"Summeries #11"

“It is not that I’m so smart.

But I stay with the questions much longer.”
Albert Einstein

So another season has shifted into another season, and we bid adieu to the "Summeries". Time is a grazing creature. Tonight, as my compatriot and I were cruising our haunts, we saw a group of perhaps seven gathered in the street. It appeared that they were pointing at us. I cautioned you as to the likelihood that they were Flesh Eating Zombies. Autumn brings them out, don't you know. I read somewhere that it has to do with the Puritan Ethic. Approaching, it was clear that this group was more positively animated than the Undead. "You walked right past them!" one Zombie declared. "One what?," I queried (in my nascent comprehension of the situation's significance). "Deer," replied the Zombie (who somehow lost her looming nature, given the street light and proximity). We turned, you and I. We turned and saw a two point buck and the doe that followed. And us one point five miles from downtown (now uptown) and the bank centers and NASCAR museum. And that sighting made us hopeful somehow. That in the midst of executions and demonstrations and Luddite yearnings, and urban sprawl and oiled interdependence and errant values could there wander a deer. And its companion.
Like us. Walking together. Sniffing and pondering.

“Actualized Dreams” #28.

So once again, ladies and germs: the same brick wall, the same scenario, the same set of circumstances. Maybe different colors. Certainly a new cast of characters (though one might argue that its different masks on the same troop of itinerant actors). But it was you that said, "You have to rearrange - you have to penetrate the system - and move beyond a single reality into the realm of possibilities". Sage advice.…..good times.
Key notation: April 20th. Sheila as teacher

“Actualized Dreams” #29.

You wrote a poem, I made a reference. You said, “The sun applied lipstick to the pursed lips of the horizon.” I had a bourbon. It reminded me of my mother. You wrote some lyrics and hummed the tune softly. I made a cryptic remark, but kept it to myself. We travel well together, the two of us. You and I…..good times.
Key Connective Concept:Stockholmes sin/drone

“Actualized Dreams” #30.

You constantly remind me to choose my battles. You ask me things like, "Is this a ditch you are willing to die in?" That always reminds me of the origin of the phrase, 'three on a match' and snipers and stuff, cause things remind me of other things. Like when you said someone was, "growing in grace" and all I heard was "groin in grace" and you said that my mind was like a bowling ball - always in the gutter. I guess it's all about knowing what to overlook. Yeah…..good times.
Key Location: Spiral notebook

All work by Tom Schulz, unless otherwise noted.

Please leave comments as you feel so inclined. Tom can be reached via the World Wide Web. tomschulzartist@gmail.com, tom@empathinc.com.
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"Summeries #10"

“The question is not what you look at,

but what you see.”
Henry David Thoreau

Delving into personalized maps, sketches and observations has helped me understand that what was once significant to me, often retains
significance. That it would have the exact same level of meaning or value is impossible. I'm not the same person. These aren't the same situations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about reminiscing, either. Here, it's like this. I'm working on a painting. And I get interrupted. Maybe the dog needs walking. Maybe I have to drive to New Jersey. Whatever. You get my drift. So I come back to that painting, and maybe I've been thinking about what I would do. And I look. And if I'm smart. And if I let myself, then I embrace the me that didn't even exist two hours or fourteen hundred miles prior. And I dialogue with the information before me and paint in the then and there. Sure, I run the risk of failure. But I run the equal risk of running headlong into the unexpected. The glorious unimagined.

“Actualized Dreams” #25.

Alright, alright, I admitted to it: I avoided conflict. Avoided conflict whenever I could. And believe me, I had some pretty legitimate reasons (not that I'll go into that at this late date). But as you pointed out, without conflict how can there be resolution? And then you described an elegant solution. That conflict and resolution were not binaries, but were an essential and indivisible characteristic of an invigorating life.…..good times.

Key term: quantum metaphors

“Actualized Dreams” #26.

Hello. Are you there? Please pick up. Please respond. Please take out a personal ad. Or leave a voice mail. Post a message on a social network. Leave a poem on a real to real and toss it in the trash for my brother to find. After all, we (each of us) are messengers. The UPS man knows my name because it is on the label. Or he knows more than you might think. Which is highly likely…..good times.

Key phrase: (Dan White confronting God)

“Actualized Dreams” #27.

I always figured that one muddled towards the level of one's expectations, but you argued that I was suffering from a low E.M. model. Which of course stopped me dead in my ignorant tracks (and Christ, I tried not to have that look on my face just so as not to give you the satisfaction, but there it was). "Yeah - E.M. Expectation Maximization. Your sequence structures of association are incomplete or weak." Which, of course, was not what I expected.…..good times.

