Still Sundays

December 11, 2011.

What is art without vision, then?;  Symmetry Breaking; Darren K. Woods on his passion for opera; Music to My Ears.

I was immersed in life to my fullest capacity the last two Sundays. Every cell felt like a sponge for Stillness, joy, love, warmth, observations, growth…

There comes a point when living and experiencing catch a momentum faster than one can share through any medium. I believe that’s when the real challenge begins for one who has decided to undertake being an artist.

We are all creative (some more talented or innately gifted than others); however, not all are artists.

Art without vision is creative stimulation for pleasure. In order to have a vision you have to live and truly experience, in order to do that you have to not only survive but strive, in order to strive you have to carve through experiences of an Existence that owes you and humanity nothing.

Vision is not about negotiating meaning but about defining. An artist is not an artist merely because of the fact he or she rejects status quo but because he can’t help it. And then, unlike an informed, concerned, creative, dedicated citizen of the planet, he must show how it is and how it can be.  We can all become artists but it is a tremendous personal undertaking. That being said it is never too late to offer your vision.

Those who want to refute this notion will offer names of famed artists who took no such undertaking, personal or otherwise, and yet have stood the test of time.  These people forget we are in very different times despite facing human conditions that have existed from the beginning of time but the stakes have changed and so have the rules, however microscopically.

When my mother was packing a suitcase—yes, a small suitcase!—of food for me to take back to New York City after Thanksgiving I was touched by her effort to not only organize but place things “symmetrically.” Annoyed at the effort which I felt was unnecessary (the smaller packets were frozen and stacked on top of one another to make a bigger packet) she said we must strive for symmetry because everything in nature strives for it even when it doesn’t appear as such to us. I used to associate symmetry with perfection given my father has mentioned it on numerous occasions when discussing drawings. However, this time, my mother clarified, sometimes symmetry is approximate which means it is valid under certain conditions. Symmetry has more to do with proportionate placement than uniform perfection.

This reminded me of a concept in physics. Symmetry breaking.

Symmetry breaking in physics describes a phenomenon where infinitesimally small fluctuations acting on a system, which is crossing a critical point, decide the system’s fate, by determining which branch of bifurcation is taken. To an outside observer unaware of the fluctuations (or “noise”), the choice will appear arbitrary. This process is called symmetry “breaking” because such transitions usually bring the system from a disorderly state into of two definite states.

Symmetry breaking is supposed to play a major role in pattern formation. Symmetry breaking is the absence or reduction of manifest symmetry in a situation despite its presence in the laws of nature underlying it.

Art is an infinitesimally small fluctuation acting on a system. We are at a critical point of crossing in our humanity where we really can decide the system’s fate by determining which branch of bifurcation is taken in our personal lives.  We have a choice and our choices implicate all we do.

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On a recent plane ride I was seated next to an angel. Neither he nor I knew he was an angel until we talked (we all should have more ‘real’ conversations in order to discover angels). This angel’s name is Darren K. Woods and he is the appointed General Director of Fort Worth Opera since July of 2001. Darren Woods performed as a professional operatic tenor for twenty years prior to beginning his management positions in such venues as: The New York City Opera, Carnegie Hall, the Washington Opera, L’Opera Madrid, Opera Trieste, Seattle Opera, the Dallas Opera, Baltimore Opera, the Santa Fe Opera.

Neither one of us were in a chatty mood but what broke the ice was the man seated in the same row as us (I was in the middle!) who was snoring so loudly that I could hear him through my headphones and rows ahead and behind could hear him too. We talked about love, relationships, families, and art. Not one to impressive anyone I openly shared with Darren that I was really not familiar with the opera scene. He mentioned few names and shows I recognized and felt comfortable to have an authentic conversation.

I asked him why he is so passionate about opera. Most people who leave a particular medium but stay in the field just take what they are doing as a “job” with a bitter attitude that their time to shine has run out. Not Darren K. Woods. He replied, “Because it changes the world.” I suppose by the look on my face given I didn’t know much about opera in the sense an aficionado might, he felt compelled to elaborate, “If you are doing art for any reason other than changing the vibration of the planet you are doing it for the wrong reasons. You must accept not everyone will be rewarded the same—be it through fame or money—but you can’t give it up if you really believe in what you are doing.”

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Usually I write with music on. Not just in the background (unless I am just researching or playing with a character) but I have to have headphones in my ears. My mother has often asked how can I possibly hear my own thoughts with music blasting through each earbud. Unless I am trying to deconstruct, catalog and assemble very complex thoughts, I am best able to extract thoughts with music inside my ears.

I borrow from a short piece I wrote some time ago for another who was intrigued by the aforementioned:

Writing at its best ought to make words dance with each other.  Writing, at its worst, ought to be a dance with words. Either way, writing has to move, stir, bop, rock, the reader and the writer. Although it is not always easy to create harmony between what the writer feels and what is felt by the reader but a sincere attempt must be made.

I am a serf to music. Where words fail, music begins and in so doing music brings forth words that otherwise I can’t find in the ocean of millions that exist.

I need complete silence within to write and music helps me get there.

We live in a very scientifically oriented world, method is important, and so I understand the curiosity as to how music influences my writing. However, there is no explanation for random risk. In one essay Tolstoy wrote, “Sensation is involuntarily transferred to the reader.” That is what music helps me do when I write. I am pushed beyond my edges to articulate a feeling evoked from listening to a song or beat that is essentially beyond words. I am not sure if there is a way to measure this or articulate it.

Essentially music consoles me that I can’t always articulate everything.

Music and love are proof that heaven is a place on earth.

I offer immense gratitude to the Universe for my “chance” meeting with Darren K. Woods. We discussed many other things that I am not sharing here but they had a tremendous influence on my approach to certain pertinent matters. He was coming to NYC for a very important meeting and I hope it was successful. Knowing him, I am sure it was. I am looking forward to learning more about the opera because one person’s passion ignites another’s desire to explore.

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