Today, the journey begins... Everyone needs a space that they can escape to when the need arises. For some, the place is real: perhaps, a secluded spot hidden deep in a city park, or maybe preferring the fresh mountain air, a stream running through an alpine forest. Others (myself included) often find escaping to a world of imagination and creation is the only solution for surviving... the chaos of the world around us.
With advancements in technology and widespread globalization, expectations for what constitutes a "successful existence" have changed. The game of life has gotten faster, more complex, and the individual today finds it easy to become lost in the rabble. Society calls us to constantly consume, or else we are "unsuccessful". Ads bombard us everywhere we go, calling us to buy, buy, buy; one must keep up with the latest in everything from fashion to technology. God forbid we should be without our smartphones and Louis Vuitton bags. [Don't misintrepret this as a hatred of fashion & technology... believe me I'm as inclined to want it as anyone else; its just that advertisers and corporations attempt to make us feel as though we cannot live without their latest "innovation"... even if we lived quite happily without it before.] Ads have even invaded our schools; with many facing major budget shortfalls, corporations have enticed them with funds in exchange for prime product placement with our youth.
In addition to commercialism, online social networking and other forms of electronic communications, have become a source of noise in our daily lives. The rise of the internet as a major source of well, just about everything for our daily lives; from gathering information, socializing, to shopping and more. This can be seen as a double-edge sword; it has both brought the world together and served to disconnect us from one another. How many of us have become frustrated by trying to hold a conversation with someone who can't muster the respect to look up from their cell phone as they text with lightning-fast keystrokes. And let us not forget the person who hardly ever gets out in the real world, but spends majority of their waking hours chatting, or posting to one of the numerous options available to them. "Tweets" and "viral videos" are discussed on the news and online dating sites have become an acceptable means of meeting a potential mate.
Sometimes some of us just want to get away from all that and have some return to simplicity. I find the best way to do that is to escape into my mind and to create beautiful things to remind myself (and others), that the most beautiful things in life are imperfect. That which to live for is not found on the internet, on the latest iPhone or iPad... it is found in art, nature, intellectual discourse and the times we share with friends and family. In a photograph, freezing a fleeting moment in time; in a song that reaches across cultural divides; in a weekend barbecue with family; floating down the river an inter-tube; dancing the night away with friends at a beach bonfire; in a painting from 16th century Italy... one may just find what they need to feel complete.
Join me if you will, as I attempt to find an expressive outlet to find my sanity in a world that, on the whole, seems forgets where beauty truly lies...
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