lost languages and the art of rediscovering them
Anne Whiston Spirn shouts out her appeals to anyone willing to listen and learn. She gives us insight on the world around us as the metaphors for our very existence. Reminding us of a language we once knew well, we once had a fluency for, that too many have now forgotten. The art of reading into what we can see before us written in the world as it is built and as we build it. There are signs, patterns, structures all telling stories of growth and change. How much we allow ourselves to listen, read, and in turn digest these stories, act upon them, that which is now our past, reflects our present and becomes our future.
"like verbal poets of every literature, [we] mine landscapes for structure, rhythm, and fresh metaphors of human experience, so do poets of landscape itself"
She says, "landscape is the thread that connects the whole". We have the ability to take hold of this poetry, this language, and work with what it offers to teach us. We are given the chance to create positive change as a reaction to how our environment, our landscape, our space as it tells us the ways it has grown and become what it has thus far. We have these chances, and too many are not listening, are forgetting how easy it is, how accessible it is to find these "secrets" in nature, in our own natures, and learn to understand them. It is an innate feature we carry, and too often we let our connections to this ancient knowledge fade and disappear.
Spirn talks about civilizations as more or less "civilized" in historical terms as most often due to their awareness of the environment around them. As a people becomes more 'cultured' and 'socialized' they grow less in touch with the natural world. This is advancing? Because one is polite and astute? Because one no longer asks the questions that may cause us to see our actions as wrong, as unintelligent, as backtracking ourselves by not seeing future potential beyond the profit margins.
civilize |ˈsivəˌlīz|
verb [ trans. ] [usu. as adj. ] ( civilized)
bring (a place or people) to a stage of social, cultural, and moral development considered to be more advanced : a civilized society.
• [as adj. ] ( civilized) polite and well-mannered : such an affront to civilized behavior will no longer be tolerated.
DERIVATIVES
civilizable |ˈsɪvəˈlaɪzəbəl| adjective
civilizer |ˈsɪvəˈlaɪzər| noun
ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from French civiliser, from civil ‘civil.’
civilized
adjective
his civilized behavior | a civilized society polite, courteous, well-mannered, civil, gentlemanly, ladylike, mannerly; cultured, cultivated, refined, polished, sophisticated; enlightened, educated, advanced, developed. antonym rude, unsophisticated.
More often we ought be reflecting on how the way we create our space tells the story of how we live our lives. How clean, how messy; organization; understanding of our own chaos or order, our compilation of Things in this thing-oriented culture. We create collections, a buildup of garbage and constant ignorance of its increasing weight on us is one thing too many of man's civilizations have in common. The mannerisms we take on, to litter or to recycle, to give or to take, to share or to keep to oneself, all coming together to build our space and our lifestyles and weaving into this "language" of who we are and what we do; what defines us. Each individual has an array of choices before them. How they choose to carry those out comes from somewhere within, from what is past; what has built us up this far, and from that what potential we give ourselves the ability to see ahead. Belief in change or constant reoccuring patterns of poor choices.
"We humans are part of the natural world, our bodies, minds, and habitats shaped by the physical, chemical, and biological processes that sustain the Earth. All my work follows from that core belief."
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| photograph by Curiosity Studios |
Anne Whiston Spirn shouts out her appeals to anyone willing to listen and learn. She gives us insight on the world around us as the metaphors for our very existence. Reminding us of a language we once knew well, we once had a fluency for, that too many have now forgotten. The art of reading into what we can see before us written in the world as it is built and as we build it. There are signs, patterns, structures all telling stories of growth and change. How much we allow ourselves to listen, read, and in turn digest these stories, act upon them, that which is now our past, reflects our present and becomes our future.
"like verbal poets of every literature, [we] mine landscapes for structure, rhythm, and fresh metaphors of human experience, so do poets of landscape itself"
She says, "landscape is the thread that connects the whole". We have the ability to take hold of this poetry, this language, and work with what it offers to teach us. We are given the chance to create positive change as a reaction to how our environment, our landscape, our space as it tells us the ways it has grown and become what it has thus far. We have these chances, and too many are not listening, are forgetting how easy it is, how accessible it is to find these "secrets" in nature, in our own natures, and learn to understand them. It is an innate feature we carry, and too often we let our connections to this ancient knowledge fade and disappear.
Spirn talks about civilizations as more or less "civilized" in historical terms as most often due to their awareness of the environment around them. As a people becomes more 'cultured' and 'socialized' they grow less in touch with the natural world. This is advancing? Because one is polite and astute? Because one no longer asks the questions that may cause us to see our actions as wrong, as unintelligent, as backtracking ourselves by not seeing future potential beyond the profit margins.
civilize |ˈsivəˌlīz|
verb [ trans. ] [usu. as adj. ] ( civilized)
bring (a place or people) to a stage of social, cultural, and moral development considered to be more advanced : a civilized society.
• [as adj. ] ( civilized) polite and well-mannered : such an affront to civilized behavior will no longer be tolerated.
DERIVATIVES
civilizable |ˈsɪvəˈlaɪzəbəl| adjective
civilizer |ˈsɪvəˈlaɪzər| noun
ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from French civiliser, from civil ‘civil.’
civilized
adjective
his civilized behavior | a civilized society polite, courteous, well-mannered, civil, gentlemanly, ladylike, mannerly; cultured, cultivated, refined, polished, sophisticated; enlightened, educated, advanced, developed. antonym rude, unsophisticated.
More often we ought be reflecting on how the way we create our space tells the story of how we live our lives. How clean, how messy; organization; understanding of our own chaos or order, our compilation of Things in this thing-oriented culture. We create collections, a buildup of garbage and constant ignorance of its increasing weight on us is one thing too many of man's civilizations have in common. The mannerisms we take on, to litter or to recycle, to give or to take, to share or to keep to oneself, all coming together to build our space and our lifestyles and weaving into this "language" of who we are and what we do; what defines us. Each individual has an array of choices before them. How they choose to carry those out comes from somewhere within, from what is past; what has built us up this far, and from that what potential we give ourselves the ability to see ahead. Belief in change or constant reoccuring patterns of poor choices.
"We humans are part of the natural world, our bodies, minds, and habitats shaped by the physical, chemical, and biological processes that sustain the Earth. All my work follows from that core belief."
![[ver]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaEew62Etdn3u-WM3RKDrH6Wjh1ggx1eDrJlryYATNDZhjViEAsPx8N3jipn5XitwXxHj5zm43pkj8RnmW0UFePq2FjcBAtCKwMweKtZE1W30W5-f-TmsD3cYW91zZ0Yy3Cp_dEmwzsHAi/s240/DSCF3509.JPG)
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