Tag: creativity

The visionary compass

October 17th, 2022

To be interesting, we have to be interested, that is, an atypical perspective discovers atypicality in our surroundings.

Different is a way of seeing. But it doesn’t come naturally, it flows through some mental defect, which, if lacking, takes some pre-programming to tilt the visionary compass.

Taste is grown and groomed by shapeshifting through variegated sources. Adopting a different sound and culture in near intimacy temporarily relieves one from the obstinacy of local.

Parochialists wear blinders, perhaps on purpose, as if to say any other religion is inherently wrong. They favor a world of deliberate ignorance painted into concreteness. Are they to blame for their stagnant internal weather and intolerance for abstraction?

Water chooses water and, when unrestricted, becomes an obstacle to itself. Water needs an aim. “Water the flowers, not the weeds,” as the Buddhist monk Thich Nhan Hanh reminds us.

Expanding the scope of attention offers the right stuff. By tuning into and sucking their surroundings, organically and/or purposively for self-growth, the curious benefit from their high-alert state.

Content synthesizers grasp the duality of the dialectic. As Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

Paradoxes are linked with knowledge and understanding, giving open minds the upper hand.
A catalog of emotions

October 3rd, 2022

We live with a catalog of emotions, whipsawing between highs and lows. Most of the undulation is due to poor internal weather.

We are not neutral, pushed inside and outside by competing forces. One minute we’re a lover of rule-breakers with scrupulous indifference; the next, we’re just another lemming, a sheep jumping through hoops.

We don’t aim for mediocrity. We shoot for the range of emotion — that long-term serotonin of being ourselves.

What individuates the individual is the armor of absurdity. Uniqueness treads underrated, and brilliance shines at the edges. We stand in to stand out — dialectic reflections reinforce the true self, that which is original.

Everyone’s brain comes uniquely hardwired; the difference is what one decides to shed versus the flawed attributes one decides to radically accept. Under the delusion of reprieve, those confused and jealous never get bailed out.

Divergent thinking offers a sanctuary, sheltered from the periphery’s fabricated emotions. Never take anything personally from society’s grip — the standard is injurious and little more than noise. Other people’s thoughts and feelings, albeit sticky, remain detached from the Personal Legend that makes us stretch.
A mind run riot

September 12th, 2022

Creativity occurs when the imagination runs riot. The mind, an inherently jumpy organ, delves into its own fruitful space — probing fantastic and experiential possibilities.

Truth is not the matter. Searching for what’s real and pure invention harbor the same goal: to pile up ideas. So we write a shitty rough draft or build a prototype to drive the concept forward, all in the name of the affirmative.

But making time to focus and start the work is only half of the job. Maintenance is the biggest challenge. What sustains mental and physical energy for any great project is a crazy assertion of persistence.

All else flows when we make up our minds to show up, practice, and ship daily. Process — the groove of habit — fuels a numbness against anxiety, doubt, and fear. “This may not work” is a reason to keep going.

The arteries of life hinge on what we can create, let go and transform—action gestures at such possibility. Instinct puts us in the best position. We keep running the experiment, vaccuming up and spilling out alpha, freshly windexing perspective with effort, experience, and time.
In the spell of imagination

August 15th, 2022

To remain in the spell, unmoored from the compass of time and place. The inner narrative reverberates off our surroundings. We become how we see, think, and respond.

The mind is always in the process of masticating the materials to prepare the imagination for lift-off. Moon shots take their shape at the precipice of unfettered possibility.

The fact is, reality is pretty dull. Voluntary dreaming allows the brain’s resources to flow freely and productively against the mental trap of what’s “reasonable.”

Riding the wave of creativity helps one tap into spontaneous ingenuity. All is food for thought.

After conjuring a story with clarity and detail, the subconscious decides whether or not the fantasy sticks. Intuitively, the mind leans toward the edge to gather the most compelling stuff, the string worth keeping.

The optimist says that we can match what we’re seeing with what we say. As long as we sit down and do our thinking, we can describe what we see with our august imagination,

The underlying cause of boredom and stuckness is in our heads. The magic is sitting down and working out the cognitive muscles to reignite those powerful stories repeatedly.
Writing takes guts

August 8th, 2022

Writing is a bitch. It takes routine, grit, and lots of induced anxiety to show up every day and put pen for paper. There’s a reason few do it: it’s depressing.

But for those who do, like runners, consistency means everything. Putting words together is like jogging the brain; working on prose keeps the artist one step away from lunacy.

Writing, as in life, is a rough draft. Remaining wide-eyed in an uncontrollable universe, we dare to make new mistakes.

The scribe is on a mission of discomfort, but the outpouring of ink is a form of therapy. Each blank piece of paper begins without a plan — well, maybe a hunch — and then, slow and steady, the words fill the page with imperfection and uncertainty. Bird by bird, the continuous present churns the valve of frustration.

