Post by seraphim on Dec 19, 2008 16:54:40 GMT -5
This is an idea...a philosophy of storytelling that has been bumping around in the echo chamber between my ears for a number of years. It is inspired by the central aesthetic of one of the most Christian non-Christian books I've ever read, Tea Life, Tea Mind. It is a small refection on the history and meaning of the Japanese tea ceremony by it's senior master and descendant of the first Wabi tea master who lived 400 or so years ago.
The aesthetic of beauty that drives the tea ceremony is called wabi-sabi. Wabi means rustic simplicity (more or less), even a subtle hand made quirkiness and sabi refers to the beauty and serenity that attends to age...to the patina of long familiar use. Together they point to a lived in unpretensious serenity. "Andrew Juniper claims, 'if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi,' " to parse Wikipedia.
We might say that it evokes more than preaches.
Sen Rikyu, the first Master of Wabi tea laid down a few simple but very deep rules concerning its practice.
To me (as should be obvious since I am writing this) the application to story-telling, especially for a Christian is clear.
1st. Tell a good story: Well what is a "good" story? Is it a moral fable, a pollyanna epic, a sermon in narrative form, an inoffensive story, a well crafted story regardless of its ethical core or world view...what? That's the puzzler...but that is the task? In this moment...at this time, what is a good story? Is the good in the ethics/religious motifs (if any) of a story or in its mechanics...both...other?
2nd: Lay the charcoal so that it heats the water. To interpret this I will have to borrow from Orthodox Christian spiritual analogy which likens the charcoal in the censer to our heart. It must be lit with the fires of grace if our prayer is to ascend....but not an open fire let it yield only bitter passionate smoke. So we might say...for the Christian writer, the heart must be prepared by simple even earnest prayer so that it warms the water...the medium by which the tea/story is prepared. The heart must be in the story just as the heat of the charcoal is in the water.
3rd: Arrange the flowers as they are in the field: Make the story beleivable even if it is incredible. How can a flower in a vase ever be like a flower in the field? How can the "imitation" of life ever seem true to it? So one must be true in indication...some aspect must be highlighted so as to evoke the fullness of the unpresent field. Flowers like story motifs have cultural associations, elements that can be used to suggest greater things...the simple should not be lost in the busy, the singular hidden by the many. Arrange your mottiffs, character developments, bacgrounding, etc. in a way that suggests and points to fuller things rather than tries to recreate everything. Be artful, but hide the art.
4th: In the summer suggest coolness, in winter, warmth.
Don't be tedius. Don't overwhelm. Offer intimations of countercurrents in your story. For example in a sad scene offer a hint of humor or lightness. Make the victories bittersweet...perhaps much more sweet than bitter, but never all sweet. And in every defeat leave some tiny beachhead of hope. Make the main characters more real by adding contrasts to their personality, their lifes, their deeds. Even Darth Vader found a little good in himself at the end.
5th. Do everything ahead of time: Prepare yourself by study, practice, and more practice. Know the story you intend to tell and do not let it drag you everywhere like a badly leashed trained St. Bernard. There is a time to explore and a time to edit. Don't try to force unworkable notions, but neither be mastered by every flashy whim--instead master the craft of writing and don't just think your unbelievably "clever" idea can be slopped out and accepted as good writing just because you managed to get it on paper and mailed with a SASE.
6th: Prepare for rain. Stuff happens. There will be rejection notices, writers block, competing life demands, envy of the guy who got "your idea" into print before you did. Stuff happens. Let not your hearts be troubled. Make preparations for the inevitabities so that when they come you are more 'inconvenienced' than besieged.
7th: And lastly, give those with whom you find yourself every consideration, or to quote Bill and Ted, 'Be excellent to each other.' Write for your audience; give them the consideration of a well crafted story at every level, a good story that you see through from word processor to shelf space at Borders. If you are accepted by a publishing house be kind to your editors. If people like what you do, be good to your fans...sign a book, do a teen interview, go to a convention. And be good to yourself....you have to put up with you every day...insist that you be best person you can be even when that means telling yourself to turn off the TV, log off You-tube, put away the dippin dots and write.
