Reclaiming Hyperreality, our life in art.

I want to reclaim the hyperreal. 

Hyperreality is an inability to distinguish between what is real and what is not. Hyperreality can be described as enhanced reality. Some people become more engaged with the hyperreal world than with the real world.
Hyperreality is thought to be a consequence of the age that we live in.

Hyperrealism is a postmodern philosophy that deals in part with semiotics, or the study of the signs that surround us in everyday life and what they actually mean. For example, a king may wear a crown that symbolizes his title and power. The crown itself is meaningless, but it has come to take on the meaning that society has given it. The reality of the crown and the hyperreality of what it stands for are interwoven. *

These definitions of hyperreality are inadequate, because the philosophers who came up with these ideas are refusing to recognize the role of imagination within "hyperreality". Artists live in hyperreality, because they are creating as well as actively choosing which symbols they will live by. Hyperreality is always given negative connotations- but the negative connotations exist as long as the population at large live under symbols of other people's choosing.

One could argue that it is imagination that separates humans from animals, that is how intrinsic imagination is to humanity as a whole. Our ability to create a vision in our minds is what enables us to control and change reality as it is, instead of merely living at nature's mercy. Imagination is what fuels architects, artists, mathematicians, scientists, religious leaders, and politicians, because they envision a world that they can possibly create, or control. Of course this can occasionally have negative connotations, people might say that Hitler was an artist who had a vision. But the truth is that people are allowed to be idealists, people are allowed to dream. It only gets dangerous when so many people share the same dream, because then they are only creating and recognizing one reality, one Truth- instead of living out multiple dreams, multiple realities and ultimately, multiple truths. I argue that the universe is created to show potentiality, and that there should be as many dreams as possibility will permit, otherwise one Truth becomes Dogma, and dogmas become constricting laws which stop us from living out our full potential as individuals and as a society at large, making us no different from mere animals.

It is far more dangerous for us to live without a vision, because whether we like it or not, we will inadvertently fall prey to other people's visions. Here is a quote from an article on hyperreality that summarizes this point, "Every time we enter a large shopping area with a certain theme, we are entering a hyperreal world. Theme parks such as Disney World, or the casinos in Las Vegas are hyperrealities in which the public can get lost for as long as their money holds out. Hyperreality no longer exists just in our heads; it is being force-fed to us nearly every time we leave our homes." Yes, other people's imagination is force-fed to us, until we fully develop our own imagination, just like children who need their parents to tell them what certain things mean. After a certain age we won't need other people to guide us. If we cultivate our own imagination then we won't be interested in what other people's imagination has to offer us.

Hyperreality is not some thing that we just happen to live in, it's a lifestyle choice. We can choose to go to Disney World, we can choose to go to the mall, or we can choose to create fucking fantastic art and do whatever the hell we want [within reason], [although reason might also be some sort of dogma]. All that this requires is imagination coupled with action- that is the only difference between "Artists" and "Other People".

"Artists" create the reality that they live in, while "Other People" live in a reality created for them by someone else. More people need to actively engage in making their own myths and theories and art. Since we live within a world of symbols, we can change the symbols to our own liking. It all depends on how great a person's imagination and passion are to drive them towards their vision or great work. If a person has little ability to cultivate imagination, then it is likely that they will play a minor role in someone else's simulated reality.  That's okay, sometimes we can be part of a dream that's bigger than ourselves, but that's besides the point. The point is that hyperreality is not negative, it is a power that when harnessed gives us the ability to transform mundane reality.

One example is the artist Roger Dean who created the album artwork for many bands during the 1970s. Here is a piece of his art.

Here is the home he created.

What would the world be like if everyone became truly visionary? And what is stopping us from creating a reality that we want to live in?

Jean Baudrillard suggests "that the world we live in has been replaced by a copy world, where we seek simulated stimuli and nothing more." That might be a reality for some people, but I think that it should be a wake up call. Let's create a synthesis where we work together as artists to create the reality that we want.

