I discovered today that carving wood with a chisel and listening to it take shape as it splits along the grain is like reading the altheiometer. Working on my second spoon today, I decided to shape it by hand instead of with the band saw, (which is probably how you always do it, Jophet, right?) and I was all full of mental clarity and in communication with the wood. I felt like we were working together to create something, and that thing we were creating was what the wood was consensually becoming - it was very different than imposing my image on an inanimate object. What a good way to do it, much better than t'other.