Creativity and Originality

To the Artists and Critics,

                What is art? Is it something the artist feels or is it his attempt to recreate what he sees? I believe a good place to start would be to define art as the “artist’s order of things”. The artist takes a number of things, like paint, pixels, words, or actual objects, and organizes them in some sort of way, randomly or deliberately. This should encompass every kind of art, whether it attempts to accurately paint a scene, takes creative liberty, or is abstract beyond comprehension.

                I say this to help remind you that creativity is not the same as originality. Being creative means simply putting things together while originality is making something unique. While being original is good, we must be careful in our pursuit of originality that we do not crush creativity.

                Consider Legos. These are miniature toys and blocks used to build other toys. They come in sets with instructions on how a set is assembled, allowing a little child to replicate it. When the child finishes the set, it is not original, but it is an accomplishment and something that makes a child happy. Likewise, if a child sees a set and builds it without the instructions, then it is a greater accomplishment. Then, if you have played with Legos know, the child will take pieces from different sets and create his own set. This is how creativity and originality work.

                 The artist can only use what he is given; those are the Lego pieces. In his training, he is given the instructions, which teach him how to put things together to make certain objects or designs. As he obtains more sets, learning various techniques, he is able to mix them together, taking the pieces he like, eventually crafting a unique set that he can claim to be his. Part of the beauty of Legos is that this happens. A child can take a ninja and give it a green lightsaber to fight against cowboys. They can practice storytelling by explaining why it makes sense, like a ninja obviously uses the Force for his amazing jumping ability and so is naturally a Japanese Jedi. Or the child can simply not care, but enjoy the fun of the world he has crafted and it is good.

Sometimes we only see how something is the same as another and we neglect it is still a work of creation. Just because two children used the same pieces for the base, doesn’t mean their work isn’t good. Likewise, if a child uses his first creation as the basis of the second, it is not enough to criticize the second, especially if it’s part of a series in his mind. Condemning a work because both are simply using a ninja with a lightsaber against cowboys would be an injustice. It ignores the rest of the set, including the child’s story for the set. It is good simply for being a work of creation. It is great if it can be enjoyed.

I say to you that if you want to be creative, do not disregard copying as purely evil. Everyone must do it to a certain extent. Sometimes the best works depend on copying something as a base. It is also necessary for the practice to be able to craft your own creation. If everything created needed to be original, there would be no creativity. So remember this: Whatever is created is art, regardless if the idea was already used.

From the Creative Juices of

N.D. Moharo

To the Graduate: Transitioning

To the Graduates,

                Now is a time of change. No longer will your life be fully planned. No longer will your future be so determined. The leash has been released. Will you go home as a dog with no other purpose? Will you wander aimlessly as a stray? Or will you pursue a path to live?

                Transitions happen all the time in life, some where they are planned like graduation, some where there can be no preparing, like an unexpected death in the family. It every case, it is the same; there is no going back. We can only move forward, but how we do is our choice. Do we accept the opportunities presented to us? Must we seek the opportunities buried deep in the ground? Or shall we create the opportunity and run with it? In every transition, there is a choice whether to accept the change and move forward or not. I ask you to move forward and live.

               

N.D. Moharo

Chasing Love

My friends,

                Recently, I received a quote from my lovely significant other. It was a quote from Lord Byron saying, “In her first passion a woman loves her lover. In all the others, all she loves is love.” She asked me to help interpret its meaning and it got me thinking. Perhaps society today has trained people to love the idea of love instead of the people they should love.

                My beautiful friend told me a friend of hers had recently broken up with her boyfriend but now has another. The shortness of time has had me worried that the quote applied to her. She truly did love the first, but when they broke up, I worried she acted in haste to find another instead of letting it develop. I do hope that her current relationship is good, but nonetheless I am worried.

