Thoughts on Art and Life -- Jonathan FeBland's Web Journal


Date:
08-12-2002
Time:
04:28 PM

entry

What you do for money… and what you do for art…
Of course, the money-making ventures don’t always work out… and you may actually earn
some money from your artistic work!
Also, what you start doing for money may actually turn out to be quite artistic.

Can I piece together
     The clues from life
          Into a whole
And make sense of what has eluded
          Everyone else!

Is life such a mystery
     That you can spend your whole life
          Thinking...
     You are nearly dead and yet
          The meaning of life eludes you.

There’s nothing left to philosophise about!
We are truly living at the end of time.

I have thoughts I wish to try and get down on paper. That much is true; Poetry though is dead.
So why try to resurrect it?

You can’t ‘make things happen’. I mean, you can try to make things happen, but… there are
certain things that you cannot ‘force’.

I have to deal with reality of course; but reality can change.

Understand how fragile talent is. Even genius is fragile. It needs nurture (and feedback!)

I shouldn’t say ‘Poetry is Dead’, as some people still wish to try to write poetry - but it is on the fringes of literature. Mainstream Literature (these days) is a Novel, Play or Screenplay (TV teleplay) even possibly a TV sitcom. No one is interested in poetry as an art form any more - or only lunatics! [Henry Fool etc.]


Date:
30-08-2003
Time:
02:40 PM

entry

I have to focus on the real and not the ideal… but I can think about the ideal! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

History has been about small changes. Things change slowly, historically speaking. The 19th century in musical terms saw the very gradual sophistication of the music language. We went from Classical through Romantic and on (early in the 20th Century) to the explosion of modern music. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can life have a meaning without God? Creativity, Invention, breaking new ground, doing something new and exciting. Religion has all the answers for those people not looking beyond religion. I am looking for big answers to big questions i.e. the enigma variations… by this I mean: who gets born! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is the meaning of life? I have worked out a way to live! <That is a completely different answer.> Creating work of durability Creating things of beauty (is not the meaning of life) Living an upright life (is not the meaning of life) Maybe you can’t answer that question in words Maybe the answer to that question is ‘the way you live’ (although that is strictly speaking, the answer to the question: What is your response to being alive? !!) We have to look beyond humanity to find the meaning of life. Of course, I am not interested in looking for an answer outside of humanity. What is the meaning of life? Is a human question after all. I am human, The question is human. No-one is asking what is the meaning of life for a monkey?

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