Musing 49
"As human beings, we have a unique capacity to create invisible seeds, inspired by Intuition, and shaped by Imagination. We may call them dreams, a reminder of our spiritual origins. Creativity is a cosmic blessing, ever so fragile, even elusive, in the world of matter. A harsh word may annihilate an emerging idea in an instant; an encouraging nod allows the tender spark to develop into sustainable flame.
A gentle opening gives hope. A soft smile warms the soul. An inviting gesture heals the heart. We each carry an abundance of these balsams within us. Let’s dispense them generously."
Soulful Wizardess Marta Stemberger, Eurhythmy Movement
One Happy Family
There. Why should I add another thing to this?
I get why @zpzn just quotes - mainly. It is interesting to consider how we develop through, because of, or inspite of Steemit. She is now also very active on the art-competitions side of Steemit! Is this an evolution? At any rate, her kittens have grown! That’s an evolution worth thinking on: just look at who and what we take on board here. @violetmed’s garden is also entering another season of expansion. Where, though, does the contrast go between these homestayers and homesteaders (notably @sagescrub and @idyllwild) and the nomads @cahlen or @nomadman or @thenamadicway or another less solitary group of travellers @soyrosa, @vtravels, @sriz?. They will end up fused into a family of people you once knew. Knew maybe sounds "too much"? Knowing is a curious word.
How's Your Farsi?
I was thinking though, brushing my bleeps, how enduring English has become as global language. How literate we all are even when we only post little sometimes: literate enough to use a foreign language. There is a strong German and a Spanish presence and notably an Indonesian (?) one too. Some Arabic, and I came upon some Japanese once; also some Korean, but relatively infrequently some Chinese; my son says the Chinese don't know, or want to know, or are allowed to know Steemit (@onnovocks once informed me they have started their own version; and how is that coming along b.t.w?).
What makes @zpzn (Iranian), @ehr.germany and @reinhard-schmid (both German), @street.yoga (Austrian) @anibas (Montenegran) (@kalemandra (Hungarian), @vieira (Venezuelan), @celestal (Finnish), @winmental (Swiss) or @soyrosa and @barbaarseevelien (are you getting better?) (both Dutch) unique is their masterful command of English. Ok, so @zpzn quotes, but still, how many Persian poets have you read in Persian! Besides, didn't some others also think along with me, that it was unlikely we'd have an Iranian openly communicating in our midst? Is she really in Iran? Looks like it! Nothing oppressive about the place, either, at least not to all Steemian extents and purposes. I am ever more embarassed by our lack of Farsi and knowledge of Iran - despite the expertise of my sister (no getting at it, of course, as most of you by now know) and my love of Iranian cinema.
Assinine Artist
Aren't we all creative, really? Think about it? And technical! Look how far opposable thumbs have got us.
My paintbox is not even words. It is wizzened apples, expendable people, preventable diseases and avoidable accidents. I was listening to a (not so terribly good) book for a bit of a bubble to distract me from my wheezing boiler (nooo, not that topic again!) ridding the freshly filled system of air (I suppose) for the past ten days (how long does it take? Everything in me says this is taking too long to suggest it’s merely doing its job), when these words popped up their little noses for me in an otherwise uneventful passage.
Here I am hobbling along on a donkey heading for Jerusalem.
It then occurred to me that I am not even a promoter of ideas (a philosopher) and completely deplore debate, but the reason I am not an eco-warrior (like in the book) is because I am a painter - only not like @mayasky with whom I exchanged thoughts on creative-space bubbles, or @natureofbeing, on whose page we had this little intercourse. I think Paul Klee said, art does not represent reality but makes it visible.
We all have our stumpy-legged hobby horses, and when they wear out altogether we’ll just have to put on our walking boots and plod the rest of the way, until we step out of the Midsummer Night's Dream and the ass's costume.
Tipping Point
In real life, I have figured out, you stop making tons of friends like backpackers at hostels and festivals after a certain amount of life has weighed you down. You even stop meeting people altogether! Your life story gets in the way. You can only remain true to yourself with people you don’t have to explain your life to, because going into it all is alright for kids starting out in life, but shows a lot of immaturity (insecurity) in the more advanced adult. 90% of talking is screening your potential. The rest is necessary communication, like “pass the salt, would you?”
An artistic conversation is hard come by.
Peformance art - and again I can only point back to @kimberlylane’s comment to my post where you will find a video by Marina Abramovic drinking water and if you contrast that to her more masochistic work in the and seventies (“Art Must Be Beautiful”) it becomes even clearer - is about finding the energy that IS before it is anything (hitting, screaming, rolling about on the floor). The young need to whack eachother in the face, the more advanced in age sip water. And so we learn to develop sustainable flames.
