My creative dream is to share stories and ideas, to help others in whatever modest, small ways I can, and to share the beauty I see in the world around me. To do this I engage in the writing craft, in reading Tarot, and in finding numerous other ways to express and memorialize those breathtaking moments in life that I wish would last a little longer.
I suspect the fleeting nature of bliss and beauty is what inspires many creative people to do what we do. It’s a bit like stopping time, or slowing it down. The setting of the movie Star Trek Insurrection is a planet where the Ba’ku people live, never aging, and shunning technology. Because they don’t feel the rush that knowledge of impending death and mechanization bring, they’ve become artisans who live close to nature and who take centuries to learn an art form. They’ve mastered the ability to slow a single moment so that it seems to hover, suspended on the breath of space and time.
Isn’t this what many artists attempt to do? In fact, we go further than that. We create images from next to nothing, perhaps a few memories rearranged, visions we hope to reproduce for others to experience. The pure vision may elude us in the final execution. But still we’ve created something new, something to share. A gift to the universe. A dream brought to earth.
In my chosen craft, fiction writing, too often these days an author’s story is reduced to pure entertainment, something to be enjoyed for a few hours and then cast aside to move on to the next fix in the diverse and instantaneous realm of modern escapism. Art is no more than a commodity, and what is sold as writing often isn’t anything resembling true art. Does anyone stop to wonder what the author meant anymore? Was there a theme, or simply a formula, in the last novel you read?
Creativity as commodity doesn’t fill that need for bringing the dream to life, sharing, slowing down a moment in time. So I continue to pursue the creative dream.
The other day on an online Tarot forum, a group of people discussed their desire to stay away from terminology related to commerce, and some expressed the idea that even the word “service” had been hijacked by commerce to mean no more than a means to keep customers returning and paying repeatedly for a commodity. Too much of the language we were trying to adapt to our means felt as if it had become more about the bottom line than about true exchanges between human beings. Less about conversation and more about payment.
Is there a place in today’s world for livelihoods that involve people, ideas and exchanges that have a deeper value than price? Finding that reality has become a part of my personal creative dream.
What is your creative dream, and how has it evolved over time?
Great food for thought. The book I’m almost done with (“Teh Wild Irish”) is a bit of a mix, I think. I noticed while reading that part of it was written in a very brief, fact-oriented manner, giving too many facts too fast to keep track of. But then another storyline of the book considers feelings and motivation of the character quite well, and makes the facts more fascinating.
As for my creative dream… thats going to take a bit more thought….
I tend to shy away from “formula” books– at least, I think I do… I know I shy away from formula movies– ACK!! Good to see you posting again, I check back often! And thanks for adding me to your blogroll.