Evolving Role of Artist from freedom fighter to guru

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Why I am Here at FMI and What I plan to do (as of 11am on October 15, 2012)

Let’s start with the mind since we are always trying to make up our minds. But what makes up the make up of the mind?

The way I see it (borrowing from Lao Tzu), the mind constantly offers our consciousness many options for thoughts to pursue. Once a choice is made, words (voice or tweets) and bodily actions are the output.[1]

The first level of the artist is interested in stories and evoking emotions. These are essential arrows in the quiver of any artist or human being, but it assumes we are choosing our thoughts, words, and actions. This may actually not be true, or paradoxically both true and false. Rather than debate at that level, for now all of us can readily admit that if one takes certain actions enough times, these actions will form habits. In other words, we become unconscious and reflexive – rather than conscious and reflective. This is perhaps the second level role of the artist: to wake people up. This can poetically equate the artist with the role of a “Freedom Fighter”. This I believe can move toward spirituality and creativity (bringing about freedom), but often fed by a egoic desire for conflict or attention and the artist is a soldier or spy working to undermine the system or culture.

Yet I feel the artist is inevitably a result of some system and a culture (even being counter-culture is still being part of a culture), and so best to know what system you’ve bought into, or if you are an artist the system you're aiming to sell. We can use the structures of thinkers who’ve unlocked vibrant theories about the patterns in that culture. Now the artist can be more than do the "waking up" not as a “Freedom Fighter” but “the wonk,” “the hacker,” or “the open source Utopian”.

The systems I employ to hack the software program called "Culture" or "conscious evolution" are Jung’s theory about masculine and feminine as well as Spiral Dynamics as championed by Don Beck and Ken Wilber

But we need to quickly move the third level and transcend models and structures. If we stop at systems, we fail to fulfill the greater value of art. Lao Tzu said our habits (after being formed by thoughts, words, and actions) evolve into our character. In other words, our identity. The artist has a great role here. First, the artist can make us aware that character or identity is a construct and is flexible. In this we can use improv theater, interactive art, open source, and Jung’s model itself. All empower users to stretch their mind, weaken attachment to identity, and let people take on different stances. Then once this is demonstrated, we can enter level four, the artist as Techno-Shaman or Guru, who can guide us to transcend identity entirely.

We can get seduced by structures and concepts of self. Art can break us free, or just give us new more complex ones to distract us.

Lao Tzu ends the journey with destiny. Perhaps our destiny is to use art to transcend notions of individual destiny, as well as escape our literal notions about space, and limiting, linear conceptions about time.

One of the most famous tools for the meditator to facilitate transcending thoughts, staying present, and observing identification with the ego, is watching the breath. Could art be created that uses the breath as the input and sound as the output to enable meditation to last all day, all week, all month, or all year? Can this tool, or input device, illuminate those events in our lives that bring us out of the present? Would this build a stronger habit of catching the mind as it wanders and (as per Lao Tzu) transform our character - and in my case - "a character of non-identification with character".

My Proposed Project

Purposefully vague at this point, it takes in the breath and outputs a sound. The robot (we'll call it a robot for fun) has a prime directive: "Keep the user aware of the breath for the maximum amount of time". The secondary directive that comes out of this is "Do not disturb their lives or the people around them." The second feeds the first as users will shut it off, or have it shut off by those around them if it is disturbing. What strategy and tactics will the robot deploy? Certainly being overly strict or punitive may risk the user quitting. Perhaps it will need to use a reward system as well.

This can be viewed as the creation of one artificial life form to empower another (the user). In that this robot is seeking to maximize breath awareness, it is art that aims to enter the "Real World" - it has no interest in being in a gallery unless the user lives there. Art and Artist, when located in a gallery setting, may enjoy a support and understanding, but how will people greet the artist's mission when he and the art are let out of the cage? If art cannot make it on the tough streets, is it valuable? universal? helpful? These are interesting questions, but for now... let's be pragmatic and simply ask "How can the robot's output become either entertaining, or change enough, so that it doesn't get ignored, but too present or too easily ignored?" Is sound the best output? Is tactile possible so as to be undetectable by others?

1. Viewed pragmatically, we can imagine that if the robot used sound, the user would eventually learn to ignore the sound, or the annoyance to the user and/or others would cause the robot's ejection.
2. How to address times when it's easy to forget the breath - when the mind is occupied say shopping or writing. We can become un- self conscious when in public (you lose yourself) or too self-conscious (overly aware of self as object and criticizing), or lost in past/future desires and aversions

On a personal level, I'd like to know what sorts of activities or times of day decay mindfulness. With this knowledge, I can make a greater effort in those circumstances. On a spiritual level the questions go deeper to.... "who is breathing?" If you have body identification, you still must admit the breath continues in deep sleep and as per this project, it's forgotten. So then, if I am not the one breathing, who is the one who is interested in watching the breath.

In conclusion, why the breath? We celebrate art that can tell a good story (film, theater, novel writing), or make us think - but art that has us pay attention to something we are already doing? That hardly seems like art, right? But we spend most of our time lost in stories (whether our own life stories... or fictional ones) - and lost in thoughts, concepts, and ideas. Lost, as in not present. So why pay attention to something that happens whether we pay attention or not? Well... the breath tells us when we are not present, for if we forget to breathe, or ignore that breathing is happening, we are elsewhere. Of course if we are alive, then some part of us, or some mystserious force beyond us, keeps the lungs going.

This thing, whether subroutine or some "Angel of Breathing" - doesn't care whether you know the breath is going on - it's job is too important for any distractions. Living beings have had this relationship with"Prāṇa," but now we introduce this robot who shares the diligence and will teach us to have some degree of attention as well. In this, the robot's value system is simple: promoting awareness of breath, by some form of audio, tactile, or visual output is paramount. So if you are curing a disease, engaged in pride, shame, sadness, anger, or fear, - all of that is less important than being present with the breath.

What if the robot is right and this is the most important?! And even deeper, we hope to reveal what is the Ultimate Watcher - who is it that is aiming to watch the breath?

Phase 2, once working, we can ask "is this art or a meditation tool?" - and then decide if and how to make it art beyond concept to be an experience for an audience.

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[1] Those who pursue art, or progressive ideas (technologically, socially, culturally, spiritually), feel they’ve found a more refined taste and while this may be true, it can make communicating to the masses distasteful or ineffective as they’ve become out of touch.