Instead of pointing to all the things we all know are wrong, and all the why's, and all the political perpetrators pretending to be what they are not - leaders. And all the wanna be players who were no doubt as irritating when they were children, as they are now, only less cute (with some who's remaining redeeming quality is they are one day closer to death). WHAT?!?! oh come on lighten up, I was only serious.
We all know all this, though for some reason knowing is not making anything better.
It is said: To know, and not to act, is not to know.
Cause this route, of everyone talking about what-we-know has been well trod by herds of half-closed-shuttered-eyed others ahead of me, I think I'm going to veer left and get lost in the wild and unruly tall grass and find me some direction. Be like the solitary mountain goat...and keep climbing and hope the mm wide ledge I will no doubt find myself clinging to, is granite not mud...and that there is, indeed a way forward....
not just down.
Today however, in one splendid eye opening, soul replenishing, mind dusting 5km Spring hike this afternoon, many things occurred to me, but the one I feel deserve a mention is: It's time to make a shift. From talking to doing.
With your help, let's conduct an uncontrolled experiment.
In our self-preservation-desire to want to see things go from being discussed to evidence of a shift being made, I'm going to embark on: how-to-change-the-world-one-step-and-one-person-at-a-time-one-post-at-a-time.
And start whacking and clearing a path in the tall grass, to show there is always another way of living and being.
You know you want to too...you just haven't known how! Who knew!??!
Allow me the leeway to learn as I go here, and present to you the: How To Change Without Changing Too Much And Make The Difference You Always Wanted To But Never Knew How Or Didn't Care Enough About Anything Else Except Distractions To Prevent You From Discovering The Difference Giving "Quality-Of-Life" The Priority It Deserves And You Need.
'k...I might whittle that title down a bit, we'll see.
The goal is make transitions easy. How to take that one step, if there is to ever be a next-step-taken, and for there to be a livable world left for everyone to actually be able to live in. Not have 'a life of decency and dignity' go extinct, so that 2 generations from now this will all seem hoaky la la mental drivel when there really is a world and life and quality of life worth saving and preserving so today's children can bring children into this world and know how to pass on the gift of true life.
Step one: Recognize talking about problems does nothing to solve or change the reality of any given situation.
WHAT??!! you can't call THAT inconvenient..that was a perfect start...well, it was a start of some sort....starts never look like much...stick with me on this, it'll be....interesting at teh very least.
Note: Large life things will likely be reduced to silly little lines, but ALWAYS know I am ALWAYS referring to the bigger picture, the political state of the world and all that carnage, and our planet itself - and everyone and every living thing herein contained on this rare sphere.
Disclaimer: I, of course, reserve the right to post whatever pops to mind in any given day...I can't know what I'm going to say at any given time, or else I'd never bother to say it again.
Also know, just as you read this...so too did I, as I posted it, it's just as new to me! scary concept but truth is usually scary
boo
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
Chaos Or Community
We lost a visionary 40 years ago on this date.
And we will not see another as authentic as Martin Luther King Jr. in our lifetimes.
One of the youngest recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for his painstaking civil rights,
Black rights, workers, and fair union rights work, but also for a better future for all - and alll, without being naive.
All because one man decided to just stand up and say what needed to be said.
In 'Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?' King commences with
Lyndon Johnson signing The Voting Bill of Rights of 1965, where the President pledged "We shall overcome".
And declared that the national Government must, by law, ensure every Black his full rights as a citizen.
In 'Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?' King mentions, and includes the end of Fanon's book 'The Wretched Of The Earth'. Fanon's conclusion to his book is as follows, in case you haven't read either book yet.
So, comrades let us not pay tribute to Europe by creating states, institutions and societies which draw their inspiration from her.
Humanity is waiting for something other from us than such imitations which would be almost an obscene caricature.
If we want to turn Africa into a new Europe, and America into a new Europe, then let us leave the destiny of our countries to Europeans. They will know how to do it better than the most gifted among us.
But if we want humanity to advance a step further, if we want to bring it up to a different level that that which Europe has shown it, then we must invent and we must make discoveries.
If we wish to live up to our people's expectations, we must seek the response elsewhere than in Europe.
Moreover, if we wish to reply to the expectations of the people of Europe, it is no good sending them back a reflection, even an ideal reflection,of their society and their thought with which from time to time they feel immeasurably sickened.
