{"id":140365,"date":"2019-08-19T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=140365"},"modified":"2019-08-14T11:32:06","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T10:32:06","slug":"living-on-bridges-dialoguing-on-peace-cultural-violence-education-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/08\/living-on-bridges-dialoguing-on-peace-cultural-violence-education-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Living on Bridges: Dialoguing on Peace, Cultural Violence, Education, Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLife can certainly throw us some hardballs, that\u2019s for sure!\u00a0 But that is the thing about life\u2014unfathomable, mysterious, beautiful and ugly all on one plate, one sitting, one incarnation.\u201d<\/em>
\n— Antonio C. S. Rosa<\/p>\n

\u201cNous somme comme des nains juche sur des epaules de geants [les Anciens]\u201d.<\/em>
\n— <\/em>Bernard de Chartres<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2013 Newton<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo: \u201cA Tower of Understanding\u201d.
By Pilar Viviente, Venice, 2019<\/p><\/div>\n

GC (Gary Corseri) to PV (Pilar Viviente): <\/strong>Beginning an email exchange\u2026.\u00a0 About her photo of a tower, seagulls and sunrise:<\/em>\u00a0 Beautiful picture, Pilar! Thanks for sending\u2026. We build our soaring monuments that rise from the shadows, above the reflective sea, reaching towards an unknown Heaven…while the spirits of those who inspire us soar through the azure sky.<\/p>\n

PV:<\/strong> Ay! Cu\u00eddate del polvo del pasado que arrastran las transiciones, ese polvo t\u00f3xico para los humanos llamado deshumanizaci\u00f3n, con graves repercusiones sociales y pol\u00edticas.<\/em><\/p>\n

GC: <\/strong>I agree: let us beware \u201cof the dust of the past\u2026that toxic dust\u201d of prejudices, false idols, misinformation\u2014which can \u201cdehumanize\u201d and blind us to the promises and challenges of the future.\u00a0 Let us also look to the best from the past, learn how challenges were wisely met\u2014so that we may gain wisdom and courage to meet the many challenges that face us in this new millennium.\u00a0 As Socrates said: \u201cThe unexamined life is not worth living<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

PV: <\/strong>\u201cLook to the best from the past\u2026and learn\u201d\u2014yes!\u00a0 I always tell my students: Read the Classics.\u00a0 And, I teach them this quote from Bernard de Chartres of the XII Century: “Los modernos son enanos encaramados en las espaldas de gigantes.”\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

GC: <\/strong>Thanks!\u00a0 One good thing about our times, thanks to Google I can get a quick translation!\u00a0 (I\u2019ll quote that in the original French, too\u2026.)\u00a0 Newton said something similar: \u201cIf I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

PV: <\/strong>It’s all poetry! \u00a0Poetry nourishes the Arts, and the Arts can nourish life! \u00a0Culture means cultivating; cultivating in peace and harmony, improving our capabilities and bringing out the best in us. \u00a0Humans are not barbarians, even though sometimes it seems so\u2026.<\/p>\n

GC:<\/strong> Agree: “Humans are not barbarians…though sometimes it seems so.” All babies are born innocent, and we must wonder what forces in their families, communities or nations shape them? Hitler, Stalin, Charles Manson were all babies once, and we wonder:\u00a0what shaped them into monsters? … Great artists and great minds have probed such questions for millennia: Euripides, Voltaire, Bertolt Brecht, Arthur Miller, Gandhi, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, et al. I write this as another “mass shooting”–in El Paso, Texas–unfolds before the television cameras…. We live in a world of general neurosis and specific psychoses. We must sound the alarms…and work for resolutions that can heal….<\/p>\n

PV: <\/strong>Another mass shooting?! Haven’t watched the news yet. So sad.\u00a0\ud83d\ude22\u2026.\u00a0 I totally agree: \u201cWe live in a world of general neurosis and specific psychoses.\u201d I have sounded the alarm from a long time ago….<\/p>\n

Working for \u201cresolutions that can heal\u201d is to institutionalize policies of respect in schools, from kindergarten to university. Unfortunately, teachers themselves often contribute to the problem to the extent that they are also victims of the diseased system. Violence is first psychological and only then becomes physical. The lack of dialogue that confronts our problems (from an historical and psychological perspective), rather than escaping our problems\u2014by assuming as normal what is aberrant, discriminatory and unjust–is already indirect violence, cultural violence.<\/p>\n

