Halcyon Imagines

HALCYON IMAGINES HOW, TOGETHER, WE CAN IMPROVE BOTH OUR OWN AND OTHERS' LIVES, ONE STEP AT A TIME.

Imagining the world through the eyes of Montaigne...

 

"I have never seen a greater monster or miracle than myself", said Montaigne, describing his own poor memory, his ability to solve problems and mediate conflicts without truly getting emotionally involved, his disgust for man's pursuit of lasting fame, and his attempts to detach himself from worldly things to prepare for death.

Montaigne believed that humans cannot attain certainty, and he rejected general and absolute statements of dogma.  However, as Socrates had famously said that the unexamined life was not worth living, and Montaigne eventually found that his only subject matter was himself; so he resolved to try (essayer) to assay himself, his nature, his opinions, his attitudes and reactions, pretending nothing and confessing all.

"I am myself the matter of my book” he wrote; and he knew that he was engaged in producing something wholly original by being so. The result is a classic that has been admired, imitated and enjoyed ever since.

"Je n’enseigne point", Montaigne wrote. "Je raconte"...a lesson well worth remembering.

See also:

• Sarah Bakewell on Montaigne
• Will Self on reading Montaigne for the first time

Imagining our universe as only one of an infinite number...

 

 

...of possible universes - be they "Quilted", "Brane" or, most strangely of all, "Ultimate". 

Brian Green tackles this almost mystical idea head-on in The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos.  Greene discussed his ideas further during a March 2011 edition of Start the Week.

Imagining bringing together many of the world's best brains...

 

 

...with the shared purpose of improving the world.  The growing stable of TED and TEDx events around the world is quickly gaining traction; the next challenge will be to further democratise and create shared value from more of the bright ideas that these processes generate.

Imagining that it were possible to measure well-being...

 

...at both the personal and wider societal levels.

The Well-Being Agenda from The School of Life on Vimeo.

Imagining better global governance structures...

   

 

...more flexible and more relevant to our times.  This is the daunting challenge that Mark Malloch-Brown addresses head-on in The Unfinished Global Revolution, which he discussed compellingly at the Carnegie Council (see transcript) and on Start the Week in early 2011.

Malloch-Brown argues that national governments are no longer equipped to address complex international issues and that, as the world has become more integrated, we have also become less governed, even though if we are to tackle challenges such as poverty, international terrorism, climate change and the reform of the financial system, stronger global institutions are needed that revive, rather than replace, national governments.

• See also: The Unfinished Global Revolution, Observer review

Imagining blurring the lines between plagiarism and creativity...

 

...David Shields argued for such a blurring on Start the Week.  Shields believes that novels are irrelevant and that non-fiction has taken over. Living in an artificial and mediated world, he thinks we’ve become obsessed with reality.  But do the real stories we tell have to be our own and do they have to be true?

Shield asks where does plagiarism end and creativity begin?  Does it matter if some of our facts are other people’s fictions?  Storytellers have been reusing ideas and phrases for centuries; is it time to acknowledge that ‘borrowing nobly’ is the way forward?

 

Asking is the novel dead? is art theft? can you copyright reality?, a subsequent LSE event challenged Shields about his questioning of our basic assumptions about art, the novel, journalism, poetry, film, TV, rap, stand-up, graffiti, sampling, plagiarism, writing, and reading. This discussion about Shields' manifesto also explored wider complexities of art and literature in the 21st century and featured Geoff Dyer and Robert Hudson.

Imagining an "iTunes" for choosing which charities to support...

 

 

...a respected academic blog is already imagining such a service, allowing potential supporters to access clear, objective, compelling, multimedia content about any cause or charity that interests them, free from marketing hype, but backed by solid data about the charity's results and impact.

Imagining reconnecting with compassion...

The term "compassion" has fallen out of touch with reality, argues journalist Krista Tippett, who deconstructs the meaning of compassion through stories, and proposes a new definition, linking it with kindness, "curiosity without assumptions", empathy, forgiveness, beauty, generosity and presence.

Imagining what our bodies could still do after we die...

 

 

...it appears that there are quite a few things.

Imagining how we might become better parents, partners, colleagues, citizens...

 

...by not looking for happiness for our own sakes, but instead through helping others. 

(Source: Richard Layard - On Happiness from The School of Life on Vimeo.)