Art, Nature, & Living

Inspired Little Tree
© Lawrence Duncan

With so much of our lives spent surrounded by concrete and steel, it’s easy to feel disconnected with the nature of which we are a part. Easy to forget that the Sun is making its way across the sky, that the wind is rustling in the trees, and that the bees are busily making their way from one bright and colorful flower to the next.

There was a fellow I used to know that liked to where moccasins. And if you ever asked him why, he would often relate a little story: A story of a technological future where people are completely isolated from the natural wonders of the world, and where the technology has come to be the only environment in which they live. He would tell the story:

“Imagine a time in the future where the entire world is wholly encased in technology, concrete, glass, and steel. A place and time where people wake up in the morning not feeling the warming rays of the sun, nor breathing in the subtle scents of the still morning air.

Protected by layers of synthetic rubber and more concrete, one makes their way to a nearby transport vehicle, never once coming in contact with the ground and Earth that is hidden just underneath the layers of man-made abstraction.

The vehicle hurries off, shuttling its occupants to yet another facility that is wholly encased and sealed off from the now warming morning air and golden sunlight. Many hours later, the vehicle reverses its course, hurriedly whisking its occupants back to the shelter of filtered, ventilated air of their living unit once again.

And not even once do these technologically-based beings come into contact with the ground and Earth that is the same ground and Earth that grows their food. The same ground and Earth that their ancestors learned to draw the raw materials from to make the technology. The same ground and Earth that their concrete, glass, and steel living units are anchored upon.”

And then he would ask the question, “How many times have you felt the ground under your feet today?” And so the story would become a little bit clearer in the sense that he was not talking about some distant far-off future. He was really talking about the here and now.

How many times have we all gone through an entire day, never even once touching the Earth upon which we live. And does that make any difference in the way we feel? The decisions we make? The way we live our lives?

These are not questions that have easy answers. But part of this fellows answer was to where shoes that he could have the simple and yet profound experience of feeling the ground and the Earth upon which we live.

And it is in those simple and profound experiences that we can re-find our connection to nature. But even more, we the can find the connection between ourselves and our world. To touch the Earth and remember that the Sun does indeed make its way across the sky, that the wind is indeed rustling the in trees, and that the bees are indeed busily making their way from one bright and colorful flower to the next.

For art, nature, & living,
~ Obadiah Green

Ignore them.

That’s Hugh McLeod’s advice, anyway.

These days, most everyone agrees that Hugh’s idea of creating cartoons on the backs of business cards was a spark of sheer genius. But, Hugh says:

"When I first started with the biz card format, people thought I was nuts. Why wasn’t I trying to do something more easy for markets to digest i.e. cutey-pie greeting cards or whatever?"

Always remember that, as the artist, you’re the creative one. You’re the visionary. You’re the one who must learn to "trust your gut". Most other people can’t possibly "get" your creative ideas before you’ve proven them to work. As Hugh says, "The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you."

All this sage wisdom from Hugh is being compiled for his upcoming book that will be based upon his popular manifesto, How to be Creative. If you’re feeling discouraged about your art career, a particular new work, or any creative endeavor, think about what Hugh writes in the notes for his first chapter:

"It’s more like, the better the idea, the more ‘out there’ it initially will seem to other people, even people you like and respect. So there’ll be a time in the beginning when you have to press on, alone, without one tenth the support you probably need… GOOD IDEAS ALTER THE POWER BALANCE IN RELATIONSHIPS, THAT IS WHY GOOD IDEAS ARE ALWAYS INITIALLY RESISTED."

You can read more from Hugh regarding creativity and resistance from others in his blog post:
Good Ideas Have Lonely Childhoods.

Sincerely,
Clint Watson
Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic

 
PS:
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

This article originally appeared at the following URL:
www.clintwatson.net/blog/5386