The aesthetic of beauty that drives the tea ceremony is called wabi-sabi. Wabi means rustic simplicity (more or less), even a subtle hand made quirkiness and sabi refers to the beauty and serenity that attends to age...to the patina of long familiar use. Together they point to a lived in unpretensious serenity. "Andrew Juniper claims, 'if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi,' " to parse Wikipedia.
We might say that it evokes more than preaches.
Sen Rikyu, the first Master of Wabi tea laid down a few simple but very deep rules concerning its practice.
A disciple once asked Sen Rikyu, "What are the most important things that must be understood and kept in mind at a tea gathering?" Rikyu replied, "Make a delicious bowl of tea; lay the charcoal so that it heats the water; arrange the flowers as they are in the field; in the summer suggest coolness, in winter, warmth; do everything ahead of time; prepare for rain; and give those with whom you find yourself every consideration."
"If you do these things well," Rikyu continued, "I shall become your disciple."
"If you do these things well," Rikyu continued, "I shall become your disciple."
To me (as should be obvious since I am writing this) the application to story-telling, especially for a Christian is clear.
1st. Tell a good story: Well what is a "good" story? Is it a moral fable, a pollyanna epic, a sermon in narrative form, an inoffensive story, a well crafted story regardless of its ethical core or world view...what? That's the puzzler...but that is the task? In this moment...at this time, what is a good story? Is the good in the ethics/religious motifs (if any) of a story or in its mechanics...both...other?
2nd: Lay the charcoal so that it heats the water. To interpret this I will have to borrow from Orthodox Christian spiritual analogy which likens the charcoal in the censer to our heart. It must be lit with the fires of grace if our prayer is to ascend....but not an open fire let it yield only bitter passionate smoke. So we might say...for the Christian writer, the heart must be prepared by simple even earnest prayer so that it warms the water...the medium by which the tea/story is prepared. The heart must be in the story just as the heat of the charcoal is in the water.
3rd: Arrange the flowers as they are in the field: Make the story beleivable even if it is incredible. How can a flower in a vase ever be like a flower in the field? How can the "imitation" of life ever seem true to it? So one must be true in indication...some aspect must be highlighted so as to evoke the fullness of the unpresent field. Flowers like story motifs have cultural associations, elements that can be used to suggest greater things...the simple should not be lost in the busy, the singular hidden by the many. Arrange your mottiffs, character developments, bacgrounding, etc. in a way that suggests and points to fuller things rather than tries to recreate everything. Be artful, but hide the art.
4th: In the summer suggest coolness, in winter, warmth.
Don't be tedius. Don't overwhelm. Offer intimations of countercurrents in your story. For example in a sad scene offer a hint of humor or lightness. Make the victories bittersweet...perhaps much more sweet than bitter, but never all sweet. And in every defeat leave some tiny beachhead of hope. Make the main characters more real by adding contrasts to their personality, their lifes, their deeds. Even Darth Vader found a little good in himself at the end.
5th. Do everything ahead of time: Prepare yourself by study, practice, and more practice. Know the story you intend to tell and do not let it drag you everywhere like a badly leashed trained St. Bernard. There is a time to explore and a time to edit. Don't try to force unworkable notions, but neither be mastered by every flashy whim--instead master the craft of writing and don't just think your unbelievably "clever" idea can be slopped out and accepted as good writing just because you managed to get it on paper and mailed with a SASE.
6th: Prepare for rain. Stuff happens. There will be rejection notices, writers block, competing life demands, envy of the guy who got "your idea" into print before you did. Stuff happens. Let not your hearts be troubled. Make preparations for the inevitabities so that when they come you are more 'inconvenienced' than besieged.
7th: And lastly, give those with whom you find yourself every consideration, or to quote Bill and Ted, 'Be excellent to each other.' Write for your audience; give them the consideration of a well crafted story at every level, a good story that you see through from word processor to shelf space at Borders. If you are accepted by a publishing house be kind to your editors. If people like what you do, be good to your fans...sign a book, do a teen interview, go to a convention. And be good to yourself....you have to put up with you every day...insist that you be best person you can be even when that means telling yourself to turn off the TV, log off You-tube, put away the dippin dots and write.