spontaneity

" … the socially problematic spontaneity of little children is as yet unco-ordinated and "embryonic." We then make the mistake of socializing children, not by developing their spontaneity, but by developing a system of resistances and fears which, as it were, splits the organism into a spontaneous center and an inhibiting center. Thus it is rare indeed to find an integrated person capable of self-controlling spontaneity, which sounds like a contradiction in terms. It is as if we were teaching our children to walk by lifting up their feet with their own hands instead of moving their legs from within. We do not see that before spontaneity can control itself, it must be able to function. The legs must have full freedom of movement before they can acquire the discipline of walking and running or dancing. For disciplined motion is the control of relaxed motion. Similarly, disciplined action and feeling is the direction of relaxed action and feeling to prearranged ends. The pianist must therefore acquire relaxation and freedom in his/her arms and fingers before s/he can execute complex musical figures, but much abominable technique has been acquired by forcing the fingers to perform piano exercise without preliminary relaxation.

Spontaneity is, after all, total sincerity - the whole being involved in the act without the slightest reservation - …"

"… when we say that a pianist or a dancer has perfect control we refer to a certain combination of control and spontaneity. The artist has established an area of control within which he can abandon himself to spontaneity without restraint."

- Alan Watts, Man, Woman and Nature

Words from Poet, Martin Espada


“Poets can play so many different roles. We are used to the idea that poetry accomplishes nothing, accustomed to feeling powerless and helpless as a poet. And that point of view is encouraged by a certain element in the poetry community that invites meaningless poetry. You write meaningless poetry, of course it’s not going to have any effect on the world, and so the thing to do is to establish meaningless poetry as a standard, to write poetry that caters only to the obscure and self-indulgent. A poet can do so much more, and if you travel around the world you see the effect that a poet can have on their society. A poet can be a teacher, a historian, a journalist, an organizer, a preacher, a caretaker, or a bard. And a poet can be a political activist, one who participates in the great changes that the world is always going through.”
- Martin Espada, poet
Quoted in Brooklyn Rail, April 2007


Martin Espada: “In order to write poems, you have to make yourself very vulnerable. There are many poets today who are afraid to take risks, who are terrified of expressing emotion openly. They are terrified of appearing vulnerable on the page. They are ultimately afraid of being accused of sentimentality. That’s the greatest crime in our contemporary world.”


Rail interviewer: “You have to be a cool customer.”


Martin Espada: “Exactly. Detached, hip, cynical and absolutely invulnerable. And we all know that’s a dishonest pose.”