Symphonic Assemblage

We hereby set forth and exemplify a new form of

literature – the Symphonic Assemblage. This form
of literature is an instance of what we call the
Feminine conception of Form, which is
complementary to the Masculine conception of
Form. Later in the book, we explain these two
conceptions of Form. Briefly, the Feminine
understanding of Form is more relational, dynamic,
elusive, and ever-changing, yet somehow perceptible
and whole; the Masculine understanding of Form is
more focused, stable, definitive, and structural.

The book as a whole is an example and model of the

Feminine understanding of Form. Our Assemblage
gathers together varied ideas and passages of
literature which cross the boundaries of disciplines,
generations, genders, cultures, nationalities,
religions, worldviews, and stages of life experience.
The varied passages or notes provide a multitude of
examples, illustrations, and verifications of a single,
pervasive Theme, expressed in Symphonic
Composition. As such, the Assemblage displays the
wide, inclusive, integral, and relational perspective
characteristic of women.

However, one of the central achievements of this

book (though by no means the only one) consists
also in the discovery and clear definition of Twelve
Forms of the English Sentence. In the discovery and
explanation of these twelve forms of the English
sentence, we are employing the Masculine sense of
Form, which is more clearer, focused, individual, and
distinct.

Together, the Feminine and Masculine concepts or

ideas of Form constitute the Left Hand and Right
Hand of the greater structural framework of this
book. Repeatedly throughout the book, we employ
the unifying metaphor of Two Hands – in varied
applications and configurations – to bring the
English language home to all the people on Earth, as
close and companionable as their own two hands.
 Defining a Symphonic
Assemblage
A Symphonic Assemblage, as a new literary genre, has
the following characteristics:
1. It has a single, central, main theme
2. It has a guiding metaphor
3. It has a single recurring image representative of the central metaphor
4. It has an intuitively realized and laid out, discernable structure or
framework that yokes together the main parts, much like the separate
movements of a symphony or the separate stones in a Fieldstone Wall.
5. It comprises many independent autonomous units whose range
encompasses more than one genre and more than one discipline or
research area, and that have been very carefully culled from one’s own
sources, new authoritative sources, or sources from the past. It
incorporates valuable excerpts from famous as well as previously
unrecognized authors.
6. The many independent autonomous units constitute – individually in
themselves as units – brief, compressed, distilled nuggets of insight,
wisdom, and knowledge notable for their precise, brilliant, and
memorably illuminating, arresting, and artistic expression.
7. The many independent autonomous units (excerpts or selections of
written text) are separated by a wider physical space on the page than
usual. The physical, visible separation on the page represents and
symbolizes an interval of silence that encloses and embraces the many
independent autonomous units before and after they are read. The
experienced silence preceding and following the reading of the many
independent autonomous units means that the reader should think and
meditatively absorb the meaning of each unit before proceeding to
another. Why? First, because each unit is a compressed and felicitous
expression of insight, wisdom, and knowledge which calls for and requires
deeper reflection and thought. Second, each new unit resonates in the
silence with many of the units before and after it in the total
Symphonic Assemblage.
 Defining a Symphonic Assemblage
(cont’d) (part 2)
8. The awareness that comes from this way of
proceeding, this method of reading, provides what
many have called the aha pause or eureka moment of
realization. The onus is on the reader to discover,
fathom, and appreciate the way in which the current
unit connects to its predecessors and successors as well as
to the Symphonic Assemblage as a whole, since this
connection is not always initially obvious and
proceeds from a deeper level of understanding.
Moreover, this way of proceeding, this method
of reading, characterizes the Symphonic
Assemblage as a literary form that demands and
requires a more active and involved reader who
participates with their entire being (soul, mind,
and body) in the an imaginative re-creation and
personal appropriation of the individual units
and unfolding whole of the Assemblage. Thus,
reading is more a continuous process of ongoing
integration and appropriation (making the text
one’s own or taking ownership of it) than a
passive momentary encounter with an isolated
written ppassage
g on the physical
p y printed
p page.
p g
The pace, posture, and involvement of the
reader is not like that of the ordinary passers-by on
Main Street, or the reporters and readers of
newspapers on Fleet Street, or the purely utilitarian
focus of businessmen on Wall Street, but more like
the leisurely and contemplative stroll in silence of
th walker
the lk iin N
New Y Yorkk C
Central
t lPParkk or bby th
the
shores of Lake Louise in Canada.
 Defining a Symphonic Assemblage
(cont’d) (part 3)
9. Each of the many independent autonomous units stands on its own and
speaks its own clear, distinct, individual truth in its own distinct, individual