For Europe, for ourselves and for humanity, comrades, we must turn over a new leaf, we must work out new concepts, and try to set afoot a new man.'
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to point out with that passage: Humanity is waiting for something other than blind imitation of the past. And the only starting point, of which we have yet to ever try, in all of mankind's unkind history is ceasing the use of violence - 'eye for an eye makes everyone blind'.
Chapter 5 of 'Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?' is titled: 'Where Are We Going'. and describes all restrictions that weren't being lifted for Black people in America.
40 years on, we're able to see where things are 'at'.
When one looks close at what on earth this intangible 'it' is that prevents people from growing, from thinking differently, from evolving beyond what was incorrectly taught....
...."it" is both a lack-of-a-thing, thus ignorance ensures ignorance...
....and an absence of light, or love, or care, support, & goodness from good people.
When there is no sense of acceptance, unconditional love, connection, community, all-in-life-together...darkness within a person & population descends.
But always keep in mind the 4 laws of the universe (there really are 4 laws).
1. The Universe Works toward a balance.
2. Nothing ever disappears, they only change state. (wood to heat, fire, smoke, ash all kept within the universe)
3. (this you're not going to believe but it's true) There is no darkness. There is only a lack-of-light.
4. There are different truths...there is energy, and quanta (waves and chunks & particles)...both totally different,
with different configurations and structure, each describing a different set of rules within our same universe.
Here is Martin Luther King's own concluding words in 'Where Do We Go From Here...?"
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. the "tide in the affairs of men" does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on....." We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. This may well be mankind's last chance to choose between chaos and community.
Martin Luther King Jr.
January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968
Assassinated at age: 39 in Memphis Tennessee.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".
And we will not see another as authentic as Martin Luther King Jr. in our lifetimes.
One of the youngest recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for his painstaking civil rights,
Black rights, workers, and fair union rights work, but also for a better future for all - and alll, without being naive.
All because one man decided to just stand up and say what needed to be said.
In 'Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?' King commences with
Lyndon Johnson signing The Voting Bill of Rights of 1965, where the President pledged "We shall overcome".
And declared that the national Government must, by law, ensure every Black his full rights as a citizen.
In 'Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?' King mentions, and includes the end of Fanon's book 'The Wretched Of The Earth'. Fanon's conclusion to his book is as follows, in case you haven't read either book yet.
So, comrades let us not pay tribute to Europe by creating states, institutions and societies which draw their inspiration from her.
Humanity is waiting for something other from us than such imitations which would be almost an obscene caricature.
If we want to turn Africa into a new Europe, and America into a new Europe, then let us leave the destiny of our countries to Europeans. They will know how to do it better than the most gifted among us.
But if we want humanity to advance a step further, if we want to bring it up to a different level that that which Europe has shown it, then we must invent and we must make discoveries.
If we wish to live up to our people's expectations, we must seek the response elsewhere than in Europe.
Moreover, if we wish to reply to the expectations of the people of Europe, it is no good sending them back a reflection, even an ideal reflection,of their society and their thought with which from time to time they feel immeasurably sickened.
For Europe, for ourselves and for humanity, comrades, we must turn over a new leaf, we must work out new concepts, and try to set afoot a new man.'
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to point out with that passage: Humanity is waiting for something other than blind imitation of the past. And the only starting point, of which we have yet to ever try, in all of mankind's unkind history is ceasing the use of violence - 'eye for an eye makes everyone blind'.
Chapter 5 of 'Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?' is titled: 'Where Are We Going'. and describes all restrictions that weren't being lifted for Black people in America.
40 years on, we're able to see where things are 'at'.
When one looks close at what on earth this intangible 'it' is that prevents people from growing, from thinking differently, from evolving beyond what was incorrectly taught....
...."it" is both a lack-of-a-thing, thus ignorance ensures ignorance...
....and an absence of light, or love, or care, support, & goodness from good people.
When there is no sense of acceptance, unconditional love, connection, community, all-in-life-together...darkness within a person & population descends.
But always keep in mind the 4 laws of the universe (there really are 4 laws).
1. The Universe Works toward a balance.
2. Nothing ever disappears, they only change state. (wood to heat, fire, smoke, ash all kept within the universe)
3. (this you're not going to believe but it's true) There is no darkness. There is only a lack-of-light.
