Iāve spent most of the last decade examining reality to better understand the problems we face. I couldnāt handle the pain of this world. I couldnāt believe the atrocities. And I wanted to do something about it all, but it was overwhelming. The current remedies didnāt feel good enough. So I searched for the deepest causes and most holistic solutions I could find.
Whether for my own personal problems, or those of the collective, I could only find one single recurring cause.
Hereās one way to explain itā¦
To be in your positive natural state (flow, alignment, unconditional love, inner peace, awakened, etc) is to be in tune with your inner being, satisfied from within, and radiating your inner beingness outward like a light. You are creative, powerful, inspired, confident, authentic, highly intuitive, and free from external influence.
To be in a negative state (fear, disconnection, lack, etc) is to be identified with the external, seeking to draw fulfillment from the physical world inward, like a vacuum. You are dissatisfied, reactive, uncertain, disempowered, easy to influence or exploit, and maybe even parasitic or controlling at times. This state is harmful to yourself and others.
All of the problems our world faces are due to the normalization of this negative polarity state and the resulting behaviour.
We are born positive, but are usually then taught to suppress itāto calm down, watch TV, ignore our inspiration, conform, seek material gain/worldly success, and submit to authority. We are traumatized by this and other life events, which creates further disconnection, and we donāt understand the consequence of the inner shift thatās taking place.
I used to live in a very dark and disconnected place. After I found a way out, I made it my life to help others do the same.
If we can collectively shift into a positive default polarity, everything will change. To overflow with inspiration and love becomes the norm. Loneliness and greed disappears. Toxic systems and structures will no longer function. Weāll no longer feel compelled to take from others or the earth to feed our lack. Weāll have no reason to compromise our values to get ahead. Weāll be content and free.
I realize itās a big dream, but after coming to this conclusion I canāt choose another path. I hope youāll give it some thought.
Further Reading:
When looking at the level of causation, society only really has one simple problem. And if just enough of us address it within ourselves, al
sometimes you canāt see the path ahead of you. sometimes you canāt even see the ground. thatās okay. you still know where your feet are. you still know where your heart is. stop to breathe. take the single step that you can. go more deeply into the now. into yourself. into love. breathe. take one more step. how can you bring more love into that one single step? breathe again. remember your feet and your heart and move them together. you donāt even need the ground.
Iāve been exploring and researching the CryptoArt community for the last several weeks. Just like the physical art world, this new space is very complex and comes with challenges and risks, and should be approached with great care and mindfulness. But overall, I believe itās an extremely important development for creators, humankind, and even the environment.
I personally feel strongly called to advocate for and support artists in this space, and to continue to deepen my understanding and involvement so I can help shape its future. There is already a ton of positive momentum and things are changing and improving very rapidly. I donāt feel like I can just wait and see at this point.
If you have any concerns, please do your own research before letting some random opinion influence you. I think this movement will be extremely significant in shaping humanityās future, and itās worth being aware of despite some of the pushbackāradical solutions always face resistance.
Itās also worth applying the same level of scrutiny to our preexisting habits and systems, which may be more problematic than you think.
Iām putting a self-portrait here because so many artists have felt the need to join the CryptoArt movement anonymously to avoid hate from their fans, and Iād like to show my support publicly despite the risks and judgement.
The problems that the artists are now bringing to light existed before CryptoArt, and many of them apply to the physical art market too. Please be humane, and donāt become a salty hater because of someone elseās bias or ill-informed opinion.
Seek a deeper understanding, and if youāre concerned about any of the underlying issues of the movement letās address them together, and actually focus on solutions. If a certain issue is really important to you, you may even want to look into the solutions that *already exist* and support their growth.
CryptoArtists are just as invested in solving any challenges within their movement as everyone elseāif not more so. Letās cooperate. Letās have more compassion for this whole situation of trying to figure out a better way to coexist on this planet.
Itās a great time to reflect on whether you are living in a wee little box (any box smaller than the whole entire universe is too small for you), or as your true fucking feral self.
Let go of any reservedness, pretence, arrogance, fear, and inhibition. Be wild and free. You have more power than you understand, but you must liberate yourself to remember it.
Just know this: if it is not guided from within, by love, it is not free. If it is rebellious, if it fights against what is, it is not free. If it is dictated by your ego, it is not free.
Simply live in the highest truth you can find and let it be loud.
You may have seen on my IG or Twitter, but Iāve been working on a new beaded painting. This one is 8x8 inches and will likely take well over 100 hours to finish.
This work is a heart meditation. I hope you can feel the love that Iām putting into it.
I was making striped paintings for awhile in my 20s, but stopped after I found the work of Agnes Martin. I felt like she had already achieved what I was looking for, and I felt content with that.
Several years later I revisited stripes because they were the most accurate way to communicate my intentions at the time. These new intentions for the work created the layered process you can see aboveāand, consequently, an interesting aesthetic that felt unique enough to be worth exploring.
Later, I was finally able to see some of Agnesā work in person. Despite their similarities from afar, our paintings are quite different up close. While the screenprints that reignited her art practiceāOn a Clear Day, 1973āare almost unbelievably perfect, her paintings later could be considered quite flawedāfull of flecks of dried gesso, misaligned pencil marks, and other imperfections. But that was an integral part of her message. The work wasnāt perfect in the worldly sense, but was about the choice to create a perfect state of being regardlessāwhile both creating or observing art, or anything else.
