Sitting in Conversation

Weekly wisdom to bring you home in 3 minutes.

A SHORT STORY

This past week, Anastasiia and I ventured into the cold December night to literally sit at the feet of Laurie Anderson and Nadya (the artist of Pussy Riot). We had purchased tickets months earlier to see Pussy Riot in concert, labeled by Putin as an “extremist group,” and when we heard that Laurie was going to be in conversation with Nadya before the concert, we knew we couldn’t miss it.

And so, we sat in an overflow room, watching the conversation unfolding just one room over through a live broadcast.

As an artist, I often turn to Laurie to make meaning of the world. She was the first artist in residence at NASA, and someone whom I regard as one of the most innovative artists of our time. Her work has continually crossed boundaries for the last five decades.

The conversation between her and Nadya focused a lot on art as spirituality. Laurie has always had a way of explaining complex concepts through storytelling. And so I thought I would share one of my favorites that she shared on her album The Rich One with The Jewels.

John Lilly, the guy who says he can talk to dolphins, said he was in an aquarium, and he was talking to a big whale who was swimming around and around in his tank. And the whale kept asking him questions telepathically. And one of the questions the whale kept asking was: "do all oceans have walls?"

Here she has this ability to take a simple story and encapsulate ideas of Buddhism, existence, and wonder.

And so as we head into the holidays, I’ve been reflecting on how necessary it is to have these moments, or days, of the holy. Perhaps now more than ever. To slow down, reflect, and remind ourselves what makes us human.

Last Tuesday, I was grateful to be in conversation and alongside such great artists and attendees, simply sitting in the questions. In a moment of increasing acceleration, it felt like a small, necessary pause that this time of the year invites us toward in order to notice what arrives when we finally stop moving.

What moments of the holy are you creating for yourself right now?

A POEM

“Be Like a Tree” by Rumi

Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.

Grateful,

Michael