29th
Micah speaking off the cuff on Vimeo
-I love the natural world in all its
spiraling complexity, infinite sequences and arbitrarily perfect ratios. I don’t listen to so much music anymore, for all the listening to my surroundings. Replace your banal surroundings with this: idea
that you do not have to exist
your consciousness did not have to happen, it was chance and the fact that you can experience this consciousness in relative safety and security means that you have already won some sort of cosmic jackpot.
there is no such thing as left or right in infinite space. there is no such thing as conventional beauty in a world with electron clouds, computer circuitry, sunflowers and pictures of our galaxy.
yes, it’s a mystical experience, a spiritual experience, seeing the beauty of the world every day. seeing the beauty of people every day.
Not everyone gets to experience this beauty. Some people’s lives are torn by oppression, coerced by poverty, and shadowed by a glass ceiling. Some live in the cement basement, glazing over their fear of death with stoic eyes, feeling lucky to just have a job. Or dreaming of a life that will never be.
I used to have some cultural misprogrammings about beauty, about love, about happiness and spirituality. About helping others and helping yourself. I’ll talk more about them in my blog later. But today I will share my answer to what now: After you can appreciate beauty in all things - what do you do with a) that appreciation and b) your college education and c) your ability to create, to change
I don’t think that there is anything more important in this world than to know enough about life in order to help someone else. That someone else should be yourself first, your loved ones next. Your children, your neighbors. Your city, state, the world. Be active in local government. Call your city council and tell them about the broken glass near the playground that never gets picked up. If you can’t get your superiors to do something, get a broom and do it yourself. Write letters to the editor. Make your art stand for something. Try to be another crumbling brick in our institution of selfishness, hatred, superficiality, and greed. Because these things only lead to unhappiness and suffering.
You are in a position to be the change we believe in. (sorry obama) Don’t wait for someone else to make a move.
