Jul
21
ekstasis
He starts by describing an ecstatic state.
Now ecstasy in Greek meant to stand to the side of something, and then it became essentially an analogy for a mental state where you feel that you are not doing your ordinary everyday routines. So ecstasy is essentially a stepping into an alternative reality.
… his body disappears, his identity disappears from his consciousness because he doesn’t have enough attention—like none of us do—to really do well something that requires a lot of concentration, and at the same time to feel that he exists. So existence is temporarily suspended.
— Creativity, fulfillment and flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004), www.ted.com
(Reposting this from http://springdance09.tumblr.com/post/98427944/he-starts-by-describing-an-ecstatic-state-now, because (I think) it is very relevant to our first day yesterday)
