During winter term, Ethical Inquiry at Carleton hosted renowned performance artist and sacred mischief maker Moshe Cohen, cofounder of the Zen Order of Disorder and early champion of the Clowns Without Borders movement, which delivers laughter—via art and interaction—to people living in conflict zones.
Using various forms of nonverbal expression (juggling, mime, Butoh dance, Kabuki, closeup magic, etc.), Cohen teaches people ways to inhabit and move the body with attention and intention to access a greater sense of levity and lightness. While on campus, he visited three classes over several days: Introduction to Acting; American Transcendentalism; and Death, Dinner, and Discussion. He also headlined a campus-wide event at the Weitz Center, where students and faculty and staff members engaged in exercises to take themselves—and each other—less seriously.
“Sacred mischief makers, in many cultures, bring balance back into a given situation,” says Bonnie Nadzam ’99, visiting professor of ethical inquiry. “And in a Carleton classroom, the sheer act of moving out of the head and into the whole body, for instance—Do you feel all those thousands of pores on your skin? The breath rising and falling in your belly?—is a great start toward being a little more fully human. It’s not a lesson you quickly forget.”
Nadzam, who also coteaches the death and discussion class with philosophy professor Daniel Groll, notes that while Cohen’s pursuit of “lightfulness” doesn’t require a participant to be funny or to interact with others (only one’s presence is required), “there was a lot of laughter, a lot of movement, and a lot of joy during the time we spent with him.”