We are in a world where you are able to speak to someone, text them, video, instagram them instantly. Talk to a universe without seeing, hearing or knowing any of them. We sit alone waiting for someone to ring, text or tag us, whilst looking at empty screens. We communicate on flat screens with no pathway to the other side.
Nihilabstat is a Church blessing that a book is not objectionable on religious doctrine or moral grounds. So what is a screen and its contents. Do screens allow us to enter a ‘Spiritual void’, the amount of porn and violence available would certainly appear so. We make up new identities and have the ability to scatter hate anonymously? Our blank screens have nothing to do with religion. The ominous retna screens mere existence is enough to allow one to maintain a limited knowledge of life. A place that is our world. A global world linked by people who share the same ‘similarities and things in common’. Ask any teenager playing X Box live who they are playing with and don’t be surprised when they say oh Johnny B in Turkey and SKuNk223 in Belgium. Diversity rules on the other side but not inside the screen. Dumb is convenient and ignorance is bliss. The disconnected connect and the geeks are heroes. Now we know so many people yet know no one. We add numbers not friendships.
Real life
The main outlet for living is “Family”. For some it gives them purpose. A life lived in nostalgia is not for me, necessarily living. These shared brief moments of reflection show our own growth as human beings. Our existence is by default limited to what we know, what we believe and what our peers and whanau believe.
This brings me to the point of this blog. Inside our own minds lies a universe waiting to speak – its there in us all.
Talent
Your talent is yours. Judgment is not real. The strokes you paint are who you are. They are your own unique signature. Embrace it, dance to your own beat, sing your own song. Talent: a live moment, an action, an imprint that does not search for approval, as it is a communication with your audience. For the poet, the activist, it’s a place to speak, to say things that can’t be spoken, yet need to be heard. Not every one hears, sees, feels what you feel. That’s why you feel it, live it, breath it. Some travel endless lives in search of their own talent, lost in a void, a relentless journey unable to feel the emotion in art; only through their tears do they ever feel.
A painting that touched you, a voice that spoke, a dance that moved you. This is the power of your talent, not what others think. Your uncompromising approach to your talent brings others joy. Here are my 10 talent survival tips as an artist.
1: Listen to all – take what you want
2: Someone’s opinion is their expression of their own desires, needs and wants / they are not yours
3: Listen to your heart; you are going to have it your whole life
4: Good taste will kill anything great
5: Your morality is yours. The feeling of killing and fucking are who we are. Release it in you so others won’t feel so alone
6: Don’t censor your talent – others will try to do that
7: Don’t put yourself down – there are much better people to do that
8: look in the mirror – that is who you are – get used to it, love it
9: Believe in probabilities and possibilities. Things happen when they happen
10: BE
Whakatauki
It’s odd we live in a society where pizza gets to your house before the police.
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