There is a lot bumping around in my head after reading this, so I apologize that I don't have a more eloquent way of expressing my gratitude for you writing this.
I shared a piece on Monday about how I believe in community and the intensity of creative feeling way more than I'll ever believe in anyone that lives in the White House. That the world that I hope for is not to be found in voting or politics.
To me, it feels like you're saying here that our creative spirit inherently lives outside of the chaos that the powerful are intent on sowing. And what a hopeful, empowering sentiment to know that they can never take this from us.
I'm feeling a deep need now to dig inward to understand the essence of my creativity and how it can serve in this present moment and beyond. I appreciate this insight and how it has enlightened something in my sense of self.
I think that's an incredibly eloquent way to put it! Have you ever read about William Blake? He's been a massive inspiration on how I view imagination and creativity. :') He was extremely unpopular in his time, but he was right.
Self-expression is the hill I’ll die on but I fear that many more people will now censor themselves in fear of the repercussions. I love your personal manifesto and we all need to define ways of protecting ourselves and each other. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
What came up for me as I read this is that there are many people who do not have a creative practice and my wish for them all during this season of chaos is to find a creative practice as a form of exploration and push against the noise.
#12!! As you've said about the "inventions" were intended to make our lives easier but too many were compounded inventions just in my lifetime.... For instance let's just focus on phones: party line telephones in the 60s, telephones with our own number in the 70s, beepers and telephones with long winding cords in the 80s, the 90s beepers, telephones with call waiting/call forwarding/voice mail and you've got mail (AOL dial up) and if you were rich enough a phone in your car---and look what the last 24 years have done with iphone and android. We've discarded all the older phones, the home phones with cords, the dial up internet, the beepers. The landfill is full of useless technology while we embrace the new. What do we have in exchange for all the inventions? We have to ask ourselves what we've given of ourselves to push these inventions forward. Is life really easier? Does it make us more free? Does it give us more time to do the things we love with the people we love? Does it compact and go by so quickly that we can barely remember what we would be doing if we had the time to do so? While we really can't go backward as technology has given us the ability to be able to make contact anytime/anywhere...we need to realize and hold on to the fact that we can still have the personal power to hit the "off" button. That one little button holds the key to sane living and quality of life.
Thanks again for such a powerful read. Much needed in this day.
Thank you! I took some inspiration from the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Dada manifesto, and through working through creative blockages in art therapy :)
…this is gobstopping…echoing some of the audience here this merits multiple re-reads and reflects…so many angles of adjustment and inspiration…gardening is performance art is a statement of great whimsy and comedy and a total truth…self investing in our self and spaces is powerful and delightful…excellent collages too bud…sob sob indeed hehehe…great words!…
Reading this felt like someone had been eavesdropping on my private thoughts of the past 9 months. My own perspective on where we’re at, which I believe is compatible with what you’ve shared here, is roughly this:
I see rationality in much the same way George Carlin saw drugs. At first they offer a ton of pleasure (convenience, choice, affluence) at the expense of very little pain (loss of meaning, expression, personal connection). After awhile, those proportions start to change until the pain is all that’s left.
I honestly think we’re hitting that inflection point with the age of reason. Nobody told me that the convenience of Netflix would put an end to fun voting arguments with family and friends about what to rent at the video store. Or that the convenience of smartphones would deprive me of the magic of having the right song come on at the right time on the radio. But, here we are. We have the luxuries kings would once kill for and we’ve never been more unhappy. I think those two are directly related.
So, I’m doing my best to put the thumb on the scales to tip the ratio back to something I can tolerate. Much of what you’ve listed I’ve been trying to be more deliberate about as of late, and it’s absolutely helping, but finding my way back to these things is sometimes harder than it seems. But overall it’s very much been worthwhile.
I resonate so much with all of that, James! When I was coming up there were still blockbusters and FM radio, and high speed internet didn't become accessible in my little town until after I left it. I'm trying to regain that sense of wonder and serendipity. It's so difficult to hold onto in this age!
But the more that I read about the past and some of favorite artists, the more I see how much of my conception of reality is skewed and inaccurate. Reading a lot about "hyper reality" lately lol.
Wow, I loved every word of this. Thanks for summarizing the strange conundrums of modernity while also brilliantly exploring how art can be a pathway forward. I’ll be returning to this one!
Jeremy, I know this sounds silly, but I'm asking earnestly: would you be comfortable with me printing this out to hang above my desk?
I'm so moved by these principles. Having grown up in an environment that demonized creative play and made imagination out to be something akin to delusion, I've been struggling to really sink into my creative practices these past few years. I am constantly warring against the urge to monetize everything, to only ever pursue things that could be "profitable," to not "waste time" on hobbies or projects solely for personal enjoyment. And of course, this has repeatedly stifled my creativity, especially in moments like this.
Thank you for these reminders. I feel so inspired, and I have a feeling I'm going to be coming back to this list frequently in the near future.
Awe thanks Eli! I’m glad you found them helpful :) sure, go ahead! Maybe I’ll make a poster or something. Originally I was thinking a zine, or maybe both!
I still struggle against all of those things, so writing them down felt empowering and solidified them for me.
Thank you for this offering during this time! I loved and resonated with all the things mentioned. The one that stood out to me the most right now is the one about house work because it's often against my other creative activities so a reframe is helpful.
There is a lot bumping around in my head after reading this, so I apologize that I don't have a more eloquent way of expressing my gratitude for you writing this.
I shared a piece on Monday about how I believe in community and the intensity of creative feeling way more than I'll ever believe in anyone that lives in the White House. That the world that I hope for is not to be found in voting or politics.
