University Open Air: Listening to the Voice of Things: On Reality and Its Signs
For as long as we can remember, human beings have dealt with uncertainty poetically. It all began with the traces that animals leave on the ground. Knowing how to read these tracks allowed us to address immediate challenges. Repeated patterns over time let us assign consistent meanings to similar configurations and anticipate their occurrences. This shift from the mimetic to the symbolic became our greatest triumph. In this class, we will explore how understanding the signs of reality helps us build a contemplative practice and reflect on our condition through the beauty of the world.
For twenty years, Enrique Enriquez has sat in the same café, sending a steady signal into the world until one day, the world began to answer back. Not through prophecy or revelation, but through the voice of a sparrow.
What started as an intuitive leap became a profound discovery: the birds responded not necessarily to specific sounds, but to rhythm, to presence itself. In this dialogue with otherness, Enrique found not answers, but a way to live. The birds taught him that meaning isn't found in interpretation, but in the moment when we forget ourselves enough to let the world speak through us.
University Open Air is generously supported by The Morris & Alma Schapiro Fund.
