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CATEGORIES:Class/Seminar
DESCRIPTION:“Thoreau walked out every morning like a glass ready to be fill
 ed with water.”  This was John Cage’s admiring observation about Thoreau’s 
 daily walking practice.  And Thoreau wanted that glass to be as full as he 
 could make it! \n\n“I must walk with more free senses.  It is as bad to stu
 dy stars and clouds as flowers and stones.  I must let my senses wander as 
 my thoughts\, my eyes see without looking. . . . The   more you look the le
 ss you will observe . . . . What I need is not to look at all\, but a true 
 sauntering of the eye.” (Journal\, September 13\, 1852). \n\nThoreau worked
  hard to reach his ideal: a non-judgmental receptivity to whatever comes.  
 And it resonated with 20th-century avant-garde composer and practicing Budd
 hist\, John Cage\, who gave himself these contemplative guidelines (that he
  knew Thoreau had lived by one hundred years earlier):\n\n “[You] should be
  ready for a new experience\, and the best way to be ready for a new experi
 ence is to be attentive and empty.  By empty is meant open – in other words
 \, the like and dislike of the ego doors should be down.  And there should 
 be a flow so that the experience of listening can come in.” (Conversations 
 with Cage 235)\n\nImmerse in the contemplative practices of Thoreau and Cag
 e in this engaging presentation by Charles Junkerman. Thoreau (1817-1862) a
 nd Cage (1912-1992) engaged in a range of contemplative ways of living\, in
 cluding voluntary simplicity\, self-relinquishment\, meditative solitude\, 
 and what is called 'extrospection' (seeing through others' eyes\, including
  other species and what are often assumed to be inanimate objects like rock
 s and trees.  \n\nQ&A will be included at the end of the presentation.\n\nC
 harles Junkerman has had a 40-year career at Stanford\, and served as Assoc
 iate Provost and Dean of Continuing Studies for twenty-five years.  He went
  emeritus in 2020\, and continues to teach a range of courses regularly on 
 European and American literature\, with special interests in 19th-century E
 nglish and American Romanticism (Wordsworth\, Emerson\, Thoreau). He has al
 so written and lectured on Scottish history\, British mountaineering\, 19th
 -century landscape painting\, Irish literature\, and Native American photog
 raphy. Charlie has taught in South Korea\, acted as a mentor in a half-way 
 house in Redwood City\, participated in Northern Irish peace initiatives\, 
 and served as an advisor to Indian tribes in Oklahoma on issues regarding r
 epatriation of artifacts.
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DTSTAMP:20260420T230554Z
DTSTART:20241103T020000Z
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SUMMARY:CBD 2024: Non-judgmental Receptivity to Whatever Comes: The Daily P
 ractice of Henry David Thoreau and John Cage with Charles Junkerman
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_47286309504646
URL:https://events.stanford.edu/event/cbd-2024-non-judgmental-receptivity-t
 o-whatever-comes-the-daily-practice-of-henry-david-thoreau-and-john-cage-wi
 th-charles-junkerman
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