Young-ha Kim: Be an Artist, Right Now!

What kills the creativity in so many of us? I think a lot of it is capitalist culture. Many teachers and parents are made to believe the best thing we can do for our kids is raise them to be productive, hard-working, and dependable individuals, the kind that bosses would want to hire. That makes sense to a certain extent, but do we really want a society of literal thinkers, a collection of predictable, dare I say it, robots? There is such an immense fork in the road when it comes to the potential for technology to either catapult or stall our evolution. We can let a few creative ideas drive us and sit back and consume until we die. Or we can be attentive to our consumption. We can value it and limit it, leaving room for "artistic creation" (which I believe is akin to "spiritual practice," though not as frightening a phrase for many). Let's try to follow Mr. Kim's advice and find room in each day for creative thinking, and better yet, creative output that we can share with others. Imagine a world full of painters, musicians and writers instead of brokers, marketers and bureaucrats. Or, at least imagine those latter three spending some of their nights and weekends in studios turning their spirits on instead of on sofas turning them off. I've been in both worlds and wholeheartedly recommend the former. My mind is more active and my soul is richer. I even smile more.

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