These Are Notes

Reflexivity in Painting, Writing, and Living.

Tomorrow I want to write a post of that title.

It has to do with epistemology.

With the way that all of those things involve a more or less noticeable degree of reflexivity.

Painting is so obviously reflexive.

Writing, still yes, but less so.

Living, hardly noticeable, but still reflexive.

All of this has something to do with my relationship with technique or craft.

In painting, the gap between what is in my mind and what I can produce technically is so large, that when I begin to paint I am forced to find a middle ground between my technical capacity and the image in my mind. That is, I am not skilled enough to put what is in my mind on paper that I have to change what is in my mind to match what is on the paper. Writing, similar, but different.

Living, hardly noticeable. What are the shortcomings in my existential technique? And how does my living change as a result?

Reflexivity, as developed by Roger Smith in Being Human, is such a compelling epistemological argument. I find myself massively swayed by it.

My jaw dropped when I read Smith.

Yet, I cannot incorporate his thinking into my living.

How am I to regard life as a supremely reflexive process? Changing changing changing.

My recent explorations in painting (in addition to being incredibly enjoyable), are prompting reflections about this issue of reflexivity. Painting gives me a very intense example of a reflexive process. One that might serve as a useful analogy for thinking about reflexivity in other parts of my life, such as writing and living.

I'm the best!