Art sadly is not the answer — we need vision.

I do not think that in the present state of affairs that more or better art is the answer that the world needs. Art enough we have had and it has painted a dismal picture, though not an untrue one. Society is in a state of emergency. We are desperately casting backwards to see what we have lost that we might still recover to save us. Some again cling to Nationalism (the last refuge of scoundrels if you agree with Churchill).

However, it is not art, nor industry, nor even economy that we need — it is a vision. We need those trailblazers to cast for us a vision of a better future what we might aspire to. Above all else, we need bold ideas, brazen solutions, and daring attempts to solve the issues of today. All around I see us paralyzed by fear — the most basic fear that is common to all, the fear of the unknown. We do not know what the future holds, only that it will be like anything we have yet seen, and, as I argue, unlike anything we have yet imagined. We need a storyteller to enchant us with a vision of the future that doesn’t ring as a pipedream, we need a leader who can convince us that the future is not fearful, but full of hope, and that the paths to a better world are not outside our reach, but discoverable for those who dare to try.

Art in all forms will follow, and art is often revolutionary in that it expresses a revolutionary idea but they are not one and the same. Art can be anything, as anything can be beautiful. As many say, beauty is in the Eye of the beholder. Some believe it. Even terrible things can be beautiful, have you ever walked the waves crash against the rocks? Worse, have you ever been caught in the undertow and felt the pull to the other side? Let me tell you, it’s a real thing. This is because all power is beautiful. But, power is beautiful like the storm is beautiful, not like the ocean is beautiful. Power, like love, he’s only beautiful when it’s given, not taken. The root of all violence, the very definition, is to take what is not offered. Think about it, and you will see. They took your body, they took your mind, they took your voice, they took your choice.. it is the taking that which is not offered which is violence itself.

There are levels of power. There is the power that society has in shaping a man, there is the power that systems and institutions have in shaping his choices and paths, there is the power of others over a man, and then the influence of environment on our minds and bodies, and lastly, the power a man has over himself.

Power is beautiful and let me tell you this about power to, that it is the people who do not have power over themselves that will strive to exercise power over others. Lacking this greatest power we will strive to take power from all the other layers because we feel so acutely the absence of power over ourselves, which is in reality, the only real power we will ever have. All else is just perceived power and the perception of power. Because we live in a reality constructed of our own imagination, our social reality, individual reality, economic reality, cultural reality, spiritual reality.. these dominate our perception of the world and our environment. Any power exerted by these perceptions of our environment are their power.

These are uncertain times indeed.