I always find so many little 'hooks' in your posts I don't always know on which to comment! You're such a deep thinker and connecting on a very authentic level with the Steemians that interest you, it's quite unique :-) Just something I wanted to mention.
I'm going to comment on the 'isn't everyone creative' part: because, YES, I believe we ALL are creative, but often underestimate we are. People have a very one-sided view on creativity, but it's not always paint on a canvas or even things you can do with your hands. Creativity is often confused with manual skill. It's not. And it's a shame, because, as long as we think we can't be creative we won't start experimenting and discovering we actually are.
The example is in your post: how many variations you were able to make from one book cover! Mixing media even with your own photography :-)
And before that:
Ah, creativity is everywhere, and I love it.
PS: I don't feel 'that' masterful in English, but I do feel the more I write the easier it becomes.
I know my writings in Dutch feel very different from the ones in English, even though Dutch has less words I can express myself more. On the other hand I know people from a different cultural and language background in the Netherlands often 'make up' a lot of expressions because they can't express themselves enough within the Dutch language and try to translate their (for example) Arabic detailed and poetic expressions.
So they speak Dutch sentences, but no Dutch person would understand what they say :-)
Language is art as well.
Loved all your creative musings sparked by my post. The art of art is in the doing! Over-thinking is pretty sterile (and would give white walls with blank canvases).
I am Montenegran...? :)
It's what I made up out of a post of yours.... but I hesitated long and hard and suddenly felt some time this afternoon that you were going to tell me you were not.... That much I got right! I wanted something exotic, so I thought of you, even if you are not from Montenegro. Apologies (I believe you live in USA now, am I right on that? And that you moved when you were 11 away from wherever it was.)
:) Yes, I am not from Montenegro. I have lived in various places, but never Montenegro, that was a summer location in my childhood.
At the moment, I live in Austria.
Yes, you wrote about the summer visits, that much I could verify; for a reason I can't figure out anymore, I somehow had the notion you were from the Balkan somewhere, hence I jumped to hasty conclusions when I tried to verify this by reading through your posts again today. I don't know why I place you there. No clue either why I didn't put you in Austria, where you now are! I guess I have you down as a Weltbürger. Somewhere in the world if never too much of it (and rooted fast and stiff).
I understand. True, I don't see myself as someone who belongs to, or is any way tied to any particular piece of land. Also not big on nationalities, nor the resulting patriotisms, and such.
I appreciate the English language, for its simplicity regarding unimportant things, but abundance regarding notable specifics, which made it my language of choice over time.
Poetic description for English! It is true, I find, that different languages suit different topics, and some languages may not suit some people. They say philosophy is best done in German (but then you have to be pretty darn good in German!). And the Slavic language seems to be great for promoting visionary ideals (a lot of mysticism to be found, that's for sure). Wonderful diversity, I hope we manage to preserve a bit in the times to come. May all the languages in the world serve the true tongue of the Heart!
I don't know how Mithril is doing; without a dumbphone I have no way of checking. I could make Android run on a PC, but that is a little too much effort for me.
Ah, so it's only a phone thing, (still)? The link you once sent me worked on PC... but I guess that never developed into anything. No goldmine to be found there (yet) then? Keep the phone dumb by all means!
Well it makes sense in that more people have a phone than a PC, but due to a phone's relatively low memory it also means that they need on line wallets, increasing their dependence on cloud services. The hardware wallet for bitcoin, Bitcoin Core, takes up a whopping 153GB of hard drive space last time I checked.
I can inform you that Mithril (Lit) has 5000 users. So far so doomed. That's a lot of bytes you don't want to download! Apparently such a wallet is full of things you don't want on your PC!! Some things should stay in the cloud, I suppose, where the little demons can fight it out amongst themselves.
:-))))))
For being a hermit, you have a great talent for bringing people together. I admire your equanimity because you are not someone to argue with or engage in debate (which can be really exhausting. I have my experiences with it and sometimes I am still keen to debate myself, fortunately not very often).
Despite the grey clouds outside I have a happy mood. You have to be thankful for that. Some of the hours you want to take out of life, others are very pleasant. Thank God for that.
Later this weekend I will go and dig into some of the names/blogs you mentioned here. Good thing is that you deliver this great service that I can be sure behind those names I will find interesting spirits. THANK YOU, you are a true provider!
Be mindful that I am a great collector of diversity!.... Happy surfing. May the sunshine within reign! (pun intented).