I just received an email from someone, who's been following the Pinching the Ostrich project for a while now, calling it my Baron von Munchhausen project. He did so quite lovingly and jokingly added the question if I had already tried to lift myself by pulling my own hair. First of all, I don't have hair that would allow pulling of any kind, but that's not really the point. Baron von Munchhausen was a fantastic and inspiring dreamer for some and an irredeemable liar to others. But regardless ones feelings of sympathy or incomprehension towards the Baron, in both cases he is the symbol of a person suffering from delusions of grandeur.
Oh sweet irony that my "Pinching the Ostrich" should trigger that association when it's real goal is not to portrait my own delusions of grandeur, but to uncover and challenge the perceived reality of insignificance in all of us. Else said, I still have quite a lot of work to do.
I am getting some great help though. Cythia Morris for instance – who has been gracious enough to give me my first creative challenge – just posted an article in her blog Journeyjuju.com explaining why it is she gave me my assignment: Create art that you love.
Go ahead and read it. I'm not going anywhere.
(Muzak accompanied Interlude: this is you clicking away, reading Cynthia's article)
Welcome back.
Admit to it, you could not find the faintest hint of delusion in there, if you waterboarded it. It is real and attainable. It is in fact mindbogglingly simple, but it is immeasurably difficult at the same time. Not because of our actual limits we have to come to terms with, but because of the limits we impose on ourselves.
In fact, we our so good at feeling inadequate, that that in itself is the greatest proof of the power our minds have over our lives. Our dreams, goals and ambitions are so close by, they are barely one small step away. The idea that this is not true, or at least not for us only unmistakably tells us to never underestimate the power of denial.
We deny that we are immensely creative. We deny that we can have an impact, even on our own lives. We deny that we have a choice in everything. And in doing so, we deny ourselves so much. I find that unacceptable.
I was approached by someone at a workshop on creativity, who said she could never be so courageous. I replied in all honesty that it probably isn't courage that drives me either, but rather the intense realization that our time here is so terribly limited. Before we even get the slightest notion of who we are and what we are capable off, it's close to check out time. If we ever get to that point at all…the notion that is, not check out time.
I honestly don't want to end up asking myself were all the time that I still had, went to. Don't we owe it to ourselves, and everyone we come across, to pull ourselves from the swamp by our own hair? To at least give it a try? Call me stupid, but just giving it a shot beats the snot out of sitting there and drown.
Is that delusional? I can't imagine that it is. I choose not to.
Take care,
Karl
Cynthia Morris 3 June 2009
I love this. I think we often need to be a little delusional to go for things. Some goals seem so far out of reach to be laughable - flying an airplane, finding the cure for cancer or HIV, peace in the Middle East.
Yet we continue to strive for them because you never know what is beyond our perceived capacity!
I don't think you're delusional. I don't know that you're so brave. But I do know that you have a gusto for life that we can all learn from and be inspired by. Keep going!
Thanks for the link to my blog post, too!
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