*http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hyperreality.htm

Love, Alchemy and Transformation

We've all seen it in the movies, Love enabling a wounded warrior to fight for his beloved. Sometimes the protagonist fights against fantastic creatures, sometimes he fights against wicked witches, and yet other times he fights against typical bad guys, bullies who want to take everything away from him. The reality of love is that it allows for us to deal with the bad, it enables us to look past flaws that could easily transform a beautiful woman into a hag, and to remain steadfast in our dedication. Love enables us to grow and change. When someone truly loves another person they want to actively change themselves- to ultimately become a better person. Love is hope, and love is endurance. Love is dealing with the hag, melting away her cold artifice and wicked guile, until the woman within has been completely liberated from the illusory world of emotions and again made real. It is the caress and the kind ear that liberate the man who cannot express his emotions. Patience is another attribute of Love.

It is necessary to understand what Love truly is before understanding what it is not. Love is one of the ultimate keys to transformation and enlightenment. By creating a bond with another person, we should, ideally be creating a bond to constant growth. The sad fact is that love is commonly misunderstood, and instead of creating a life together based on these higher ideals, people pervert and destroy all the love and hope that they could create. It is hard, because not many people want to constantly look within all the time, be reminded of and realize their own faults, or grow- change can be difficult and frightening- we get used to thinking of ourselves a certain way. As part of the vision of Monad Photography, I am a proponent of always striving to see oneself in a new light, a manifesto that helps one to break cyclical thoughts or behavior, and to strive towards new experience.

Recently I have seen the demise of relationships that had lasted more than twenty years. At first it was a shock, but then I thought about all of the things that I had noticed over the years, and that was what initially spurned my urge to write about the subject of Love. Do I feel hokey writing about it? A little. Do I realize the necessity to address this subject? Absolutely. Especially because people tend to repeat the same patterns over and over again, until they learn their lessons, a concept commonly referred to as "eternal return" or "eternal recurrence". How would you like to repeat the same scenes over and over again for all eternity? The truth is, whether we like it or not, we do. Sometimes we have such a strong unconscious tug to live out a certain question, that we end up focusing on one small element in our past, these actions could be in relation to choosing a partner to work out problems we haven't solved since childhood. Sometimes this means being in an abusive relationship, or a codependent relationship. I have often seen this occur with drastic, and unhealthy results. If people have committed to each other but don't pay attention to the inner alchemy going on, or the reasons why they are together, then they are simply just reliving the trauma they experienced in the first place. Part of the reason that I am writing this article is because I want to see other people transcend their trauma instead of being mired in it. The first step in avoiding trauma and experiencing Love is to become your own witness and to actively pay attention to the decisions you make.

Often in relationships people will unthinkingly do things that hurt the other person in an arbitrary fashion. This is one of the first obstacles to actual Love, especially if they are just repeating the habits shown to them by their parents. It is unfortunate that many people never think to try new concepts, and inadvertently limit themselves, but that is also a result of our society, because our society tells people that if "somebody doesn't love them just the way they are" then that somebody should be kicked to the curb. We are not supposed to stay "just the way we are" for all eternity! We are supposed to grow, we are supposed to change. Love is certainly about a degree of acceptance, but most of that applies to self-acceptance and self-love. If we don't love ourselves, how can we expect someone else to love us? Self-love also allows us to be self-critical of our own actions and ideas. If we cannot see the truth behind what others say, whether in the relationship or elsewhere, then we cannot grow. By accepting criticism, we start our path towards Truth, as well as Love. 

Sometimes when experiencing difficulty in my own relationship, I would have dreams that my partner would be with an alternate version of myself- a more actualized, healthier, and more talented me, or in other words, my higher self. This was during a long period of unemployment, which is always stressful and depressing. The dream was my way of understanding that although my partner loved me for who I was, that I would still have to go through quite a few more transformations and take more steps towards my goals in order to continue on this path. This was hard for me to realize because even though I was stressed, I had also begun to adopt self-limiting behavior as a defense mechanism, and I was beginning to get too comfortable with being miserable. By eventually becoming critical of my own situation, and spurred to action by my dream, I was able to transcend that lower aspect of myself- even though it was very hard to do. Love is not two people who stay together even though they are miserable. Love is all about alchemy as well as inward and outward transformation. Love is about being with someone who will challenge you to grow with them, otherwise someone might get lost along the way. Love is also the patience our partner bestows on us when we are going through our inner alchemy, as we do need to occasionally rest along the path and allow these changes to occur.

