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Posted on 2/28/2025 9:25:49 PM
By Donald Fox
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In life there is what we think we know moment to moment and day by day. We live, perhaps as others have said, as if in a dream only to awaken at some future time to discover that what seemed real was not. Tomorrow has not yet come, but as we may look back from whatever present moment, we might realize that now is that future we dreamed long ago, and the past is composed of many steps that have led to this present moment. That past may also be seen as a different story with a different meaning from what was experienced in those long-ago present moments. Is the aged wine sweeter, is it stronger, or has it become bitter as if plagued by regret? Wisdom, they say, grows with age, for youth is either mindlessly lost in pleasure or foolishly looking away to the future.
In this moment, however, is where inspiration comes, and from that dreams are realized as is art.
Posted on 2/3/2025 2:50:39 PM
By Donald Fox
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I first published this in March of 2015. Someone recently responded to it, and upon review, I thought it quite appropriate for today. So, here it is again.
There is a great deal of enmity in the world, which can easily be verified by watching daily news, briefly surfing online, or listening to people in a shopping mall. Much of the discord results from deceit and deception. To paraphrase Big Daddy from Tennessee Williams, there’s a whole lot of mendacity going on. Some would explain this as the result of evil in the world courtesy of the devil or some other mythological imp. Personally, I think it is the result of ignorance and maladjustment caused by circumstance or physical/mental deficiency. A lot can go wrong with the mind or with the body that can affect the mind. Certainly, if one is lied to consistently and long enough, that one is apt to believe anything that is presented within the same framework. As soon as someone says that there is one true something, better watch out. Within the realm of art, this has been as true as anywhere else.
The academy system began as a way to legitimize art, codify its principles, and act as a kind of gatekeeper for aspirants. The intention was to elevate art to the highest level of sophistication and craft, and in that sense it succeeded for many years. Eventually, though, academic thinking became as staid as any system becomes when new ideas are not incorporated. This also served to create distinctions between conservative and progressive expression as is seen in almost every institution whether political, spiritual, economic, or social. Those who could be allies turn into adversaries and inevitable change occurs in more strenuous and discordant surges. The complexities of human endeavor preclude a simple good versus evil scenario though factions often attempt to craft a conflict in that guise.
If we look to nature, we see the hunter and the hunted, predator and prey, but we also see cooperation and symbiosis. We see the struggle for survival, and the lens is crafted to now extoll the one most fit. We play this out in cultural games: in sport, in art, in politics, virtually every arena, while also believing in some inner spark that separates us from the unaware, the dumb brute, the unenlightened except that we can’t quite agree on what is in our own best interest. We know that we must consume in order to survive, but we also know that we must conserve in order to maintain consumables. Nature does this in ingenious ways including giving back to herself and re-using that which is no longer viable. Part of our human nature understands this, but that inexplicable greed kicks in and our moral compass spins like a wobbling top. As we are sentient nature, we might therefore appeal to our better angels rather than our imaginary devils.
