First sketches

This study may be of interest too:

Poetry is like music to the mind, scientists prove.

New brain imaging technology is helping researchers to bridge the gap between art and science by mapping the different ways in which the brain responds to poetry and prose.

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_324631_en.html

@elizabethwillmotth: I agree.

That's what inspired our name: Minds et Motion stands for: Minds and Emotion in Motion.

I am convinced that it is impossible to craft processes that enable people to find collaborative solutions to "wicked" problems without injecting a strong dose of Hope. To me art can be a superconductor for Hope as long as it is used for a legitimate purpose. The creative process has been misused by advertising for instance because its been disconnected from ethics. To me the purpose to be legitimate in that sense has to be defined through a democratic (inclusive) process.

Hence art in all its forms is a crucial element to this mix as it can create the spark that reconnects our shared humanity. From the inspired minds emerge the possibilities of creating together the necessary structures that will have the power to sustain the effort to hit the goal.

At least that what I think!

NB: On a purely practical note. if you use the @ and name of the person you are directing your comment to, s/he will receive it as an email. Like this @samburcher @aldodemartelaere

It's way too late now and beyond bedtime, in fact, to think this through decently, but here is a very small poem I want to write something about on my blog. The theme might be of relevance here:

To Be Said Over and Over Again

I glance down at my shoe and - there's the lace!
This can't be gaol then, can it, i that case.

Gyorgy Pëtri

About the relation between a fascination for ordinary objects (a shoe, but it might be a less ordinary piece of art too) and upholding/regaining your self-worth.

Just a thought @rachelbwickert @samburcher @elizabethwillmotth

@aldodemartelaere It reminds me of one simple thing that Barry S. Barnes (my tutor in Exeter) told me and blew my mind. I was struggling with my thesis. The more I looked, the more amazing connections I found. I was driven to get deeper and wider. I was afraid to miss crucial points. My curiosity was consuming and disorientating. He basically told me not to worry because if I look close enough, I would find that every single thing contains answers to everything else like a kaleidoscope. (cf Blake) What I needed to do was to be able to stand still for a moment (while still moving cf Fireflies from Tagore). From the focus I would get clarity on the path I needed to take. For some reason, it helped me a great deal. It still does!

I (think) I see @rachelbwickert. Some people like to work with little. Others want to widen up things first before making up their mind. Two viewpoints, two mindsets. Maybe both types need to shake hands ('synergise'- oops, that word seems not to exist) in order to make progress in important matters (such as the discussion about planet earth and the marketing guy).

@aldodemartelaere Yes, indeed, you do see it! If you click on the still and silent words in Tagore's Poem you will also experience it … http://rdwbizz.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/adrift-centered.html

Many thanks for inviting me to join the discussion @rachelbwickert ... and yet again we meet @elizabethwillmotth .

I may have an opportunity to offer people the chance "tell" earth's story on a huge "stage", both real and virtual. So I asked Rachel if she could connect me to people who might want to help to develop a strategy for how that story (or "stories" ) could be created, presented, using any and all art forms so that they really have a deep impact and inspire people to start to create their own earth story that leads to a future where the earth we give back to our children is worthy of them.

And here I am. It's still early days and the dream could still be snuffed out (in its current form) but in the next few weeks we hope to be able to launch the project from which this idea will arise. If that happens I would be pleased to share our vision and concept with you.

Just reading through these comments there are some exciting thoughts arising.

@gwynjones your project sounds wonderful - ambitious, dynamic, and it would seem to sit very well with the point made by @aldodemartelaere which I relate to, of the two different approaches:

"Some people like to work with little. Others want to widen up things first before making up their mind." I can imagine Gwyn's project really benefiting from this dual approach. Please tell us more Gwyn.

And @rachelbwickert I feel really inspired by your comment: "To me art can be a superconductor for Hope ... art in all its forms is a crucial element to this mix as it can create the spark that reconnects our shared humanity."

Put these three things together and I feel something really exciting!

@elizabethwillmotth Indeed I think you have caught the essence. We are looking at funding at present and if that happens we'll start to flesh out the concept in the next 3-6 months. I feel that it's not our place to define what the stories communicated via earth story are, or will be. Or even what the process is for creating/presenting the stories. Hence the "shoutout" to see who feels drawn to creating the process...

A hint of what it could be is attached.

Thanks so much Gwyn. Please keep us informed here about the project and I totally take your point about you not putting definitions on it.

I watched the video linked to in your word doc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKK4dAu_sFo about seeing earth from above - The Overview Effect - and as one person in the video commented that the effect of it is "transcending that sense of separation" - very similar to the feelings evoked by the video posted by @rachelbwickert in the other discussion http://vimeo.com/69445362