the lost art of the handwritten letter…

being a lover of letters it saddens me to see that there is hardly anyone writing letters by hand anymore. the advent of the computer literally ended the handwritten letter. each day there are millions if not billions of emails going from point a to point b in cyberspace. in friedrich neugebauer’s book, “the mystic art of written forms he states that the ancient chinese said: there are only three arts: poetry, calligraphy and drawing. these are the arts which, through heart, brain and hand, and with a minimum of materials, achieve the highest level of intensity and clarity. to receive a handwritten letter is special because for one thing it shows that the person who wrote it took the time to put his/her self into it. in typing, many things can be unconsciously hidden but in the hand written letter everything becomes exposed and legible, leaving nothing to chance for falsehood or disguise to go unnoticed. the personal nuances of a person’s lettering is the subtlest detector of one’s substance and character; it is the writers confession depicting his/her impulses and emotions, all things that move him/her at that moment in time for communicating. lettering is subject to the rhythm that comes from the beating heart, the pulse, the movement of blood. it can be described as a very special electrocardiogram, translating the mental state at the time in the visible. each movement of the hand to the paper is a spiritual act as it finds the appropriate symbol that eventually finds itself now embedded in the paper. it can be summed up as a grand procession of all human conditions, bound together by the rhythm of a single act. i want to share with you something that i experienced a few years back while taking a workshop at one of the yearly international lettering conferences that was held in connecticut, usa that particular year. i had the opportunity to take a workshop from a german calligrapher by the name of gottfried pott. in one of his class demonstrations we all gathered around him to watch how he was going to produce a letter using a ruling pen. it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. very methodically and gently, he loaded the ink into the ruling pen with a brush in the opposite hand. he looked at the paper as if becoming one with it, pen very still. then with a few quick movements of his hand across the paper, like a magician with his wand, there it was…a perfect letter “a”. gottfried then looked up at us from the top of his narrow bifocal glasses and said something that i will never forget. he said, “you have just witnessed a once in a lifetime moment”. it truly was a once in a lifetime moment because that letter “a” could never be duplicated exactly like the way he did it, ever again. the feel of the pen to paper at that moment in time. it was one of those moments where the hair on your arms just stood on end. at least for our class it was. it was very spiritual, at least to those of us that understood the deeper meaning behind it all. i think that is why i enjoy teaching calligraphy so much, because you are teaching people who first of all love letters and secondly who want to take part in this human experience. so in closing, the next time that you write an email to a relative, friend or acquaintance maybe you might give it second thought and send them a handwritten letter, something that they can look at and cherish and know that it was crafted special for them in that once in a lifetime moment.