i don’t know where i heard this, it may have been an architect, and it went something like this (paraphrase):
it’s usually not a matter of addition, of adding stone to stone and line to line, to make planes inclining and joining… rather, good design is about subtracting all that is unnecessary; when enough has been removed from our concept, we arrive at a harmonious dwelling; and it is true that hardly ever is enough removed.
i found that very pregnant when i heard it, in whatever form it came to me. and i was reminded of it this weekend whilst training with a similar mind, in a movement practice called sho shin ryue (?), which means, “way of the child mind.” i’m afraid i can’t say too much about it, because the saying would be like hammering on the lower keys of a piano to describe the curves of a woman. that metaphor could go a thousand different ways… anyway, what is so inspiring about this sho shin, is its remarkable knack of removing the unessential. it seems to me (so far, and wet behind the ears) that it (knowing itself very well) is comprised of only two things: that which is, AND the spaces between that thought (what is NOT: void). in that much, acceptance is key, acceptance of one’s own feet, balance, and those of another or potentially many others. upon acceptance of these very simple essentials, all else is play. and the mind no longer grasps at chimerical straws the way it seems to all the world over else. the scimitar has its leading edge, scary and shiny… yet it curves and suggests at the same time its other component: the space it creates behind itself, where it is not… and both elements make it, one there (electrons shimmering and scattering) and one, well, not. and it’s in that nothing of the scimitar that one is born and where you certainly want to be were the item to ever get wielded UPON you.
the other fascinating thing about this practice (so far) is its matrix. not all studies have a locus like this: universal application. in the earlier blog, i talked about paul stamets, the mushroom man. what he’s done is discovered a matrix. his science can be applied on almost every single human and otherwise natural front. so is this case with this sho shin ryue movement; it can destroy, heal, break down, build up and suggest on nearly every physical and spirit level.
listen…
Wow, that is the feeling that i get in playing in the art of shoshin ryu the feeling of every thing and nothing at the same time. one of my teachers a 85 year old master named fook yueng, used to say in wonder, “everthing everything, all same nothing”, eyes glistening. I still struggle with his say thinking it makes no sense then in flow some one asks me, “how did you do that” and Master Yuengs saying is all I can think of.
Some things we can hint at with art, like the art of Ben Shook hints at “the stuff”, points to “The Tao” and alows those fortunate enough to have say one of Ben’s Chairs, to feel, see and hear, that which can’t be seen.