What is institutionalized by the force of custom is no guarantor that it is the right thing to do.\u00a0 Nor is democratic voting useful in these circumstances.<\/p>\n

GC: <\/strong>I take your point: \u201cThe lack of dialogue that confronts our problems (from an historical and psychological perspective), rather than escaping our problems\u2014by assuming as normal what is aberrant, discriminatory and unjust, is already indirect violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my approach, too. My appreciation of drama goes back to Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides (and Aristotle as a commentator of such), Shakespeare\u2026. Our contemporary cultures often lack real depth. Contemporary media and academic institutions lack objectivity. Discourse and dialogue are not favored, but asserting “favored” positions is. Most people don’t read and honor the classics any more. And thus we repeat old mistakes again and again.<\/p>\n

I have often wondered: How can we have \u201cdemocracy\u201d where the people are so poorly informed?\u00a0 George Orwell said, \u201cWhoever controls the information controls the imagination.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Our educational system, our mass-and-social media, control our information and imagination\u2026.<\/p>\n

PV: <\/strong>If you want to change things, Ethics have to become a matter of compulsory education for the whole population.\u00a0 It should be legislated that those who act unethically\u2014just thinking about their own benefits without worrying about the bad examples they set for students\u2014should be penalized\u2026.\u00a0 To say it in your words (according to your comment at the InSEA site): “Let’s not impose our own biases on the younger generation. Help them to develop their own logical faculties. The best leaders teach us how to lead ourselves!”<\/p>\n

GC: <\/strong>Thanks for your insights\u2026.\u00a0 I would add this now: \u201cThe best leaders teach us how to lead ourselves\u2026with wisdom and courage.\u201d\u00a0 I agree with you: \u201cIf you want to change things, Ethics has to become a matter of compulsory education\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 A major problem in our modern world is the decline or absence of teaching ethics\/moral values within the family or the religious community.\u00a0 When I was a child, I watched the disintegration of the extended family\u2014as people moved away, or just gave up on traditional values, meeting for holidays or special occasions.\u00a0 More and more, TV seemed to fill in too many gaps\u2014TV and cinema illusions filled in for the absence of flesh-and-blood relatives, teachers, pastors, rabbis, et.al.\u00a0 As I grew older, I watched the disintegration of the nuclear family\u2014as \u201cdivorce\u201d (almost a verboten<\/em> word in my childhood) became more and more common\u2014not just in Hollywood, but everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cMass education\u201d has taken over our educational institutions\u2014from first grade thru university, and it\u2019s pretty much a question of \u201ctechnical\u201d education\u2014how best to \u201cfit into\u201d the corporate-state structure.\u00a0 \u201cMass media\u201d has usurped much of the value systems that used to be propagated by schools and communities; and, I fear, \u201csocial media\u201d will prove to be an even greater threat to human equilibrium, sensibility and peace.<\/p>\n

PV: <\/strong>Right about \u201cmass education\u201d and \u201cmass media\u201d usurping our value systems.\u00a0 About \u201csocial media,\u201d I would say: Nothing (or should I say, \u201ctoo late\u201d?) to \u201cfear.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a fact.\u00a0 \u201cSocial media\u201d has already proved to be \u201can even greater threat to human equilibrium, sensibility and peace.\u201d\u00a0 The effect is dehumanization.<\/p>\n

The mass media contribute to our \u201crootlessness.\u201d\u00a0 That is why I quote 12th<\/sup> Century Neo-Platonist philosopher, Bernard de Chartres to all my classes at the university\u2014first with the short quote you have at the beginning here; and then the rest of his statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe [Moderns] are like dwarves perched on the shoulders of giants [the Ancients], and thus we are able to see more and farther than the latter. And this is not at all because of the acuteness of our sight or the stature of our body, but because we are carried aloft and elevated by the magnitude of the giants.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

GC:<\/strong>\u00a0We\u2019re in murky and dangerous waters\u2026.\u00a0 I agree: we must know the root-causes of our problems, and try to understand the \u201cwisdom of the ages.\u201d\u00a0 We get lost in the passing parade and the momentary excitement, noise and the cascade of images.\u00a0 Wise words, such as Bernard\u2019s can call us back, remind us: health in our roots nourishes health in our limbs and blossoms.\u00a0 One of my favorite definitions of poetry is from Robert Frost, who called it, \u201ca momentary stay against confusion.\u201d\u00a0 The best of the Arts returns us to our senses.<\/p>\n

