DREAMS INTO ACTION
May 9, 2008 by metaya
When a culture begins to sink to a level where there is no appreciation of the fine arts and only the crude arts are supported - though hastily presented with little thought to subtlety and expertise - we have entered upon a societal degradation from which recovery may be impossible.
When there is little or no real support of the artist as a valuable, contributing member of and to the society;
when the collective goal of a country is chasing the buck to get another fix to support our habit as consumer junkies while being sold on the efficacy of this idea by a constantly incessant, unremitting onslaught of advertising reminding us of our inadequacies at not making enough money to buy more stuff;
when you are somebody only when you have a new, shiny car, a big house, the latest toys and hot and cold running secretaries at your disposal;
when the institutions of what are laughingly called higher learning only focus on memorization without understanding, mimicry without meaning, style without substance, products without aesthetics, technique without message;
where original thought and innovative, creative individual ideas are shunned in favor of a me-too mentality;
where the rewards go to the non-producing members of a society and the active, hard-working members are left unrewarded and unnoticed;
when you begin to see these symptoms in abundance, then that culture is on its way out. Thus went the Greeks, Rome, England and America.
We now live in a sound-bite world of instant gratification where all that is important is the sizzle not the steak;
where the focus is on the attainment of celebrity status with little attention given to the pleasure of bringing ones skills up to a professional level sufficient to accomplish a final result one can be proud of;
where speed is valued over competence and pride in oneself or ones work is afterthought;
where communication is reduced to a bumper sticker or a headline;
where considered, complex thought is considered outdated;
when all this is happening, the prospects for the future can begin to look grim.
But lets not throw in the towel just yet , , ,
In spite of everything, I’m not particularly pessimistic - of course even my wife calls me the “glass 1⁄2 full” type guy with an irrepressible, even irritating sense of optimism about the future.
Notice that these three axiomatic truths that remain unchanged in spite of all that I’ve said above:
1. Happiness results from having and following a dream that you desire.
2. Pleasure comes from moving through the inevitable barriers and challenges along the way.
3. As long as life is in you, it is possible for you to have something to do with the nature of your future.
I think you’ll agree that the artist is the dreamer of dreams and the creator of new future possibilities. So what if new artistic ideas or creative, imaginative solutions or approaches are resisted, resented or fought? If you’re not up to it, maybe you should think about looking into a profession that requires little or no original thought, so that you can be accepted and fit in to society’s norm.
But wait a minute . . . you’re already an artist aren’t you?
Why not just facing it and move on. All the things you complain about go with the territory. On the other hand, you get to experience a level of intense aesthetic sensation that others only dream about.
Just keep putting it out there. Keep creating your idea of what you would like the future to be. If you don’t put it out there, it won’t exist.
Putting your dreams into action requires active, continuing contribution from within to be kept alive. Otherwise, those dreams wither and die.
It’s your dream; why not just keep putting it there in spite of every invitation to do otherwise?
The way I figure it, I am going to just keep creating a future the way I would like it to be and putting my dreams into action, and you should too.
Because, before you can say, “wha’wazdat?” the past becomes the future; and that future has a tendency to look suspiciously like what you were creating all along.
Why not make it something desirable and worth moving into? You’ve got nothing to lose . . . and everything to gain.
daniel w. jacobs
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[...] Quinn: [...]
[...] Metaya’s Weblog wrote an interesting post today on DREAMS INTO ACTIONHere’s a quick excerpt … t not making “enough” money to buy this stuff - - - when you are “s … omebody” only when you have a new, shiny car, a big house and hot and cold running secretaries at your disposal - - - when the higher institutions of music c…(Note: this was written in response to a letter from a friend who was pretty convinced that music and the arts were largely unappreciated and that it was pretty much a… [...]