voice and manner, yet all of the many independent autonomous units
mutually expand and comment upon one anotheranother, mutually reinforce
reinforce,
illuminate, reflect and complement one another, in consonance or
dissonance, like the blended harmony and dissonance of the independent
instruments of a symphonic orchestra – the woodwinds, the brass, the
drums, the strings, the piano – mutually reinforce, mutually expand and
advance the unified theme of a symphony with a new movement (or return
recursivelyy for a fuller re-integration
g or further development
p of an earlier
movement with the new movement). The whole symphony, distinct in
each of its notes and instruments, is yet synergistic (in its essence),
bringing the combined richness and diversity of its content into one artistic
unity: the whole greater with power and resonance, feeling (in its
playing and reception) and beauty than the sum of its parts.
10. The Symphonic Assemblage is the representative, necessary, and
i di
indispensible
ibl art fform expressive i off the
h lif
life experience
i andd tasks
k off
our time in history. As a character in one of Shakespeare’s plays observes,
“Our virtue lies in the interpretation of the time.”
This time in history is the Age of Maturity for humanity on this planet.
When an organism is mature, all its powers and capacities reach the
plenitude of their fulfillment. This means the organism integrates all its
previously separate component parts and aspects and experiences into the
focused purpose and pursuit of its destiny. As humanity experiences its
maturity in our time, the peoples, races, genders, and nationalities gather,
come together, and come home to bring to fruition the grand, integrated
Assemblage of Humanity as a whole. Human beings assemble and
integrate the previously separated disciplines of learning, cultures, and
divisions that have hitherto separated humanity by too frequent occasions
of violence, aggression, and wasteful, unproductive conflicts. Mature
people do not invoke aggression and violence to solve problems and
disputes; they face, find, and forge answers to problems and open
possibilities previously unimagined. The 21st and succeeding centuries will
witness the Grand Assemblage of Humanity in peace and unity, and that
Assemblage is heralded, prepared for, and catalyzed by Symphonic
Assemblages of the thoughts and written expressions of human beings
everywhere on the planet.
 Defining a Symphonic
Assemblage (cont’d) (part 4)
11. Is the Symphonic Assemblage an inventive and original work of creation?
Should the compiler of the Assemblage be called the author, or the
assembler,
bl the h compiler,
l or theh orchestrator?
h
Inasmuch as most of the content of a Symphonic Assemblage
consists of a putting together of the writings of others, how can the
compiler of the assemblage be called an author? Even if they may
contribute some or a considerable portion of their own original writing to
the content of the Assemblage, does that small contribution entitle them
to the title of author? But, what if their inventiveness and originality does
not consist only or solely in their original writings as part of the
Assemblage, but in the perception, insight, and imaginative constructive
power that has enabled them to select only the most excellent and
compressed brilliant writings of others, so that from those autonomous
units of meaning that they first discovered, they were able to imagine and
construct a greater whole to which the units belonged in a very particular
and concrete sequence of mutual resonance and organization.
They did not create and write all or even most of the autonomous
units of meaning in the Assemblage, but they did envision and construct
the symphonic whole from the autonomous units that they first
discovered in all their compressed excellence. And they embraced and
surrounded and embedded those autonomous units in the silence that
they require to be properly recognized and appreciated.
appreciated
In short, the name doesn’t matter here. Whether you call the one
who puts the Assemblage together the author, compiler, or assembler –
whatever the name – he or she has demonstrated critical acumen, a
refined taste and sensibility, and an imaginative power of conception and
construction of a new literary form.
y p
12. The Symphonic Assemblageg is a pproduct that evolves over time through
g
widespread reading across disciplines and genres, by continuous
reflection , and as a consequence of integral awareness, vision, and
imagination.
Often an Assemblage is so vast in scope that it requires and nurtures
collaboration between several compilers or authors. Thus, it heralds the
advent of a time when mutual and cooperative projects may be brought
t fruition
to f iti by b peoplel working
ki harmoniously
h i l together,
t th rather th than
th by
b
isolated individuals pursuing fame and fortune.
 Tips and Notes on the
Assemblage Process
1. Most pieces of writing conform to certain established forms or
genres that arose in response to certain conditions, opportunities, or
needs found in society. In the case of Assemblage, a clear explanation
of the process may well help the public discover, appreciate, and
appropriate this new genre as a genre of choice. Making an
Assemblage can be done simultaneously while working on other
pieces of writing in other genres, and one should not shorten or stop
one’s stride in mastering those other genres. Assemblage is just new
avenue, immensely suitable for the Integral Age.

