1/27/10
Naive & Informed Passion
Naive passion, which promotes work done in ignorance of obstacles, becomes--with courage--informed passion, which promotes work done in full acceptance of those obstacles.
1/24/10
Slight answer to that previous 'somehow' on marrying expectations with reality
Control, apparently, is not the answer. People who need certainty in their lives are less likely to make art that is risky, subversive, complicated, iffy, suggestive or spontaneous. What's really needed is nothing more than a broad sense of what you are looking for, some strategy for how to find it, and an overriding wilingness to embrace mistakes and surprises along the way. Simply put, making art is chancy--it doesn't mix well with predictability. Uncertainty is the essential, inevitable and all-pervasive companion to your desire to make art. And tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite for succeeding.
I may never be like any of these people but...
.... reading this makes me happy...
Life and Art, once entwined, can quickly become inseparable; at age ninety Frank Lloyd Wright was still designing, Imogen Cunningham still photographing, Stravinsky still composing, Picasso still painting.
1/23/10
1/20/10
Artwork Fraction
The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars.
This reminds me a bit of the Passion & The Muse theory I wrote about in a post below...
This reminds me a bit of the Passion & The Muse theory I wrote about in a post below...
That damn gap
Making art provides uncomfortably accurate feedback about the gap that inevitably exists between what you intended to do, and what you did.
What we intend to do can be translated into our desires. Our fantasies. How we envision things to be. In other words, our expectations. What we did is basically reality. This is the old dilemma of expectations vs. reality. We often have dreams, fantasies and they become our expectations. Reality often tends to be different from what we hoped, envisioned. Oftentimes then we decide our dreams, fantasies and thus our expectations are what dooms us. This doesn't necessarily have to be true. Without our dreams & fantasies, we wouldn't be able to imagine things that can make the world a better place. I think these hopes are at the core of creation, this sort of faith that we exercise when we try things out. Oftentimes when reality turns out to be so different from our expectations we feel foolish and our first instinct can be to condemn our desires. But this is not the solution, I'm certain of that. We need our foolish hopes, desires, dreams, expectations. We need them. It's just that somehow, we have to be able to accept them in spite of reality. Somehow we have to learn to love reality as much as our dreams. Somehow reality and expectations have to meet, and not start a war. Somehow we have to accept them both, and love them both, and have them work together.
I don't know this 'somehow' just yet. But I'm working on it.
What we intend to do can be translated into our desires. Our fantasies. How we envision things to be. In other words, our expectations. What we did is basically reality. This is the old dilemma of expectations vs. reality. We often have dreams, fantasies and they become our expectations. Reality often tends to be different from what we hoped, envisioned. Oftentimes then we decide our dreams, fantasies and thus our expectations are what dooms us. This doesn't necessarily have to be true. Without our dreams & fantasies, we wouldn't be able to imagine things that can make the world a better place. I think these hopes are at the core of creation, this sort of faith that we exercise when we try things out. Oftentimes when reality turns out to be so different from our expectations we feel foolish and our first instinct can be to condemn our desires. But this is not the solution, I'm certain of that. We need our foolish hopes, desires, dreams, expectations. We need them. It's just that somehow, we have to be able to accept them in spite of reality. Somehow we have to learn to love reality as much as our dreams. Somehow reality and expectations have to meet, and not start a war. Somehow we have to accept them both, and love them both, and have them work together.
I don't know this 'somehow' just yet. But I'm working on it.
A view on Fatalism
fatalism: [...] it is a species of fear -- the fear that your fate is in your own hands, but that your hands are weak.
1/19/10
By the Power of Inertia
Sometimes you make up your mind about something without knowing why, and your decision persists by the power of inertia. Every year it gets harder to change.
1/18/10
Some clarity in regard to Passion and The Muse
Yesterday during mass, I had an interesting epiphany in regard to the whole finding one's passion dilemma I've been experiencing lately. As it turns out, my theories appear to be like this. We create art when The Muse visits us. At that moment we have to run before it leaves us stranded again and we have to pour ourselves into whatever medium we use in order to create. However, if we're not ready, meaning we are not familiar with any medium, we have much greater difficulties expressing ourselves, and thus, the muse.
On a similar note, The Muse visits us most likely from the energy that flows in us through our feelings. Our feelings are based mostly on experiences. Thus, if something happens to me (experience) in which someone has made me angry (feelings), The Muse might visit me and if I have some skills like writing, drawing, etc. I can probably create something using this channel.
To summarize it goes something like this:
Art Practice > Greater Skills > More Prepared for The Muse > Experiences > Muse may visit > Art > Truth
I have put Truth at the end because to me, the most important value of art is that it is a way to express Truth. By Truth I don't necessarily mean facts but rather, perspectives, feelings, logic, and things we can find from our own human experiences. The truth I extract from the work of fiction 1984 for instance, has become a part of me, and this is how I revere art. If anything then I suppose finding truth is my passion. Maybe that is the purest form of passion.
And so it seems right now that the fact that I don't feel like doing anything at any given day doesn't necessarily mean I don't really have a passion, and even if I do sort of "force" myself into an activity, it's not a bad thing because I'm just sharpening my instrument (body-mind) in order to be a better servant of The Muse when it decides to visit, and of The Truth.
On a similar note, The Muse visits us most likely from the energy that flows in us through our feelings. Our feelings are based mostly on experiences. Thus, if something happens to me (experience) in which someone has made me angry (feelings), The Muse might visit me and if I have some skills like writing, drawing, etc. I can probably create something using this channel.
