A thought for the day

Souls need educating, too.

Make something of yourself

Let's take this apart.

MAKE: It's something you do. It's an active verb. It implies doing, building, getting the hands dirty, intending.

SOMETHING: Pretty open. Not necessarily the things family or society might value, like money, prestige, status, stuff. Why not being a decent person, a person of passion and commitment, an iconoclast, a shaman, a person of integrity.

OF: a lovely preposition.

YOUR: Take ownership. Others can help, but it's yours to make happen.

SELF: The most elusive piece. How does this self emerge? How much can you really control it? Do you have the courage to search deeply for it?

A thought for today

The answer to any profound question is mystery.
Therefore, the important thing is the search.

A poem for today

1000 Cranes

Are not enough to fill the skies

Or wipe out memories of the

Dead millions

Or provide the feathers

That stones and shells require

Or convince that life is

Permanent

Or diminish the assault on

Beauty

Or make you love me.

Remember:

REMEMBER: Religion is a human invention.

I had this thought today.

In the Renaissance, the artist could be a mathematician, a diplomat, a civil or military engineer, a politician, a poet, a scientist. Strangely enough, that is still true today, at the start of the 21^st century. Unfortunately, very few artists realize this and incorporate such options into their practices. One of the biggest obstacles to this is the education of the artist. Even in art school, students learn more about what art was and what art is than what art can be. Too much of art is taught as history and not enduring experience. Too much art is taught as engagement with materials and processes and not engagement with the world.

An artist is...

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An artist is a creature who takes that small part of the world for which s/he has great passion and turns that passion into deep investigation and awareness—both inner and outer—leading to images and actions that compel the viewer to see the world with new eyes.