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Do artists really have to be crazy to create? Perhaps not, but the water is warm, so dive in and find out!
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a good craftsman; it won't stop you being a genius." - Auguste Renoir
6/13/2006
The Ballad of Ken (My Critics Just Don't Understand Me)
song du jour: To Get Down, Timo Maas
mood: hmm...
While I've very much appreciated Jean's, Matthew's, Tuff Ghost's, and eBuddha's takes and the recent posts at P2P on the latest in the integrally informed blogosphere, I haven't felt that it was worthy of taking time away from bigger priorities in my life, but now there are some thoughts going round in my head that are best expressed, so I can move on to something more interesting... like watching paint dry. (To those readers, who hang around here for the more usual topics of art and life, I apologize.)
I find it a little disappointing, though perhaps not surprising, that Ken and a few others consider a 'come on you bastards' approach to be superior until someone names Ken as the bastard. Apparently, an acceptance of verticality means accepting that Ken is at the top level, and the rest of us poor schmucks are lucky if we possess the brains and awareness to step over the all hallowed threshold of 'second tier,' just high enough to lick the master's boots. As I'm learning from Don Beck's CD set, the idea of colors as personality types is about as accurate as the tossing around of the unsubstantiated term 'third tier.' Why is it that all these guys talk on and on about taking in as many perspectives as possible and then rant endlessly about the vast superiority of their own particular pet theories, backed up or not?
I've yet to find any serious criticism of the AQAL model that holds water. I'm quite the AQAL junky. I-I's pop use of SD and SDi is rather attrocious, although I can't stomach Chris Cowan's whining either. There is value in a place that allows dialog and opposing points, such as Frank Visser's site. It is unfortunate that in an effort to be all inclusive the site includes a few loonies along with the gems (as does life). I confess that can't make heads or tails of de Quincy's writing, but I grasp Ken's on the first read. If Ken knows he's a better theorizer (and in the past, and I hope the future, a better writer) than most, why still sing the same tired song about his critics? (Bit of shadow there, buddy?) Most of us have heard it. It's all over many of his books. The refrain is the same, and it keeps coming back around again...
I will add a little advice out there, not just to Ken, but to all, who seek, or claim to seek, to create cutting edge art: If what you create upsets people, and that pleases you, don't spend more time justifying it and explaining it than the art itself requires for people to experience. Give it some context, preferably on the front end if possible, and then let it stand. Make a short statement if you have to, but then back off. Anything more indicates a chink in the armor of the artist, an obvious self doubt that the technique employed was not sufficient to carry the message to the few you think will be able to receive it.
For what it's worth, I knew it was a test when I tried to stay awake through the initial post. I also recognized that if I said I didn't like it or that I found it a little embarrassing for the guy, I would join the ranks of those labeled 'green' and summarily dismissed. There is no room for those, who engage in integral or holistic systems of thinking and would prefer to think of Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp. How about 'second tier with a lower development in the frat boy humor line?' 'Second tier without a penis?' Ah, but as the very insightful comment on Matthew's blog states, the only acceptable answers for how one might react are conversation enders. They are designed that way.
And speaking of those things, I wasn't overly offended or outraged by Ken's use of the words, suck, my, and dick in the same sentence. - Jean would probably say therein lies the notion of verticality in my case as she often jokes about the possibilities of my 5'0" stature when paired with very tall men. - I was too asleep by the time I read that far in his post to care much, but, again as an artist, and one with highly irreverent bordelloesque sense of humor and who can curse like a sailor outside the presence of small children (usually), in the public eye, I prefer the Seinfeldian approach to comedy that curse words are cheap and easy and, used too often, can be a poor substitute for real creativity.
Ultimately, the whole mess was about marketing. It would have been far too easy to launch a masters program by contacting those, who took the first IU online graduate course in integral studies, and offer us any kind of credit toward the new programs in exchange for the $1K we spent reading Brief History of Everything and participating in some concalls. It would have been a no brainer to remember that out of 50 of us out there, a few might still be interested. So much better to cause mild scandal to generate interest than to pitch first to your known market.
Ah, but then what do I know? Saul Williams liked Ken's post. Ken's rock star fantasies are fulfilled. If Ken doesn't like my saying this, he can pull my Integral Naked pages (I've noticed Marc Gafni's are still up.) and form a sentence, using the words, kiss, my and ass. (That's just the relative, buddy. Don't take it all too seriously, or you fail the test.)
4:41 PM
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