Drained to the Drop: An Unexpected Limitation

            While it may sound silly I have lived my life by one of Bruce Lee’s fundamental philosophies, yet I don’t recommend that the world take up a martial art unless their mind has truly matured into a moral being. No way as way, no style as style, no technique as technique, and above all no limitation as limitation. With that said I’ve done my part for the better sake of humanity, even if small over time all humane efforts will add up to achieve our telos. What have I done? I have written about morality within our contemporary society, and begun to pinpoint the faults of the overly voracious immoral man to try and encourage the establishment of a mindset that is far more humane than our current humanity. Unforeseen was the reality of my future, while I hate to say it, “I have reached the extent of my limitation”, unimaginable, not really for I am living the limitation as we speak. After all if the universe is infinite, then there are an infinite amount of possibilities, making nothing impossible.

            In those moments were I gave my dissertation of society, I was pushing my passion and spirit to unparallel levels of use. It’s like this, if you drive a car at a hundred and eighty miles per hour for a month, soon after the car will get beat down to the point where you will need to replace the entire engine, if you ever hope to drive a hundred and eighty miles per hour again. The relation between machine and man is horrid but relevant, unknown until now it is apparent that I have used up so much spirit and passion to the point where I have been left a crippling infinitesimal amount. However, I am no machine, and my mind and body is not something that can be so feasibly replaced as that of a car’s engine. I almost destroyed myself by completely burning out, hopefully like a weed my spirit and passion will grow back once again. Weeds that rise up through the cracks of cement, is the forest saying you can never kill me.

            If you are fortunately unfortunate to come across these writings, remember if you kill evil you have become it, it’s about balance, however we must find a way to create a peg leg of evil, in order to balance between right and wrong. For the type of evil we currently have is far too dominatingly sinister. I’ve only open up the mouth of humanity, now it’s your obligation to figure out how to make it talk.

Thinking Has Been Shot By Effort

There are theorist who oppose science for the horrors it brings and is capable of bringing unto the world, then their scientist who claim to be in the right whose thoughts are based on the reasoning that the theorist have no concrete reasoning. Yet, what must be noted is that both parties are going forth in the world in order to bring about a better environment for people to live in, that is the general idea, even if it only is an idea which now merely seems to be used as an excuse for maladaptive behavior. Both groups oppose each other to such an extent, partly due to probability of an imbalance in the mindset. In argumentation scientist have a hard time dealing with similes’ and metaphors’, which is often the point that cannot be breached, as were some theorist believe the world is perfect as is and needs no change. It is not to say that some have gotten close to the balance between the scientific mind and the theoretical mind, however only about two or three people in this life time have probably gotten so close, evidently not enough to make a change.

            However, realistically trying to put the scope of things into perspective, there is an inherent desire within everyone for the world to be place of good, in some way whether it be something as mundane as more choices of clothes or no extreme starvation. Reaching a goal in life requires a set amount of effort depending on the caliber of the telos. Inversely, to reach great morality or great immorality requires incredible amounts of effort. If one analysis the type of evil Hitler was able to inflict it is safe to say the whole process did not come about because of work during one weekend, it was a life time commitment of arduous toil and struggle. Even Gandhi’s non violent protest required a relentless amount of effort to conceive and execute. Effort is the pinnacle reason of why our humanity has not gotten stronger, if at all we have any humanity.

            One must see that the payoffs of being morally humane for the better of mankind are more or less felt with the heart, in contrary the benefits of being evil are far more desirable for their immediateness of physicality. For example, rob and kill twenty people eventually you can buy a car, help twenty starving children, they get to eat and you feel satisfied with yourself. Now these are extreme cases, there are smaller yet strongly connected ones, like seeing someone get stabbed but you choose to walk away and not get involved, because you fear for your life. Then there is the aspect that our world has been tailored to commit evil deeds without a strong reproach, with the logic that evil deeds small or big are committed by others, meaning my participation won’t make any difference. To this point still keep in mind effort, committing great evil still requires much effort, meaning much of the population is on a rather neutrally passive level of morality. Obtuse passivity arises from the lack of willingness to think about matters at hand, for sadly they give too many headaches that are not desirable, therefore making thinking undesirable. Since the inane are in the majority those who seek an understanding of matters find themselves in obstacles that border the involuntarily narrow minded. Everyone wants a better world, but it is left as an idea. Another notion we cannot abrogate is the opposition that effort has nothing to do with the matter, rather the ubiquity of mindset is to not have any consent for matters that do not directly and immediately affect one-self. Is the terminus of man the congruent truth that we are all infinitely obsessed with an embracing marked by the uncouth of being a ragingly timorous narcissist?  

The Way of Painting: Intertwined Learning, Experience, Spirit, and Society

If the student upon entering the confines of the Art Institution does not possess a strong constitution that is gained through traumatically tragic personal events, the student’s way as a painter or to be will result in personal destruction. Attending Art School is for the avid learner who seeks to put his life on the line in order to experience firsthand the horrors that are inflicted upon the pupil. While the analysis of the Art institution may seem critical and harsh, the closer one gets to the truth the harder the mind takes hold of the information, the farther away from truth the byproduct of lies helps to keep the mind at ease only to rot it over time, these ideas are not finite for this is to use the way as no way.

