ineffablytom

Work:

• should be intellectually challenging. Tom + Rote = Dis As Ter
• should be beneficial to the growth and support of a rational, free society rather than merely a job for money. However, money is important because it pays for things. Like food.
• should be viewed based on the result but done for the sake of the doing. Results oriented, but process driven.
• should be left to me in terms of the how. The what can have input, but other than that, it’s better if I can just do things the way I think they should be done without having to explain every moment or step.
• should not involve interaction with a large number of people. A large number of equals might be okay, but having to "serve" clients is not something I care for.
• should not have a set schedule or a set location except where necessary.
• should either incorporate new areas of experience of shift focus frequently. I get distracted by shiny, new ideas and work should accommodate that. I am an idea-klepto.

Where I live:

• should include the trappings of culture: bookstores, cafes, museums, theatres, and a variety of restaurants serving a variety of cuisine (not that I would eat most of it, but I want the option!).
• should have an eclectic, vibrant, exciting and passionate atmosphere.
• should be socially liberal but increasingly secular (and I think those things go together). should have high speed internet.

I:

• should increase my knowledge because knowledge is the closest thing I have to an intrinsic good.
• should establish better baselines for diet and physical activity levels.
• should live more in enjoyment of the moment rather than in the myriad probabilistic outcomes I think about when it comes to personal choices.
• should allow myself the freedom to experience relationships experientially, as experiences of human connection, rather than trying to fit them into a predetermined mould.

My art:

• should BE MORE!!!!!!!!!
• should be more creatively active and explore more artistic genres.
• should be more accepting of failure as a part of artistic growth and achievement; I should look upon failures not as failures but as elements of learning or critical guidance- finding the best path sometimes requires feeling around for loose rock and mud
• should more actively interact with the art of other artists either within r cross-genre.
• should be more free in mixing genres (visual and literary, visual and 3d e.g.).
• should integrate my desires for society and culture into my art- let it reflect more fully what I believe.
• should be less abstract and more based in the beauty in the world in color and line and grow to include more reality.
• should be the artistic representation of a human experience.

It is difficult to get what you want out of your life if you don’t even know what it is. For myself, I’ve had a really hard time trying to figure that out, so I made a list. Some revision and it became this manifesto(-ish thing). These 21 (I think it’s 21… Calculus yes, counting no.) statements are more or less clear areas in which I can attempt to bring reality more in line with what I desire. Sadly, whim is not sufficient for changing the world (despite what some people believe) and real work will have to go into these. Planning. Goals. Successes and disappointments. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Most of these are probably going to be difficult. But! Most things worth having in life don’t come easily into our hands. Effort seems to imbue the results with greater value than they have based on their utility.

But why now, I can imagine some people asking, why now? Why is today a write a manifesto day and yesterday wasn’t?

Well, for one thing, all days, for me, are manifesto days, but often they exist only in my mind and are never actualized. I tend to think in terms of systems and change, so it is not uncommon for a gaggle of "oughts" to be noisily traipsing through my head. However, concretizing these ideas into words and sending those words, these words, into the world is a step above normal.

It’s probably because yesterday was my birthday (yesterday as of the time of writing, December 5th by more precise measurement) and being reminded that death looms ever ominously is a good reason to look over the historical topography of your life and see how much you like the landscape. In comparison with the list above, I think I’m doing really well in one item, and passably in a few others. There is still quite a bit of room for improvement. Anyone know any good landscape architects?

Poor attempts at humor aside, and apropos of nothing, I had these two thoughts while going through this process:

• Determining is more about exclusion than inclusion.
• The patterns of behavior we create are greatly influenced by our relationships and when removed from that context often make little sense, but they become ingrained: little arroyos in the mind where thought most easily flows after it has fallen. Changing those is as difficult as carving rock. The hands cannot easily replicate the work done by wind and rain and time.