Getting back to some blog rhythm just to get all these words out of my head.
Keeping my thinking activities concrete by imagination is probably how I can keep my research activity a little bit more fun and playful. No less serious though, but not taking myself too seriously is good.
I’m imaging three dead theorists sitting around our dining table, one renown in the humanities especially in literary circles, another a ‘philosopher … in the outside’ rooted in the western tradition but turning concepts and categories upside down, the last theologian/philosopher whom I just found out passed away last year who’s final words actually intrigued me more than his early musings.
Here I am a mere mortal trying to learn how to swim in academic and more precisely theoretical waters. I’m asking them funny questions like:
– how did you arrive at this way of thinking and looking at the world?
– do you think your concepts can help me in my project? How?
– Are all of you ‘crazy’ to harness so much energy and focus trying to break free from existing ‘paradigms’?
– What happens when I put you guys together? I see a move in the same direction, perhaps even some ‘interdisciplinary’ or ‘inter-theoretical’ convergence without losing your own distinctive?
– Do you think combing your thoughts is even possible for a working theoretical framework? In what way it is? In what way it’s not?
Then I’m imaging some possible responses:
– well, Sivin give it a try. There’s always something ‘more’ than what we tried. The pursuit of knowledge of your particular project seems to push you to reconsider how you will pursue that knowledge. So, it’s only reasonable to take a pause before you leap further.
– yes, you’ve jumped into one of our theories, use that one first. And then try the other one. Which itself is quite a challenge, because these theories have some many underlying layers you’d want to be sure you are clear about. But so far you aren’t off the cliff yet 🙂
– You mentioned a key word floating up again and again. And it links two of us explicitly even though the way we build our theories might have been different, but both of us are clearly working in the center of and on the borders of what you are looking at.
– our friend over there will come in handy at some point. I guess you are already seeing something emerge even just for the sake of your material you’ve collected.
That was fun for a Sunday morning. Ah… alas, a baby cries for attention. back to real life.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Gimleveien,Kristiansand,Norway