THE PURPOSE OF ART

October 14, 2015 by Guest User

My friend the architect Colin Fraser Wishart says that the purpose of his craft is to help people live better. There’s beautiful simplicity, but also enormous gravity in that statement. Just imagine if every public building, city park, urban transportation hub, and home were constructed with the flourishing of humanity - in community or solitude - in mind. Sometimes this is already the case, and we know it when we see it. Our minds and hearts feel more free, we breathe more easily, we are inspired to create things - whether they be new thoughts of something hopeful, or friendships with strangers, or projects that will bring the energy of transformation yet still into the lives of others. If architecture, manifested at its highest purpose, helps us live better, then it is also easy to spot architecture that is divorced from this purpose.

STEVE JOBS: THE MAN IN THE MACHINE

October 06, 2015 by Guest User

The 13th century German mystic Meister Eckhart summarized his life’s work when he wrote “the eye with which I see God is God’s eye seeing me.” Meister Eckhart didn’t have an iPhone, but these words can also evoke the subject of the new film Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine. Alex Gibney's documentary attempts getting beneath the surface of the human being who made possible the existence of the keyboard on which I'm typing. It’s a thoughtful, challenging precursor to Danny Boyle/Aaron Sorkin's Jobs biopic which is being released later this month. How did someone who built metal and plastic boxes become identified with spiritual wellbeing? Why is Apple able to attract the loyalty of people's hearts as well as their wallets? It's partly, I think, because their products enable us users to channel our creative urges - the fact that the products happen to be more beautiful than other computers means that they appeal to people who may value aesthetics more than functionality.

JOIN ME IN IRELAND NEXT MAY WITH DAVID LAMOTTE!

October 01, 2015 by garethihiggins

Announcing our first Ireland retreat for 2016: I'm co-leading another trip to Ireland, this time with David LaMotte and friends, and applications are now open! I've wanted to bring people to my homeland for a long time, and we've been doing these trips for a couple of years now, with guest co-facilitators and dear friends. One of the constant refrains I hear from folk in the US who have visited Ireland before is that they 'didn't go to the North'. We're changing that one retreat at a time...

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

June 05, 2015 by Guest User

Let’s get this out of the way first: Mad Max: Fury Road is not a perfect film. Wedded to the idea that violence can bring order out of chaos, it does not finally transcend the self-destructive way we think about how to resolve conflict. But, oh my goodness, it comes closer than most action films ever get to saying something meaningful about the world.

TOUCHING THE LIGHT

April 30, 2015 by Guest User

Film festivals are strange places. There is usually an opportunity to see miraculous images that have the potential to transform us, but often there are also a few obstacles: red carpets get in the way of true connection, and the hustle of crowds can create stress. That, of course, can become an invitation to mindfulness, which is what the best films lead to anyway. A couple of weeks ago, I was at one of my favorite such events, North Carolina’s amazing and diverse Full Frame Festival, which often transcends the elitism of other festivals, and at which you can feel the thrill of audiences tuning in to—well, I guess we could just call it more life. Documentary has a way of both conveying information and illuminating the inner lives of its subjects that, at its best, becomes a powerful mirror to the audience. Fiction can do the same, of course, but there’s something about nonfiction storytelling that is more immediate, and perhaps speaks to a different part of the viewer’s mind and heart.