Resistance Is Futile.

09.03.01

The phrase has become a part of popular culture, thanks to Roddenberry's "Next Generation" television series of the late '80s. It originally evoked despair and hopelessness in the face of an implacable evil. I employ it here to celebrate what I will argue is a good approach to living. When we release resistance, we allow ourselves to open to all possible experience and avoid the prejudice of our convictions.

We all know that change is inevitable. It's not always comfortable initially, but it brings an expansion welcomed by the given moment. At first, change can be a disruption to the accepted flow of things, but, in time, it can become the newly accepted flow. With acceptance of this new arrangement, we are incrementally less bound by old thoughts and habits, and we experience an increased freedom. We are liberated from the previous paradigm and begin to think in adjusted terms that accommodate the change.

A willingness to change, an equanimity in the face of inevitable disruption, is vitally important to our growth & evolution. We are ourselves changing all the time and it makes perfect sense that the world is like us in that way. As shifts occur within ourselves or within our environment, we are best served by being attentive to the shift, and, in giving that attention, assessing what else could be adjusted for things to exist in harmony. We are blessed with the free will to respond to circumstances, but a constructive response is preferred over one which seeks a return to the familiar comfort of prior conditions. We avoid stagnation and embrace the unfolding of our world when we offer this type of "observer-participancy." We help to create the future.

Disruption often holds the seeds of an imminent re-organizing, a new order. As things appear to be falling apart, there are sure to be hints of an emergent configuration that improves on its predecessor. We should be alert to the possibilities presented in the midst of destruction and focus our attention on them, exploring their reach and enlarging their substance. By doing this, we energize nascent forms and grant them their potential. We welcome the new structure into being as it supplants the old.

We are here to explore new ideas, fresh patterns and gestating qualities. Our senses are like a refining lens which extracts an order from the chaos of our physical world, allowing us to see an organized view. But we must take care not to be seduced by what is presented, because change is surely soon to manifest. We should celebrate the strangeness of life as it breaks, unfamiliar, over us. That which we once "knew" will no longer apply and that which we can't imagine will become the commonly accepted wisdom. We were born to swim in these waters; our evolution commands us to be not afraid and to dive in!

This is the natural human state - curious, inquisitive and always willing to entertain possibilities. This can be seen when we recall our childhood. We might now feel that our limited knowledge and experience should have caused us to wonder at the grand peculiarity of everything as it passed before us, but at the time, the matter-of-fact acceptance with which our consciousness greeted the world gave us a calm perspective. Instead of danger, we felt fascination; instead of fear, we felt curiosity; instead of anxiety, we felt eagerness. A return to this stance is both healthy and beneficial as we cope with an increasingly complex reality.

As an artist, or, as an "expressor," dealing with this complicated world, I find I can benefit from a certain disregard for convention. This is not a unique claim; I proudly follow in the tradition of a long line of creative dissidents. I have discovered that I produce much more satisfying results when I allow myself to stray from the standard prescriptions for this line of work. I give myself permission to follow impulses and act from intuition. For some, I am an information designer, for others, a digital painter, and for a few, a creative consultant, art director or project manager. The many hats I wear keep my identity fluid and my jobs varied. This vocation continues to expand its horizons and the learning never has to stop.

It's not a rebelliousness that drives me, but rather an understanding that change is the true engine of creation. And that there are forces at work in this universe which defy me to hold anything in stasis. I must acquiesce to the living impetus within all reality to grow, develop and expand. We are all subject to this ever-changing dynamic and find our greatest comfort in making peace with the impermanence in which we live.

We embrace our power to be truly the creators we enter this life to be, exercising our discernment and our emotions as we revel in the act "making" things, images, gestures, statements, etc., here in this physical realm. The act of "making" without a prior knowing of the results is, ultimately, an act of faith, where one grasps the reins of a medium and commands it only to go, watching to see the path as it's laid down. It leads to a place where ideas are born, better ideas, and delightfully so.

I don't advocate careless endeavor or irrational action, but rather an acceptance of that which comes forth naturally when practicing a craft, including the unintended, the mistaken, and the failures. A careful look at these will often show us something new to consider. To reap the value from them, it's critical that we not resist them. Resistance is uncomfortable and acceptance brings a calm. It was time for a change, anyway.

Resistance is futile, whether one strives to keep to a formula in a creative production, or create within the accepted formats and standards for a given media, or even hold to a specific creative message. The creative process of life itself is fond of throwing curves, and we must meet these with open minds; artmaking, being a reflection of our life experience, greets us with these types of surprises as well. The happy and well-adjusted creator sees the co-creation that surrounds him and embraces it as the perfect circumstance at the perfect time and place, offering its perfect lessons. It's futile to lament that which is not, resisting that which is.