In the beginning paragraph, I said that "Love [is] enabling a wounded warrior to fight for his beloved. Sometimes the protagonist fights against fantastic creatures, sometimes he fights against wicked witches, and yet other times he fights against typical bad guys, bullies who want to take everything away from him." In essence we are the hero, and we are the beloved, and we are the monsters that we have to fight. Love is simply having a companion on that journey. We don't need to be in relationships where we have to be the "hero" or the "princess" or even the "monster", because all of those things are really just inside of us. One dimensional roles are passe.  There are many layers in love, but one of the most profound layers exists where there are no masks, and roles are not designated willy-nilly. I'm tired of the blame game, I'm tired of false epithets that accompany false prophets of "love". Love occasionally is a battlefield, but usually when we need to fight against ourselves, and our own preconceived notions. 

Dissecting the Hag

How would one describe the Hag? The Hag is an archetype we are all familiar with, the overbearing mother, the frightful wench, the over-emotional PMS-ridden woman who is incapable of rationality, and a Succubus who castrates a man of any and all desire. Personified, the Hag is Judith who chopped off Holofernes head, Medusa the woman whom no man could look at without turning to stone, and the stepmother from Snow White who persecutes her own stepdaughter because she is so consumed with her own need to be loved. Below I have posted a picture of Judith beheading Holofernes.

One might ask why the Hag archetype is something most commonly attributed to women. Some might say that it is a malicious accusation, or a sexist mental preconditioning based on Medieval literature. I argue that men are also capable of this archetype. Men are just as capable of emotion as women, because they are ultimately human. They would be recognized as the overbearing father, the abusive husband, people who refuse to be criticized, thrive off of self-righteousness, and are fundamentally feeling-types*, that are not capable of logic. This might be due to the fact that these people have in fact suffered an injustice, or perhaps multiple injustices, which would make sense since their emotional function is in auxiliary mode.  In this essay I would like to address the women's role within the sphere of the Hag, since I am a woman, and I am familiar with this role in relation to myself.

In modern day culture, the Hag is seen as monthly by-product, something that women are incapable of controlling. The truth is that anyone is capable of exuding the Hag characteristics. The Hag creeps up on people who are tired of looking inward, and are tired of self improvement. Self improvement requires a constant awareness and desire to grow, which can be exhausting and results in many ego deaths. Everyone dons the Hag persona a few times during their lifetime. They want to relax, they want to be told that they don't have to grow any more, they want stasis. The reality of the situation is that nothing reaches stasis, everything is always growing and changing, and the world is just one big alchemical oven that takes substances and changes them from one form to another. As we are changing form throughout the continuous cycles of life, it makes sense that we would cling to the archetype of the Hag. Who doesn't occasionally want to feel self-righteous or self-important? The Hag in it's most base form wants to be worshipped, desired and needed. The Hag claims to have reached enlightenment or to be perfect as is. The Hag can hide under the guise of the Succubus, but not for long, because eventually the beautiful mask will be taken off to reveal the monster within.

The truth is that the Hag is just a person who is afraid. Afraid of what they will discover if they look inside or in the mirror, they pretend that the only thing that matters is their relationship with the Other, [the Other being their boyfriend, husband, girlfriend, or child]. The truth is that despite the facade that they create, each person is fundamentally Alone. That means that all relationships are illusory, ultimately they Change. People die, people break up, etc. By pretending that the Other will be with them forever, the Hag attempts to escape reality for what it really is. The Succubus does this by being consumed sexually, the emotional wreck does this by blaming their current exterior situation instead of looking inward to see where the problems truly lie, and the Medusa-esque Hag does this by avoiding the situation altogether and never looking inward- the one time when she does peer into her reflection she dies instantly. The overbearing mother gives so much attention to her children so that she doesn't have to look inside, or deal with her exterior circumstances.

