There's two types of art. Art that is surface level, and art that is deep. Because surface level art readily lends itself to function and utility (think supermarket paintings, touristy curios, mindless club bangers), it has value in the market, and at minimum, enables its own sustainability. This is not usually the case with deep art, art which comes from the collective unconscious and requires a level of sophistication and disposable income to appreciate and value. But because the capitalist system has everyone on a treadmill, there is neither the time, space, money or peace of mind to savor these latter kinds of works, yet they are the type that replenish societies. They enable reflection, they enable connection, they enable a certain oneness of thought on a higher realm, and with that comes oneness of purpose. This kind of art makes the society healthy and whole.
The enemy today is not the politicians, the enemy is the system we are operating in that has everyone on a treadmill. There's no space to be human. We don't savor life, we don't savor relationships, we don't savor friendships, everything is brusque and utilitarian. Everything is about the market. Its like we're always at the market, buying and selling, and then even the things we've bought, we can't enjoy, cause we're immediately onto thinking what next to buy or sell, and going off in search of these, leaving the hundreds of other things we have purchased, to rot behind.
But this is not about the system, this is about deep artists and what happens to them, living in societies that don't value them. 99% of the time they become dysfunctional and self destruct (suicide, alcohol addictions, drug addictions), or at the least, live lives of quiet desperation, sadness and lack of productivity, because the ground they are standing on does not enable them to live out their purpose.
A poet who only wants to do poetry will be told time and again to forget about that nonsense and just grow up and get a job like everyone else. A dancer who only wants to dance will be continually lambasted for being irresponsible, being wayward, being rebellious, because they are not doing what her or his siblings are doing, going out to do the usual, known and respectable 9 to 5, that will keep the family name. The film maker who wants to make film will be told they think they are better than everyone else, that they are dreaming too big, that they had just better get with the program and adjust to the realities of the real world.
And here is where the problem is for these types of artists. They cannot adjust to the real world. It is impossible for them to. Because, to begin with, the realm they occupy is not the real world, it is the collective unconscious, the underworld, the metaphysical. Their purpose and programming is related to them channelling the wisdoms, messages and communications from the spirit world, up into the real world. Exhortations to these types of artists to 'stop being like that', while done in good faith are toxic and inimical to them. By telling them not 'to be' that which they instinctively know they are here to be, the seed of self alienation, self negation, self doubt and self distrust is planted within them. If they cannot be accepted by those who birthed and reared them, how can they accept themselves. If their inner instinct and voice is said to be wrong and untrustworthy, what really can be trusted? And so, they never get to stand on strong, steady, stable emotional ground.
To this psychological devaluation of their essence, then add the lack of environmental infrastructure to support the nurturing and cultivation of their dreams. The situation was much worse 20 years ago when even training schools for creative endeavors were far and few between, but still today, issues of lack of working spaces, …
nyakuindi.blogspot.com
Monday 23 January 2023
