try to praise the mutilated world.

An active silence

bobulate:

“White space is to be regarded as an active element, not a passive background,” wrote Jan Tschichold in 1930. And just as you cannot ignore white space, you cannot ignore silence, as it’s the white space of conversations.

We get anxious about silence. It connotes issues. Stress. Awkwardness. Yet, like Tschichold’s white space, silence is often an active element in our day-to-day conversations. It can indicate productive thinking is in progress. But we — twitchy, anxious communicators that we are — forget this.

Faith in silence

If you’ve shipped off an email, transmitted a voicemail, and received no reply: fear not. This does not mean your recipient has not heard, seen, understood, respected, and acted upon your message. I would argue, in fact, that a thoughtful message that receives no immediate reply most likely means the recipient is constructing an equally thoughtful message in return. It just hasn’t reached the “send” state.

White space is an active element.

Thoughtful takes time

Give your recipients time. If you don’t hear back, pester not. If you have a deadline, make it clear. If it’s urgent, make it known. But if you’re simply seeking thoughts, give others time to construct their own. A pause. Some white space.

Give silence a chance to be the active element it needs to be. You might be surprised at what you hear, even when you don’t.

Kanye on Creativity

viafrank:

Am I really putting up something Kanye West said? Yes I am. Because it’s about better. And, I’m inclined to believe this thought, regardless of what I think of the man’s music or behavior.

There’s no such thing as fact anymore, only opinion. The closest thing we have to fact is “common opinion”. Everything is an opinion. The way you dress is an expression of your opinion. Your religious beliefs are your opinion. The music you turn up loud is your opinion. For most people it’s easier to just agree. For me the hardest thing is to ‘just’ agree and that is what sparks creativity, the feeling that something can be better, the feeling that something’s missing. The feeling that something’s needed.

(Oh, and obviously facts still remain.)

via putthison, converted to non-all-caps by Colin Marshall

“For me the hardest thing is to ‘just’ agree.”

Living Alone (III)

Levertov:

I said, the summer garden I planted
bears only leaves–leaves in abundance–
but no flowers.
And then the flowers,
many colors and forms,
come forth.

I said, the tree has no buds.
And then the leaves,
shyly, sparse, as if reluctant,
in less than two days appeared,
and the tree, now,
is flying on green wings.

What magic denial
shall my life utter
to bring itself forth?

(previously)