The Hag might not even seem that bad, maybe she wants to bestow so much love that she smothers, instead of scaring all small children in the vicinity, but ultimately she is still a Hag. And the Hag is a powerful archetype to be reckoned with. The Hag can turn a man to stone, she can ruin relationships, destroy friendships, and alienate everyone in her general vicinity. She can also teach people valuable lessons about themselves, or stand up for her rights or the rights of other individuals that have been trampled. Judith seduced and then murdered Holofernes to save her people*, but could there have been other, more valorous ways to achieve a better end?

Judith appears in many relationships, many times when women perceive a threat they go out of their way to seduce someone else, or purposefully cut their boyfriend off at the knees. I often see women strike out against men in relationships because of some perceived wrong that the men might or might not be aware of. Sometimes the women do this through sexuality, sometimes they do this with emotionality. Many women often see men as the perpetrators, and abusers. And many men are, but the truth is that it takes two, and often many women allow for abusive relationships to continue. But the women need to realize why they sought out those relationships in the first place, or perhaps why they've seen a cycle of abusive relationships. By looking within, a woman might be able to transcend the Hag archetype altogether.

If a woman is too transfixed on her children, to the point where she smothers them and they begin to avoid her or harbor bad feelings, shouldn't she stop and consider what might be the source of their vexation. If a woman feels threatened because she is not the most beautiful of them all, should she stop herself before wreaking vengeance on a fellow woman? Should a woman who alienates everyone around her, perhaps stop and think, why are people afraid to make eye contact with me? Fierceness and bravery are definitely positive traits, but sometimes bravery is simple brashness, and fierceness is a defense mechanism that stops other people from getting too close.

The reason why I am writing about this is because I don't think that Medusa, or Snow White's wicked stepmother were really happy people. I think that they were people who wanted to be loved, but didn't know how to. They were so overcome with emotion, that their beauty was distorted, and deformed they were turned into the Hag that people so vehemently hate and fear. For men who are overbearing or abusive, they are just like those women- so afraid that they resort to violence and petty wretchedness. Men who are abusive were usually abused- they are weak and sensitive creatures that through fear destroy what they love. It is a very unfortunate condition, and it is toxic for the Hag and the Other involved in the situation. That is why I think writing about the Hag is so important. We all need to deal with our inner Archetypes. By dealing with, and recognizing our own inner Hag, we give ourselves the power to transcend the Hag altogether. By tempering emotionality with rationality, love for the Other with love for the Self, we enable ourselves to avoid painful and unnecessary situations. The truth is that nobody wants to be the Hag, but in order not to become the Hag we must know ourselves and avoid the temptation to act in a way which truly shows our weakness. We must be strong, even when we are afraid. In the act of pretending to be strong we forget our fear.

As Frank Herbert said so eloquently in his novel Dune,

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."







*"Feeling types" are a category of the Meier-Briggs personality types. Go here http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm for more information.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Beheading_Holofernes

Self-knowledge and a New Manifesto.

"So it is said that if you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."

~Master Sun, The Art of War

MORE TO COME!!

Inspiration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVu4Me_n91Y&feature=player_embedded

A three year old reciting a poem by Billy Collins.

Finding a voice, and the mysticism of sound.

After having had my initial urge to create and express, I realize that this is the best time possible for me to figure out exactly what my voice and style is, and ultimately what kind of vision I have about myself and reality at large. Looking through all of the portraits I have taken the last two months, and looking at everything else out there, including new techniques and styles, has been so incredibly inspiring. The plan is to start saving up some money so that I can buy new gear for my shoots, with the final outcome already in mind.

