Art is life. Life is art. Art is the heart, soul, essence, and language of life. It communicates by means of every sensory perception we possess. This blog is dedicated to exploring the concepts and various methods of living a life of art and making art of life, and the transformative, meaningful, and healing affects that such a journey creates. Our future will undoubtedly look quite different than our current reality, but one constant that has been around, at least since recorded history, is our calling to communicate and connect to the world through art.
We are in a continuous process of creation, destruction, creation again from destruction, and destruction again from creation. Within that cycle we can draw power for our own personal ReBegins to flourish. New directions are forged from the fertile ashes of past experiences, and Your ReBegin honors experimentation, risk, diversity, and choice, among many others, as the building blocks of life’s grand journey. The process aims to reveal aspects of our hidden and higher selves through art and may even feel like a kind of spiritual process. Everyone has a different experience in the life of art, but whatever it may be, it is an ongoing adventure worth investing our time in.
Why this blog and why now?
For me, living a life of art has been the greatest source of vitality, insight, reassurance, and bliss during life’s inevitable tough times. It may seem frivolous in times of crisis, but art is a beacon that can help lead us through it. I pledge to express what I feel are the important lessons learned, both the ups and downs of the journey, and engage in a discussion of what is yet to be learned from living a life art-fully. As a lifelong artist and newly formed creative consultant this site is integral for my own journey as well and forces me to not just conceive of the talk, but walk, write and be it as well.
I must admit I hesitated for years before launching this site. I made excuses based on feeling a lack of authority on the matter, fears of saying the wrong thing, stepping on other people’s toes, or sounding too much like what other people have said on the matter. But every time I read someone else’s approach to an artistic life, it’s honey for the soul keeping me in flight. I feel it’s time to share more of my own visions and to site references of those who have inspired me. We are all manifestations of the Divine Spirit in all the various forms possible. We exist and therefore we are important or we never would have been in the first place. Let’s honor and cherish that by expressing our own unique variation of the Divine Spirit!
What do ReBegin and ReEvolutionary mean?
Simply put, they are concepts of transformation based on natural cycles, connected to the ancient concepts of Ouroboros, the Phoenix, and the eternal return (more on this subject next week). Just as seasons go through cycles of birth, life, death, and rebirth, we go through them on a multitude of levels (emotional, spiritual, mental, psychological, etc.). Additionally, we live in a Universe of constant motion. Our planet rotates around an axis and revolves around the sun, which in turn revolves around the galaxy, which in turn revolves around the Universe…and who knows what else beyond that?
To have a ReBegin is to take what you have learned from past cycles and apply it toward a new endeavor. Here, I focus on artistic ReBegins (because life is art, art is life). It can be as simple a matter as creating a new art object or much grander in the shape of a rebirth of the creative self.
To be ReEvolutionary, is to add in the idea of evolution to revolution, so that with each new experience, we gain a wider/deeper consciousness that propels us onward in the cycle. Imagine a spiral staircase, and with each new turn of the cycle we move upwards! Although, sometimes I’ve found myself feeling more like I was spiraling down! This would really weigh upon me, but we all go through that in some way, shape or form in our lives. It’s part of the cycle and gives meaning to having a ReBegin – so we can take those downward (or sideways) experiences and use them as a resource to begin anew. The map of our lives will have many twists and turns, some self-generated, and some imposed upon us, but experience that journey as an art form in itself and you’re on Your ReBegin!
Ok, enough for now. I vow to keep these blog entries as concise as possible! More to come!
BLISSINGS!
Jason ReBegin