2. Each good piece of writing is an independent whole unto itself,

with its identifiable merits and characteristics. There is a sense of
completeness and robustness, breadth and depth in it.

3. Each good piece of writing consists of various components pieces

(chapters, scene, verse, chorus, summary, hypothesis, observations,
implication, evidence, etc) that are put together. These parts, although
they may share a consistent level of quality throughout the passage,
do differ in their merit: Some parts exceed others because of their
merit, their insight, their use of the language, their association. Not all
parts of a composition are created equal. Different passages
strike different chords with different folks..

4. The process of noticing good passages in any type of composition

(scientific, journalistic, fiction, drama, etc) is a skill that leads to
connections being made between passages that have very different
parentage. This assembling of such passages together in a well‐laid‐
out, meticulously masoned arrangement, rather than detract from
each passage's weight and merit, in fact intensifies or strengthens its
merit and weight.

5. Read actively, actively notating gems for possible later use in an

assemblage: Making an Assemblage is something that starts with
active reading. Passages worthy of note are marked or labeled or
digitized and stored online for future reference, even should their
immediate use or relevancy be apparent. Follow your intuition, and if
 you think a passage should be clipped, then one should take steps to
make sure that it is inventoried for future usage and reference. An
excellent place to store bits online is at docs.google.com using their
webware word processor. (Could this be called cloud clipping or cloud
composting or cloud composing?)

Be sure to note the source carefully, and if possible, note the word
count of the passage, since passages of greater than 250 or 300 words
are beyond the limits of fair use and would require copyright
permission. Cost of copyright can vary from nothing to as much as
$500 for a passage. So, when reading, go for the pith. When writing,
strive for cogency, lucidity, words that are sparse in number but
convey magnitudes in meaning .

Lorine Niedecker
from Collected Works UCalPress
Grandfather
advised me:
Learn a trade
I learned
to sit at desk
and condense
No layoff
from this
condensary

It takes years to put together a good Assemblage. You and your co‐
assemblers (collaborators) must have patience, and must be open for
chance surprise discoveries or discoveries that seem to fall out of the
sky from nowhere, but do in fact connect with welded strength to one
of the pivoted and angular paths you have started in your reading and
research.

6. Index occasionally: After a substantial number of cloud‐clipped units

are in one’s assemblage storage box (boxsite?), one can start to create
(possibly by using a spreadsheet) a written list of titles or index
numbers that refer to the passages. One can clump together titles or
index numbers of passages that seem to fit together, not necessarily
for similarity of content (although that is allowable), but also for
divergent content, content that contrasts or challenges, content that
reflects an equally valid viewpoint or a fresh find from the labs of
research, or a cherished literary artifact from another culture, another
place, another time.
 Of course, one could just compile without doing this early piecing
together of puzzle pieces; just let the whole thing incubate, in
anticipation of a grand gestation down the road.

7. Interesting Fact: The process of assembling parallels the process

of thinking (on a neurobiological level). The mind does not store
images and memories as entire units (see Mother Tongue, and
Domasio Descartes 94). . . . 100 memory is reconstructive . . . This
replication of the excellent piece in a new setting, with new neighbors,
perhaps even in a neighborhood with a much higher status of
occupants, puts the assemblage unit (the original passage) in an
entirely fresh light. Because of its original setting or date of
composition, it may show remarkable insight or precocious
knowledge far ahead of its time.