My own pursuit reminds me of a certain author that has gained renewed prominence within my social circle, Anais Nin, an erotic author with a cult following. She wrote many short stories and diaries, honing her skill, and her image of what she was. What she has done for many women is created a renewed interest in the self- a romantic persona, something that I know many women my age felt was lacking. When I look at my pictures I am reminded of Anais Nin, because like her I am creating an image, a persona, a certain outlook in life that I can't help falling in love with, and a passion to guide me.

Going through all of my photos and taking up writing is helping me to find my voice, something that I lost for such a long time. In life I think it is very common to find, lose or change your voice halfway through the course of something, in reality your voice has been there the whole time, continually refining itself to the point of perfection. When I was younger I was given glimpses of what I could be, what I could do, and now that I am grasping at that potential and putting the pieces in place, there is nothing as invigorating.

One of my favorite books, entitled The Mysticism of Sound, is about how Sufis, a mystical order originating in the Middle East, use music as the ultimate metaphor for life. The idea expressed in the book is that each person has a rhythm or a cycle that they repeat. In the book an example is given where a person is talking- during the course of the conversation they repeat certain expressions and mannerisms, pausing in a rhythmic nature. The idea espoused in the book is that a true Sufi can change their rhythm to match the other person's without losing a beat. This idea has affected me in the sense that when I look at situations it is easier for them not to affect me, because while I am in this "other" rhythm I still maintain my own essence, my own sense of self.

Sufis are most well known as the "Whirling Dervishes" who spin in circles to experience the ecstatic experience of oneness with the divine. Each person has their own cyclical habits, a certain spectrum of emotion that they scale over and over again. I like to imagine that cycle as a circle- which many alchemists have attributed to the symbol of the ourobouros, a mythical symbol which has existed in many different civilizations.

The mystic would look at this as a symbol of the mundane world, the world that we need to transcend. But the truth of the matter is that we are not allowed to transcend this world, we are put here in order to transcend ourselves, and by saying "ourselves" I mean our lower selves, our lower emotions that hold us back from higher thought. To do this means to envisage a path that takes us away from these emotions that keep us chained, a path that can help us to spiral up higher and higher towards enlightenment. By following our passion or "good work" we are liberating ourselves from the mundane cycles of reality, while at the same time transforming reality itself.

I think this picture by William Blake really expresses that idea. All those bodies represent the sloughing off of dead aspects of ourselves until we reach a certain enlightenment. Dead aspects of ourselves can be interpreted as false ideas, or beliefs that hold us back from our higher selves. The idea that "I will always be ugly", "I will never be able to sing", "I am not capable of love". To be enlightened means to know that you are capable of achieving anything. It is not always an easy path to follow, it involves constant strength and determination. It is not something that you achieve, it is something that requires constant pursuit. It can be soul crushing at points, because sometimes it is very difficult to break out of old habits and change. But, it is possible. 

So it all starts by creating a vision of the kind of world that we want to live in, and then creating that world. Creating our own world by following our passion and vision, we create things that never existed before. Only when we have transcended the mundane can we create a new symbol, a new key to the hidden mysteries.

Below I have posted a link to people who through their passion have created new symbols by following their passion.


http://www.oddmusic.com/


Here is an example

I've spent hours on this website. This instrument is called the Cymbalon, check it out! They have clips of the music these instruments make too, its fascinating.

Reigniting the fire.

When I first read the Greek myths, and I thought about how the minor deities, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Eros, Hera, Artemis and Athena reflected aspects of human nature. But the truth is, they don't only reflect human nature, they reflect the feelings that we, as humans choose to worship willfully. And yes, some of those "gods" or emotions are better, or can be rationalized better than others, for example I would prefer to be Athena instead of Aphrodite, or Apollo instead of Dionysus. Certainly all of these emotions hold their place. What do the gods represent you ask, well, each god represents a certain duality within their archetype...

Ares represents warfare & civil order.
Aphrodite represents love, & betrayal.
Apollo represents healing & archery.
Artemis represents childbirth & plague.
Hera is the queen of marriage & jealousy.

