It's around 00:44. I was working on improving my company's DAG pipelines and while fixing some of the bugs on integrations, a LinkedIn notif pops up, something about builders and founders; I've been tinkering with Radicle so something related to that also pops up because privacy is just dead. Seeing these notifs, A... thought popped up in my mind.
I've been thinking lately, in almost every aspect of modern life, I've observed that be it individuals or corporations, we've optimized ourselves into monotony; maybe it's just the circles I'm within. People are "building" something or themselves, but nobody I know really (and I mean really) just creates for the love of it. It's a hard thing to describe, so bear with me.
The media that I've consumed, how exactly does it influence my soul? I've been revisiting some of my all time faves in Anime, very niche stuff sometimes and some of the popular shows like Jobless Reincarnation or Somali and the Forest Spirit and I realized that quite a lot of things that touched my heart and soul were without rhyme or reason. It might've been one dialog or some scene, perhaps the music or even just a single screenshot that makes it worth to re-experience the show.
Now that I think about it, it's the same with any media I've consumed thus far. The entire show/book/movie can suck absolute ass, but there's always that one thing that makes you burst into a thousand motes of different emotions. Funny isn't it? I'm almost moved into having tears of... idk what while I type this.
It's quite interesting, us humans I mean, so full of silent desperation, so infinitely finite. I recall clearly, one of the things that has stuck with me for the longest times; (also im going on a mega rant here idk im in a mood lmao)
There's this book series I've been following for quite a while now called Painting The Mists by Patrik G. Laplantie. I've read the entire series and re-read it quite a few times, it's not even anything special per se. For a lot of people, it might be considered the same ol' cultivation slop (sorry if you dunno the term idk google it?). But one of the reasons that the series has stuck with me (btw it doesnt take the top spot on my all time favourites in terms of books, because it has it's own spot) is because I feel a very strange similarity to the MC in that series. I haven't a clue on what the Patrik's intent was when he was writing the books, nor do I remember when I first read the first book, but what I do know is that one line from the first book stirred my soul.
It's quite simple really:
the MC comes across a staff/brush that reads out:
Do not let worry color the landscape. Why not paint the heavens? With this Clear Sky Brush.
I don't know why it affected me so, but just reading this line, as I was and will be, always gives me a window into what Patrik was thinking and wanting to convey to us readers. To be unfettered truly.
And it's not just this series. The same thing happens elsewhere. In the recent Dune movies, when Paul gives his speech amidst the fremen and says: "By the Hand of God, I'm Mahdi", that touched my soul. Or in my all time favourite book series, "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan, the interactions of Perrin with Faile. Or His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman and Lyra's affection for Iorek. These moments make it worth reading through books of text.
So (as I have before and shall continue to do so) I now ask myself... why? Just why is this the case? The reasoning remains the same, it's art. That's what art does. Heck, I even have a quote on the left of my blogs that's about just the same. I can't quite remember where I picked this quote up, but it's been with me for a long while as well:
Art is not just meant as a medium to express oneself.
Art is something you do to show others how broken you are, so that they may not feel as alone.
That is true art. Almost sounds and feels religious doesn't it? Funny how that is.
Not all of it might speak to everyone, but as an artist if your work touches the soul of even one more person, that's just enough imo.
People say that we're (mostly) the sum of our experiences, nothing more. If that's true to whatever degree, then it also stands to reason that the experiences that touch our soul in the deepest sense also contribute to that 'sum' in a greater way than something we did on a random tuesday. And I think that's what separates creation from just making things.
Creation is... pure. It doesn't quite care about the creator or even about the "value" it creates. The intent matters to a large extent but the act of creating something is an art unto itself. However on the other hand: "building" is for the sake of something. It's filled with some intent, yes, and it might also be considered an art to some extent if done with the correct intent and structure, but unlike creation it's not an art unto itself. It needs an observer, the act of building demands a consumer.
What I've been observing is that, as a species, we've moved quite a bit towards consumerism. This seems to me, to be happening to such an extent that the degree to which people build vs the degree to which people create has started to diverge and very much only tilt towards building. Once again, maybe I'm just biased, or my experiences up to this point in my life tell me an incomplete picture. I am, after all, one person. I can't hold the entire macrocosm's worth of information in my tiny brain, but I stand by what I say.
This constant need to build instead of creating makes societies, countries, communities and ultimately, people feel very much hollow. Haven't you noticed it yourself dear reader, how good it feels to help a fellow human being without expecting something in return? To feel the warmth of another soul?
Istg this rant makes feel like some very right winged guy's gonna call me a "sissy liberal", but looking beyond the bullshit divisions that politics instills into our society there's an argument to be made here.
There's artists out there, but how many of them are truly creating? It's easy to produce art but it's very difficult to produce art. Yes beauty is in the heart of the beholder but like come on, both you and I know that true art, stuff that's monumental has a different taste to it. It's got depth to it in some sense.