4. There are different truths...there is energy, and quanta (waves and chunks & particles)...both totally different,
with different configurations and structure, each describing a different set of rules within our same universe.
Here is Martin Luther King's own concluding words in 'Where Do We Go From Here...?"
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. the "tide in the affairs of men" does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on....." We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. This may well be mankind's last chance to choose between chaos and community.
Martin Luther King Jr.
January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968
Assassinated at age: 39 in Memphis Tennessee.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".
Thursday, April 3, 2008
The Holding Company's CEO
Janis Joplin said she "couldn't get it together...."
She wasn't talking about balancing her work and dosages, or her and her bands all-over-the-place travel schedules.
Thus, Janis understandably took everything to offset the reality she was seeing around her in that rare pocket of time.
What Janis said was....
'I don't understand why half the world is cryin', while the other half of the world is still cryin' too man, I can't get it together man'
Neither can we.
Nor have we.
In fact, that ratio has gotten a bit worse these last 40 yrs. So her line would now sound like; 'I don't understand why the uber elite are cryin' for even more money, while the rest of the now over populated world is still cryin' to just survive man, I can't get it together, but I can get it to go'
I for one, will always hold out hope that not only will the people of the world see the likes of a more peaceful social and political movements, uprisings and coming-togetherness now, and in future.
Because I think we've all pretty much had it - this...whatever you want to call it method and system...it ain't real.
We're ready for a change, for the better, once and for all.
I'm going to hold out and hope.
She wasn't talking about balancing her work and dosages, or her and her bands all-over-the-place travel schedules.
Thus, Janis understandably took everything to offset the reality she was seeing around her in that rare pocket of time.
What Janis said was....
'I don't understand why half the world is cryin', while the other half of the world is still cryin' too man, I can't get it together man'
Neither can we.
Nor have we.
In fact, that ratio has gotten a bit worse these last 40 yrs. So her line would now sound like; 'I don't understand why the uber elite are cryin' for even more money, while the rest of the now over populated world is still cryin' to just survive man, I can't get it together, but I can get it to go'
I for one, will always hold out hope that not only will the people of the world see the likes of a more peaceful social and political movements, uprisings and coming-togetherness now, and in future.
Because I think we've all pretty much had it - this...whatever you want to call it method and system...it ain't real.
We're ready for a change, for the better, once and for all.
I'm going to hold out and hope.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
What if...
Your can't-quite-put-your-finger-on-it sense of, that-which-you-can't-quite-put-your-finger-on is your intuition or gut, trying to tell you something?
Now, without even trying to attempt to articulate the inarticulate-able, here's something I hope you allow yourself to try.
Stop and let yourself conduct your own mini-experiment and ask some ridiculous questions.
First, try and erase all that you've been taught, everything that has ever been said, and everything you have inadvertently picked up on or adopted along the way in life.
Everything.
Let it go.
Gonzo.
Having trouble erasing? No kidding - we're told a truck load of $#!+
Give it another second. Try and erase e v e r y t h i n g for a second here?
Allow yourself the few rare minutes you may ever have with the you...the buried deep you...that coulda, mighta, shoulda, ought-to-have been allowed to be.
It does little to get these thoughts in juuust before you kick-the-bucket.
I say, do it now while there's still time to do something about it. Like Dickens' Ebeneezer in Christmas Carol.
It is quite difficult to put aside everything you have ever known, currently have, and have been working towards for too many years. Sometimes people are in such a hurry to construct their lives, they grab anything within reach and neglect truth, honestly, realness and the L-thing which are the foundations, so the first hint of a thought, tends to turn their worlds topsy turvy, and them scurrying as attractive as mice.
Don't be one of the rigid frigid afraid of truth people, it'll only prevent you from living a rewardingly meaningful life.
Be like a kid again, squat like a six year old, staring in slack-jawed-awe at a metallic-like bug in the summer sun...never lose that childlike quality every day you are in this world.
'k, Ready to experience this Experiment in YOU.
Have you erased every externally influenced thought, message, word, action & memory if you want to actually experience this true glimpse of you?
