A Letter fae the Other Side

31.1.2020 *updated 20 days later..

Original written by Andrew Gryf Paterson

 

My dears, #kullat

I send greetings from the #OtherSide. The river is not so wide. Liminality’s shore & share. Death is over there. Life is here. I wish to invite you to #Burn____ 

The blank is purposefully left there. For you to fill in. Filled by a multitude of persons hybrid in various ways. To connect together relationships and experiences of psychological, social and environmental collapse, let’s explore together how we can survive it, developing resilience. 

26*12(+24) fires make a patch work that demands attention. The fires keep, coming.

We need to extend beyond cultural practices into how we live with ourselves, to be with each other humans and non-humans in the future, with\in ecosystems, social flesh-n-blood groups and digital networks. We don’t want to burn out of our lives because of residency papers do we? Thicker printer-paper will keep your hands warmer for a little longer. 

There will be losses. I only really trust older cultural workers these days who have burned out at least once. The youngs, we need to support through and across, so we can learn from them and support the passions that paddle and move us. Burning heart issues #offline #onlife2020.

Because words do these days. It is obvious you have heard of billions in flames, especially in the middle of your dark endless November. Literally the soundscape of Gondwana (tens of millions of years ago). It is dark no, sooty, charred. Isn’t it obvious by now? Darkness needs to be scared off, and the leftovers are burnt. 

They saved the most ancient ones. Warming us all, lighting us up in the future! You. Are. Resilient. Digital tools are less powerful than the physical processes in the carbon cycle. I will not be consumed. I will not be consumed. I will be left in the ground. I will be left in the ground. I will sift through the air. I will sift through the air. I am water. I will flow.

Solar punk. It will keep going providing energy, longer than we will. AR-VR-Gamer blurrr of realities. Fever temperatures in your body. Performance demands and constant growth does not necessarily equate to new wisdom. Knowledge production arguably only happens with care and attention. 

It is because the system makes it so easy to perpetuate crisis, it writes itself. The highest resolution photos of the sun ever taken remind you however even the hottest things have a structure like a confederation, buffering, rendering with each other. That is a truth that shines beyond fake news.

As ContraPoints sais "Is it hot in here or is the world just like this now?" Torches in the past, present and future were/are/will not be held just by assumed White Men. Indeed there's a guid anarcho-punk tradition out there which suggests in a shouty way where the oppressive eviction powers and systems can get tae f..

Death & Healing included. Of course this is an article for those art historians, amateur or professional who are mostly immersed in Western modernist-influenced art.. Non-Western indigenous artists arguably always keep a closer companion to these subjects.. Compassion is necessary.

Narrow-minded socialization and patriotism is over, interdependence wins! To celebrate, the Young(s) paint their faces with the colours and shapes they believe in, and slip below the radar.. Finland is leading the work and struggle already starting with under 12 year olds. That off the screen, into your head?

“Uncle, why are you still going out without a face mask? Don’t laugh. Hurry up and get in your car and go home.” What is going to keep society in check during our chaotic fold? Trust or Drones or both? Who needs labels, ontologies, shelf-positions.. Scans. Fluidity runs over them. We will not.

Pixel-aching, with devices, books, sport-gear, games, plus plus more than just checkouts, returns, silent spaces.. Burning. No need to do that to those bridges, them edges. We don't have to collapse, we can do socio-economics differently. In, not Out. In, not Out. RW (re-writable) disks.

You might think that it is all about fire. No, it is not just that. In old and modern Scots, the word burn refers to water.[1] A stream. We can be burn-bearers. Brewing tea. Soothing words, dousing or putting out the heat. Keeping the calm. Seek sacred wells to draw from. ‘Naturally’.

We launched our process on the eve of Bridghe’s (Bríde, St. Bridgid, Imbolc) day.[2] A balance between darkness and light. A traditional Gaelic festival marking the beginning of Spring, halfway between winter solstice and spring equinox. It’s a time to wash and cleanse oneself. We are pregnant. Potential is in the belly. Let’s have the guts.

 

Andrew Gryf Paterson, www.agryfp.info

[1] Burn n. Dictionary of Scots Language. Accessible from https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/burn

[2] Imbolc. Accessible from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc