As intriguing as the moment is
the conundrum is that pure observance of it is impossible. Even in a new
environment, given just a little time..., the aesthetics, customs, and people
will start to become amalgamated into easier classifications by our mind’s eye.
The brilliant writer and thinker Aldous Huxley (of “Brave New World” fame)
wrote about this effect in his essay: “The Doors of Perception”. His conclusion
is that our brains act as reducers of reality. What he meant by this was that
our brain reduces reality, and our perceptions and observances of it, to what
we need for survival. These aren’t ancient times however and now most aspects of
surviving are catered for through collective society leaving us with reserves
of mental energy to apply as we see fit. Maybe that’s why so many people
develop mental health issues in modern times – to much mental energy available
for reflection and self analysis?
Whether or not we try to control our thoughts and impressions there is
still a vast amount that is beyond us. Individual reality schemas, forged over
a life time, will infiltrate the moment regardless of even the most well
trained mind’s conviction otherwise. For that reason, I’ve always found it
interesting to play with that fact by revisiting the past in the mind’s eye as
a means of recreating it fictionally. That’s the essence of an artist;
embracing the subjectivity of reality and personalizing that reality in a
stylistic way. I’m not talking about changing facts, I’m talking about letting
out impressions of what happened – the behind the scenes thoughts that were occurring
with real events. These thoughts being recreated breath fictionality and originality to moments that have happened. This is the style many new journalists (Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote) and quasi fiction writers (Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac) have been using for years. We all have the possibility of
creating art by just being candid about ourselves and how we see things
differently. Like I’ve said in a previous blog (http://iwasjustthinkingsomething.blogspot.com/2011/01/myth-of-perfection.html ) in some people reality refracts in such vivid and interesting ways.
So why not have the vivid people portray these refractions in whatever way they
can?... it can be through their clothes, the way they talk, or in classical
artistic mediums like writing, music, or art. I feel that people have a need to
try to express their own uniqueness and not to do such leads to
anxiety. I guess all one can do is just try.
The only real judge that matters in terms of what is produced is oneself anyway...
