Ambiguity Dancing

Frantically color matching from sun to shadow...

There are people who hold the opinion of whoever is around them and reflect whatever they hear and see from others. Public office politicians are like this and people in all spheres of society who act politically and never commit to an opinion or an idea unless it suits the moment or purpose they're currently in. Think realtors, salespeople, outbound marketers, investment advisors...they do and say whatever is necessary for the moment. After the sale, the bonus is paid, the commission is collected and then the compliments, concern and cookies are no longer there. They've lowered themselves to puppets of fleeting momentary rewards with no real values or ethics cemented in their character.

Personally I believe it is admirable to be independent minded, a thinker who holds opinions and state them if the situation calls for it. It isn't always necessary to announce it at every opportunity depending on longitude and latitude and the company present may not be worthy of the expression. Discretion is the order of the day and simply because you are a thinking person with ideas and opinions doesn't mean they need expression at every turn. Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount gave the golden advice; "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (Matthew 7.6)

Life Has Curves

Bend with them, don't try to straighten them out...

Think how boring it would be if everything were in straight lines, tracked out and fitted neatly into a box. How dull life would be if everything followed a pattern, was as simple as putting everything in a cut and dried order and structures built, food grown in tasteless batches, clothes were in three colors and styles. Routes taken and paths followed by a predetermined cartography system and deviation wasn't even possible. What if art was all paint-by number? Music a series of ordered notes? Actors recited recurrent scripts? The curve, in nonlinear fashion goes outside the norm, deviating from the groove, twists and shapes objects, souls and intellects into something else to spark new and different thoughts on how to do things. Chiefly it is a passage to innovation, creative expression and ideas that stimulate life and gratifies the spirit and the mind.

Musical Aspirations On A Hook

Instruments in abeyance...

Waiting to be plugged in and fill the air with music.

At one time played by someone these four and five bass string guitars were pawned for one reason or another. Perhaps the owner lost interest, discovered they weren't very good at playing, were a trade in or worse needed the money and had to sacrifice a beloved instrument for cold hard cash. They hang waiting in silence to be become alive again and fill the air with their back beat sound to enrapture the player either alone, with a small group of family and friends or perhaps even in public performance. No matter the skill and ability of someone who might want to play one of these guitars, it is almost shameful they're in a landfill of silent musical equipment.

Ray Charles said: "I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water."

All creative people feel that way I think, I don't remember a time I didn't want to create something and was fortunate who had parents and family that encouraged it. They endured my learning to play piano and guitar and learning to sing. They praised my writing, drawing, painting and photography efforts while offering kind and helpful suggestion on how to improve. Whether creativity is in the arts, in thinking and philosophy or sciences, whether the skill is small, level or great it should be encouraged to develop the mind and soul. It is a seed to enrich life and should be planted, cultivated and grown to its fullest potential if only to satisfy the individuals own essence to give it courage and enrich the spirit.

Geography of the Mind

Seedlings of thought...

In nonconcrete life, one attribute of lasting value we have to offer others is planting seedlings of thought that grow to become thriving shoots. Usually we are unaware that we are doing so. When seedlings mature to cross-pollinate more thought, they become  implanted in ways we didn't conceive of in our first abstraction. Whether planted in neatly irrigated rows or willy nilly in the wild, ideas start as ephemeral wisps that advance into concepts to become full blown ideas. Although some ideas do wither and die while others fertilize and grow, the real importance is thinking, journeying through the mind to uncover what has potential for harvesting.

Thoughts and ideas are to be shared, in the raw and fully formed. A good conversation is an exchange that generates growth in us and others. The medium doesn't necessarily matter. Whether it is face-to-face, verbal or in writing, occurs over a long period of time or in a matter of minutes, is usually irrelevant. It might arise in something seemingly obscure as a random exchange or an email on another subject but during that discourse one little line, perhaps only an aside to the originator, may create a small kernel that grows into a full grown vision for the recipient. It's significance is in reciprocation, since what others offer us, tills a rotation of crops of intellect.

Our only true legacy is how we influence others and how we use that capability and in turn how we are influenced by the ideas of others. Most often we're unaware of the sway we have with individuals or groups, we tend to minimize it, since we're looking from the inside out. Our connections do not have to be far and wide, well known or important people. Rather the opposite is true, it's the soil that keeps everyday life and people going. If it were not for exchanges I have with others, who spark ideas in me, life would lack the creativity that keeps it from being boring. They become roads in my head that draw maps to traverse terrain I might not have. They nourish me more than material gifts and my hopeful ambition is to return them.