Art, meaning, truth and my journey with it
The thing about art is it helps you see the things about life that words don’t capture. And this is a futile attempt to capture that effect with words.
I know too many people that are way too sheltered and live inside their bubble. Most middle class is actually too sheltered to know the reality of the world we live in. They consume media online and through cable news, they only get a scan artificially made by others to tell them about what the world is. That scan tends to capture a very slim version of reality. For reality itself is beyond capturing. For reality itself goes beyond words and images and sounds, reality is an incredible orchestration so massive and so detailed, there is not a leaf or an ant on the face of this planet glitching or falling outside of its place. Even humans, with our desperate attempts at concealing reality and our destructive manifestations of this planet, we are still playing our very role that is prescribed to us by nature, by the world, by the incredible orchestration of the parts.
I was once too sheltered and to a great extent I still am. And I am solely convinced (I caught myself using solely in my inner monologue, this is why I call all my social accounts nerd-hazard. Proceed at your own risk, it might get nerdier as we dive deeper.) that everyone is sheltered to some extent, and even more, our true purpose in life is to explore further and find out what is out there and embrace and accept every bit of detail we come across. Might be a bit romantic when put this way, I admit, but hey it all boils down to expansion.
I know too many people that want to expand. They have read about transcendence maybe or watched a cheap “make you rich” show and started wondering if one day they could lose count of how many zeroes pop up on their bank account. And to be fair, for some it is not really about the money, it is actually about the impact. And that is a dangerous one. Because impact undefined could go in any direction. Russia is impacting Ukranians pretty significantly right now. I will leave the rest to your imagination and go back to catch my point before it flies away.
In seeking expansion, most drift towards teachers, most drift towards mentors, most drift towards books, documentaries, and the plethora of options to learn about something. And I say to learn soemthing, you just gotta go ahead and do it. And if it is not learning you are after, if it is merely growth, then save the action time for when it is needed and just go interact. Go engage, go meet and talk and see. Get accepted and get rejected and be honest with yourself about what is going on. You have a compass for truth that is your heart and nervous system. Initially truth will be cloudy, over time, as you train your muscles to take in more, your instinct aligns with reality and you will call the wind before it blows, you will predict the rain before it drops, just stay in it, you have the skillset, you just need to get comfortable with it.
Long talk and I am starting to sound like Alan Watts or so I hope. But what is my point? My point is no one can teach you anything. And every time you sit in a class room you are masturbating. There is an overwhelming trend in entertainment now called “edutainment” all focused on jerking off to self-betterment. It just goes nowhere and most students stay students forever and when they excel at being students they become teachers or coaches. There is no need for any of that. Anxious minds feeding anxious minds. While the truth is in the heart and in the body!
And that’s what art gets too. A song, skips all the talk, a song goes straight to you. A song gets to the shit that matters. Through melodies and fine-tuned lyrics, artists tell you something about yourself they cant just explain in plain words. And in most cases, you already know what they say. One of my favorite sayings in this life is that we don’t learn truth, we only remember it!
How so? there is only one truth, this is truth is you, you know who you are because it is you who knows and you most definitely know you. Ok if you want to get biological, you know you because all of what you are is already stored in your DNA and so your brain cells are built after the code in your DNA and will recognize patterns that match your code. These patterns are truth. Maybe one of the ironies of this life is that it seems as if humans hold multiple truths and they contradict one another and it appears that we love love love the ones who share our truth or code or whatever that maybe…
That above is branding. another form of art, that really orients itself with exuding a certain code that then attracts fans that can’t help but fall in love with the brand. Why so? they see the colors, fonts, logo and impression the brand makes and they quickly fall in love with what's in it, what's in it is code and that code matches theirs, so they start paying thousands of dollars to wear Gucci.
I started writing this piece because I was reflecting on my own condition. This past year of my life I opened my eyes to the world big time. It all started with attending an open mic night in south Austin hosted by my friend Zach. At the time, I didn’t know Zach yet, but I saw many humans in their full color and full expression and I was anxious as hell. An open mic? people just get up and start singing? And they seemed free to move and dance and do what they want, I used to live in a box until that moment and I had no refrence point for that level of freedom. I was always scared if I acted out of impulse, I would most definitely end up offending somebody! But here were a group of humans seemingly doing as they please and it seemed attractive as hell. What was so different between them and I?
I was sheltered! I was stuck in my head I didnt know much outside of what I already knew and experienced. And how did I get out? I, without knowing, leaned over the edge and started listening to more stories, I started hearing from others what they are about and what they have gone through. I am an action guy and I always wanted to launch a business so I decided I would build a business around music and live entertainment, that way I can learn and grow and expand all at once. A year later, I think the thing that moved me the most for the past year or so has been the songs I heared so close, the songs that really affected me and had me tear up. God I love music and I love being present with musicians just so I can get downloads from their songs and the emotions they convey. It comes through and I feel it and my eyes pop open.
I don’t think I am doing a good job at explaining this, I am gonna have to try again later, but your questions and clarifications if you ever find this piece will surely help me self-explore.