PV: <\/strong>I remember now that this is about where we were when you began the interview at my studio in Spain: How social media is framing the world for the younger generations\u2026.\u00a0 Feel free to add any comments here from that Interview notes…\u00a0\ud83d\udcdd\ud83d\udc4d\ud83d\ude18<\/p>\n

GC:\u00a0 <\/strong>Good!\u00a0 Then, this \u201cdialogue\u201d becomes a kind of pastiche<\/em>, knitting new internet technology with the older tech of a tape recorder!\u00a0 I like that better.\u00a0 There can be more dynamism in a good dialogue. What do you think? I can start working on the above and send it to you, and you can feel free to add anything you want from your “peace” publications at Socialist Factor<\/em>, etc. (BTW, I’d like to incorporate the picture of the shadowy tower, the sea, and the contrails of the jet. We should credit the photographer. Is that your picture?)\u00a0\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udf52<\/p>\n

PV:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, it\u2019s my picture.\u00a0 Include it, if you like.\u00a0 I just added the photo credits\u2026.\u00a0 I took it at 5:23 A.M., from my cute, little humble studio in Venice where I stayed for a few days during an exhibition of my \u201cRodetes\u201d paintings in Italy.\u00a0 Every day there, I took pictures from sunrise to dawn.\u00a0 The seagulls over the Adriatic would wake me up!\u00a0 There\u2019s no better watch than the natural!<\/p>\n

GC: <\/strong>Thanks!\u00a0 Glad to know it’s your picture (you’re a fine photographer, too!). Glad, too, to know that a dialogue format will work for you\u2026.\u00a0 Can you send me whatever additional material you wish via e-mail? (I feel more certain about “privacy” exchanges via e-mail.) Feeling very good about this now. Natural, evolving development\u2026.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

OK, I\u2019m back.\u00a0 I just spent about 2.5 hours listening to the interview tape.\u00a0 First time I tried listening, soon after my return, it was hard.\u00a0 I was tired, and you talk and think so fast!\u00a0 (You’re a wonder!).\u00a0 This time, I slowed the tape considerably–missed your usual, normal voice–but was able to transcribe much of what we were saying…. To continue then; a few weeks ago, during the interview, I asked you:<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, the world seems much divided, especially in the USA\u2026. We have all these arguments about Trump-this and Trump-that\u2014how terrible he is\u2026.\u00a0 A year ago, there was the threat of war with North Korea; that has faded somewhat, and we hear talk of war with Iran.\u00a0 I wonder: What is the role of the artist in such a quickly changing world?\u00a0 How can the artist preserve, honor and promote eternal values?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

PV: <\/strong>I think there are more artists working for peace now than ever before.\u00a0 Modern technology makes it easier for the peace-makers to unite, to work together.<\/p>\n

GC: <\/strong>You talk about the advantages of modern technology; you write about such in magazines like Socialist Factor<\/em> and at the InSEA<\/em> website.\u00a0 Yes, the world is shrinking, we can build more bridges\u2026but many people see dangers in modern tech because of the pace\u2014the rapidity of thinking, of change.\u00a0 Do you see dangers in modern technology in terms of dividing people?\u00a0 In terms of confusion?<\/p>\n

PV: <\/strong>That\u2019s the right question!\u00a0 It\u2019s a painful situation.\u00a0 That\u2019s the cause of our lack of peace\u2014basically, because misunderstandings have been created and propagated.\u00a0 Without misunderstanding, we would not have a lack of peace.\u00a0 Because, naturally, human beings, as animals, seek peace\u2014to be comfortable\u2026.\u00a0 Politicians and economists talk about the good things about technology in communications and telecommunications\u2014so good, so efficient, so practical\u2026for \u201cbuilding bridges\u201d and making things cheaper!<\/p>\n

But, there\u2019s another side\u2026in terms of the Humanities, our humanity, our social sensibility.\u00a0 So, tech grows very fast, but human understanding and assimilation grows too slowly.\u00a0 Collapse comes when the assimilation is not conforming to the way the global economy [i.e., \u201cglobalization,\u201d \u201cglobal markets\u201d] is running.\u00a0 Tech grows faster than human consciousness.\u00a0 We are already living on bridges\u2026and the great challenge of the 21st<\/sup> Century is to be conscious of these bridges, to contribute to these bridges, to amplify the human areas of the bridges\u2026.\u00a0 Because, economically, we are going very fast with the global market\u2026and multinationals [i.e., multinational corporations] are running the whole world.<\/p>\n