                If all we do is seek the idea of love, how will we know when we have it? Will we be blind in our desperation? I do not think it is necessary to have actually loved to be caught up in this. There are plenty of movies and friends who show us a concept of love even if it is not perfect. We should not be so desperate, for if we act only in desperation, the “love” that we cling to will likely fall apart.

                To find real love, we must first focus ourselves to learn what it means to truly love. We must learn to truly care for another person, for his or her own good. As long both parties consider the other more important, there is a strong foundation for a good relationship.

With Love,

N.D. Moharo

Value the Present

Dear Readers

                It could be said the perception of time is an inverse correlation to our age; the older we grow, the faster it flies by. Memory tends to compress our experience by summarizing the long and boring parts while highlighted the exciting times. Though the perception of time can also change depending on how we look to the future. If we dread something, it seems to come faster, but if we look forward to it, then it goes by slowly; both appear to be crafted to make us miserable.

                However, we are able to enjoy the present. When we focus nostalgically on the past, or hopefully look to the future, we ignore the present joys to be found. It is like a Christmas present that is good, maybe not what we were hoping for, but once we learn to appreciate it, then we acknowledge its goodness.  

                Students, now is the time when people graduate. Value the time with your friends before you reach the point where you may never see them again. Do not waste the time you have free, because there will soon be none.

                My dear brothers and sisters of the world, let us not dwell on the past that we drown in sadness. Let us not look so far into the future that we neglect our current graces. Life is now and a gift; that is why it is appropriate to call it The Present. There are joys and sorrows, peace and worries, love and hate, but this is life. Let us enjoy it.

N.D. Moharo

Corrupting the Youth

Dear readers,

                Sometimes, I need to ask, “Are adults stupid?” and then I have to reply, “Yes, we sometimes are.”  We might call stupidity something “childish” or “things teenagers do,” but adults can be the worse. Is it in a child’s nature to hate? Is it in a child’s nature to insult? No, when a child says something bad or inappropriate, we teach them that it is so. They don’t know what is bad and what isn’t. A child might learn to swear from another child, but eventually it traces back to an adult. Adults are the ones who it is okay to swear in the first place. Adults are the ones who make movies or write books with inappropriate content. Adults are the ones who post horrible stuff on the internet. Adults are the ones that make advertising saying we can’t be satisfied with the good things we have. Children are not capable of this stuff unless we teach them and give them the power. So yes, we are incredibly stupid.

                The funny thing is that we fight for the right to corrupt children. Does a child think about sex? Definitely not before puberty, but we teach them about it in elementary school. If they are not taught, then they are “sheltered” as if it’s a bad thing. Those who fight to censor inappropriate content are labeled against “free speech.” Censorship does have its place. It helps protect the integrity of an innocent human mind as they grow to become strong and stable. You wouldn’t give toxic water to a growing flower in your garden. You want to give the best water to make the flower the best it can be. Likewise, children should be given the stories of virtues so that they can grow to be the best men or women they can be. Sometimes when a plant is weak, you give it a crutch so it can recover and grow strong. If crows come to eat the flower, then you, the gardener should come out and scare away the crows. If a flower is more precious to you than a child, then you have been severely corrupted and not fit to raise one.

                Would you wish to teach yourself hatred?  What good has it done for you? It only causes pain. The only thing beneficial to hate is evil itself. Would you teach yourself to talk disrespectfully? That is probably the first thing we do unconsciously. We teach children that when we want to be taken seriously and to listen to what we say, we need to yell or be angry. After all, that’s what parents do when they scold their children.  Is it any surprise that when we argue, that is the tone we adopt? I realized this as I talked to my mother. If I argue with my lovely significant other, I try to stay calm and simply converse. However, when my mother called, she took on a lecturing tone about something she did not like and my voice followed along the tone she established. So yes, we teach disrespect to others and we are stupid.

                So let us throw away our stupidity. Let us stop breeding the evils in our world. We only make it worse. This is why we need positive role models. We need virtue to be highlighted and praised, not condemned. If we do this, we can make a better world than what we have today.

N.D. Moharo