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On being ... Great

Being great which might be construed as being famous can be claimed by only a few - so we assume.

Average. No one wants to be average, so we think and so alleges "The Average American" by Kevin O'Keefe. Yet he says that as the human race evolves and expands in knowledge, intellect, performance and techniques, that the average rises accordingly. Then being average ain't so bad.

So the bar is raised and that's a good thing. And the majority of us rise to the bar. But their are those who raise the bar in the first place and those super stars I would think are being the best they can be not for the sake of being "the best" but out of curiosity and a love for what they do.

And as for me, I love art. I am curious. And I'm casting off the robe of mediocrity that I've chosen to wear and expect to be great - famous if you will. Please join me!

On Being Creative

Have you ever been the first to know something, a secret even, and wanted to share it but at the same time wanted to keep it secret so it belonged to only you? The sharing moment is glorious but fleeting, like a struck match – a burst of light that quickly fades from fire, to ember to ash – then gone. However, the keeping of the secret is similarly brief. For how long will it be before the secret is revealed to others by its own accord at which point you will have lost the opportunity to bask in its revelation? To share or not to share – is the challenge.

Have you ever had an idea that was so powerful and full of potential that you couldn’t talk about it for fear that words would fail to express its depth and breadth? You couldn’t bear the idea of anyone analyzing it and disemboweling it with arguments of fractional merit? If you have, then you know that an idea is as fragile as it is powerful. To risk or not to risk - is the challenge.

And finally what if this secret is not so much a secret? What if this idea that has come to you through your own paths of thought and contemplation has also been conceived by others and that which felt uniquely yours – is not? Do you keep the idea to yourself so as not to discover its prevalence?

Do you rush to share? Do you cautiously proceed? Do you rush to market? Do you wait for copyrights and patents? To act or not to act – is the question.

All professions from art to science share this quandary. Do you make art or not make art? Is your art unique or merely a copy or variation of all that has come before you? Do you develop software or not develop software? Is someone else at this very moment developing your idea? Do you engineer the better mousetrap or not engineer? Are there not a multitude of painters, (software developers, engineers) in the world already making art (programs, widgets)? How can your work compete? What makes yours unique, better, more pleasing, more jarring, more efficient?

Which begs the question, why. Why must the work be unique? Is it not unique enough, in that it comes from your hand, your mind? Aren’t there nuances to the work that only your hand, your mind, your method brings to the work? There is no other mind and array of bones, muscles, tissues and nerves arranged in the particular manner in which you exist. There is no one who has had the exact physical and social environment and experiences as you. This in combination with your physical and mental being further distances you from others. Therefore that which comes from you cannot be duplicated as you are not duplicated.

So my advice is to go and create. Not for the sake of uniqueness, which you will achieve by virtue of your own individuality but for the sake of art, science, technology, philosophy and the love for which you hold of these things. Then share. For what joy and glory is there in hoarding?