Within the rudimentary aspects of an interconnectedness of a learning struggle between teacher, student, and peers coexist an infinite array of discussion named the critic. Through the procession, the instructor manipulates the flow of discussion geared specifically to the teacher’s way of thinking, always trying to keep the path in check; however the path is faulty for it relies too much on scientific methods that bring us away from humanity. For within the critic it is no easy task for dilettantes and professors to describe and pin point the faults of a painting. It has been heard, but it is not taken seriously that painting is another language, not to be left just at that notion for it is not a spoken one but one that entails a different level, for it is a visual language. If many things are lost in the translation of German to Chinese, just imagine what is lost in translating painting the visual into English, meanwhile noting all the dialects of a language which adds a further struggle in the great talk. Yet, the instructor of the institution when confronted by the critic in order to not lose face, he resorts to the understandable for an insolent excuse of clarity that he arrives at by utilizing science to measure something against its own measure. All the meanwhile the truest way to describe and discuss a painting is through the use of poetry for it is a more versatile language of flexibility derivative of the soul. Unfortunately most instructors find poetry is not a clear enough method to bring ideas across to students. Advocates of communication are traitors against communication that don’t allow true expression that is difficult to understand. As an interlocutor of the institutional critic of art the most commonly popular areas dominated by the scientific mind revolved around the use of color, composition, texture, proportions, and size. Discussion of emotion, spirit, truth, or lies was handled by a bewildered gaze and quick disregard for they are all topics in relation to painting that are far too humanly difficult to understand for the hypertonic molecule’s of students  and teachers. Man is petty in art school he wants answers to questions even if they take him into no depth. For the scientific mind that only sees components of a painting the picture plane is on the surface, but for the human mind the picture plane is in the imagination.

When the painters spirit becomes weak as is often the case when the artist has lost a battle against a painting, the institution demands to see work, however the painter cannot bear to make work at the moment. Resulting in the abdication of painting and embracing of post modern work that concentrates on installation, video, and performance. For the weak spirited this path becomes ineluctable, truly a tragic result of the art institution. The more art expels the pre-established, the more it is thrown back on what falsely claims to get it by. Post-modern work only helps to promote the barbaric culture it is against. In regards to performance art the much lauded play acting of modern artist, their exhibitionism, is the gesture whereby they put themselves as goods on the market.

While there are many inimical dangers in Art School, the most inane idea inflicted upon the student is the hope to make money from art. The truest works are the most ephemeral, yet teachers will promote to students the idea to create works that have a long life expectancy. As soon as artworks make a fetish of their hope of duration, they begin to suffer from their sickness unto death. Almost hand in hand with making money is the encouragement of working larger by instructors.  Only the artist knows what size is right for him, when money dictates size the artist has already failed by betraying the work before he has even made it. Size is inversely related to the spirit of the artist, an artist must judge for himself how much spirit he has for a painting, if the painting is too large and he runs out of spirit, that artist will be painting without soul. That artist that paints without spirit because the work is too large will become susceptible to the negative energy of the painting, placing that artist mind in great danger.

Foolish professors will advocate seeing as many artists as possible in order to obtain a larger scope of the world of painting. However it must be warned that in trying to see every film, read every best seller, see every art show, there is a catastrophe at hand. Trying to see everything in the hopes that you will have a wider perspective on life only makes it more unimaginable to find one’s way. The world becomes like a gigantic department store were one looks out for a guide, the population simply waits for their leader. In a world that gets warmer but the people only get colder one must become a critical thinker in order to see that the leader they find will not lead them to their demise even sooner than expected. A crab has eight legs and two claws, yet if there is no hole made by an eel or snake; it will have no safe place to live, because its mind moves in every direction at once. One only needs to study one painting every six months. When you study one single blade of grass you will know about every blade of grass. The earnest student must learn through the personal experience that is painting, and adamantly read text in regards to art, he may see many works, but commit himself to study only one at a time. When the artist is stuck and can go no further he must remember that doubt itself becomes a form.

Never be stumped by trying to create the new when faced by adversity in Art School. Painting is not a T.V where you can be in a new channel at the click of a button. The Egyptians used one method to arrive at the figure for over three thousand years before evolution of painting took place. It was not about a constant struggle to find new spirit through innovation of artworks. There was merely a byproduct, of long and arduous reflecting process of trying to meet and immerse themselves in the spiritual mind of their community within their life time. If your only thinking of the problem of trying to create a new original work. Then you mentality only sees objects, and as mere obstacles. You’re no longer thinking of art, but are halted at the gates of whether or not you can actually think.

            Spirit is dealt with great blithe by the Institutions of art, teachers will tell you to deal with spirit on your own time, and discussion about the matter ceases to exist. They are cowards that fear they might be brought into a religious conversation because of spirit. The spirit of painting does don’t stem from religion for spirit is energy, and energy is the movement of life. A student once looked up and asked his teacher, “are the leaves moving or is the wind moving”, the teacher did not look up but said, “no what is moving is your mind and body”. At this moment man does not know benevolent energy for he has hardly experienced it, but we are experts in negative and neutral energy. Meaning that all the paintings up to date are composed of their own levels of negative spirit, since we are ourselves mainly composed of negative energy. An admonition too many young scholars of art is to not try and do “good” with a paintings based on malignant spirit, simply let the painting be. Remember a tree needs to lose its leaves many times in order to grow taller that is true creativity, the rest is the idea.