Last minute reminders:
1. Forget money...except to say it is no object, or subject of value or worth mentioning.
2. Anything goes. Besides these points - there are no rules at all, within your world.
3. There are no laws. (beside laws of physics apply, although, gravity lies outside of physics as we know it).
4. There is no need to cart or stuff old familiar obligated square pegs in black holes, they'll disappear instantly.
'k, Chill.
Don't think of a n y t h i n g (till you read a question)
This is a luxury of truly answering the following in your mind...keep it real. This is about just acknowledging. Not sharing. Don't cheat yourself. Too many people do that, that's why the world sucks.
Here we go:
What if you had achieved everything & more than what you wanted. What would you do?
What if you lost all physical mobility? What would wish you did or had done, when you had the chance?
What if your life circumstance & experiences weren't the ones you knew. What kind of person would you be?
Upon seeing how lucky you are & have been, are you giving as much as others gave and showed you?
What if you saw someone who possessed seriously astonishing traits, who could contribute greatly to the advancement of mankind, but was being steered invisibly further away from discovering such traits and capacity within them - truly getting lost - what would you do to try and wake them?
What if that person is you?
What if you are drifting further away from who you are, could be, and ought to be? What would you do to stop it?
What if YOU really were the answer the world has been looking to & needing for years. No one else with all you are and were given. How would your / our world look, operate, function and work?
What if you aren't one of those who get to see their 80th birthday...what if you only had 4 years left?
Just What if...
Are you who and where and what and how and why you are and were and ought to be?
What if you implemented your results derived in this Experiment in YOU for the next year straight.
What would your life be like a year from now?
What are the external influences holding you back from doing & being all that you are, ought to experience, and be?
Now, without even trying to attempt to articulate the inarticulate-able, here's something I hope you allow yourself to try.
Stop and let yourself conduct your own mini-experiment and ask some ridiculous questions.
First, try and erase all that you've been taught, everything that has ever been said, and everything you have inadvertently picked up on or adopted along the way in life.
Everything.
Let it go.
Gonzo.
Having trouble erasing? No kidding - we're told a truck load of $#!+
Give it another second. Try and erase e v e r y t h i n g for a second here?
Allow yourself the few rare minutes you may ever have with the you...the buried deep you...that coulda, mighta, shoulda, ought-to-have been allowed to be.
It does little to get these thoughts in juuust before you kick-the-bucket.
I say, do it now while there's still time to do something about it. Like Dickens' Ebeneezer in Christmas Carol.
It is quite difficult to put aside everything you have ever known, currently have, and have been working towards for too many years. Sometimes people are in such a hurry to construct their lives, they grab anything within reach and neglect truth, honestly, realness and the L-thing which are the foundations, so the first hint of a thought, tends to turn their worlds topsy turvy, and them scurrying as attractive as mice.
Don't be one of the rigid frigid afraid of truth people, it'll only prevent you from living a rewardingly meaningful life.
Be like a kid again, squat like a six year old, staring in slack-jawed-awe at a metallic-like bug in the summer sun...never lose that childlike quality every day you are in this world.
'k, Ready to experience this Experiment in YOU.
Have you erased every externally influenced thought, message, word, action & memory if you want to actually experience this true glimpse of you?
Last minute reminders:
1. Forget money...except to say it is no object, or subject of value or worth mentioning.
2. Anything goes. Besides these points - there are no rules at all, within your world.
3. There are no laws. (beside laws of physics apply, although, gravity lies outside of physics as we know it).
4. There is no need to cart or stuff old familiar obligated square pegs in black holes, they'll disappear instantly.
'k, Chill.
Don't think of a n y t h i n g (till you read a question)
This is a luxury of truly answering the following in your mind...keep it real. This is about just acknowledging. Not sharing. Don't cheat yourself. Too many people do that, that's why the world sucks.
Here we go:
What if you had achieved everything & more than what you wanted. What would you do?
What if you lost all physical mobility? What would wish you did or had done, when you had the chance?
What if your life circumstance & experiences weren't the ones you knew. What kind of person would you be?
Upon seeing how lucky you are & have been, are you giving as much as others gave and showed you?
What if you saw someone who possessed seriously astonishing traits, who could contribute greatly to the advancement of mankind, but was being steered invisibly further away from discovering such traits and capacity within them - truly getting lost - what would you do to try and wake them?
What if that person is you?
What if you are drifting further away from who you are, could be, and ought to be? What would you do to stop it?
