We need art to inspire work.
Everybody needs work.
Right now, we need art to inspire work.
Here's how it happens:
First, humans find themselves on earth. We're like, "Get busy; survive. Gather stuff to eat."
We learn a few things along the way. We plant seeds, instead of just finding them already in the ground. We manage. This becomes agriculture, man's first industry.
That's part of it. Meanwhile, our neighbor down the road, across the street or across town or across the ocean, is doing something different: there's animal husbandry--raising animals for their milk or meat, not to mention their dung (valuable stuff, that dung.)
There's mining, metallurgy, mercantilism, chemistry, industry and study.
Humans use their intelligence to manage earth resources--minerals,plants and animals. We devise ways to increase yields, making our efforts and our resources more productive. Old-fashion way of managing agriculture was done through accumulated generational farmer smarts and responsible stewardship of the land and its resources. In the modern way of doing things, this could mean genetic engineering. We shall see how all that pans out. Some folks are not into it. They'd rather have God's little acre and organics. Hopefully we can maintain a society where techies and earthies can coexist and not ruin each others' trip. We get along.
We innovate. We invent tools. We fine-tune things. This is art; art is not just something that hangs on the wall at the Met.
When man has more produce and goods that he, his family and/or community, can consume, there is surplus. What to do with it? Save it for leaner times. Fine. Some stuff doesn't save so well, or could be put to better use by some other person or entity.
Trade surplus for other stuff. This is very important. It's the basis of commerce, economics and modern life.
Surplus accumulated and well-managed becomes wealth. Wealth on your day(s) or week(s) off becomes leisure. Does leisure produce anything? Yes.
Art.
Art is the human's response to having a little free time.
A few thousand years pass by. Cut to the chase: Modern society has arranged for folks' needs to be met collectively. We have devised various systems for doing this--capitalism, communism, and everything in between. That's oversimplifying it, but blogosphere denizens prefer simplicity.
But here's the rub. Once we've established economic systems, it turns out that everything works in cycles: day and night, sunrise/sunset, rise and fall of tides, seasons, spring planting and fall harvest. Just like the old days. Economics is no exception to every other activity in the world. Boom or bust, like it or not. Shit happens. So we're deep in it now.
Got job?
What our present cycle is revealing is that our era of financed leisure is over. Kaput. Our levels of languor, our revels of being being entertained on the couch are tanking. The easy money is spent. This lifestyle maintained for too long by too many has become unsustainable.
Unsustainable:
Time to get back to work. And if you don't have a job, can't find one, now is the time to stop waiting around for something to happen. The government may bail you out somewhat with some fake money, but the real question is: What are you going to do with your life? Get busy finding new ways to make your life productive. That's where the art to inspire work comes in.
Art is life; life is art. Get creative. Get busy. What can you do today to improve the life of yourself, your family, loved ones, community, nation?
Carey Rowland, author of Glass Chimera
Right now, we need art to inspire work.
Here's how it happens:
First, humans find themselves on earth. We're like, "Get busy; survive. Gather stuff to eat."
We learn a few things along the way. We plant seeds, instead of just finding them already in the ground. We manage. This becomes agriculture, man's first industry.
That's part of it. Meanwhile, our neighbor down the road, across the street or across town or across the ocean, is doing something different: there's animal husbandry--raising animals for their milk or meat, not to mention their dung (valuable stuff, that dung.)
There's mining, metallurgy, mercantilism, chemistry, industry and study.
Humans use their intelligence to manage earth resources--minerals,plants and animals. We devise ways to increase yields, making our efforts and our resources more productive. Old-fashion way of managing agriculture was done through accumulated generational farmer smarts and responsible stewardship of the land and its resources. In the modern way of doing things, this could mean genetic engineering. We shall see how all that pans out. Some folks are not into it. They'd rather have God's little acre and organics. Hopefully we can maintain a society where techies and earthies can coexist and not ruin each others' trip. We get along.
We innovate. We invent tools. We fine-tune things. This is art; art is not just something that hangs on the wall at the Met.
When man has more produce and goods that he, his family and/or community, can consume, there is surplus. What to do with it? Save it for leaner times. Fine. Some stuff doesn't save so well, or could be put to better use by some other person or entity.
Trade surplus for other stuff. This is very important. It's the basis of commerce, economics and modern life.
Surplus accumulated and well-managed becomes wealth. Wealth on your day(s) or week(s) off becomes leisure. Does leisure produce anything? Yes.
Art.
Art is the human's response to having a little free time.
A few thousand years pass by. Cut to the chase: Modern society has arranged for folks' needs to be met collectively. We have devised various systems for doing this--capitalism, communism, and everything in between. That's oversimplifying it, but blogosphere denizens prefer simplicity.
But here's the rub. Once we've established economic systems, it turns out that everything works in cycles: day and night, sunrise/sunset, rise and fall of tides, seasons, spring planting and fall harvest. Just like the old days. Economics is no exception to every other activity in the world. Boom or bust, like it or not. Shit happens. So we're deep in it now.
Got job?
What our present cycle is revealing is that our era of financed leisure is over. Kaput. Our levels of languor, our revels of being being entertained on the couch are tanking. The easy money is spent. This lifestyle maintained for too long by too many has become unsustainable.
Unsustainable:
Time to get back to work. And if you don't have a job, can't find one, now is the time to stop waiting around for something to happen. The government may bail you out somewhat with some fake money, but the real question is: What are you going to do with your life? Get busy finding new ways to make your life productive. That's where the art to inspire work comes in.
Art is life; life is art. Get creative. Get busy. What can you do today to improve the life of yourself, your family, loved ones, community, nation?
Carey Rowland, author of Glass Chimera
