Creative Rebellion Essays: What’s the point of it all?
Winter solstice 2020 — photo by JC Caldwell
This is my last essay of 2020. A tumultuous and trying year, to say the least. We all know the issues. But the upside is that this year has allowed me to consider and reflect on what is truly important to me.
Yesterday, December 21st, was the winter solstice: the day with the longest night. Since prehistory, it has also been considered the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun. In addition, yesterday was the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.
Conjunctions that are this close are very unusual, according to the Royal Astronomical Society, and Jupiter and Saturn were last seen in such proximity in 1623. On that occasion, the two planets were close to the sun in the sky, so they would have been hard to pick out.
Jupiter and Saturn's great conjunction captured in stunning images
It felt like an auspicious day and evening. My teenage daughter and I sat outside on the balcony of our house. The evening was cooling but warm enough for us to talk for two hours.
I felt it was appropriate to write about it as a parable.
The Point of it All
Daughter and father sat, watching the waning light of the winter solstice.
She had been sad for some time. It started in October of the previous year. Her first confrontation with emptiness, the existential dread.
She was a happy girl by nature but the past several years she had experienced too much loss: the passing of her grandfather, her brother, her uncle. And then over the summer her favorite dog, a pet she’d grown up with, also departed.
She was in a dark place. A place she was able to escape from but the pit was right there, in the periphery, ready to claim her if she took the wrong step.
She asked her father, What was the point of it all?
The father said that he had often struggled with that question. And that he had fallen into a dark place too, when he was a young man.
She said, In the end, it all disappears. Everything from the artwork you make to the stars and the universe.
He said, Purpose and meaning only exists if there is a human consciousness present to witness it. Without humans, the plants would still grow, the oceans would flow and the stars would collapse just the same. Purpose and meaning are made up constructs, like money and laws, agreed upon by the collective of humanity.
This was the fork in the road. Scientific materialism or religious metaphysics. Which pill do you take, the red one or the blue one?
She asked what his thoughts were. How did he avoid the pit?
He said that he woke up from the darkness when he realized that all that is real is what is happening right now, at this moment. The past was a memory, an illusion we hold on to. Even a few seconds ago was a memory. And the future is a mental projection into the unknown. Also an illusion. And if he spent his life regretting the past and fearing the future, then he would not be alive.
The goal was to be awake at this moment. As awake as possible.
She said, But there is so much pain in the world. So much horror.
The father responded that there is also so much more beauty. We tend to focus on the bad. It’s a survival mechanism that is probably ingrained in our DNA. But for the one time you blow out a tire on the highway, there are the thousands of hours of uninterrupted travel that you take for granted. And while you are changing the tire, you can still see the wildflowers on the side of the road. But yes, there are terrible things in this world. Unjust things. The father did not deny that.
But, the father said, Fear is limiting. Passion is expansive. If it’s equally delusional to be pessimistic or optimistic, at least with optimism, something interesting can be created. And it’s more fun. You can be realistic and optimistic. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Pessimism, ultimately, is a boring dead-end.
So how do you keep going, the daughter asked, when life is so hard?
Three things, the father said.
Meditate. It clears and expands the mind. It brings you into the now. It seems simple but sitting still and counting your breath requires practice. It’s a powerful tool that has been practiced by humanity for millenia. It works.
Create. Make things. Write. Paint. Dance. Sing. It focuses your mind and allows for transformation. Take the terrible things and transmute them into beauty and truth (which can also be ugly but there’s beauty in truth, no matter how harsh it is). Focus destroys fear.
Be kind. This is probably the most important tenet. We don’t know why we are here. Perhaps the cosmic flip of the coin landed it on the edge, rather than heads or tails. Whatever it is, whatever one’s belief or scepticism, the common universal human condition is that we all sometimes suffer. And by relieving other’s pain, you may find that your own is alleviated.
And remember, the father said, you are capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for. There is so much good you can put into the world. And perhaps that is the point of it all.
The father stopped talking and the daughter stopped asking questions. The two sat in silence, in the night, watching the darkening indigo sky meet the black mountains. Light from millions of stars billions of light-years away lit the sky as the earth silently hurled through an infinite universe.
Then it was time to go to bed.
The sun would rise again in the morning.
Happy holidays and happy new year.
John
Podcasts:
Curiosity Bites with Dov Baron
This year, I was interviewed on Curiosity Bites with Dov Baron. This was an extraordinary interview where I was given a chance to reveal many things that I don't usually get to talk about. If you’re a fan of my work, please pass this onto your own friends, fans, and followers and ask them to subscribe here. You can check out my interview here:
John S. Couch: Creative Rebellion
Part 1: Artists as Rebels!
Part 2: Creative Dragons
Part 3: What's The Language of Creativity?
Part 4: Handprint of The Creator
2. Moving from the State of Constriction to Expansion, through Art with Luciano Volpe
John S. Couch
Author of The Art of Creative Rebellion / Senior Product Design Executive / Artist
“In this episode, we spend some time with John S. Couch, who lives and works – and plays – in California. We dive immediately into discussing themes of life, work and the creative process. He brings us briefly through his experience in building teams and what philosophy he employs in building positive culture.
He also warns about certain pitfalls in investing too much in “labels”. But, this is not before we discuss the lessons of the samurai and the importance of developing skills and a mindset through the mastery of one thing in order to approach other things. We discuss creating and the state of flow. We hear his views on the connection between experiencing different artforms and the “communion of understanding” with others. And, we also learn his thoughts on how any great art is a (necessary) confrontation. He rounds off the discussion with the two things he deems most important for his success and the ultimate lesson he’s learned in his life.”
What I’m listening to:
MOYO – a new album release by our good friend, Grace Oh. The stunning design packaging matches the ethereal beauty of the music. She had coated each album cover with crystal glass bead dust – a limited run of just 250.
MOYO
‘MOYO' is Grace Oh's first Sound Healing Album. The album emphasizes a Sound Bath experience which is supported by the playing of Crystal Bowls, Vocal Toning, Tuning Forks, & Wind Chimes. The pieces in the album are of recordings created from the timeline of 2017 - 2019 in Venice & Topanga, CA to the Serengeti of Tanzania.
SHORE – the 2020 release by Fleet Foxes. Brilliant as always, they’ve truly evolved from their 2008 first album (which I still love) and their brilliance is astounding.
What I’m watching:
Song Exploder – Nine Inch Nails. There are several other artists interviewed in this Netflix series but I watched the most recent one on Trent Reznor of NIN. The series deconstructs a particular song and in this case, it was his famous song HURT. I’ve been such a fan of NIN since “Pretty Hate Machine” and it’s an extraordinary look into the creative process of a dark musical genius
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