What if YOU really were the answer the world has been looking to & needing for years. No one else with all you are and were given. How would your / our world look, operate, function and work?
What if you aren't one of those who get to see their 80th birthday...what if you only had 4 years left?
Just What if...
Are you who and where and what and how and why you are and were and ought to be?
What if you implemented your results derived in this Experiment in YOU for the next year straight.
What would your life be like a year from now?
What are the external influences holding you back from doing & being all that you are, ought to experience, and be?
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
T.S. Eliot 1888-1965
APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life on tubers
The Wasteland 1922
this concludes the poetical sojourn
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life on tubers
The Wasteland 1922
this concludes the poetical sojourn
Monday, March 31, 2008
To Imagination
WHEN weary with the long day's care,
And earthly change from pain to pain,
And lost, and ready to despair,
Thy kind voice calls me back again :
Oh, my true friend! I am not lone,
While thou canst speak with such a tone!
So Hopeless is the world without,
The world within I doubly prize ;
Thy world, where guile, and hate, and doubt,
And cold suspicion never rise ;
Where thou, and I, and Liberty,
Have undisputed sovereignty.
What matters it, that all around
Danger, and guilt, and darkness lie,
If but within our bosom's bound
We hold a bright, untroubled sky,
Warm with ten thousand mingled rays
Of suns that know no winter days?
Reason, indeed, may oft complain
For Nature's sad reality,
And tell the suffering heart how vain
It's cherished dreams must always be ;
And Truth may rudely trample down
The flowers of Fancy, newly-blown.
But thou art ever there, to bring
The hovering vision back, and breathe
New glories o'er the blighted spring,
And call a lovelier Life from Death,
And whisper, with a voice divine,
Of real worlds, as bright as thine.
I trust not to thy phantom bliss,
Yet, still, in evening's quiet hour,
With never-failing thankfulness,
I welcome thee, Benignant Power ;
Sure solacer of human cares,
And sweeter hope, when hope despairs.
Emily Bronte
1818-1848
And earthly change from pain to pain,
And lost, and ready to despair,
Thy kind voice calls me back again :
Oh, my true friend! I am not lone,
While thou canst speak with such a tone!
So Hopeless is the world without,
The world within I doubly prize ;
Thy world, where guile, and hate, and doubt,
And cold suspicion never rise ;
Where thou, and I, and Liberty,
Have undisputed sovereignty.
What matters it, that all around
Danger, and guilt, and darkness lie,
If but within our bosom's bound
We hold a bright, untroubled sky,
Warm with ten thousand mingled rays
Of suns that know no winter days?
Reason, indeed, may oft complain
For Nature's sad reality,
And tell the suffering heart how vain
It's cherished dreams must always be ;
And Truth may rudely trample down
The flowers of Fancy, newly-blown.
But thou art ever there, to bring
The hovering vision back, and breathe
New glories o'er the blighted spring,
And call a lovelier Life from Death,
And whisper, with a voice divine,
Of real worlds, as bright as thine.
I trust not to thy phantom bliss,
Yet, still, in evening's quiet hour,
With never-failing thankfulness,
I welcome thee, Benignant Power ;
Sure solacer of human cares,
And sweeter hope, when hope despairs.
Emily Bronte
1818-1848
Sunday, March 30, 2008
In A New Light
The catalyst that got everyone out of The Dark Ages 4 centuries ago was not a political system, nor was it an private league of professionals re-writing laws so as to secure their descendants economic advantage ad infinitum*, nor was it an actual 'leader'...as there's a strong tendency to kill those off as soon as one is detected, thus you'll notice no one is scrambling for the job.
It was art.
Art is what saw civilisation out of the Dark Ages. The Renaissance to be specific.
The individuals who created such art that brought us out of the Dark Ages, possessed a strength of character, a self possession and raw talent we don't seem to see anymore.
Why is that?
Their need to articulate, design, paint, draw, chisel, depict, reveal, educate, elevate others came from their need to create that-which-they-could-see, but weren't seeing around them.
They had vision.
They had vision without religion. These were the thinkers. They had, and made, their points, and put them in their work for all to see if we stopped to look and think too. And stop, think and re-thin people did.
They all lived approximately at the same time. And, not unlike the 4 minute mile, once we see what can be done, so it shall be done. Everything is learned. So while limits are self, or socially imposed, they are removable likewise.
