Our upcoming
mini-philosophy club experience ('mini' because we'll be doing 3
sessions rather than the usual 6) is entitled "What's in a Place?" and
starts on Thursday, November 6th. Subsequent sessions will take place on
Thursday, November 20th and Thursday, November 27th. All sessions start
at 7:30 pm, and wind up around 10 pm. As for the theme...
Asking,
quite literally, just what IS in a place, the first session (November
6th) revolves around those public places to which we flock in droves,
which have entered into the collective imagination, and which we have
come to regard as iconic. Inspired by my recent trip to India, and using
the Taj Mahal in Agra as our jumping off point, we'll attempt to get to
the bottom of what we are seeking when we visit places such as this,
and what it means to gaze 'for the first time' upon a place so
recognizable that by the time we actually get there, we have already
'seen' it hundreds of times before. When we, in turn, take photographs
of that already familiar place, just what are we trying to capture? -
just what are we hoping to take home with us? In opening up the question
of what makes a place a place - the stories it holds? the practices
enacted within it? the bricks and mortar of which it is composed? its
location on a map? - we also probe the notion of the 'bucket list'
destination.
The second session (November
20th) looks at private places - those sites which are enormously
significant to the individual but which carry little meaning for the
rest of the world. When we make a pilgrimage to such a place, when we
cross oceans and/or move mountains to either get back to that place or
stand before it for the first time, just what are we hoping to find? -
just what are we expecting to have resonate? If we feel nothing, does
place as both concept and concrete reality become meaningless? If we
feel something, do we vest place with more than its four square walls
can reasonably contain? At 7500 feet above sea level, in a town perched
on a hilltop in the shadow of the Himalayas, I grappled with these
questions. Which places in your life prompt a similar line of inquiry?
Does the ordinary place you live in today become extraordinary if, at
some point in the future, it becomes somebody else's personal mecca?
In the third session (November 27th) the Indian concept of Jagaad,
or 'frugal innovation,' is used to challenge our existing ideas around
places both public and private, and to stretch our thinking so as to
consider the very notion of place from a fresh perspective. In this
session, as in the other two, thinkers who have sought to make sense of
place are introduced into the conversation, and insights drawn from
philosophical sources are interwoven into those we generate as a group. To
nurture this process and get those old creative juices flowing, club
participants are asked to read a short 'think piece' in preparation for
each session. These will be sent out by email in the week before we
meet.
In December, we will send out details of our 2015 salon
series, which kicks off in January, along with information about
renewing your annual membership and introducing other women to
wine women and philosophy.
