The Unseen Path

A common perspective is, by definition, mundane.  So, in fact, is its opposite.

That which is forward-thinking comes into being by individual and independent thought, neither commonplace nor contrary to the expected, but sui generis, outside and distant from agenda and ideology.  This is thought as art, and contemplation as elevated experience leading toward solution-based outcomes.

Sparks in the Night

Indefensible perspectives and ideas cannot withstand dissent and debate.

For such benighted ideologies to attain and hold cultural dominance, all contrary expressions must be silenced.  There are places where this is possible, and conditions that make this possible.

Where one voice is raised, others will rise.

Courage, Risk, and the Avant-Garde

Art cannot exist in a totalitarian social environment.

It can only go underground.  Wherever in the shadows it may be glimpsed, it must be defended.

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.

The Creative Act and Its Double

Discernment is always required in recognizing the difference between appearance and reality.

Individualist expression is essential to art, and demands a devotion to strenuous work.  As a social phenomena, individualist expression alone is highly superficial, facile, and usually inconsequential beyond its sociological and psychological implications.  It should not be conflated with art, as is often the case, but viewed as another matter altogether.

An artist's work speaks for the artist, and for itself.

Phantom Time

Give regard to arts unbound by time and place.

These are universal visions and sounds. When these are altogether absent from contemporary culture, there is only trouble, dissolution, and waste.  But one sees, one continues forward.

Clear

If nothing else, eliminate cultural detritus.

Media obsessions, "conversations" and "issues" comprise a single burden; it is an unnecessary one.

Art as Contradiction

Curiosity is a driving force in the arts and sciences.

Complacency and apathy assure diminishing of consciousness; this is manifest in cultural decline. Measure what is known against what can never be known. Search, discover, experience, express.

Open the hidden gates.

Culture and the Environs

Go far.

From a distanced perspective it is clear the "culture" surrounding entire populations may reflect individual taste and interests yet be devoid of a single original impulse or expression.

This is vanity and complacency, indicative of a loss of vision, a failure of the spirit of reason and inquiry, and vapid self-indulgence.  One must go beyond, even into the uncanny and unknown.

Dimensions

Depth, distance, clarity, obscurity, reflection, texture, intensity, proximity, color, tone, and meaning.

Within human and natural settings-- the perceived subjective experience of environment and atmosphere, with its associated emotional and intellectual connotations--  these measurements, among others, serve as intuitive guides to our journey, our movements, and our actions.

If the senses are reliable and the chosen courses of action true, the journey is graced with integrity, balance, spirit and reason, especially in adversity.  If life is torn by contradictions, driven and dominated by the passions and appetites, perhaps some good will come of it, but whatever measures may determine that are vague at best.

Culture is ever in flux, ever subject to events and ideas, some meritorious, some ruinous.

Look and listen.  Choose with care.  The foremost of these measures is meaning.

Reality, Existence and Art

Chaos and order exist together.

Disordered thinking is manifested in daily living as impatience, emotional instability, clutter, hazard, and noise.  Chaos happens of itself; it is trifling, irrevalent, and easy to perpetuate. 

To create a perspective free of the pettiness of chaos is no small challenge, and requires effort and vision equal to the task.  Beyond the labor and choices involved, it is also an art.

Out of that art comes culture, and its strength.

The Mask that Covers the Eyes

Ghosts of the living.  The persona, the mask, is the reality, and the self is unknown.

The persona becomes all, and the individual, the spirit, the soul, is cut adrift.