As I traverse the path before me I begin to see a direction not altogether anticipated in the beginning. Often it “seems” we begin a journey in full awareness of our purpose and destination when in fact we are really stepping into the unknown. In the beginning we are oft ill equipped to understand the discoveries made through the progression of events and divergent choices we make along the way. If we are to grow and to learn through the activities of our undertakings then there is truly no way we could know where we are going when we first begin any undertaking. As such, each step in our lives is actually a leap of faith guided by whatever decision making mechanisms we have developed along the way. In this manner we create our own destinies yet we have no way of knowing where those destinies lead or what will transpire along the way. We merely set into action the events that will occur not knowing their outcome.
For example, as a young man I was fascinated and inspired in the early 70’s by the possibilities afforded the musical composer as the digital age began to emerge. Until that time, though I anticipated and craved something more, my musical mind was steeped in a traditional perspective of notes, melodies, counterpoint, key signatures, scales, time signatures, beats per minute and so on. Little did I realize how this traditional perspective permeated every aspect of my musical being as a composer, as an instrumentalist and as a listener. It was a perspective that kept me mired in the past and anchored in a paradigm that no longer truly stimulated my creative energies. In those days, this archaic paradigm was dying in my mind and in the minds of many who, like me, saw an entirely new universe of musical possibilities manifesting on the horizon before us. However, it is quite astounding to me that even today, forty plus years later, the vast majority of the music that is being produced, performed and listened to is still based upon these long antiquated ideas. Parenthetically, it is clear that innumerable beautiful pieces of music have come from these notions and it is not lightly that I dismiss them as archaic and suggest we all move ahead into an era that more aptly fulfills our contemporary needs as ever evolving human beings. But this demonstrates that it is an obvious tendency for we human beings to stay with what we think we know rather than embark on a journey into the unknowable.
Therefore I suggest here that we each embrace, and move into, the unknown. I strongly encourage and challenge us all to begin a journey of our own making. Let loose the strangle hold that long established, stable, tried and proven methods have around our creative minds and move into a new and unforeseeable experiential multiverse in which to explore and play. It could be frightening traveling without a map and yet… in such uncertainty we come alive. Though we risk losing the stability of the mediocre, in striving to attain the unimaginable we transcend our fear, our conditioning and become true creators of that which cannot be anticipated.
Thank you for your attention.