Mark Morris and Bayes
6 Comments | by Lucy Wightman So yeah, I emailed Mark Morris today. He is a choreographer I briefly knew before he became famous. He composes based on the music. “Music,” he says, “is more direct than words.” He is authentic, and it seems always in that “no bullshit-mode.” (per Maria)
After spending time with my extended family in the most gracious, elegant fashion, it became quite obvious to me that when one makes just ONE choice, life’s path curves in ways I can barely comprehend. Those whose choices have been contained, who were able to rein in impulses, have a twinkle of playfulness and joy that is tangible. Maintaining authenticity, diplomacy and provocation might forever be a reach for me.
Maybe I am still dripping with self-preservative desperation, trying to justify the tatters of my life left, in thinking that life is random chaos. I have to believe there are ways to increase the odds against tragic outcomes.
Look at a leaf or a shell. They are in perfect order, most times, until you barely notice the leaf in withered shreds, or the shell uninhabited because something went awry in the perfect coiling. The aberrations are not because of a wish, they simply are.
The trees or collective shell life do not convene at some board meeting to determine that the leaf or shell must therefore be bad, punished, forbidden from any of life’s purpose. It is what it is. Simple.
Perhaps that aberrant leaf can contribute to new growth somehow, or maybe the shell invites in a deformed snail or scallop, providing gastropodic shelter for an otherwise useless snail or slug.
To increase one’s chances of a purposeful life after the shell-growing pattern has gone haywire, involves exposure to many different scenarios. Think of that poor nautilus shell – no one wants to move in. If its shape was exposed to multiple homeless snails then the chance of that deformed shell being useful increase. No one can argue that statistically.
I passed statistics twice in graduate school and not because I am smart. No subject has ever made my head hurt so much. I did not take to it naturally. Mastering the subject for a close pass (a grade of 65 or over) was a thrill. In the few moments of clarity, I found comfort in the order those theorems offered.
Given my broken ego, rejections no longer take the same toll, and the best I can do is stay out of my shell, adding weight to the side of probability.
My P(H), or prior probability, supports the hypothesis that someone would find an odd shell usable almost nil in low exposure numbers. The conditional probability is about increasing the number of exposures to situations, and my hypothesis, optimistically reframed, is that there is a positive correlation between the number of attempts, and the probability of success.
Cloistering is not the answer. We shall see.
Looking around at my rather large family last weekend (308 of us), I saw contentment, smiles carved deep into old skin, and eyes that still twinkle. The connections were about memory and history, long, collaborative, and integrating of chancy events. How relieving to be contained by this where it is impossible to disappear. How familar that one of the most poignant family quotes is, “There will be dancing.” And how fitting that it is us in the depth of color, rather than the Boston Pops.
It is a daring reminder to still be, daring.
The Mark Morris Dance Company photos is from this website - I could not find the copyright information on the site. http://www.telaviv-fever.com/index.php/2009/11/mark-morris-dance-group-is-coming-to-tel-aviv/
Jul 15, 2010 at 5:55 PM Bayes Theorum, Mark Morris, lucy wightman | Share Article
Reader Comments (6)
I want to recommend that you read "The Art Of Racing In The Rain".
It's fiction and written from a dogs view and explains one method to deal with tragedy.
Well written.
They plan on making a movie.