To summarize it goes something like this:
Art Practice > Greater Skills > More Prepared for The Muse > Experiences > Muse may visit > Art > Truth
I have put Truth at the end because to me, the most important value of art is that it is a way to express Truth. By Truth I don't necessarily mean facts but rather, perspectives, feelings, logic, and things we can find from our own human experiences. The truth I extract from the work of fiction 1984 for instance, has become a part of me, and this is how I revere art. If anything then I suppose finding truth is my passion. Maybe that is the purest form of passion.
And so it seems right now that the fact that I don't feel like doing anything at any given day doesn't necessarily mean I don't really have a passion, and even if I do sort of "force" myself into an activity, it's not a bad thing because I'm just sharpening my instrument (body-mind) in order to be a better servant of The Muse when it decides to visit, and of The Truth.
1/14/10
Meaning of Darkness
That darkness was pure, perfect, thoughtless, visionless; that darkness was without end, without borders; that darkness was the infinite we each carry within us. (Yes, if you're looking for infinity, just close your eyes!)
...Franz himself disintegrated and dissolved into the infinity of his darkness, himself becoming infinite... But for her, darkness did not mean infinity; for her, it meant a disagreement with what she saw, the negation of what was seen, the refusal to see.
1/13/10
More from The Unbearable Lightness...
Human life occurs only once, and the reason we cannot determine which of our decisions are good and which bad is that in any given situation we can make only one decision; we are not granted a second, third, or fourth life in which to compare various decisions.
1/12/10
I suppose this helps...
How Do I Find My Passion?
Dear Christine,
The career advice I have always heard is, "Do something you love and you will be successful." My problem is that I am 26 years old and I have a job that is okay but I don't love it. Everyone tells me to find something I am passionate about but there must be something wrong with me because I have no clue what that is. How do I find my passion?
- Passionless, Alabama
- Passionless, Alabama
Dear Passionless,
There is nothing wrong with you. The popular career advice given out today to "follow your passion, and you will be happy and successful" is very vague and somewhat misleading. Most twenty somethings have not done enough to discover what they love to do. And the concept that each of us is born with a fire burning in our bellies for a particular career has spread like a bad flu. True, some individuals have known from a young age what they love but this is not the norm.
You see passion is not something you "find" like an apartment, a new restaurant or a great pair of shoes. Discovering your passion is an evolutionary and unique process. Most of us assume passion arrives like a thunderbolt of inspiration, instantly spreading wonderfully warm feelings and clarity about what we should do with our life. But do you know what the word "passion" truly means? Webster's defines "passion" as "powerful feeling" and "great enthusiasm." Further definitions include "emotions as distinguished from reason," "suffering," and "anger and rage." Passion is not logical; it does not express itself in tidy, left-brain career steps. Nor is passion easy. The road to passion or "great enthusiasm" may require some "suffering." You may experience "anger and rage" and "emotions distinguished from reason" to reach the "powerful feeling" of discovering passionate work.
Living out all aspects of the definition of passion was absolutely true for me. I did not discover what I enjoy doing until my late twenties, and I was not able to make a full-time career out of it until almost thirty. Along the way, I encountered frustration, disappointment, jobs I hated, dead-end career paths, and having to do things I didn't really want to. The most valuable thing that I learned is that passion is a journey. It is not something that you can find, it is a discovery process - it cannot be planned. Passion emerges from of a myriad of experiences, a commitment to do self-investigation and exploration, and a willingness to risk not adhering to societal expectations.
And just being passionate about something is not a formula for fast success, and if you try to rise too fast, you might miss important lessons along the way. Having passion doesn't keep us from experiencing pit stops in our career: sacrifices, fear, doubt, confusion, lack of money, and jobs we don't like. Don't let being stuck in one of these pit stops make you think you lack passion! Remember, passion is more a way of being than a destination, and it does not create satisfaction or ideal employment all by itself.
Also, you mentioned that you do have a job now and in this job market that is something to be grateful for. Don't reserve living a passionate life for 9 to 5 Monday through Friday. As long as your job affords you an acceptable quality of life, what is wrong with that? Passion is a matter of perspective and can be created in many different aspects of our lives. It's even possible to approach a "mundane" job with even more enthusiasm. It's important that you don't underestimate the work you do, despite how "passionless" it can feel at times. Avoid confusing passion for a career with your purpose in life.
So relax. Enjoy where you are. There is nothing wrong with you and you are not a passionless person. I know there are things in your life that you love and that you love doing. Focus on those rather than obsessing about what you think you are missing. Look for new experiences to embark on, new people to meet, and new challenges to explore. Notice how you feel and what you are thinking when you do certain things. Remember, discovering your passion is an self-instigated exploratory process - there is no manual. Allow yourself some time and be open to the possibility that your passion will find you rather than you having to find it.
-Christine
Post your questions below or send to christine@huffingtonpost.com
1/11/10
Current State of Mind (From Saint Simon)
I'll try hard not to give in
Battened down to fair the wind
Battened down to fair the wind
rid my head of this pretense
allow myself no mock defense
As I step into the night
1/4/10
1/3/10
Oh Sweet Stuart
Q.hi stuart.. today is my 20th birthday..and my day will perfect if u answer my question: what do u felt when u were 20?..i feel 20th isn't suit myself,i think i should be 30th and live an adventure life.. and would u give ur promise as ur present for my birthday,that u'll come to indonesia someday?..please..thanks a lot luv and cheers, mita NB: sorry for my bad english
A. even a bad 20s is still magnificent! so you have nothing to lose. go out there and fuck things up for a while. give yourself something to talk about when you're 30.
this too is bad english.
we will come to your homeland one day
happy birthday
Stuart - 16/12/09
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