Benjamin Earl – Week 2 – Grounding
Jul 26, 2022
Hello again world, Ben here.
It’s been a week since I posted on here last and although a lot has changed, a lot has stayed the same. Tumultuous changes seem to be going on around me but life at Sasso stays the same; calm and considered.
Here is a short list of things I’ve noticed over the last seven days:
- Flows (rivers, waterfalls, processes, coffee)
- A snake
- Thunder and lightening
- Collections and deposits
- Endings
- The world from above
- …
As per my last post, I’ve been listening to satellites each evening this week. Between 8 and 10pm, a satellite flew over Sasso and broadcast its signals to the world below. I sat in the garden with my headphones on, eyes to the sky, waiting for to hear the faint sounds of the satellite. Every evening the satellite arrived 4 minutes later than I thought, but it arrived nonetheless. I was listening to the satellite to gain a perspective on the world around me that I could not reach. My eyes in the sky. During the fly over, the satellite transmitted radio signals which I could translate into images (through a process I still do not understand). Below are a selection of my favourite images created last week:
When I look back at these images and try to find myself in them (which is impossible, unfortunately) I realise its a perspective of a world that I cannot relate to. This perspective from 531 miles above, does not give me the sense of life I see around me. The plants, the flowers, the bugs, the lizards, the people, the mountains all have life in them that I can’t find. Maybe its a perspective that doesn’t allow for life to flourish, along with other top down ways of seeing.
Alongside these listening and imaging activities, I’ve been reading All About Love by bell hooks. I was most struck by her chapter on living by a love ethic. In it she says:
“Embracing a love ethic means that we utilize all the dimensions of love–”care, commitment, trust, responsibility, respect, and knowledge”– in our everyday lives. We can successfully do this by cultivating awareness. Being aware enables us to critically examine our actions to see what is needed so that we can give care, be responsible, show respect and indicate a willingness to learn.”
After reading this I didn’t want to look at satellites anymore. I wanted to listen to the garden, the house, the people, the weather and the other members of the world around me. So this week, inspired by Pauline Oliveros, I will be spending time listening and noticing the things directly around me. From a perspective of my own.
Until next time!
(cover photo by Benedikt Steiner)
