Perils of the Practical Person

In This Bloutcher;
Where Art, Life and Leadership Collide

• The Perils of Heeding the Practical Person
• The Mother of Creativity
• Another Iteration

The Perils of Heeding the Practical Person
(Excerpt from Memory Calls; Reflections on Paradox and Creativeness in Art and Life by Fred Mandell, unpublished manuscript.)

Nor is the will to power the only threat to creativeness.  Of a lower order but in many ways more insidious threat is the Practical Person.  For such a person Utility is the highest order value.  The Practical Person has a built-in sonar that scans for efficacy, efficiency, productivity, serviceability, convenience, appropriateness, good old "common sense"--the bland array of the tried and true.  The Practical Person does not see past his/her current context.  For this context is the sum total of the Practical Person's reality.  The Practical Person has little patience for dwelling in the imagination, among the outliers or the phantasmagoric--little tolerance for the unknown or ambiguous.  The Practical Person is a reductionist and is quick to judge that which cannot pass the litmus test of well worn belts and suspenders.  The Practical Person, without malice intended, has a gift for making the Creativeness Person feel that s/he lacks an essential quality of being a contributing member of society.

The Mother of Creativity

I recently delivered a featured presentation at the National Career Development Association Global Conference entitled The Artist Within; Creating a Masterpiece Practice. Here is one of the slides from my power point.

 We often think that dissatisfaction is not normal.  That normal is being in a state of equanimity and harmony.  If we were to be honest with ourselves, though, we would acknowledge we are in a state of dissatisfaction more often than not.  I would suggest that being in a state of dissatisfaction is more normal than being in a state of equanimity.  So rather than see such a state as an annoyance, an anomaly, why don't we view our dissatisfaction as useful information and empower our dissatisfaction to act on its own behalf.  At its core dissatisfaction is the mother of creativity!

Another Iteration

In my last bloutcher I showed images of "Hands of Paradox."  Here's the latest iteration with gouache and some words added.
                                             Paradox is hands open;
                                             Uncertainty trembles,
                                             Loosening the grip.