The Soul of the Age

bedazzled, assassination, puking, newfangled, lacklustre, addiction, moonbeam, scuffle.

All words invented by the "sweet swan of Avon" as Ben Johnson characterised Shakespeare*.

While the King James Bible, published in 1611, uses an estimated 6,000 words, Shakespeare's works utilize between 26,000 to 29,000 words!

During the 17th century, the English language was estimated to have increased by 10,000 words. Of those, between 600 to 2,000 - depending on counting variables - were invented by Shakespeare alone.

Words matter. Words penetrate.

Teachers who want to increase their effectiveness as communicators, will do better to become obsessed by words.

The obsessive continued usage of Alexander's terminology by our Profession - inhibition, direction, faulty sensory appreciation, primary control etc etc -  is lazy. It bespeaks a paucity of creativity, a lack of moving with the times.

Marjorie Barstow - when teaching in England - was once confronted by a teacher who had not heard her speak about inhibition. She approached Marj…

"You don't teach inhibition!" she accused.

Marj smiled back, serious and penetrating…

"Inhibition is all I teach."

And she did. But she spoke of it differently. She said things like:

"All you get is the absence of what you had."

or

"The trouble with you people is that you all want something. And that something is your tension."

Or

"All you want is a little bit of nothing."

Or

"This is a gamble you can't lose. Because all you can end up with, is what you already had."

Creative. Different. Koans even.

Words that are designed to penetrate the brain, to cause neurological flusters that associate ideas that might never have arisen without it.

Gregory Doran - Artistic Director of the RSC - spoke of research at the University of Liverpool on the effects of Shakespeare's words on the brain. They researched Sir John Fallstaff's comment to Mistress Nell Quickly:  "…good tickle-brain".

What they found is that these words did tickle the brain!

There was a demonstrable activation within the visual association cortex upon hearing these words. Yes - VISUAL.

The "mind's eye" - as Shakespeare coined it - is awakened by the auditory.

We might "view" YouTube, but we have "audiences" go to the theatre. Audience has it's root in Latin audire meaning "to hear".

Direct marketers often say: pictures might attract, but words do the selling.

And sell you must - because Alexander's discovery is an elusive service to launch on an unsuspecting public.

You need to write: to paint the picture of your work in words.

Because words enter into our consciousness, in ways that our visual sense is unable to do. Language is the root of development and civilization.

Although I might appear to scorn the continued usage of outdated terms, I also believe Alexander's original writings are a reservoir of insight and depth.

His story "Evolution of a Technique" is unfathomably deep. I lost count of the number of times I have read this chapter, but it easily surpasses a 100. 100s more likely.

Partly because that chapter has been the guiding light of my 40 year gestation of ThinkingBody - my own synthesis of Alexander's journey, the Discovery (Change) Compass based on the Enneagram, and my own wish to evolve an emotional-centric version of Alexander's work.

That's why, in my 1st module of ThinkingBody, I pour over every single paragraph - individually - of Alexander's story. Extracting meaning, contemporizing it, associating it with other works and ideas.

It is the foundation or building block upon which to erect your own creativity in the work…

"To business that we love we rise betimes. And go to 't with delight."

It's on discount till August 15th.

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*All information in this post on Shakespeare was taken from a wonderful 50m lecture by RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran in 2016 - "Is Shakespeare Chinese?"