Re: Gettin Started!

yep. i'm with you sir. i want action too but am also aware of the information and skill building that needs to be going on now simultaneously. That's why I'm so attracted to the idea of "Art" at the moment. As an artist you work with theories, do research and sketches and then you complete a "piece" or a series of pieces. Then the process begins again. The "pieces" are whole in and of themselves - they can be experienced out of context and are supposed to impart something to the viewer/participant. Rather than needing to have your full philosophy at the beginning of your work (which isn't too hard for most businesses - because its "too make money" period) , your philosophy emerges through the years as you do your work, and then when you're dead they exhibit all your stuff and tie it all up into a nice bow that can only exist in hindsight.

I love this aspect of the form of being an artist, as compared to say a business, nonprofit, etc. The biggest drawback is that in recent times, the artist is given the freedom to evolve a philosophy and produce work that doesn't know what it is yet - as long as that work doesn't really do anything. If your work is meant to be used and functional then you're called a builder, designer, decorator, architect,scientist, doctor, teacher, etc. and you have to play by different rules.

I think all of this gets turned on its head through spiritual science. Where aesthetics and poetry, metaphor and myth is actually useful. Not just in a "bettering yourself" sort of way, but in a literal, "applied knowledge of the world" sort of way. There is a new science emerging (and its been subtley emerging for a couple hundred years of course) where imagination is not a "flight of fancy" but a new "objective" way of understanding and interacting with our environment.

This new way of seeing is similar to lucid dreaming in that your awareness of the dream does not stop the dream from occurring. A reuniting with the participation of our "inner" worlds with the "outer" worlds does not necessitate that we give up the conscious awareness of the process that logic has brought us. This is what is new! It doesn't have to be one or the other, it's not just awake or dreaming, its a waking awareness for the full spectrum of consciousness that makes us whole (including the third of our life that we spend sleeping!).

So, to get back on track with the activism/action idea - I think its a matter of imbuing everything you do with this awareness. We could create an identity called "The Cult of Everyday Magic" with an embosser and wax seal or some such thing and then we would create "pieces" - a wigged out pedal car, a modular structure that is in tune with the heavens, psychic battery energy generators (lanterns that generate their own power for light and can be taken anywhere), etc.

The income stream is still a question since the objects aren't necessarily meant to be mass produced - but at the same time they are a type of "artistic prototype". Obviously, gallery showings are a possibility that I'm really into at the moment, and while its hard to imagine these pieces being purchased as high art for tens of thousands of dollars - its definitely something that could happen down the road.

In the meantime, I think perma-culture concepts are important. Industrial design influence is important, architecture and installation creation - but you're right about just doing stuff as well. CREATION is important. Just digging in and creating soulful objects is important. Should we create a blog for these types of emails to get posted on? I think it would be a good idea. "The Future is Now"? "Applied Imagination"?

lets work on it:)

namaste.
Jordan