The truth of the matter is that while these "gods" are merely aspects of ourselves, we choose to worship those aspects of ourselves. Our emotions are god. Anything we put energy into is our god. Who doesn't like the justification that comes with being upset? Who doesn't rationalize warfare in the name of civil order? Who isn't in love with the person that wounded them? When we proclaim ourselves as "one thing" whether that falls under the category of upset or joy, we are limiting ourselves from a rationality which could in truth liberate us from all of these pitfalls. I have seen people go from utter joy to complete desolation within an hour. When you love something so utterly, of course you will lose it, same goes if you hate someone completely, you will destroy yourself.

Although there were a few rational gods thrown in the mix, such as Athena, they also represented extremities that needed to be integrated into the whole. Although Athena was very wise, she was also very prideful, which was limiting in it's own way. What I want to talk about today is transcending any and all limitations, and integrating as well as understanding what kinds of roles emotions should play, they should not allow us to become stagnate, they should allow us to expand and to grow. To understand new things, to understand other peoples point of view, and to truly synthesize a visionary dialectic.

The mind has the power to control reality. The mind has the power to make you hallucinate. The mind has the power to blind you to any and all situations, it's called Cognitive Dissonance. Although someone is telling you the truth, you do not believe it, because your mind is so convinced that what you believe is true. Belief allows people to kill other people without any justification whatsoever. Belief allows for people to completely cut off members of their family. Belief might have helped fuel Soren Kierkegaard's philosophy, but he also suffered a morbid existence, because he thought he was too sinful to really ever live or love.

Yes love is an emotion, but when tempered with rationality and realistic thinking, it tends not to be too overwhelming. Yes, I am in love, but I don't worship love. I don't worship the person I am with, I just love that person. That is one misconception that people still don't understand. Did Romeo really have to kill himself? I don't think so. The truth is that people love tragedies and love stories, they love to see the emotion meted out to it's full extent. They can even recreate these same scenarios within their own lives. But the truth is most these days people are not that interesting, and the emotions that seem to have taken place of the previous gods, are self-pity and loathing, or righteousness and hatred. I no longer see the paradigm that existed with the previous gods.

I'm now addressing my generation directly, was it too much emo music blasted during our adolescent years? Is it the overbearing government structure? Was it the skinny models on television? What right do any of these things have to change your idea of who you are? Reclaim yourselves please. When I watch the music video for Owl City I begin to ask questions... When did bad posture and passivity become chic? When did self-loathing become the next best thing? This is not only expressed in music, I see it everywhere. I see people who are beautiful and smart who hate themselves, or who are afraid to manifest in reality.

Unfortunately reality is all we really have right now. Reality tempered by spiritual existence. Everyone glorifies the Enlightment Era, but how long ago was that? When are we due for another one? Soon I hope. I want one right now. I want to be surrounded by artists and poets and scientists, people who aren't afraid of learning, people who can articulate. Am I saying that I have mastered all of these things, no. But I am trying. I am learning not to be afraid, I am learning how to carry the torch of Prometheus. We must reclaim the fire of the gods, we must mete out our own existence. I know I want nothing less for myself, and I hope the same for the community at large. I want to be at one within that community.

Daily Inspiration

This is from the photographer Wayne Levin.

An excerpt from the Book of Balance and Harmony

"Deep knowledge is to be aware of disturbance before disturbance, to be aware of danger before danger, to be aware of destruction before destruction, to be aware of calamity before calamity. Strong action is training the body without being burdened by the body, exercising the mind without being used by the mind, working in the world without being affected by the world, carrying out tasks without being obstructed by tasks.

By deep knowledge of principle, one can change disturbance into order, change danger into safety, change destruction into survival, change calamity into fortune. By strong action on the Way, one can bring the body to the realm of longevity, bring the mind to the sphere of mystery, bring the world to great peace, and bring tasks to great fulfillment."

"Deep knowledge is to 'know without going to the door, see the way of heaven without looking out the window.' Strong action is to 'grow ever stronger, adapting to all situations.'"

Definition of the Monad, the most primal aspect of god.