Key: V=infinity

All work by Tom Schulz, unless otherwise noted.

Please leave comments as you feel so inclined. Tom can be reached via the World Wide Web. tomschulzartist@gmail.com, tom@empathinc.com.
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"Summeries #9."

“The task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought,
about that which everybody sees.”
Erwin Schrödinger

On 6/23 I wrote, "We basically choose our paths in two ways - by action and inaction.
Each is powerful in its own way.

I work only out of the purest of intentions. And I am nothing if not honest. So then, I can admit to this: I wanted to be a famous artist (which might be a lie, as in I probably still do). Not so much to be in the public eye (which is probably a lie, because I seem to place myself in the public eye as often as I possibly can). I just wanted to be so good at something that it would be recognized (which could be a lie because I most likely want approval and acceptance). Funny thing is, I was constantly making choices that seemed to lead into personal and career arenas that were in opposition to that desire to be a famous artist (which is a lie, because everything I have done has led me to be the artist I am today. Which is a lie within a lie because I have only just lately recognized that.). Truth be told, it is a meaning filled existence. Perhaps you know what I'm talking about.

“Actualized Dreams” #22.

You wandered from room to room without any apparent method or direction. I eventually learned not to search out a literal pattern - for that was beyond my grasp. But not beyond your criticism. Though much to my credit (and yet still keeping in mind the number of years it took), I have determined that you were creating an energy matrix. When you called it dropping thought turds, I figured you were just yanking my chain…….good times.

“Actualized Dreams” #23.

Inventiveness separated Tarzan from his adoptive cousin, as both drank from the river. I suggested that animal instinct was being suppressed by technology (and heck, that was years ago). You countered with the supposition that what our culture called human inventiveness and what I perceived as being animal instinct were “methods of isness” intersecting at the corners of synthesis and intuition. Man, I bee-lined to those crossroads and sold my soul…..good times.

“Actualized Dreams” #24.

I’m wishing that Ariadne had given me a ball of yarn, or a freakin’ map or something. You told me that I was the kinda guy that would pray for deliverance and just sit there waiting for some golden chariot to pick my ass up. And then if like a little burro stopped by, I’d still be sitting there waiting on that chariot. But you were so wrong. I didn’t just sit there - I stood up and petted that donkey. It was cute…..good times.

All work by Tom Schulz, unless otherwise noted.

Please leave comments as you feel so inclined. Tom can be reached via the World Wide Web. tomschulzartist@gmail.com, tom@empathinc.com. Please join Empathinc. on facebook by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/empathinc/

"Summeries #8"

“God has created the world in play.”
Sri Ramakrishna

I have never once considered myself obsessive. Not one single time. I much prefer the term focused. Such subtleties bring an ameliorative boost to my sense of well-being, though I hardly consider them a panacea for all my moods. Perhaps you know what I mean.
Anyway, in my focused state, I have recorded a substantial amount of information. And while the images and language are often the equivalent of an overgrown woodlot, occasionally I spot a truffle amongst the tangle of conceptual briers.
One project was a series called "Brilliant Notebooks©". The idea was that if someone were to arbitrarily pick up one of the notebooks and leaf through it, they might be entranced by the sheer random focus evidenced page after page, and be amazed. "Brilliant!" they would exclaim.
I would encourage you to try this technique. Brilliant!

“Actualized Dreams” #19.

So Dude: get this. I roll my garbage to the curb, and the city picks it up. Don’t matter what kinda garbage it is. City picks it up. I mean you flat out stared me in the face and told me in words that you wern’t never, no never gonna pick up my garbage. You said that was my job. Then the city freakin’ picks it up. Go figure..….good times.

“Actualized Dreams” #20.

If the Universe was a series of undulating curtains, and I could only slice the fabric lengthwise, then perhaps I could gain proper perspective. Sine/cosine. A breathe: a heartbeat (this time on loan). Sign/co-sign..….good times.

“Actualized Dreams” #21.

Was it Biology class with that Mr. What Was His Name? And you had to have a lab partner and you said, “I’m not working with Joy”. And I thought, “Heck, I’ll work with Joy”. And I’ve partnered with her ever since except when she goes off into the Wilderness. Which happens from time to time. Now, I’m not sure that I’m aging with Grace. And you sure as hell didn’t, unless it was outside the parameters of my understanding, in which case you sure as hell did…….good times.

All work by Tom Schulz, unless otherwise noted.

Please leave comments as you feel so inclined. Tom can be reached via the World Wide Web. tomschulzartist@gmail.com, tom@empathinc.com. Please join Empathinc. on facebook by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/empathinc/