Being Inspired by Others

"I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life - and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do."

-- Georgia O'Keeffe


The O'Keeffe quote reminds me of something that I often say: Being fearless is not the absence of fear; it's moving forward in spite of it.

Being Inspired by Others

President Obama and First Lady Michelle celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary Saturday night at The Blue Duck Tavern near Georgetown. They were married October 3, 1992.



Evening Song

Full moon rising on the waters of my heart,
Lakes and moon and fires,
Cloine tires,
Holding her lips apart.

Promises of slumber leaving shore to charm the moon,
Miracle made vesper-keeps,
Cloine sleeps,
And I'll be sleeping soon.

Cloine, curled like the sleepy waters where the moonwaves start,
Radiant, resplendently she gleams,
Cloine dreams,
Lips pressed against my heart.

--Jean Toomer



Happy 17th anniversary Mr. President and First Lady Michelle! They're an inspiration for what seems to be true love and mutual respect. How wonderful it seems.

Being a Genius

Who is a genius? Some believe in genius a must who visits, others believe that it is born, and still others believe that it is a combination of both. Some think that genius is the subjective nature of opinions. But make no mistake about it, genius, is a collective label and by this notion it is not altogether personally subjective. We don't have to like a piece of art or music or wholly appreciate a technology to recognize the artist or inventor's genius, yet we collectively agree.

For example, we collectively agree that DaVinci was a genius. We collectively agree that Mozart was a genius. We collectively agree that Stephen Hawking is a genius.We collectively agree that George Washington Carver was a genius. We collectively agree that Prince is a genius. We collectively agree that Auguste Rodin was a genius. We collectively agree that Marcel Proust was a genius. We collectively agree that Thelonious Monk was a genius. We collectively agree that Sartre was a genius. We collectively agree that Alexander Pushkin was a genius. We collectively agree that Georgia O'Keeffe was a genius. We collectively agree that Toni Morrison in a genius. We collectively agree that Van Gogh was a genius. We collectively agree that Thomas Edison was a genius.

Genius is not merely subjective; it's collective thought and acceptance. It's also impact, appreciation and value. The interesting thing is that geniuses are not often labeled as such during their lifetime. But it is something that we recognize collectively in spite of particular present or future acknowledgment, individual taste or in-depth knowledge of those who appreciate them. I love the mind of Stephen Hawkings, but some of what he says just blows me over, not only because my background is not physics, but because of his particular perceptions of science and the universe.

By the way, all of the above geniuses stand alone as individuals with repeated brilliant works and discoveries, though more than a few, such as Rodin and Edison, worked so closely with others that here are discrepancies as to who actually created some of their works and inventions. But the muse remained with these, but it would be interesting to think what they thought of their own works. Van Gogh certainly did not think very highly of his works all the time, neither did Mozart or O'Keeffe and many others as their letters reveal.

What are your thoughts on genius? Who else might be included?

Being Disruptive II

John O'Leary wrote an excellent post recently on "creative disruption" where he uses The Beatles as an example. I have written here on being disruptive a few times. As brilliant as they are, disrupters are often marginalized and isolated.

While often being maligned, disrupters, in fact, are those who make the difference in business, painting, music, science, education, medicine, poetry, fashion, communities, novels, religion, community philosophy, etc.

Who are these disrupters?

Jesus Christ
Martin Luther
Joan of Arc
Toni Morrison
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Jean Paul Gautier
Emily Dickinson
Friedrich Nietzsche
Chuck Berry
Tom Peters
Oscar Wilde
Leonardo Da Vinci
Gianni Versace
Muhammad Yunnus
Bela Bartok
Copernicus
Henry Miller
Malcolm X
Jean Paul Sartre
Marie Currier
Anita Roddick
Georgia O'Keefe
Nelson Mandela
Virgina Woolf
Igor Stravinsky
Vincent Van Gogh
Anais Nin
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Galileo
Nat Turner

History is replete which such ones, yet we seek to allow disruption to be. Perhaps without the struggle it would not find a place or consistency. Perhaps resistance is at the heart of disruption a necessity.

Being Georgia O'Keeffe II

"I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality. I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say ... in paint."

"I feel there is something unexplored about woman that only a woman can explore."

"I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me ... shapes and ideas so near to me ... so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down."

Being Georgia O'Keeffe

In the discussion of being it is most important to distinguish between self-absorption and self-expression. The former draws in only; the latter both draws in and gives out, allowing for the creation and innovation of inanimate being and the shaping of animate being through individual and collective thought and action. In painting, Georgia O'Keeffe made the inanimate animate through the personal and universal: colors, shapes, lines, earth, sky, mountains, plants, etc.

The distinction between self-absorption and self-expression is found in personal and universal passions. The personal soley creates and innovates from inward passions, while the universal does so from both personal and univeral passions. Universal passions are formed collectively through conscensus building innate to all, though formed uniquely...differently. It is in giving and receiving that we best understand our individuality and fulfill our purpose. Step outside of yourself.

Georgia O'Keeffe writes:

"I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality, I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say...in paint."

Here's an homage to the individuality of being:



Are you both receiving and giving?