What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. – Carl Sagan
How many songs do you have in your PC? How many movies and TV shows are there in your hard disk drive? Think of all the many e-books, books and other creative content that is there on the internet, waiting for someone to consume them.
Such a wonderful thing this is, this creativity, which sets us apart most from all other creations. And it is also very nice to see that all of the world’s creative output is accessible to most of us now because of internet.
But, there’s just a thing, just like big industries can sometimes make small industries become redundant, in this day of connectivity, all the stories told by grandmas, all the songs sung by a very close friend, seems ever more pale. What is the value of my heart-felt singing in an untrained voice where you can just turn on the radio and listen to some super-star?
This reality has forced many creative minds to become obsessive consumers of creative output. You are filling in every moment of your living existence with consuming someone else’s output, another TV show, another movie, another book… never thinking about creating the dent to the world that only you can create.
This probably is very true for most. But to think that a creative output is only successful if it is able to touch a million lives— is very saddening. Every life is special, if even a single life feels alive, smiles a little for once, or finds hope for just a moment because of something you did—that is job well done, that is success.
So go ahead and make great art, sing weird songs, write whatever you feel right. Don’t worry about criticism or even worse- lack of any reaction at all. Know that every piece of creative output holds a snapshot of your soul. They can pass on your thoughts, feelings and emotions to a distant place, distant time, distant person. Your consciousness lives on, celebrating the essence of being human, being alive, being able to think and connect.
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
How many songs do you have in your PC? How many movies and TV shows are there in your hard disk drive? Think of all the many e-books, books and other creative content that is there on the internet, waiting for someone to consume them.
Such a wonderful thing this is, this creativity, which sets us apart most from all other creations. And it is also very nice to see that all of the world’s creative output is accessible to most of us now because of internet.
But, there’s just a thing, just like big industries can sometimes make small industries become redundant, in this day of connectivity, all the stories told by grandmas, all the songs sung by a very close friend, seems ever more pale. What is the value of my heart-felt singing in an untrained voice where you can just turn on the radio and listen to some super-star?
This reality has forced many creative minds to become obsessive consumers of creative output. You are filling in every moment of your living existence with consuming someone else’s output, another TV show, another movie, another book… never thinking about creating the dent to the world that only you can create.
Why should I think about writing? I’ll never be like Humayun Ahmed.
Why should I think about singing? I’ll never be like Arnob.
This probably is very true for most. But to think that a creative output is only successful if it is able to touch a million lives— is very saddening. Every life is special, if even a single life feels alive, smiles a little for once, or finds hope for just a moment because of something you did—that is job well done, that is success.
So go ahead and make great art, sing weird songs, write whatever you feel right. Don’t worry about criticism or even worse- lack of any reaction at all. Know that every piece of creative output holds a snapshot of your soul. They can pass on your thoughts, feelings and emotions to a distant place, distant time, distant person. Your consciousness lives on, celebrating the essence of being human, being alive, being able to think and connect.
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
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an artist's job is to make art by `hibbary |