Everything was original, once...

Elliot and I, as other people...
Tangential to the post, or maybe total non-sequitor.

So often it is said that there is nothing new under the sun.

The thing is, it hasn't always been said, only quite frequently since it was first said. So once, it was new, under the sun. Or perhaps the moon, if they first said it at night.

Anyway, the point? As I fumble along this path that might lead to art and might lead to something better, or something worse, well, what about creativity?

I've always felt it was my stumbling block. Once I have an idea, I can run with it. I can stretch it and bend it, push and pull it, but eventually it resolves. It ends. I can't repeat it endlessly, because I want the next idea now, thank you very much.

Problem is, I don't have Ideas. Or even ideas. Occasionally i have a thought, and with enough agressive pruning I can pull an idea out of it, but more often I see other people toting their ideas around, tossing one here, one there, barely breaking a sweat. Maybe I could sneak along behind, you know, and catch one they drop now and then. Use it like a seed, grow something with it...?

But when i make something, I want it to be MINE. Call me selfish - go ahead. Call me crazy, while you are at it, because, of course, there isn't really anything new under the sun. Our bodies are made of the recycled atoms of our food, of our forefathers, of dinosaurs and sandstorms and oceans and poop. But they are our bodies, now, and they ARE new.

And so our ideas could be new, even if others have thought them before. I want to strive for a unique collection of recycled beauty, recycled love, recycled expression in what might be art, might be vanity, is there a difference?

I was reading this, which, naturally, I saw on FB. Right away, I stole it and reposted, because I liked it. I didn't always agree with it, but I liked it all the same.

Maybe I need to let myself steal more. If there was anything I learned from Karl's passing it was to be kinder to myself, and maybe beating myself up for not having enough ideas isn't the way to live. (duh, right?) But I've never wanted to make somebody else's work, so I have left all their pieces untaken.

So a mission, then: Steal 5 things*. Dissect them. Take 1/5th of each. Reassemble and call it new. See what happens.

I'll keep you posted.



*intellectually, of course.