Antonio MacHado
1875-1939
I.
In Midlife Matters, oceanmrc writes of an article suggesting that people who participate in online communities might forget how to interact in face-to-face social situations. She disagrees with the article; so do others who posted to her journal. Something that the Spanish poet, Antonio MacHado wrote seems relevant:
When I'm alone
my friends are with me;
when I'm with them,
they seem so distant!
I submit that when we are alone, corresponding with online friends, those friends can feel more real to us than people who are physically in our presence.
II.
Here is a sort of riddle posed by Antonio MacHado:
Between living and dreaming
there is something else.
Guess what it is.
What do you think is the answer to the riddle?
8 comments:
I woke up late last night and read a few journal entries. Yours was the last, and I thought about that puzzle until I fell asleep. My dreams were full of geometric shapes, triangles, rectangles, squares that all eventually morphed into circles. Each one had its own distinct color, and then the circles started to merge. As the colors overlapped, the intersecting area's colors would blend and transform. What I was seeing were Venn diagrams, with the overlapped area obviously the area between two different entities, like living and dreaming. The area between, for me, is hope and aspiration. I disagree that moving our social interactions to the virtual world of internet communities hinders our ability to interact in real life social communities. I think it enhances us. I think that the nature of an online community like journalling shows us to appreciate the closeness of friendships and makes the absence of real life attributes, like hugs, hearing laughter and real spoken words more profound. Thus, it makes us more appreciative of good real life relationships.
http://journals.aol.com/sistercdr/Sortingthepieces
I think that part if it is that online communication is focused. When I am with my friends irl, the conversation is diffuse and various. There have been summer mornings when we have stayed outdoors talking through breakfast and lunch and started to wonder if we should order dinner. I couldn't begin to describe the range of conversation. But online, you make your point, and then others make theirs. There's a wonderful blend of instant feedback and time to ponder.
time to ponder.
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I think this is one of the most important aspects of the online experience for me. I'm not good at direct conversations because I need time to think; also, as one is talking I often find my mind drifting to something that was said earlier; I find myself trying to make sense of it. With the journals, I can do that, and I can take some time to frame my thoughts. I can live with something that has been said for a day or days. Sort it out.
Theresa, I agree with both you and oceanmrc. These on-line connectins are very real and meaningful. They certainly are different than engaging with others face to face, for we can't read psoture, facial expressions, eyes, and we can't hear intonations and emphasis. But the "time to ponder," the time to correct what might come flying pointlessly out of our mouths, and the time to review what the other person has written is a real gift. For those of us who love words, we have time to pick the exact expression, the perfect word, and for me that provides enormous pleasure. Then I can truly get my meaning across to my on-line friend.
As for the answer to Senor MacHado's riddle, well, I submit that between living and dreaming is the true Self. Living engages our conscious minds in our everyday chores and routines. Dreaming draws us to what is not yet an actuality. The limbo between is where we truly dwell, forming a balance between what is and what might be. That is our creativity and our mother earth.
Between living & dreaming is all that`s fantasy.
http://journals.aol.com/deabvt/DeablerVT/
V
Between Living and Dreaming is Creativity The Trinity metaphor of Thought=Dreaming,Word=Living and Deed=Creativity. Resulting in the Creation=The Square.
Between living and dreaming there's reality.
In this community it is possible to reveal far deeper aspects of our souls for somehow the written words seem to be like a cocoon of peace.
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