Writing is an extension of breathing — an activity for sweating creativity. Surrender to it and get a share of its spoils.

No one is more insane than the person who opts for the struggle. But that’s what a true writer does. They sit in a chair and produce something from nothing, and interruptions are damned if not welcomed to break the deliberate intensity. The most challenging part of the writing process is getting started.

“Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open,” advises Stephen King. Writing is an invention on screen. Stare into the light long enough, and the letters jumble into pixels of starlings. Blink, and the brain momentarily goes into a fog; any words will do. Even in the poorest form, one still has something to play with.

The artists grows tired and unmotivated, of course. The dark clouds hang over the pen with the slightest silver lining. The resistance tries to pickpocket our attention by telling us we suck and that the sentences are worthless. Just buy bitcoin and work at Mcdonald’s, they said. How selfish is it to think other people care about what we have to say, anyway?

The words greet those bold enough to wrestle with them. But when one’s called to their vocation, they’re roped in — to the odd, banal, abstract, empty, and off limits. Invested is an understatement.
Memes are a hurricane of influence

August 1st, 2022

A meme is a hurricane of influence. It finds a human host, a signal booster, who spreads the meme before it takes on a life of its own.

Historically, words are the simplest of memes, necessitating a language of thought. But most memes today are visual concepts manifested in viral images shared on social media.

These images might be misunderstood — birthed from snarky Redditors before they become part of the online zeitgeist. The most transmissible, like human genes, are the ones that reproduce.

Memes, like any mimetic behavior, are less essential for thought. These contagious representations celebrate culture but bankrupt it too. Here, the adage rings true: images speak louder than words.

Reveling in the same memes standardizes how we dance, which is usually unique and personal. The psychological elements of herd mentality create a flurry of uncreative behavior.

The hive mind synchronizes with a remixed version of the internet’s infinite archives until originality loses its course. What’s viral rarely retains or sustains.

Memes offer a special kind of amassed perception, a snapshot of culture, without supplying something vital in return. We want to pursue things that are different and extend our learning. For that, we deviate toward what is radical and what is possible.
The bright rush of ideas

July 26th, 2022

Where do good ideas come from, and how do they form? They come from extensive research bolstered by the ability to connect the dots between knowledge and different experiences.

Good ideas form through time, osmosis, long walks, boredom, and the misheard; a fruitful combination of work, rest, and fearless play.

Maintaining curiosity motivates part of the unconscious; quieting the monkey mind delivers interesting ideas that err on openness and possibility. It is ignorance, like indifference, that portends a slow grind downward.

Not everyone cares about learning or showing compassion. Most people seek entertainment, amusing themselves to death. They seek minus knowledge and construct a self-narrative dependent on suppressing emotions. What they don’t know bars the synchronicities, making them “stronger.” In reality, they are less than average.

First-class minds, however, are prepared to confront their stupidity and adopt the perspectives of others so they can see the other side.

Only when people realize that there’s a solution for insouciance and stuckness — called EFFORT — is it too late. To remain active in imagination and love is to stay wide awake. People need each other because they need ideas.

We wield the baton and conduct our senses, coloring the world with our eyes. Immersion constitutes a sense of self, making all the difference in discovering the bright chunks of ideas waiting to emerge.

Awareness is a kind of anti-paralysis, liberating over-thinkers from the tyranny of thought and providing them a passport to freedom.
Swallowing the elements

July 4th, 2022

Deliberately bad, mashed up, distorted like a Francis Bacon painting.

Ugly art brings the worst of our subconscious to the fore as a means of hobbling our concentration. It goads people into fully grasping how they feel, like a good old-fashioned puke, where the vocal cords saddle up and ride a ribcage as tight as body armor.

“It is always with the best intentions that the worst work is done,” once said Oscar Wilde. Art offers the best revenge for both maker and consumer; both parties bring all their beliefs and biases to any situation.

The serpents continue to slither for their niche audience. After all, the frequency and provocation are what keep the momentum going. And the ideal viewer is more present and emotionally detached; curiosity is not neutral.

The interested student pays scrupulous attention to detail regardless of their mood. The scrutinizer’s eyes scan unemotionally and reward the work with a second look.

The most interesting pieces deserve the utmost attention, as each subsequent blink brings forth undiscovered light, shade, textures, and other materials. To see and “think different” help swallow the elements.

What remains unenforcible is sophistication. Appreciating context and complexity is vital — experience, education, and temperament bring to the purview everything.
We are nobody’s establishment

June 20th, 2022

Good, bad, and ugly — honesty is what’s at stake. Of course, we strive for the perfect edited self. But such is a fallacy, as even influencers have adopted the strategy of no-makeup makeup.