I see this as a form of great compassion, of enlightened being, and a very beautiful thing to express.
Pictured above is my painting, Alignment, from 2017. It has three violet stripes on a gold background, covered in many layers of translucent white paint, creating a soft and ethereal quality that is impossible to capture. It speaks to my experience of the same inner perfection Agnes Martin painted and spoke of. It is about the idea of creating and observing from this perfection rather than from a perspective informed by the physical world. This is why you are seeing the painting through a veil of white paint, rather than directly onto the brightly-coloured surface below.
If your healthy boundaries upset someone, let them work it out. If your self-compassion upsets someone, let them work it out. If your well-being upsets someone, let them work it out. If your joy upsets someone, let them work it out.
Iām a Canadian artist, author, and creativity consultant. Iāve been called an āartist whispererā but my work is more about life than art, and I can work with anyone.
My philosophy is about building holistic abundance outside of āthe systemā through compassion-based creativity, for the purpose of maximum joy and freedom for all. I believe that creativity is our natural state, and it should be used for all aspects of life, all jobs, all educational systems, all businesses, everything. We are not meant to conform. We are not meant to work ourselves into illness or depression just to keep the old economic and power structures going.
I always knew I was an artist, but spent too much of my life overwhelmed by negativity and trauma to access the inspiration or confidence needed. I operated on anxiety, just trying to survive.
It was my very clicheĢ journey out of that dark place that informs my work now. I have an intimate understanding of the intense pain and depression of disconnectedness, but also of the fact that there are ways out into a life of profound inspiration and bliss. I also know how impossible and trite that can sound.
I learned my biggest lessons the hard way after a very severe health crash in my 20s that still affects me now. I was forced to give up my work and money-focused lifestyle, and I eventually surrendered to my real loves: deeper truth, higher creativity, and inspired service.
I rested and learned to prioritize my needs and inspiration, and that led to accidentally writing my first book (my second book was on purpose). These books are powerful, but they ask a lot. A complete creative awakening can mean disrupting your whole life.
My partner @jameswyper is a full-time working artist, who supported me through all my health flareups solely with his art, even while living on a small island in a big, dreamy oceanfront house, which also probably sounds impossible to some. We are just stubborn and use an effective philosophy.
My health is now quite a bit better, we love our lives and our work more than ever, and we recently bought a new home in the mountains, where we live with our dog (who is the best).
I always so badly want to give the relief and joy I find to everyone else who needs it too, but I know it doesnāt really work like that. I had to hit rock bottom to change direction, and I know most others do as well. I hope I can at least help a few people to find their bounce.
If you have any questions feel free to ask below! š¤
Creative Genius Through Intentional Love | Marlo Johnson is a published author and guide to creativity and transformation.
We are settled enough into our new place that Iāve been thinking about starting another beaded painting soon. This prototype is only 6x6ā yet took over 100 hrs, so itās a bit of a commitment. I love spending that much time with a work of art though, slowly watching the vision come alive. When itās done that experience is over.
Plus I do find the effect of several thousand beads pretty astounding. Each one of these was individually hand-stitched and meticulously adjusted so the thread isnāt visible. I did buy a luneville hook, which could speed things up, but I donāt yet know how to use it. I also love how the stitches on the back of the prototype look, so Iām not totally sure I even want to change techniques.
Untitled Prototype. 2019. Hand-stitched glass beads on oil on canvas. 6x6 inches.
Iāve spent most of the last decade examining reality to better understand the problems we face. I couldnāt handle the pain of this world. I couldnāt believe the atrocities. And I wanted to do something about it all, but it was overwhelming. The current remedies didnāt feel good enough. So I searched for the deepest causes and most holistic solutions I could find.
Whether for my own personal problems, or those of the collective, I could only find one single recurring cause.
Hereās one way to explain itā¦
To be in your positive natural state (flow, alignment, unconditional love, inner peace, awakened, etc) is to be in tune with your inner being, satisfied from within, and radiating your inner beingness outward like a light. You are creative, powerful, inspired, confident, authentic, highly intuitive, and free from external influence.
To be in a negative state (fear, disconnection, lack, etc) is to be identified with the external, seeking to draw fulfillment from the physical world inward, like a vacuum. You are dissatisfied, reactive, uncertain, disempowered, easy to influence or exploit, and maybe even parasitic or controlling at times. This state is harmful to yourself and others.
All of the problems our world faces are due to the normalization of this negative polarity state and the resulting behaviour.
We are born positive, but are usually then taught to suppress itāto calm down, watch TV, ignore our inspiration, conform, seek material gain/worldly success, and submit to authority. We are traumatized by this and other life events, which creates further disconnection, and we donāt understand the consequence of the inner shift thatās taking place.
I used to live in a very dark and disconnected place. After I found a way out, I made it my life to help others do the same.
If we can collectively shift into a positive default polarity, everything will change. To overflow with inspiration and love becomes the norm. Loneliness and greed disappears. Toxic systems and structures will no longer function. Weāll no longer feel compelled to take from others or the earth to feed our lack. Weāll have no reason to compromise our values to get ahead. Weāll be content and free.
I realize itās a big dream, but after coming to this conclusion I canāt choose another path. I hope youāll give it some thought.
Further Reading:
When looking at the level of causation, society only really has one simple problem. And if just enough of us address it within ourselves, al
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