Taking the Defensive...

Fromm believes in the objective. The idea that love is more than one emotion, but that in fact it is a lifestyle. This idea is not easy to grasp right away for a number of reasons, but the main reason I believe it is so hard to connect with is because we have a hard time multitasking our own emotions on a daily basis. Being objective in life is sort of like being the referee in a never ending game that keeps changing it's rules. With the world in constant motion, it is only natural for us to want to grab on to any constancy we can and stick with it. However, this can be dangerous because then we keep ourselves rooted firmly to our ideals while the world rotates further into the future.

I am a painting major. As an artist I can truthfully say that we have a hard time convincing some people that what we do and strive for has relevance to the community as a whole. Art can take many different forms and practices, and I chose one of the most classical forms of expression. I love to paint, and my style has changed over the years as I learn and grow as a person. My work has gone from realism to abstract expressionism and everything in between. I studied abroad in Italy last year where I attended an Italian academy for art, and my whole outlook was changed again. When I returned home with some rather different styles of work that I had ever done before, some people were confused. My mother had a friend visiting who was admiring some of my earlier portraiture pieces versus my abstract expression series with a very confused demeanor. She could not "grasp" the concept of the latter. She wanted me to be able to stand there and tell her exactly what to think about my work, which is something I refuse to do. I firmly believe that art (paintings specifically) is not something you need to understand or dissect, but rather something to consider and be able to relate to. I have no problem with people not liking my work because the difference in opinion is what makes art unique. When I expressed this to my mothers friend, she took my explanation as meaning that my work had no meaning and she failed to see any relevance in what I had produced. She wanted me to tell her a story about the colors, composition, and movement of the piece. I wanted her to be able to tell me what she felt when she looked at it whether they were positive feelings or negative feelings. The conversation became heated, I was getting upset because she started to truly insult my choice of career path and she was getting upset because I could not provide her with what she needed to understand my work.

Needless to say, we left the debate unfinished. I learned a valuable lesson from this experience with her though, I had failed as an advocate for my work. I was the only one playing on my team, when I should have been trying to recruit. It should have been my job to help her see things my way by trying to see things her way. I never even considered her confusion, I just tried to shove my reasoning down her throat. It was not a mystery to me later why she couldn't understand my work, she couldn't understand where I was coming from because I was not explaining it to her. This does not mean that my ideals have to change, it just means that making my point needs to go hand in hand with where the other person is coming from. I am not saying that this woman would have loved my work if she was able to understand what I was trying to get her to do on her own, but it does mean she would have had the chance.

Fromm says that objectivity is the most important part of love. I believe that this is true. It is the big picture and the small picture at the same time. Being able to be open minded is the hardest part of any relationship, but it is what is needed to make it work.

Look at that Sky, life's begun...

Ever since I was I very young I have had a weird obsession with David Bowie. I have always loved Glam Rock, and he pretty much invented the whole movement. I have every album he has ever put out (vinyl and CD), and whenever I don't know what to listen to I just put him on. There is something about his lyrics and music that I can really connect too. I have a soft spot for preformance art as well, and he is such a wonderful performer.

My favorite song would then appropriately be a Bowie classic, Golden years. This song has been on every mixed CD I made in middle school and high school, and is constantly being added to playlists on my ipod even today. I never change it when it comes up in a shuffle, and when I hear it in public places I feel immediately happy and surprised, as though someone has just given me a gift. I understood the meaning of this particular song when I was thirteen, I knew I was alone however because no one else in my eight grade class would consider voting for it to win the graduation song that year. The song itself is about taking chances and living life to the fullest that you can. It is about opportunities around the corner and never being afraid to takes chances. What is the point of being afraid of life when life is the best thing there it? My favorite line in the song is. "Look at that sky, life's begun, nights are warm and the days are young". This sums up the meaning of the song to me. The horizon is the perfect metaphor for life and opportunity, and it almost represents each day as a new chance to make something new and beautiful. Since night is supposed to be a dark and cold time, Bowie is calling them warm and the days are young, not long.

Alan Watts describes life as this game of success, something we cannot win. We can try and do everything that is expected of us but still go to sleep unsatisfied and feeling tricked, as though everything we have worked for is false. The video we watched in class actually left me feeling a little depressed. As though what is expected of me from my teachers/parents/peers/myself... is just a joke. I know that it is not, but the way Watts represented it made me feel like an insignificant pawn in the dominated game of chess powered by things outside of my control. The reason I love Golden Years so much is because it gives me the opposite reactions to life. The lyrics tell me that I am supposed to take the opportunities handed to me with confidence and hope. What is expected of me out of life is what makes me happy, and as long as I am happy, then I am doing things right. Another one of my favorite lines is "In walked luck and you looked in time" because it suggests this idea of chance. I don't like to believe that my life is planned out for me, and everything has a purpose and a meaning. I choose to believe that a big part of happiness and success lies in chance, and what you do with that chance. One decision could change your life for the good or the bad, but it is still your choice to make.

Music is one of the best ways in which we can express ourselves. Whether it is listening to it, making it, copying it, analyzing it, or simply hearing it in the background, music makes us identify with something. Everyone will identify with something different, which is what makes music so great. It makes life exciting and new when we can relate to something on such a powerful level. In great words sung by Bowie "Don't let me hear life is taking you nowhere.."