Why do we do Art?

Art is beauty? Sometimes, yes. It is also, sometimes, a way to ask questions. Gentle questions, that conform to each recipient's mind and their own thoughts.

Before I go on, let me share a classical piece of poetry. You might know it partially from its pop-culture reference in the Interstellar movie. Or you might know the original, of course.

Do not go gentle into that good night

Dylan Thomas - 1914-1953

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I knew that I had used pieces of this poem before. I only wondered why and it came to me now. Wow! What a powerful thing the Subconscious is! Here's a true story for you:

I wrote a short story last year, my first one for a project on the blockchain. Short-Lived Concepts it was called. And this poem was a part of the inspiration for a part of the story. I had it as a quote, found as a digital inscription near the final, discovered in a wrecked space shuttle. All of that went out of the story during my first revisions. The scene never appeared. But some of the keywords surfaced at another point of the same story, entirely, and with no pre-meditation whatsoever.

“Have a good night, sir!”, the nurse says and gently shuts the door from the other side. My room is dark. This is how I like it. Not to sleep, I don’t sleep much anymore. But to work. My mind works so much better during the night.

And the narrator is of exceptionally old age. Can you believe me it was unintentional? Somehow the poem stayed in the back of my mind, obviously. Yeah, I know I wrote once that the story was inspired by Bruce Dickinson's song Omega. And that is also the truth.

Blaine is pain, and this is the truth...

— from The Dark Tower by Stephen King.

...echoes in my mind.

Did you know, that the whole epic series of Sai King was inspired by a poem?

Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning.

Art inspires art. Art inspires thought. Creativity gives birth to Creativity.

Presently, I would only say Brother instead of Father in the last stanza of the poem of Dylan Thomas. More universal, than personal, the contrary of what I quoted not so long ago. Brother, meaning all of you, brothers and sisters of my species. No other Hive Queen than Mother Earth, with all of us working for her and for future generations, makes sense to me.

Anyway, these past days which now seem as dramatic as lots of time spent in the shoes of movie and book characters, I lost too much time brooding. In general. I am sure some of you felt in a similar way. I was close to bursting out: "You wanna fight the catastrophe? Stay in good health and not get out of it poorer? Sell your TV! You automatically score 2:0!"

Don't forget what's important, friends. The important thing for any of us is to do what's under our control rather than curse or fear the things which are not under our control. I know @tarazkp, a hardcore blockchain blogger, has said so over and over again. And I still let that slip for a time. Because I was too emotional over Facebook quarrels while the Hive was in transition from nowhere to here.

Wasted time and emotion? It's gone, not wasted. But I learned a lot. You might say, it was my badly conducted experiment. Which gave results, anyway. And I was reminded:

Don't give advice. Give support. Where it can help. And I can't help the crowd. I hope I can find and help individuals. Giving them support.

Our economy was systematically destroyed over the years, barely surviving because we were able to stick to the EU in general, but I won't be surprised to see the EU experiencing some "third world" problems after all this. Damn, we're all the same world! With some walls here and there now.

The Dark Side shrouds everything. Impossible to see, the future is.

— Your favorite green Jedy.

Is it so dark though?

We have our history to teach us. Every book ever written. Every opinion we condemn. In all of it, there's a piece of truth. Do you remember my previous post? I told you we can consider each one of us correct and each one of us wrong at the same time. From there on, a person should be able to filter useful information.

Useful information is the one that helps us adapt. That improves our genes, so to speak. The Dark Side adapts. So does the Light Side. Motion is balance. Be in motion, friends. Art's job is to make your thoughts move.

I use my own photographs in my posts. Almost always. I will always be telling you the source otherwise. Well, I am a freelance photographer. Working from home, now. That will be the case for a while. Good thing I have tons of footage from last year.

There's always an infinite amount of work to be done. Pick what's best for you under the circumstances. And don't forget to rest, and laugh, and love!

Yours,

Manol