I find the best art challenges me to remove my mental filter to see things just as they are. True art leads to curiosity. Curiosity that leads to awareness. Awareness about something. If it doesn’t create a sense of curiosity in me than I move past it like a marketing promotion. Art helps me to be doing and not just observe. I’ve read that the fall of the roman empire happened, at least in part, because they became a nation of observers and less a nation of doers. When I spend a lot of time on social media, I sometimes feel a malaise that comes over me. It feels like I’ve been eating twinkies all day long and creating less. Social media, particularly LinkedIn, feels like it creates a sense of longing. A community of business hunters and gathers. I can tell people what they want to hear which is easy and non-confrontational, but in the end, I lose my own authenticity. So where do I go from here? There are the predicable tropes and platitudes and of course the cliches. But, I think for me to use the exact words as everyone else leads down a path that does not represent me. I’m certainly no better. I just need to be who I am.
