INTUITION AND LIFE DIMC '98. Kårahult, Sweden, Saturday 15th of

August.

Present were: Carl Bergstrøm-Nielsen, Frank Hiesler, Helene Jerg (writing this report), Johan Toft, Henrik Rasmussen, Ivan Vincze, Kumi Wakao.

........

Johan, reading aloud from the brochure: "What is intuition?

Should the intuitive dimensions of human life be seen as

something deeply irrational or just as another natural capacity

in human development? How does our intuitive activity affect

other levels of present human life? Do we represent new

dimensions of human interaction? Can one reflect on intuitive

activities without spoiling their intuitive nature?" - Many

businessmen say, we miss intuition, but how can we use it in this

"rational" world?

Helene: One can have many ideas about how to lead one's life.

Johan: I do not have to be 200% intuitive or not.

Carl: Having decided intuitively to come here, you have to sit

in a car for some time and maybe not be so intuitive during

driving.

Carl: yesterday at the concert something moved.

Henrik: we made people smile!

Johan: We had one hour of intuition yesterday, that's not enough!

I want it totally - a group driving around and visiting schools

all day, making people feel intuitive.

Carl: we had this discussion before...However, seen from the

viewpoint of the public who comes to a concert the problem about

developing the forms of concerts remains!

Frank: What do we do with all that mess!?

Ivan: When the atmosphere is right and music is intuitive, it

consists of three things:

1) We must have a higher openness towards meeting each other.

2) An open question: can we get it out to more people? Or will

they be frightened?

3) If it succeeds, everybody in the world will think intuitively,

but that takes time!

We should not think so much about the form of concert, it is

more important just to do it.

Carl: Often, when I speak to Johan I think: it must be great to

be in charge oneself on what to spend time with and when!

Frank: I'm thinking about the word intuitive. We cannot say: I

want to be intuitive. Intuitive life is better than a life

thought out. It must have to do with action - because it is

unconscious we cannot point to where it is, we must grasp it when

we meet it. There is a paradox when speaking of it. It is like

something under the water surface - how can we grasp something

we cannot see?

<Actually, we were sitting on a bridge at a lake when having this

discussion, surrounded by the water>

Johan: Let's go into it - we must build a bridge between (putting

your finger into the water). Maybe we should just try things -

maybe is is dangerous, maybe not!

Ivan: ...Like little children, they do things unconsciously.

Johan: when we make intuitive music, we get closer to intuition.

Carl: it is healthy to work both rationally and intuitively. As

C.G. Jung said, to be intuitive you must first do all you can

rationally.

Frank: When we played tutti before, Henrik and I fell into

playing at exactly the same time - why? That was fascinating and

heavy! I expected something to happen and something else would

happen instead.

Carl: maybe some analysis had taken place inside you on a higher

level. - I thought about it recently: what I especially like

about intuitive music, also as a listener, is that there is no

"glue", it does not go on and on with what was before but follows

the moment, makes all moments new. That is relevant to take into

our daily life.

Ivan: first we have instinct - later it becomes intuition.

Instinct is materialism and egoism. Intuition goes beyond that

- to open one's mind and give room for things to happen.

Kumi: Intuition is to me to throw away mental garbage. In daily

practical work I often wish for that and just be, just go back

to nature. We have too many things, also in our minds. I cannot

throw everything away, many things must be considered. But when

I play, there is freedom.

Frank: music must take place in the present - it can react to

life.

Carl: Yes. That's why intuitive music is so refreshing.

Henrik: It is about using oneself as an instrument and being

aware in order to be able to react.

Ivan: In intuitive playing, ethics is nescessary. Else

destructive things will happen.

Johan: In order to be intuitive, you must reflect before you do

things or play.

Frank: do you think that is valid for what happened at lunch,

about the concert? Where does the feeling come from?

Johan: Playing with you it is important not to enter, if another

one is about to do the same.

Frank: but sometimes exactly that makes it exciting. To "live"

is to be part of that game.

Henrik: letting life be lived and things happen!

Johan: If we sit down to play and start with silence and somebody

starts - he or she is afraid of emptyness.

Frank: the point is to be and to play that which you are.

Henrik: you must accept silence and you don't need to discuss

what you are doing. To put it another way: Let's use ourselves

as the instrument, by being ready.

Kumi: Are you satisfied with your lives?

Johan: ...about anything special?

Kumi: please answer as you like

Ivan: it is about having an discriminating taste. I am

dissatisfied, I want more.

Johan: I like to be accepted.

Ivan: I think more about the aesthetic, but also the relation to

others. It is important to me to arrive at a higher form of

justice.

Carl: I am not satisfied about everything in my life, but some

choices concerning music-making I am very happy about. It makes

me feel great to think I did exactly the right thing.

Johan: self-realization!

Frank: I don't want to be "like this" - this makes me feel like

going further.

Ivan: for the artist, two qualities are important: 1) self-

conscience and 2) self-confidence.

Johan: I am against that. The more uncertain, the more intense.

Carl: we should treat ourselves as human beings!

Frank: For my life, I learn much by playing intuitive music. I

must react to what happens - improvisation is my possibility to

do that. If it goes fast, I do not have time to think. That's the

difference about intuitive music. I have to take a stand -

without thinking, but reacting.

Henrik: relating to surroundings.

Frank: art and life are myself.

Kumi: Quotation by John Cage: We make our lives by what we love.

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