So. What if...latent talent, might just be a dormant element within every one us?
...and that it is, in fact, the atmosphere, and current conditions, and climate of the social, economic, cultural and development of the times that might [or might not] bring it to light?
~ blasphemy ~ blas for you ~
Some of these individuals were Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rafael and Botticelli.
There were more..but we'll stick with the familiar, cause that's what we do on this continent.
But, don't look upon their names and throw your arms up in the air and say; "oh well hell, like as if I'm one of them..."
Because you don't honestly know to say that do you?
Were you ever explained marbles attributes and behavior, and the physics to know about balance, structure and weigth placement when you were young? Were you ever handed an old fashioned hammer and chisel, by a master craftsman, in front of a block of solid marble millions of years old when you were a teen?
And why is that?
Primarily because of someone else's economic concerns, we are not shown, taught or allowed to discover things we might seriously excel in.
At no point in our formative years are we sincerely shown and taught or given the freedom to find out that which, or as much as, we ought to be. Then in our early adult years there's no money. Then we get caught up, and under the bridge it all goes.
So who knows? We certainly don't.
So don't look upon these Renaissance men of old, or new if one somehow got-away as something to kick your jaw along the ground after.
Look upon these men are those few who refused what everyone else was doing, they did-their-own-thing, dedicated their lives to their skill & interests, figured things out, lived and walked a true, but lone path. But they never settled on anything but that which they were here to put forth and leave us.
They were their true selves.
(of course, they were allowed to be. They were supported and or encouraged in ways we strangely aren't)
Therein reside some of the vital keys missing in our current dim age.
But we do have history to show us how to get ourselves out.
Let's hope we never lose sight of our own history.
*referring to those self serving signatures at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence
~blasphemy ~ blas for you ~
It was art.
Art is what saw civilisation out of the Dark Ages. The Renaissance to be specific.
The individuals who created such art that brought us out of the Dark Ages, possessed a strength of character, a self possession and raw talent we don't seem to see anymore.
Why is that?
Their need to articulate, design, paint, draw, chisel, depict, reveal, educate, elevate others came from their need to create that-which-they-could-see, but weren't seeing around them.
They had vision.
They had vision without religion. These were the thinkers. They had, and made, their points, and put them in their work for all to see if we stopped to look and think too. And stop, think and re-thin people did.
They all lived approximately at the same time. And, not unlike the 4 minute mile, once we see what can be done, so it shall be done. Everything is learned. So while limits are self, or socially imposed, they are removable likewise.
So. What if...latent talent, might just be a dormant element within every one us?
...and that it is, in fact, the atmosphere, and current conditions, and climate of the social, economic, cultural and development of the times that might [or might not] bring it to light?
~ blasphemy ~ blas for you ~
Some of these individuals were Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rafael and Botticelli.
There were more..but we'll stick with the familiar, cause that's what we do on this continent.
But, don't look upon their names and throw your arms up in the air and say; "oh well hell, like as if I'm one of them..."
Because you don't honestly know to say that do you?
Were you ever explained marbles attributes and behavior, and the physics to know about balance, structure and weigth placement when you were young? Were you ever handed an old fashioned hammer and chisel, by a master craftsman, in front of a block of solid marble millions of years old when you were a teen?
And why is that?
Primarily because of someone else's economic concerns, we are not shown, taught or allowed to discover things we might seriously excel in.
At no point in our formative years are we sincerely shown and taught or given the freedom to find out that which, or as much as, we ought to be. Then in our early adult years there's no money. Then we get caught up, and under the bridge it all goes.
So who knows? We certainly don't.
So don't look upon these Renaissance men of old, or new if one somehow got-away as something to kick your jaw along the ground after.
Look upon these men are those few who refused what everyone else was doing, they did-their-own-thing, dedicated their lives to their skill & interests, figured things out, lived and walked a true, but lone path. But they never settled on anything but that which they were here to put forth and leave us.
They were their true selves.
(of course, they were allowed to be. They were supported and or encouraged in ways we strangely aren't)
Therein reside some of the vital keys missing in our current dim age.
But we do have history to show us how to get ourselves out.
Let's hope we never lose sight of our own history.
*referring to those self serving signatures at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence
~blasphemy ~ blas for you ~
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