Last week I finished my comments on Ecclesiastes. That corresponded coincidentally with our packing up and heading again for a working hiatus in Oregon. After that we spent a day loading the van with all manner of art-making equipment . . . which in Anne’s case also means a heavy hand press, and in my case, many large canvases. Such as this limits our forays to road travel, as opposed to air, at least so far.
Once again we’ve come to Toledo, Oregon, a mill town just up the river from coastal Newport. Specifically, we’re in a restored and converted Justice of the Peace building of two floors, one room each. The lower is for “living” and the upper for “working” (though I continually get those two terms mixed up). Suffice to say the upstairs is studio space, the downstairs for sleeping, showering, eating, reading, writing, thinking, conversing, watching an evening movie and any pacing around wondering what to do.
This whole time is another blank slate.
On the way north we traveled the soulful 101 highway (well, not quite as soulful as the slow, coast-hugging Highway 1, but far more than the faster Freeway 5). We made stops. We overnighted in Palo Alto, visiting son Hyatt Jr. and family. He’ll finish his Stanford PhD this spring and is looking into working at Google. They’re pretty selective so there are no guarantees. It would mean his leaving sleep studies. Too bad, because he could apply those to me, but that’s another topic. One of the reasons he’s intrigued with Google is their policy of allotting 20 percent of the time of each employee to work on their own ideas.
It’s the kind of innovation that continues to catapult that organization into the unknown beyond.
And it’s reminiscent of what I just read about the 3M company, makers of Post-its and Scotch Tape and a thousand or so other products. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing started out mining, but when that proved unproductive, they set their employees free to think up other ideas that might work. Now here they are, established with a century of succeeding and still innovating.
It’s all tribute to time for the human mind to go where it will.
And here we are again, at the beginning of three weeks of not 20 percent but more like 80 percent to do what we will.
And no clear ideas.
But, as Anne read to me just this morning out of a book on memory,* everything we think, interpret, remember and do is based on something else we’ve already thought, interpreted, remembered and done. So there’s always a fertile field. Though the destination is unknown, the starting place is always “from here.”
All this is to say that from here I can’t tell where this Blank Slate blog is going to go. Nor what the blank canvases are going to look like. I expect Anne (though already in the studio upstairs) is in the same boat. That boat is called, “State of Mind.”
All that is clear is where it has been; where it will go remains to be seen.
It’s good to have a few friends along for reporting back. Somehow talking about it helps clarify. So come along, and feel free to comment.
_______________
* Moonwalking with Einstein, The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, Joshua Foer
** To see this same Oregon retreat we took last year, see Holy Toledo.
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
12:38 pm
You really do have a blank slate, let’s see what God brings into focus. Enjoy the time.
12:59 pm
I can understand the “everything we think, interpret, remember…” quote, but for a Christian, part of the function of the Holy Spirit in our lives and minds is to create/trigger those thoughts which are not a connection of our past or our paradigm. I think music and art are direct fields where there this creative “newness” is most often evident.I believe, as Luther taught, that my Christian faith is a gift, not something we create from within, but received, created from nothing within me.
Interesting topic and thought provoking, thanks.
7:12 pm
Hyatt/Roger – wonder if it might be a third option. I often think about the verses “You formed my inner parts, you wove me in my mother’s womb”; “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them”; It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search out a matter”.
I wonder if God “imbedded” the code in me – as in “He gives me the desires of our hearts” – and as I do the beautiful exchange; my life for His – He reveals the code, or shows me the desires he has imbedded in my heart. This is my experience as I stumble after Him with my “yesses”, He shows me more and more code – I am loving it!
Look forward to the what the Slate will bring Hyatt!
1:34 pm
Looking forward to seeing what you and Anne will be creating during this trip.
3:35 pm
I like the idea of retreating, like you and Anne do periodically together. The demands of our “home base” tend to weave a protective false-self that’s often not at all who God’s freed us to be. Getting away allows the light of Christ to melt (where there’s light, there is heat) away our defenses and come into union with the Holy Spirit in a fresh way. May God do this with the two of you, setting you free to create beauty, which we will all appreciate together. Keep us posted, Hyatt, and have a great stay in your way-too-cool place!
6:41 pm
As long as you are on that wonderful Oregon Coast, there cannot be room for an “empty” slate. A prefect place just to walk with God and remember He made it to enjoy and carry in your heart.
9:45 pm
You have quite a cheering squad behind you, Hyatt. Never a completely blank slate with such great sidekicks. You favorite fan, sue
4:53 pm
I look forward to whatever the creative process brings for the future of Blank Slate. I am going to use the Ecclesiastes series as a devotional. I read a quote recently–Write something worth publishing in your life, or live a life worth writing about. You are doing that. Thanks, Hyatt.
7:44 pm
Happy creativity Hyatt and Ann.
8:37 am
I just love the words “blank slate”. It reminds me that every day is a new and blank slate. His mercy is NEW every morning. Great is His faithfulness! So thankful that everyday is new………
Here I am Lord!
Walk with me,
Talk with me,
show me
remind me
grow me
inspire me
use me….
let me see…..
let me hear
let me move………
….your ways oh God!