Be the Purple Cow!

Posts tagged art

In literature, arts and science, over the hundreds of years, there has been the interesting concept of a muse.

“A Muse” is the fundamental source of inspiration that keeps the artists, poets and wizards obsess over their work to create masterpieces.

That sounds great if you are an artist, or if you have the liberty to do what you love. Unfortunately, some of us, are doing work to accomplish a goal, be it financial, or career-wise.

And thus, sometimes, you won’t be able to work on stuff that you love. 

Then, what do you do? When you are surrounded by naysayers, when you are mobbed by petty thinkers, when your 9-5 jobs involves a series of trivial and art-less ramblings, what do you do?

Instead of hating your job to the core, try and find a muse. Sounds ridiculous, yes, but it’s far better than destroying yourself with negative energy called “Despair”.

Immunize your precious mind with a temporary muse. Something in your work field that slightly is interesting, and partly is challenging. Call this your new muse. And fall in love with that. 

Sometimes you should  love survive what you are doing, before you could do what you would love. And to survive, you need a muse.

Go find it!

Any creative work will be judged by several kinds  of people. And most of them are not kind. 

Since it’s often easier to criticize than to correct something, you will meet tons of people who are itching to piss you off.

Christopher Hampton once said, “Asking a  writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs.” 

Like dogs, your naysayers can be annoying and loud. But they can’t be avoided all the time. (I’m not talking about the constructive critics but the really bad ones)

It’s not easy fending their attack but the best way to do it is by ignoring their presence and silently moving on. 

Gandhi had a similar scenario with the British empire. He merely elected his silence to talk instead of losing temper. And he won.

The real question is not if you are afraid of something or not.

But the real question is what you would do if, let’s say, you are NOT afraid.

Teach at a local school on weekends? 

Go to spain for that art festival?

Start an online company?

Buy flowers to your grandmother? 

Learn playing guitar, I mean, more sincerely?

Open a facebook page for a temple?

Assist your professor on his next lecture?

Go para-sailing?

Make a short film for passion and NOT for publicity?

Write a blog every single day?

If you are afraid of failing, then you will never start anything. And there is a 100% chance of failing at something that you never began.

Some endeavors are more risky than others. But our mindset towards each of them should be the same. Be brave, bold and passionate.

Dream on. Live in. Start off. 

if you are thinking to start a career on something you think you are talented in. (or passionate about)

Most likely, it may only be a hobby. Like gardening or shoulder-massaging. 

What really differentiates the real potential career and your saturday hobby is the DEDICATION you have towards it.

The willingness to take the pain that might arise from failing at it, yet wanting to start over and master it.

That’s your real strength. Your real talent.

Just painting is totally different from painting your friend’s wall before next Thursday. Just photography is totally different from shooting pictures of that rare bird even when you are almost missing a train.Just singing is totally different from singing at your nephew’s birthday party attended by barely 5 adults.Just writing is totally different from writing an e-book/100 blogs in 3 months.

Everyone has a hobby. It’s good to have some. But don’t kid yourself thinking you are talented if you can’t bust your ass for that special thing.

HOBBY= DOING SOMETHING + FOR SOMETIME.

WORK= CLEAR GOAL +  CLEAR DEADLINE.

isn’t to even teach. But to inspire. To ignite the mind of the student.

What a teacher should transfer to any learner isn’t just knowledge, but the lens to view the world differently. That lens is the most priced possession a teacher has. And that is why exactly he should aspire to transfer that.

Harvey Mackay, once said, 

A mediocre person tells. A good person explains. A superior person demonstrates. A great person inspires others to see for themselves.”

How true!

There was a time when the reward was for being the class topper, and you’ve tried very hard for it.

There was a time when the reward was for being the smartest kid in the school, and you read all the quiz books for it.

There was a time when the reward was for being the most attractive person, and you’ve circled all the fashion stores.

Unfortunately, times have changed. The compliance and comfort zone economy has changed. It is now the connection economy.

Hence, the rewards have also shifted to someone else.

Now the reward is for being an artist. Being remarkable. Good is not enough, you gotta be insanely great at something at your art.

Do you think we don’t need your art, or are you afraid to produce it?

Finally, I managed to get my hands on “Icarus Deception”.

An on-your-face  life advice book by Seth Godin. It’s harsh, it’s prompt, it’s straight and inspiring.

Seth, in his usually gripping style, urges us to make art.

It echoes exactly with what I write a lot in this blog.  

“Art is the most creative human undertaking” and each of us can do art. By being remarkably different in our own fields.

Art is about doing something that is original. Unique. Something of value. Art is marking your presence in this gigantic world of mediocrity.

You can be just another school teacher or a Sal Khan. You can be just another software engineer or a Tim Berners-Lee. You can be just another film-maker or a Stanley Kubrick. You can be anyone or you can be YOU.

It’s not even a question about will you be here or not.

The real question is will you be missed or not, after you leave?

In mainland China, since hundreds of years and perhaps even now, the culture is such that, if you stick your neck out, you will be nailed back and straightened.

That’s been the attitude of the society. How insane is what you might think.

Yeah, right, but even in the most encouraging of nations, cultures, and societies, what you see most of the time is outright mundaneness. This time from self. From within. Not wanting to do anything new or original is a common trait you’ll see.

What or who stops you from being different? 

You could be an upcoming artist, a violin player, a chef or a classroom teacher, but if you aren’t thinking out of the box, you will amount to almost nothing.

Try a new method, fail at it, innovate and try again, however small that is.

Andy Warhol did exactly that. He tried something SHOCKINGLY new.

He took an everyday object, a Campbell soup can and transformed it into a historical pop art artifact.

Who would have dared to do that? 

Science is a by-product of human curiosity. As human beings, we want to understand and comprehend the world around us. Science was born because of this eternal quest. 

But what’s incredible is our urge to do art. 

Art stands alone. There’s no reason why we do art. I mean, no logical reason.

There’s no reason why we paint, blog, write, dance, invent or even cook creatively.

The universe is something else and putting a dent in it is something else.

If science is born out of facts, art is born out of imagination.

You’ll be complete only when you have a great eye for both. 

Because, art is magical and science is the magic.

Because together they take the ordinary something and turn it into extraordinary.