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The Improvised Life
Improvisation, as the ability to adapt the environment to oneself and oneself to the environment sets humans apart from the other animals. Finding creative solutions to problems adds meaning to life. It is our heritage, our culture. Ultimately, all education is towards this goal.
The ability to do this under changing environmental circumstances promotes resilience in a system, organsation or organism. My father was a yacht skipper, and dedicated improviser, my step-father an engineer who can make anything out of steel. These characters taught me the importance of these principles, and the massive difference between knowing something in theory and in practice.
Characters like them are hugely valuable in a crisis. They fix things themselves, they are the ones people call when the shit hits the fan. Mid-ocean, they are the ones who lash the tiller, and plug the leak while others are searching for life vests and flares nobody will spot. Responding dynamically, efficiently, appropriately rather than following habits.
Our environment is rapidly changing, the ability of an individual to adapt appropriately is a vital skill but it is rarely taught outside the military. The ability to improvise is powerful, subversive, threatening, empowering, exciting and enlivening....it is our birthright.
Improvisation in the moment is the truest expression of knowledge. I have been traveling around this subject for as long as I can remember, looking at examples of improvisation in the widest sense. Meeting and practicing alongside characters who embody those principles, cooks,bricoleurs, zen students, bush mechanics, jazz musicians, yogis, permaculturists, armorers, artificiers, indigenous peoples and examining their artefacts.
To be resilient in the face of changes we need to be both strongly independent and to have high quality connections. It is usually learned oneself through hard experience, but has common threads that can be learned and shared. This site aims to do that.
Thank you for visiting.
James
Improvisation, as the ability to adapt the environment to oneself and oneself to the environment sets humans apart from the other animals. Finding creative solutions to problems adds meaning to life. It is our heritage, our culture. Ultimately, all education is towards this goal.
The ability to do this under changing environmental circumstances promotes resilience in a system, organsation or organism. My father was a yacht skipper, and dedicated improviser, my step-father an engineer who can make anything out of steel. These characters taught me the importance of these principles, and the massive difference between knowing something in theory and in practice.
Characters like them are hugely valuable in a crisis. They fix things themselves, they are the ones people call when the shit hits the fan. Mid-ocean, they are the ones who lash the tiller, and plug the leak while others are searching for life vests and flares nobody will spot. Responding dynamically, efficiently, appropriately rather than following habits.
Our environment is rapidly changing, the ability of an individual to adapt appropriately is a vital skill but it is rarely taught outside the military. The ability to improvise is powerful, subversive, threatening, empowering, exciting and enlivening....it is our birthright.
Improvisation in the moment is the truest expression of knowledge. I have been traveling around this subject for as long as I can remember, looking at examples of improvisation in the widest sense. Meeting and practicing alongside characters who embody those principles, cooks,bricoleurs, zen students, bush mechanics, jazz musicians, yogis, permaculturists, armorers, artificiers, indigenous peoples and examining their artefacts.
To be resilient in the face of changes we need to be both strongly independent and to have high quality connections. It is usually learned oneself through hard experience, but has common threads that can be learned and shared. This site aims to do that.
Thank you for visiting.
James
