Author: Craig Constantine

Garrett Moore | Parkour & Politics →

Published May 16, 2023  ·  All posts on May 16

On Castbox.fm — Garrett Moore | Parkour & Politics

How does Parkour intersect with politics, and how can its principles be used to navigate divisive conversations and societal challenges?

Self-interrogation emerges as a tool for understanding societal conflicts through Parkour.

Very rarely are you ever going to convince someone to take your exact view. Oftentimes, the best outcome…is for folks just to consider your viewpoint.

~ Garrett Moore (17:24)

This conversation explores the intersection of Parkour and politics, particularly how movement philosophy can provide a lens for addressing societal and political challenges. Garrett discusses how divisive politics impact communities globally and the need for spaces to reflect on individual values. The conversation emphasizes that Parkour practitioners are a diverse group, challenging stereotypes that they are uniformly liberal. Exercises such as resource distribution scenarios are highlighted as methods used to engage participants in introspection and values clarification.

The discussion also focuses on tools for navigating contentious topics, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and emotional readiness. Garrett highlights the futility of trying to convert others to one’s viewpoint, instead advocating for fostering understanding and finding common ground. The concept of self-interrogation is central, with participants encouraged to reflect on their motivations and beliefs while engaging with the broader societal context.

Takeaways

Parkour as a political lens — Parkour offers a framework for understanding individual and societal challenges.

Community diversity — Parkour practitioners hold a wide range of political beliefs.

Navigating divisive issues — Tools like self-awareness and emotional readiness are essential for difficult conversations.

Role of self-interrogation — Reflection on personal motivations and values is key to engaging with society.

Exercise in resource distribution — Practical activities reveal underlying values and foster dialogue.

Value of dialogue — Genuine curiosity and understanding are more productive than debate.

Resources

@garrett_moves — Garrett Moore on Instagram.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Never reaching the sea →

Published May 16, 2023  ·  All posts on May 16  ·  , ,

What I do now is think up a problem and a resolution to that problem. I then begin the story, making it up as I go along, having all the excitement of finding out what will happen to the characters and how they will get out of their scrapes, but working steadily toward the known resolution so that I don’t get lost en route.

When asked for advice by beginners, I always stress that. Know your ending, I say, or the river of your story may finally sink into the desert sands and never reach the sea.

~ Isaac Asimov

Elsewhere, this is 4a1193. — slipbox

Resources and technology →

Published May 15, 2023  ·  All posts on May 15  ·  

But the deeper reason is that there’s really no such thing as a natural resource. All resources are artificial. They are a product of technology. And economic growth is ultimately driven, not by material resources, but by ideas.

~ Jason Crawford from Can Economic Growth Continue Over the Long-term?

Elsewhere, this is 4uloie6. — slipbox

A few years ago my thinking shifted. I used to think of something, simply by its existence, as being a “natural resource.” More recently I’ve begun to pay attention to which, and how much, technology has to be added for something to be a resource. Anything in the ground has no special value until someone adds the mining or drilling, the refinement, distribution and so on. That makes it clearer how to evaluate the trade-offs.

It becomes easier to visualize, and realize, that the constraints are not the amount of the natural resource (the raw stuff) but rather that the limits are all the expense, destruction, energy, transformation, and ideas that have to go into making that raw stuff usable. And sometimes, it’s just not the right trade-off to make a something into something useable.

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Idleness →

Published May 15, 2023  ·  All posts on May 15  ·  

Constant idleness should be included in the tortures of hell, but it is, on the contrary, considered to be one of the joys of paradise.

~ Charles de Montesquieu

Elsewhere, this is 4a1158. — slipbox

May 14, 2023 — #32 →

Published May 14, 2023  ·  All posts on May 14  ·  

Reading time: About 5 minutes, 900 words
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This issue is https://7forsunday.com/32

Human collaborators →

Published May 14, 2023  ·  All posts on May 14  ·  ,

And so we did the math, and it was really at the same time that I had lost [my idea] that she had gotten [her idea]. And we like to think that the idea jumped from my mind to hers during our little kiss that we had when we met. That’s our magical thinking around it. But it’s — there is no explanation for that other than the one that I’ve always abided by, which is that ideas are conscious and living, and they have will, and they have great desire to be made, and they spin through the cosmos, looking for human collaborators.

~ Elizabeth Gilbert from, The Muse Strikes Again

Elsewhere, this is 4usete5. — slipbox

Obviously that’s not how any of it really works. But it is a sublime, inspiring idea! I know that if I focus (or worse, fixate) on where some idea came from it’s easy to lose the delight of the overall thing. This cosmic perspective from Gilbert reminds me to simply take things and run with them. If I can. If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.

If I can’t run with it, well, that’s okay too. It is simply okay. But, if I still need some self-convincing, that cosmic perspective gives me the comfort I need to let go.

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Generous silence →

Published May 14, 2023  ·  All posts on May 14  ·  , ,

Generous silence provides space for the other person to be with their own self, for you to be with them for presence to show up. It allows them to take a breath. It whispers, “this is an interesting place to be. Let’s hang out here for a moment.” […] Generous silence can allow the delicate insights of a conversation to blossom and bloom.

~ Michael Bungay Stanier

Elsewhere, this is 4a1157. — slipbox

Gravy →

Published May 13, 2023  ·  All posts on May 13  ·  ,

To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.

~ Bette Davis

Elsewhere, this is 4a1122. — slipbox

Enhancing relationships →

Published May 12, 2023  ·  All posts on May 12  ·  ,

HomeNet could be (and has been) interpreted as an indictment of the internet, or screens, or modern communications technology in general. In truth, it illustrates a much simpler truth about love and happiness: Technology that crowds out our real-life interaction with others will lower our well-being and thus must be managed with great care in our lives. In order to reap their full benefits, we should use digital tools in ways that enhance our relationships.

~ Arthur C. Brooks from, Technology Can Make Your Relationships Shallower

Elsewhere, this is 4utefa1. — slipbox

I’m reminded of some comments by Rafe Kelley.

If junk food is flavor divorced from nutrition, then pornography is sexuality divorced from the context of relationships. Video games are thrill divorced from physicality. And so you take these boys who have this inherent aggression and you let them play Fortnite, and they can play all day without any self-regulation from having the physical demands of actual rough and tumble play. The problem is that it so easily out-competes the actual thing that we need, which is the real physical play.

~ Rafe Kelley from a video short from an Instagram post, so I’ll just link you to his Evolve. Move. Play. project.

Brooks and Kelley are talking about different technologies, but I think they’re both pointing toward the “divorce” being the actual issue. The arrival in the living room (mentioned by Brooks) divorced [I’ll say] the mental stimulation from the other people in the house.

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Miracles →

Published May 12, 2023  ·  All posts on May 12  ·  , ,

A person who is lucidly aware of the miracles that surround him, who has learned to bear up under the loneliness, has made quite a bit of progress on the road to wisdom.

~ M. C. Escher

Elsewhere, this is 4a1156. — slipbox