Value and Respect

All cultural roles are available to the artist, for whom choice and responsibility are one.

One's duty is to one's art, not to social expectations, academic and cultural criticism, or the various "demands" of the public.

It is self-reliance, coupled with individual freedom, that makes this possible.

Known, Unknown

In every art, it is gesture that determines outcomes.

Neither the assertive act nor the reserved one guarantees success or failure. The authentic gesture accomplishes everything, while the artificial, forced, or otherwise unsound gesture realizes nothing.

Command Line

Illusions are wrought, and delusions fixed in minds, through words, imagery, and sounds.

But this is the ultimate consequence of a culturally bereft society and the concomitant darkness that eradicates the future, first of individuals, then of generations, then of civilizations.

Levitation and Somnolence

In contemporary culture, observe a pervading, and rather benighted, materialism.

It is a point of view without a fragment of merit, one unworthy of empathy, and one that most often sees good will as a weakness to be exploited.

This is not a modern perspective, being far too incurious and complacent. It is by no means a measure of sophistication to claim to believe that every question of grand moment is long settled, and that life, being metaphysically worthless, is fit only for an ideal of epicurean hedonism.

The abysmally ignorant arrive such a conclusion with far less effort than the "highly-educated".

No, the modern perspective is informed, analytical, and cognizant of cultural and historical forces that elevate the fundamentals of human understanding.

Here, find the voice of perception, realism, and critical, open awareness that says, "There is much more to experience, much more to be known. There is always more."

Exercise XIII

In any setting, consider the various ways in which limits apply to the conditions.

This is not to determine what is possible or what is not possible, but rather to observe the ways in which unforeseen outcomes might be set in motion within the confines of control and restriction.

Restrain what is predictable, directing action toward intention or purpose if, and only if, the desired effect is clearly realizable.  The result is a decisive gesture, whether concrete or abstract in nature.

This is true of artistic gesture, communicative expression, games, or other activities with set "rules", yet it cannot be otherwise that it involves risk.

Time, Now

The warrior, the sage, and the artist have the same existential mandate.

By virtue of every available power, bring Time Future into Time Present.

Pop Downturn, Reform Pop

What is know as the "popular imagination" conforms to a dull immediacy.

By "immediacy" I am referring to the dubious sense of urgency associated with the omnipresence of media.  The dullness, or lack of imaginative acuity, is the consequence of incessant repetition of the same ideas, beliefs, and social norms in opposition to the same "transgressive" perspectives, as if these latter were, in fact, of any consequence in comparison with expression of original, creative thought.  That is the state of culture, unless and until efforts are made to transcend the mundane, and those efforts recognized as essential to the idea of a forward-thinking civilization.