Category: education
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Holding presence of mind amid the turning world
I meditate. Be quiet. You fill. Silent. Hold. Be still. You squiggle. Softly. Squirm. Softly. Still and softly. Be clear. You muddy, jumble, convolve. Be clear, clear, clear. Be empty. I sway and bend meltingly. Meditate. Be silent. [Pause] Be still. [Pause] Be clear. [Pause] Empty. [Pause] Whisper this again. Breathe: the world is thick, now, dense, now, deeper…
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Fundraising in the Context of a Gift Economy
My friend Jonatan Spejlborg is currently raising funds for the artist residency and school he and his colleagues are creating. Specifically, they need to raise money in order to build the house where participants will live, work, and create. I offered a gift contribution earlier today, and I invite you to do the same. You can…
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The decline of patronage and the rise of philanthropy
A patron is to a contemplative age what a philanthropist is to an action-oriented one. During the passage to modernity, we see a slow yet undeniable shift away from patronage as a way of displaying generosity and toward philanthropy as a ‘style’ of contributing to social change. Edward Craig’s well-researched book The Mind of God…
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Repetition degrades
A good human life requires variety. By means of exercising properly a variety of modes of becoming (eating well, resting well, moving one’s body well, thinking clearly, etc.), a human being comes to greater vitality, becoming more alive to living, more in touch with what is beautiful, more beautiful himself. Variety invites transitions as well…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 