To me, it feels like you're saying here that our creative spirit inherently lives outside of the chaos that the powerful are intent on sowing. And what a hopeful, empowering sentiment to know that they can never take this from us.
I'm feeling a deep need now to dig inward to understand the essence of my creativity and how it can serve in this present moment and beyond. I appreciate this insight and how it has enlightened something in my sense of self.
I think that's an incredibly eloquent way to put it! Have you ever read about William Blake? He's been a massive inspiration on how I view imagination and creativity. :') He was extremely unpopular in his time, but he was right.
Would you have any specific thing he wrote that you would recommend beginning with? I'd love to read more!
There's this book called William Blake vs The World. I listened to it on audiobook, it was a great intro!
This is magnificent. I'm going to come back to this often, thank you so much.
Awesome! I'm glad you found it helpful : )
Self-expression is the hill I’ll die on but I fear that many more people will now censor themselves in fear of the repercussions. I love your personal manifesto and we all need to define ways of protecting ourselves and each other. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
What came up for me as I read this is that there are many people who do not have a creative practice and my wish for them all during this season of chaos is to find a creative practice as a form of exploration and push against the noise.
Amazing article and exposition of the artists journey and possibilities
#12!! As you've said about the "inventions" were intended to make our lives easier but too many were compounded inventions just in my lifetime.... For instance let's just focus on phones: party line telephones in the 60s, telephones with our own number in the 70s, beepers and telephones with long winding cords in the 80s, the 90s beepers, telephones with call waiting/call forwarding/voice mail and you've got mail (AOL dial up) and if you were rich enough a phone in your car---and look what the last 24 years have done with iphone and android. We've discarded all the older phones, the home phones with cords, the dial up internet, the beepers. The landfill is full of useless technology while we embrace the new. What do we have in exchange for all the inventions? We have to ask ourselves what we've given of ourselves to push these inventions forward. Is life really easier? Does it make us more free? Does it give us more time to do the things we love with the people we love? Does it compact and go by so quickly that we can barely remember what we would be doing if we had the time to do so? While we really can't go backward as technology has given us the ability to be able to make contact anytime/anywhere...we need to realize and hold on to the fact that we can still have the personal power to hit the "off" button. That one little button holds the key to sane living and quality of life.
Thanks again for such a powerful read. Much needed in this day.
I love these principles. They are incredibly grounding, especially in this moment. I wonder how you came to write them.
Thank you! I took some inspiration from the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Dada manifesto, and through working through creative blockages in art therapy :)
…this is gobstopping…echoing some of the audience here this merits multiple re-reads and reflects…so many angles of adjustment and inspiration…gardening is performance art is a statement of great whimsy and comedy and a total truth…self investing in our self and spaces is powerful and delightful…excellent collages too bud…sob sob indeed hehehe…great words!…
Fantastic sharing of your innate wisdom Jeremy. Thank you! ✨
I really appreciate these points, Jeremy. Love the nuance and the sense of relief felt in each guideline.
Reading this felt like someone had been eavesdropping on my private thoughts of the past 9 months. My own perspective on where we’re at, which I believe is compatible with what you’ve shared here, is roughly this:
I see rationality in much the same way George Carlin saw drugs. At first they offer a ton of pleasure (convenience, choice, affluence) at the expense of very little pain (loss of meaning, expression, personal connection). After awhile, those proportions start to change until the pain is all that’s left.
I honestly think we’re hitting that inflection point with the age of reason. Nobody told me that the convenience of Netflix would put an end to fun voting arguments with family and friends about what to rent at the video store. Or that the convenience of smartphones would deprive me of the magic of having the right song come on at the right time on the radio. But, here we are. We have the luxuries kings would once kill for and we’ve never been more unhappy. I think those two are directly related.
So, I’m doing my best to put the thumb on the scales to tip the ratio back to something I can tolerate. Much of what you’ve listed I’ve been trying to be more deliberate about as of late, and it’s absolutely helping, but finding my way back to these things is sometimes harder than it seems. But overall it’s very much been worthwhile.
I resonate so much with all of that, James! When I was coming up there were still blockbusters and FM radio, and high speed internet didn't become accessible in my little town until after I left it. I'm trying to regain that sense of wonder and serendipity. It's so difficult to hold onto in this age!
But the more that I read about the past and some of favorite artists, the more I see how much of my conception of reality is skewed and inaccurate. Reading a lot about "hyper reality" lately lol.
Thanks so much for your comment!
Wow, I loved every word of this. Thanks for summarizing the strange conundrums of modernity while also brilliantly exploring how art can be a pathway forward. I’ll be returning to this one!
Thank you, Eden!
Jeremy, I know this sounds silly, but I'm asking earnestly: would you be comfortable with me printing this out to hang above my desk?
I'm so moved by these principles. Having grown up in an environment that demonized creative play and made imagination out to be something akin to delusion, I've been struggling to really sink into my creative practices these past few years. I am constantly warring against the urge to monetize everything, to only ever pursue things that could be "profitable," to not "waste time" on hobbies or projects solely for personal enjoyment. And of course, this has repeatedly stifled my creativity, especially in moments like this.
Thank you for these reminders. I feel so inspired, and I have a feeling I'm going to be coming back to this list frequently in the near future.
Awe thanks Eli! I’m glad you found them helpful :) sure, go ahead! Maybe I’ll make a poster or something. Originally I was thinking a zine, or maybe both!
I still struggle against all of those things, so writing them down felt empowering and solidified them for me.
A zine of these would be awesome!
Thank you for this offering during this time! I loved and resonated with all the things mentioned. The one that stood out to me the most right now is the one about house work because it's often against my other creative activities so a reframe is helpful.