Last day of June 2008...The conversation of relationship

I began my day today with an email to my fabulous friend Pedr. He had commented on my latest blog. I wrote back telling him how good it felt to get his responses each day. Which began the swirls of thinking, early in the day, before breakfast even!

I told Pedr that it felt great to know the gift has been received. Though I try to write it just for myself. I can't help but want to know that someone else read it, too. Even better is that it spurred some response in him. The delight is when it becomes a conversation.

I thought out loud that I would like to get to the point where it doesn't matter. Can I hold my own stories and can that be enough? Is it human nature to want someone else to know what is going on and to listen? Is it human nature to want to be responded to?

After breakfast I go into a community art session where the Masters graduates were dance leaders for small groups. We danced in straight lines, the graduate at the front of the line, with 3 or 4 people in their troupe lined up behind them. Our job as their dance troupe was to follow their lead, not necessarily to mimic them but to let their movements influence ours. To support their dance out of EGS, into the world. So we took their offerings and let it influence us, feeding it back to them. Afterwards when we were on break I heard one of the graduates saying that it was difficult because they could not see what their dance troupe was doing behind them. They made the offering and then couldn’t see the response. My morning quandary had appeared here too…

synchronistically, the next event was a lecture, where we looked at the role of relationship in artmaking! Exploring the idea that every creation is a co-creation, the work asks to be shown and responded to. That in artmaking we are holding out our hand to another. We are asking for a response. Art is a conversation, whether with another or with our self. And if it is just with our self, we know that we have the option to share it with someone at any time.

So the question becomes, is it narcissistic to want a response? Or is it human nature?

For me, today, I want conversation. I want to reflect with you, I want our worlds to engage and interact. I want to offer, I want to be received. And, though it is hard to say (my Catholic martyr upbringing?) I want to be responded to! AND I want to be receptive and respond to you. I want conversation.