Social media intends to captivate and drive mimetic desire. But all marketers are liars, as are the followers who buy the story. The sense of promise is a specter of underachievement. The amateur gets wrecked at nervous speed.

The truth is that some people inherit their success through luck and then repackage the rags to riches narrative. Their advice merely sounds good; all prescriptions are subjective. We never hear recommendations from those that fall down frequently and stay poor.

In reality, most people inherit the faith in discipline and engage in various activities to discover their worthy practice. Because there are no shortcuts, there are only ideas that we must exhaustively test in real life that lead us to a vocation.

Consistency is key, as the compounding magic of repetition leads to breakthrough solutions. Life’s work fuses diligence and passion. One advances with the trial and error approach of a scientist.

The shift from copying to advancing unique abilities separates individuals from the herd. Greatness builds from assertion and celebrates the differences. We are nobody’s establishment, for a good reason.
Passion project be damned

June 6th, 2022

The banality of doing what we’re told gets bottle-necked at the top of free will. Eventually, one balks at the factory of someone else’s to-do lists.

We do what punctures the heart. When we feel compelled to create life intentionally, the very bottom of our souls opens up.

But outsourcing the work to robots is still in the incipient stages. Most humans are the cogs buttressing somebody else’s PnL in exchange for pellets. Cash is the hard-earned trade-off for subservience. We’re just trying to get paid so we can eat!

The freedom to play is not just reserved for starving artists, though. We can earn sex and cash simultaneously; do what we like and get paid for it.

“Try not to get a job,” pleads Brian Eno. “Try to leave yourself in a position where you do the things you want to do with your time and where you take maximum advantage of wherever your possibilities are.”

Advice is always easier said than done, given its subjective context and self-reinforcing nature. It’s more challenging to identify the work we genuinely enjoy than to find a job for work’s sake. True wealth only becomes a panorama of free time after finding our true North Star.

No passion, no life project

Any struggle in which we can maintain our excitement while driving forward the human spirit regardless of mistakes or misfortune is worth chasing. When combined with grit, the quantity of hope takes on a quality of its own.

Placing creative freedom and happiness at the center of our commitment to life helps resolve personal tensions. The liveness of a passion project is just that — it can’t be forced — and provides our best chance to inject some meaningful serum into our lives.
The brilliance in absurdity

May 2nd, 2022

The synergy between brilliance and absurdity is one of the paradoxes of our time. One can’t be crazy without being wickedly smart. Thinking different isn’t supposed to compute.

For the innovator, experimentation is the antidote to perfectionism. Trial and error is a mechanism for chance discovery. The right answer is a function of the mistakes.

The great mismatch between man’s mental software and that of a machine comes down to human fallibility. The genius, trapped within their own realities, is ignorant enough to accommodate the messy unknown. It’s precisely this disconnectedness that makes their perspective wondrous and beautiful.

The mind remains unique in knowledge accumulation despite all its neuronal connectors resembling the tangled intricacy of machines. The intuition pump that drives combinatorial creativity still does circles around artificial intelligence. Humans thwart all those chips and wires with various voltage levels of curiosity.

Yet, the emergent output patterns are nowhere near normal for everybody. The nerds and outsiders must be motivated to deploy their weirdness by giving a shit.
Conformity as a preventative structure

April 18th, 2022

The obvious remains invisible only because we choose to turn a blind eye to any framework that doesn’t align with our interests.

Our minds crave homogenization. Even the misfits and activists who believe in no other cause than hope share tribal urges — there’s a strong instinct to join the pack.

The herd outwits the individual, harnessing the enthusiasm of those who “think different” to change at will to match their surroundings.

Any form of groupthink places the pillars of arrogance on a shaky footing. The makers and resistors of history become trapped within themselves, unable to self-distance from the magnet of lies. Meanwhile, the truth offers an avenue of escape.

“The price of being a sheep is boredom. The price of being a wolf is loneliness. Choose one or the other with great care.”
— Hugh Macleod 🐜 https://t.co/9lo6DLKohw
— Wells Baum (@wells_baum) April 12, 2022

How we expose ourselves to contradiction is a hallmark of first-class minds. Genius seeks exposure to assimilation and discord, spelling trouble for those algorithms that think they know us better than ourselves.

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote. Some can live with ambiguity and paradox.

Human behavior is complex. A worldview rarely lasts forever. “Strong opinions, loosely held” is a mantra that protects against the bulwark of algorithms gathering manipulative predictive data fragments. The marketer knows that a good story changes people’s minds.

The brain is a three-dimensional plastic structure that explores variable modes as it cultivates new insights. We contain multitudes, logging in new interests daily. But only by tinting the air with elasticity can we charge ahead to see beyond any rigid structure.

Tag: creativity

No passion, no life project