|
REFLECTIVE ESSAYS: TUNINGS
 Introduction
Each of us has something that speaks to us and it often does so in a manner that
is uniquely suited to our need. This is where a living language begins.
In
these tunings, Michael expands upon themes from his writing and experiences according
to his need. In so doing, he offers a window into his own world of creation. Anyone
can be that window as they follow the subtle thread of their own inquiry, uncovering
insights, connections and patterns of thought they did not know they knew. In
so doing, a frequency of thinking is set to which we all may become attuned. The
Beauty of Place
A Community Dialogue
Michael Jones
© November/December 2006 When every place looks the same,
there is no such thing as place any longer.
Glenn Murray - From Combating
the Geography of Nowhere In my last essay, Speaking from Presence, I suggested
that to be in presence means not only asking what we are speaking about but where
we are speaking from. And where we speak from often involves a deep and profound
connection to place. One setting where I found my own sense of place were the
summers I canoed and sailed the pure, cold waters, rivers and inland lakes of
Georgian Bay. The love I had for the granite rock, the bent pines, the sun and
the wind offered a new and luminous dimension to my world. Now, many years later,
when I set my fingers in the keys, I am still playing Georgian Bay. It is not
that I need to return to the Bay - it is no longer the same as it was then. Rather
I hold it in my heart as something- a beauty of place - to grow out from such
that it inspires whatever I say and do. Questions of uniqueness, belonging
and the love of place need to be in the forefront of our thinking now. Not only
do these questions inspire leaders, they also inspire the communities they lead.
When we create environments without richness and diversity, and where everything
looks the same, we dull the senses and our instinctive life. Beauty helps us see.
Its absence reflects the loss of our birthright and undermines our trust in life. Recently
I served as a keynote speaker and facilitator for a community dialogue around
questions of uniqueness and place. The conference was hosted by a group of cultural
and civic leaders who were deeply concerned about the loss of their roots, their
cultural distinctiveness and their unique heritage. Too often when we think
of community we look at it through the eyes of the politician, the planner, the
engineer or the business entrepreneur. It value is measured according to the benchmarks
of utility and efficiency. This day was an opportunity to look the community through
the eyes of the artist and designer- to serve as social architects whose work
it was to imagine what the community would look and feel like if new benchmarks
were introduced that spoke to a sense of passion and the beauty of place.
The invitation from the Creating Community Network read;
" This is a
day for everyone whose activities and interests make this place a unique and diverse
community; If you paint, plow, write, run, sing, sail and live in this community
and love it - this workshop will connect you with others who share a passion and
wisdom for our evolving community."
The invitation attracted over
70 members of the community including the mayor, several councilors, as well as
practicing artists and municipal, civic and cultural leaders. The day was not
intended to focus on roads, sewers and brick and mortar. Nor was it to solve problems,
map strategic options or develop work plans. Instead it was focused on the organic
life of the community, to rediscover its sense of centre, to think of it as a
living, emergent and whole system by identifying the seeds of its potential and
the soil it needs for these seeds to grow. In this context we also shared in the
experience of music and story. Each is the material of a living system and as
such each is like soil that needs our attention to become fully grown.
Then, in small groups, participants were asked;
"What is the dream we
have for our community that reflects its unique gifts, sense of promise, its roots
in its storied past?"
"What is the health of our community commons?
That is what are the locations, experiences and symbols that define our sense
of place?"
"To build soil for our possible future, what needs to
be conserved? What needs to change?"
To ask what seeds, roots and
soil we need to create our common future involves seeing beyond the perspective
of simple infrastructure. The conversations were not about roads or sewers or
money but about the undefinables; the air we breathe, the music we listen to,
the ground where we live, the beauty of our surroundings, the spaces that nourish
us and the informal meeting places where we feel most engaged and alive. Too often
these are the spaces that we have taken for granted. We don't notice their loss
until it is too late. The enthusiasm for the day's conversation revealed
that there is a hunger to take time out from the busyness of our lives to reflect
on what really matters. There was also a recognition that healthy economies need
to coexist with vibrant cultures and engaged communities. Culture in this context
is not formal nor arts specific- for the host committee culture was redefined
as both broad and inclusive… " A way to honor community identity and
pride and to explore ways to preserve and enhance creativity and diversity for
a sustainable community in the future." Our way to a positive future
is through a community commons. This includes bringing questions regarding the
beauty of place into public conversations that surface diverse perspectives and
patterns of connection and engagement. In this way, communities may discover what
they deeply feel and know and ask questions that are critical to imagining their
desired future. Poet William Stafford writes:
All events and experiences
are local, somewhere. And all human enhancements of events and experiences - which
is to say, all the arts - are regional in the sense that they derive from immediate
relation to felt life.
It is the immediacy that distinguishes art. And paradoxically
the more local the self that art has, the more all people can share it; for the
vivid encounter with the stuff of the worlds is our common ground.
Artists,
knowing this mutual enrichment that extends everywhere, can act, and praise, and
criticize, as insiders: - the means of their art is the life of their people.
And the life grows and improves by being shared. Hence, it is good to welcome
any region you live in or come to or think of, for that is where life happens
to be - right where you are. The central themes in William Stafford's writing
were also the themes of the day; - through creating spaces for quiet reflection
with music, for the immediacy of open sharing and the fluid movement among groups,
the community discovered the mutual enrichment of its own felt life. The knowledge
that life grows by being shared, the necessity of starting from right where we
are and that the stuff of our worlds is our common ground makes the intangibles
of community visible to all. This shared awareness is also something to
grow out from, inspiring all that we say and do. C Michael Jones, October
2006
www.pianoscapes.com
References Michael Jones Artful Leadership:
Awakening the Commons of the Imagination
Pianoscapes 2006 Glen Murray
in Combating the Geography of Nowhere" Greg Baeker, Municipal Cultural Planning,
Municipal World (Toronto, September, 2005) with reference to Geography of Nowhere:
The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape: James Howard Kunstler William
Stafford Crossing Unmarked Snow Further Views on the Writer's Vocation Edited
by Paul Merchant and Vincent Waxen (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1998)
I would like to thank the Creating Community Network of Saugeen Shores who organized
and invited everyone to bring their unique voice to the Celebrating Our Cultural
Connections Day. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Janine Dunlop,
a community consultant for the Province of Ontario, for her leadership and support
and Suzanne Simmie Stier, an artist and leader for introducing my work to the
community and the vision she held for the day.
| 
