Voices From Beyond

Someone very close to me sent me an email one day of a video. I watched the video, enjoyed it but delved deeper into the source. This brief explorative journey led me to TED. Now before you get all homophobic on me, let me explain...I am not a homosexual-TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design (www.ted.com). It was as though I'd stumbled into the minds of some of the most brilliant people on the planet. Some I'd heard of, but most I had not.

I don't mention it much, but I am an artist in my own right. It took me a long time to be able to first think those words, then say those words, and if my memory serves me correctly, this is the first time I've ever wrote those words in a public forum. Why? Because I rejected my artistry. Or better put, I tried to pimp my talent-but deep down inside, I knew I wasn't being true to myself, therefore it never really panned out. Yet, I continued to try to improve as a musician/songwriter/performer-and I still have a long way to go.

What does any of this have to do with TED? Well, this morning I checked my email and there was a video from TED featuring an author, Elizabeth Gilbert, whom I've never heard of. My normal reaction would be to click next, but I decided to honor her and listen to her presentation titled Burden of Genius. Ok, I have to confess something here-I had just finished watching a Southpark episode about rapper Kanye West who considers himself a genius. When I saw the title, it all kind of tied together in a bizarre kind of way. For those of you who have a spare 20 minutes, (which might encompass a great number of you in this jobless economy), take the time to glimpse into the mind of the creators of artistry and watch this video.

I have commentary that I would like to share with you which you may read now, but will make sense to you once you've watched the video.



Commentary
Elizabeth spoke of the origin of modern day genius and juxtaposed today's views with ancient Rome and Greece. I'm not going to offer my beliefs on those societies, but when she stated that during those periods people viewed creativity as voices from the gods or daemons (which, incidentally is the archaic spelling for the word demon), I could immediately relate. I've had fellow musicians ascribe the term genius to me and some of my work and I, in a masked fit of rage, reject the term. My experiences are entirely too limited, and my time in this physical body is too short for me to claim responsibility for that which passes through me. I don't know where the inspiration comes from but I do know it doesn't come from within me-it passes through me. Sometimes I capture it and record it, but most often I don't. I know firsthand the fear that it may never pass through me again-but then again, I'm aware of the fact that if I listen-really sit still and listen, they always speak to me.

There have been religious frauds who over time try to cast out demons. Why? In my most humble opinion, they don't want you talking directly to God, or the gods, or whatever divine spirit that may guide you-they just want you listening to them. I am not a religious person. I used to say I was agnostic, an ancient Greek term that supposedly means you are without knowledge of the existence of a God-but lately I'm beginning to reject the term. Not so much because I've found God, but more so because I really never lost God. And when say God, I don't mean a white-haired bearded dude who, for some odd reason, has been frozen as an old man for....ever, but God as in knowledge. I'm not going to try to explain it all here-it would require a more in-depth analysis, but my life mentor, who incidentally was the one who broke my ties with formal religious dogma, came to me one day and said that he could prove God's existence. When I asked him how, he simply said, "Everything man did not create, God did." As my younger bretheren would say, Marinate on that for a minute.

®