Convention: A Gated Community

I maintain that what an artist has to believe in is this: that there is a special world, to which he alone has the key. It is not that he must contribute something new, though even that would be an enormous achievement; but that everything in him must be or seem new, transmitted through a powerfully colouring idiosyncrasy.
He must have a particular philosophy, aesthetic, morality; his whole work tends only to show it. And that is what makes his style. He must have a particular wit --- his own sense of fun.

REFLECTION: V

Prometheus Misbound

Andre Gide

~

     To uncover, unchain and to open the iron jail house doors and to escape the conventions that ensnared me in the first place… that is what compelled me to take this path… to let loose my own “sense of fun”. I am a human being first and foremost before anything else. Even when I say that my name is George I am separating myself from the rest of humanity and stepping into a gated community whereby every house has an address and name to fence ourselves off from each other.

    Second to being a human being I happen to think of myself as an alcoholic with artistic strivings. This too makes me feel special within the gated community since I have given myself permission to come and go as I please. I feel as though I am an imposter within the gates and alone and vulnerable in the jungle outside looking back in because of this uniqueness.

    Once outside of the gated community I can see only a few alternatives: I can go back to where I feel safe as an imposter; I can stay in the jungle with drugs, alcohol and other entanglements; or I can forge my way out towards the loom of the light I see in the distance… to be truly authentic.

    I have no bone to pick with those who choose to return to the safety and comfort of the gated community… of becoming perhaps a productive member of society. That is a better alternative than staying in the jungle to contend with the hungry beasts of unrestrained desire. However, a few of us have banded together to trek through this jungle on the safari towards happy destiny. Buddhists call this safari the Sangha on the dharma path. Christians would call it the church on the path of righteousness. Our Muslim fellows would call this pilgrimage the Hajj and a personal Jihad. It is all the same journey from convention if we look at it objectively. It is in this spirit I stand with my fellow human beings.

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