of open-ended enquiry This book comprises a gathering of notes, narratives, ideas and images that trace various strands of enquiry. Key concepts such as sunyata (absence of self-existence) and interdependence are discussed alongside the practice of mindfulness and zazen (sitting meditation). Part VI is devoted to a consideration of the role art and poetry can play in facing up to the contingencies of everyday life - particularly how artists and poets can act as agents of uncertainty, transforming what might seem to be a negative fear of change and uncertainty into a positive acceptance and excitement.
Journal Article
Part IV - Buddhism and Daoism: sceptical mysticism
According to HeeJin Kim, hi-shiryö refers to \"a very special form of thinking beyond thinking and not-thinking\", (ibid: 60) In this sense \"non-thinking\" is \"objectless, subjectless, formless, goalless, purposeless\", (ibid) Once again, this is a form of cognition that manifests the same kind of undifferentiated quality that perception has within zazen practice. Fd like to consider a few aspects of Jacobson's thinking about the self and some of the implications of these ideas in relation to mind and psychology. Since Jacobson's book was published in 1970 there has been a considerable change in some areas of psychology and psychotherapy, not least in the development of methods and approaches that take account of Buddhist perspectives on the self and how Buddhist practices can be integrated into western therapies. (Jacobson 1970:29) For Jacobson, the primary significance of Buddha's teaching is his identification of the self as a problematic concept, around which false assumptions and beliefs have arisen. [...]one of the main purposes of Buddhist practice is to highlight fallacious thinking about the self and to analyse such thinking in order to gain a clearer and more balanced understanding. In Chapter 49 this impartiality is articulated in what may seem a paradoxical, or even nonsensical, statement about the moral outlook of aDaoist sage: [...]he attains truth. (ibid: 106 translated by Moeller) Moeller points out that this amoral moral teaching needs to be seen in the context of a philosophical idea articulated throughout the Daodejing, that is, that all assertions, ideas and claims are subject to change and possible reversal - they are always relative and provisional.
Book Chapter