8. The process of assembling can also be seen as the difference

between shallow and deep ecology. Shallow ecology looks at
(perhaps) a single species and studies all its behaviour and
characteristics. Deep ecology looks at its relationship to other
organisms, and how that one species is but one of many that are
interacting interdependently, maintaining and keeping alive the web
of life. If we look at literature as the collection of all written
documents ever recorded – in every area from history to political,
from science to the literary arts, from personal and private to publicly
shared and prized – then the obvious parallel with deep ecology
would be to widen the scope of one's radius of observation and one’s
sphere of sensitivity.
 Types of Asssemblages
All Assemblages,
A bl as a new lit
l terary genre, share
h theh
following characteristics:
1. Level 1 – Culled Assem
mblage
A Culled Assemblage is a welll-ordered selection of excellent
excerpts – notable for their com
mpressed and felicitous expression of
insight, wisdom, and knowledgge – from a single field of learning or
expertise. A Culled Assemblagee is not a mere listing or collection of
selections because a mere listinng or collection includes poor and
selections,
mediocre selections as well as excellent
e ones. Moreover, a mere
collection is not informed by anny artistic principle of organization.
2. Level 2 – Re-Cast Asseemblage
A Re-Cast Assemblage is a novel and creative arrangement of a
previously Culled Assemblage (possibly with expansion with a
limited amount of new material from new sources), giving new
meaning and resonance to the Assemblage
A by virtue of the fresh
pplacement of the parts
p and arraangement
g of the whole.
3. Level 3 – Novel and Original
O Assemblage
A Novel and Original Assemb blage consists of the sizable addition
of important novel, original, en
nriching, augmenting, amplifying,
and valuable material to a previious Assemblage. The additions may
be created by the Assembler aloone, or selected from unrecognized
or under-appreciated sources oro distant cultures.
4. Level 4 - Symphonic Assemblage
A
The Symphonic
y p Assemblage
g innvolves the interweavingg of several
lesser Assemblages into a unifieed whole with one central guiding
theme, a guiding metaphor, andd recurring image reflective of the
guiding metaphor, along with thhe other seven characteristic
features of the Symphonic Asseemblage presented previously.
5. Level 5 - Grand Symp
phonic Assemblage
The Grand Symphonic Assembblag, only at a conceptual stage now,
would be an Assemblage of sevveral Symphonic Assemblages.
Cross-disciplinary, cross-culturral, across both genre and gender, it
wouldld bbe vastt iin scope,
p as hi
highh as a mountain
t i iin th
the range off its
it
material, and insightful as an im maginative third eye could be in its
comprehensive overview of thee sweep and bearing of human
history.
 Lesser Assem
mblages Within
this Symphon
nic Assemblage
What we conceptualize as a Sympphonic Assemblage, this oeuvre or
magnum opus in two volumes, invvolves the interweaving of several
lesser assemblages as listed below
w:
1. A systematic Assemblage of newly
n invented, memorable names
for sentence forms
2. Assemblage of Sentence Form ms as models for new students and
others
3. Assemblage of Student Paraggraphs as models for new students
and others
4. Assemblage of Student Essayys as models for new students and
others
5. Assemblage of Student Biogrraphies as cross-cultural peer
experiences for new students and others
6
6. Assemblage
bl off Quotations an ndd shorter
h Excerpts from
f famous
f as
well as unrecognized writers
7. Assemblage of Essays and Passsages by professional writers
8. Assemblage of Poems by fam mous as well as unrecognized writers
9. Assemblage of Figures of speeech (metaphor, analogy, irony) as
models for new students
10. Assemblage of black and whitte photos of Forms of Nature and
th hhuman world
the ld
11. Assemblage of the 22 Kinds ofo Intelligences
12. Assemblage of scholarly Sourrces (Research Round-up) in the
form of an annotated, organizzed, and prioritized bibliography
13. Assemblage of visually appealling summary and explanatory
charts
14. Assemblage of mind maps
 Black and White Photographs
of the Form
ms of Nature
The Symphonic Assemblage of thiis book involves the interweaving
of several lesser assemblages of forms
f of Nature as listed below:
1. Flowers
2. Trees
3. Buildings
4
4. Landscapes
5. Assorted other fforms

The Yin and Yang

Ya of Black
and White Phhotography
Black
k | White

Black and white photography corresponds to yin and yang in

more than just the opposite woord meanings of black and white.
Unlike in color photography, black
b and white photography
highlights two other examples of yin/yang oppositions:
namely,
y, negative
g p |p
space|positiv p , and the invisible
ve space,
world|the visible world.