many people think of art (visual and literature) as attempting to recreate life and reality. in a way this is true, but it’s an impossible goal which ends up leaching the meaning of art altogether. it is utterly futile, impractical, and impossible to fully represent the detail and complexities of the world around us–there’s just too much; a never-ending chain of minutiae that has to be truncated at some point. art is about the simplification of reality. it is stripping the sights, shapes, colours, ideas, emotions, events, etc. down to the most common recognisable denominator. i and many, many others often lose sight of this. it’s a skill, really, and requires quite a bit of practice to master; to be able to let go.
running to stand still:
such an obvious comparison, to think of my life and relationships around me as a similarity to my routine of running with the treadmill; especially one spinning at a speed greater than my legs are conditioned to maintain. lately though, it feels as if i’m not even able to reach the treadmill; as if it were being trolled about on the flatbed of a truck, and i’m running to first catch the truck, before i can hop onto the tread and try to keep up with its pace. others’ priorities have a way of driving that truck right out of my grasp, and unfortunately, aside from politely asking the drivers to slow the hell down, there is little one person can do to affect the trajectory and velocity of someone else and their vehicle. i have lost so much ground with people, if this were a racetrack, i would expect them all to ‘lap’ me pretty soon. amazingly, television has proven a more influential force in peoples’ lives than their connection to me. interesting that reruns of a sitcom or a sports game is the more attractive opportunity cost to those around me than the life and friendship we share. sure we’re all ‘busy’, but you can tell how important you are to someone by how much time they are willing to make for you. take parents for example: they have so many things going on in life, and no matter how high the stack of responsibilities get, they can always make room for their child. or take three peers as example: one in college, one in graduate school, and one grad student out of state. the first two have plenty to do with school and work, but yet find enough time to spend going out with friends, and have some relaxation time here and there, despite their different educational rankings. now take the third, who on top of everything the first two deal with, has distance against them; yet they find a way to not only overcome it all, but also repair a relationship and even take on an engagement. humans are very capable beings indeed, and it is true that it’s just a matter of will and determination with how much accomplishment one can achieve versus how much they’re capable.