Date:         Tue, 18 Mar 1997 23:16:38 EST
From: he who tinks last <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Subject:      FILLER: Discussion of the Day (031897)

Anthony, I hope you won't be disturbed, but I thought I would expand
on some of the hidden assumptions in your rhetorical question.  I
found some pretty good pickings once I cracked the marrow...

:) Date:    Tue, 18 Mar 1997 13:28:47 PST
:) From:    Words from the Monastery <jackechs@EROLS.COM>
:)
:) If my intention in the work that I have created is not of primary
:) importance and I should not expect capital or other return for my
:) creation ... what's the point in creating?

1.  intention is "in the work"?  there are words in the work, but
intention lies in human beings.  the work is merely an expression, a
collection of visible signs "out there."

(incidentally, there is a delightful ambiguity in "the work" since it
could mean the act--the verb work--or the results--the noun work.)

2.  created?  a work is created, and there is usually an individual at
that point of creation, but at the same time, all of history focuses
in that instant.  the work of artists, writers, teachers, farmers,
parents, lovers, even schoolchildren who boxed your ears on the
playground years and years ago--all of the universe is participant in
that creation.

In some sense, the work is not the way.  I.e., the result is not the
dance of the art, and the creation is in the dance.  That sticky mess
of ink and paper that is left behind merely marks the end of the
creation, not the lively act itself...

And, of course, there might be a sense in which the work creates the
artist!  Especially here in cyberspatial darkness, let there be words,
and there is a person revealed.

3.  primary importance?  for what?  in relation to...?  I guess I
never realized that this was a battle to see who or what won.  I
thought more than one might succeed in this arena.  the most
important, the top, the best...if we measure our work in those ways,
we have already lost.  For on those scales, only one can win, and
all the rest lose.  And that one hasn't even been written yet!

(did the deathgrip of "the best" loosen for a moment there?)

4.  "I should not expect capital or other return for my creation"?

Oh, anthony, let me bring you some great news!

there is always a return on creation.

even if you scribbled in the darkness, hid the shameful results, and
burned everything--you would have returns!  they might not be what
bankers like to put in their vaults, they might not even be exactly
what you expected, but there would be returns.

[incidentally, I'll take the bad joke and point out that the shift key
makes CAPITAL of everything...and the carriage return ends every
line:]

And as I've said before--write, revise, put it on the markets and keep
it there--and you will get tangible returns.

5. "what's the point in creating?"

What's the point in living?  What's the point in talking to friends,
in shouting at the sky, in looking at stars, in grinning into the wind
as the storm crashes over you...

It's glorious fun!

So do it.

:) More specifically, what's the point in sharing my creation?

That's easy.

Remember when you were out walking with a friend, and you saw
something that you'd never noticed before.  Maybe it was just the way
the leaves hung on a tree, or the shimmering beauty of an oil slick in
puddle by the road.

Remember when you saw it?  And you pointed it out to your friend, and
they looked, and they smiled, and they turned to you with eyes
glowing?

Remember the warmth that you felt in that moment, when you shared that
sight?

Then imagine showing your friend a little glimpse of the world that
you've created.

That's why you share your creation.

I hope this helps.
tink