Societies change more quickly now because the educational systems are not adapted to the realities of these times.\u00a0 Educational systems are slower, ritualized.\u00a0 And the market place adapts faster\u2026. Policy changes in education have to go through committees, various organizations\u2014even the Courts or Congress!\u00a0 So, what happens?\u00a0 The market place adapts faster to changes in society\u2014even manipulates and controls such changes\u2014while education\u2026which is the only way to best prepare society for the future and develop human values\u2026education lags behind technological and economic changes\u2026until such time as Art and cultural projects supply the underpinnings to help us break through, to help us break out, and be free.<\/p>\n

GC:\u00a0 <\/strong>Wow!\u00a0 You talk and you think fast and deep!\u00a0 I like your phrase, \u201cLiving on Bridges.\u201d\u00a0 Since childhood, I\u2019ve heard the phrase, \u201cbuilding bridges.\u201d\u00a0 You suggest that we\u2019ve built a lot of bridges\u2014our technology has helped us to build more and more\u2014but we really haven\u2019t learned how to live <\/em>upon those bridges.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a great challenge for our modern Artists.\u00a0 And what you say about Art and cultural projects supplying the \u201cunderpinnings\u201d\u2014traditions, background, inspiration\u2014to \u201cbreak through\u2026break out\u2026be free\u201d reminds me of something Voltaire said:\u00a0 \u00a0“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to home in on modern education and the Arts.\u00a0 Yes, modern tech can lead us through a labyrinth, lead us right to the clutches of the devouring monster.\u00a0 But, I worry about modern education, too.\u00a0 As you say, it\u2019s very slow, too slow to adapt.\u00a0 Also, it neglects context; it doesn\u2019t teach the Arts, or if it does, it doesn\u2019t teach Art History.\u00a0 It may focus on a particular artist in a particular time, a particular kind of art, but it doesn\u2019t teach the broad spectrum.\u00a0 How can the Arts be focused to help people think better, develop dimensionality\u2014help individuals and society to go forward, to blossom, expand and transcend?<\/p>\n

PV: <\/strong>\u00a0Big questions!\u00a0 I think we have covered some of that ground here. \u00a0As Bernard of Chartres and other sages counseled: we need to re-think, re-consider, know our roots, study, pay homage, observe carefully.<\/p>\n

Since 1997, I\u2019ve been connected to, working with, InSEA\u2014the International Society for Education through Art\u2014a non-profit whose purpose is to encourage and advance creative education through Art.\u00a0 And, to promote international education through Art.\u00a0 Founded in 1947, InSEA\u2019s mission has been to develop peace and understanding between the countries involved in the Second World War.\u00a0 InSEA holds regular regional Congresses each year on each continent and a Worldwide Congress every\u00a0five years.\u00a0 You can look it up\u2026.<\/p>\n

So, to answer your question: Get involved!\u00a0 Get informed!\u00a0 Explore and respect one\u2019s own creativity and those of others who live on the bridges with us!<\/p>\n

GC: <\/strong>Thank you, Pilar.\u00a0 Much to investigate, much to think about and feel our way through.\u00a0 Thank you for your light.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo: \u201cThe Joy of Peace\u201d. By Pilar Viviente, Venice 2019.<\/p><\/div>\n

__________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Pilar Viviente<\/em> is a \u201cMixed Media Artist, Visual Artist, Pianist\/Composer, Author\/Editor,\u201d and a Professor at the Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche, Spain.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Poet-dramatist-fictionist-journalist-editor-professor Gary Corseri has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pilar: Tech grows faster than human consciousness. We are already living on bridges\u2026 and the great challenge of the 21st Century is to be conscious of these bridges, to contribute to these bridges, to amplify the human areas of the bridges.<\/p>\n

Gary: Since childhood, I\u2019ve heard the phrase, \u201cbuilding bridges.\u201d You suggest that our technology has helped us to build more and more\u2014but we really haven\u2019t learned how to live upon those bridges. And that\u2019s a great challenge for our modern Artists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":84067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[915,442,101,290,432,260,642,444,119,868,109,380],"class_list":["post-140365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-art","tag-conflict-transformation","tag-cultural-violence","tag-culture","tag-education-for-peace","tag-history","tag-literature","tag-nonviolence","tag-peace","tag-poetry","tag-politics","tag-solutions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}