Photography is to me about capturing the essence of a person. One could say that an essence is all encompassing, but I think that it is the hidden aspect, that resides underneath all emotionality. Feeling is a profound thing, but I think that it often times diminishes or magnifies the ego so greatly that one could say feeling is the mask we wear around other fellow actors. People are easily sucked into a whirlwind of emotion, that when I get the chance to photograph them with a neutral expression it is like a breath of fresh air. I like the stillness, I like the possibility that I see, the sudden attention that is focused on such things as shoulders [that would normally droop or be raised apprehensively], or that one particular corner of the person's mouth that when not engaged in a smile or frown appears to be the most delicate and endearing thing that I have seen yet. Serenity appears.

Some people would argue that emotionality is humanness, and that to lose a sense of emotionality, is to lose all sense of a person. I would argue that emotionality is not what makes humans human, it is morality, the sense of right and wrong. Emotionality is amazing in the sense that once a person has delved into an emotional existence, metaphors begin to blossom around them, and they are thrust into a world of tantamount meaning and bold symbolism. To be emotional is to live an artist's existence. The funny thing is that what to artists do? They create new ways to express and synthesize meaning, on the occasion they will create a completely new symbol, but for the most part they are just rehashing archetypal images to suit their needs, or just plainly romanticizing their own neurosis. On a macro level they are putting together images in an order, on a micro level they are pinpointing the smallest detail of pain, love, intrinsic beauty. I will always see truth in art, the subconscious, the defense mechanisms, the layers of color. But I want to go beyond that. I want to see what happens when people transcend emotionality, with thoughtful action in it's stead. And when I say people, I also mean myself.

To live in a world of symbolism is what we do every day. Every action, every word is symbolic. I am calling out for artistic existence. Where one step is the equivalent of a brush stroke, where valor is the hue of a mother's cheek. Composition and ideas are to me what represent the essence of a piece, the way that the idea is expressed on paper, the complexity, the ability to transcend time and become timeless.

I would challenge you and myself, to make our actions into art, to create the most breathtaking compositions, to reclaim the role of the hero.

For this balance is a necessity, with emotions in check, we can stand tall for a picture that will capture something more than the mundane [what is] and go beyond into the infinite realm. An emotion is a reaction to what is, a thought transcends what is.


The two quotes below have been a source of constant inspiration to me.

"When we surrender ourselves to being refined, we give ourselves the opportunity to express vitality and compassion. If we refuse, then we choose stagnation, and it will show up in a deadened, lusterless body."



Actualization of an undifferentiated human self is not a developmental outcome in Dabrowski's terms. Dabrowski applied a multilevel (vertical) approach to self and saw the need to become aware of and to inhibit and reject the lower instinctual aspects of the intrinsic human self (aspects that Maslow would have us "embrace without guilt") and to actively choose and assemble higher elements into a new unique self - this process is what differentiates Man from the Animals. Dabrowski would have us differentiate the initial self into higher and lower aspects, as we define them, and to reject the lower and actualize the higher in creating our unique personality.


It seems pointless to me to think that we were merely put here to only act out one path of existence our whole lives, accepting the actuality of who we are and nothing more. The funny thing is that many "self actualized" people do as much bad as good, and really end up mired in grey. I feel like our purpose is to transcend the idea of ourselves, and reach beyond, into our imagination of what could be. 

Les Surfs - Present Tu Peux T'en Aller

Today

The quote that I am drawing inspiration from is "The Slave who can Free his Masters", from Zardoz.

Currently, anticipating.

I am looking forward to getting gear and props for my next photo shoot. I recently started delving into graphic design again which feels so good, and is already so inspiring. I'm excited to start posting on here! With every post I plan to post a couple links to artists I admire, and hopefully start putting up some of my own stuff.

Here is one link that I find profoundly inspiring, it is the Swedish National Archives Flickr account. The photographs that they post have an evocative feel, and also reinvigorate my desire to travel. I especially love the pictures of the runes found there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/swedish_heritage_board/