I was listening to Seth Godin's podcast Akimbo this morning and he was saying that the point of school should be to teach children to solve interesting problems. It got me thinking about what problems I am trying to solve with my efforts in tablesetting. I started with the superficial issues I wrestle with as I make my seasonal cloths, but kind of quickly got down to the question: "Why does it matter?" Am I doing it to satisfy and justify my own predilections.... I like setting tables, therefore it must be important and useful? Is my work actually as shallow and ego-driven as that? What is the real underlying problem I am addressing? The answer is lurking in the depths like the Loch Ness monster, large and mythical, but hard to see.
I think that the most important thing to me is my own connections to the web of life. Being part of, taking part in, doing my part to contribute to the swirl of Being Alive. It is what I am here for. Like everyone else, I experience that connection through the people I know, the places I inhabit and the experiences those things bring to me. I am part of many interlocking systems (familial, social, political, and ecological) that range from extremely intimate to universal. Some of those systems are breaking down and that is a Big Problem. Religion is a glue that is losing its stick, government is mistrusted, bowling leagues are out of fashion. Our cultural insistence on the primacy of the individual has left us alone and lonely amid the sweep of events too large to control or even understand. (The move toward individual autonomy was a needed part of our evolution, but we have come as far as that road will take us and now what?) Our natural urge in times of trouble is to turn to those around us and join together to face the danger, but what if we no longer know where to turn? We are confronted with threats to our existence without the framework of support we need to address them.
I started out speaking about myself and then moved to a larger view, which illustrates the many levels on which we are affected by the world around us. I guess this is another way of saying that the personal is political. We are each enmeshed in our own lives, together with everyone else. We need to find some rocks to stand on as the river of change sweeps relentlessly onward. What actions can we take as individuals that will gather, re-form and strengthen our communities? There are tons of ways we can reach out to others, but joining our friends and families for meals seems archetypal in its simplicity, and symbolic power. Sitting down face to face with those we know, or would like to know better, sharing the nourishment of the earth that we all require, is bedrock human interaction in which everyone can participate on some level or other. Fancy tables are not necessary at all, but it is our instinct and offering to embellish that which we think is important and I think the small, ordinary act of eating together is of utmost importance. The interesting problem I seek to solve is how to encourage and increase our connections with each other and the world; tablecloths are my medium.
On re-reading my post, I realize that I have said this over and over here, through the years. I am moved to say it again. Since repeating oneself is a sign of age does this mean that I am getting old?