It's been a while since I did a new blog entry and there's a very good reason for that. The very first day I started online journaling, I promised myself one thing; my message would always be about love, and compassion and gratefulness. If I couldn't write from that space, I'd wait until I could. It's been over a month, so you can guess where this is going. Times are strange. I was struggling to understand why we as a society seem to be taking two steps back, then another two.... then another two. I had to spend some serious time pondering why things are the way they are right now, and I think I finally reached some conclusions that I can express whilst keeping to my love/compassion/gratitude rule. What's happening right now isn't about Republican vs Democrat. It's not Christian vs Muslim (or any other religion for that matter).... It isn't black against white or gay against straight. It boils down to one simple thing. It's about fear vs love. This is what the world looks like when I see you as something different, and I allow my fear to tell me 'who I think I am is threatened by who I think you are'. And this is what happens when large numbers of people come together in fear, and act out against 'different'. The truth is, every one of the groups I just mentioned has members that can't see past their fears. And every one of those groups has members who understand what it means to have unconditional love for all of humanity, regardless of labels. So it does us no good to blame or hate the groups. We need to focus on the cause of the fear that controls the individual mind. Fear is a powerful agent; a constant reminder to be alert to danger. And it is so deeply embedded in our core programming (we're talking the most primitive, reptilian parts of our brain) that we naturally gravitate to it. The mind that replays and relives a predator attack over and over is far more likely to survive the next hidden threat than the mind that doesn't. Thus fear is a huge part of our survival, of our evolution; and is a serious bugger to think past. Things that want to eat us may no longer be a daily threat in our society, but the wiring is still intact; and we still replay bad experiences over and over as a way of protecting ourselves. We evolve those experiences. We imagine enemies everywhere. We plan for the next attack... And the average human being lives in some state of frequent if not constant fear. Welcome to human nature. Deep breath time. This has a happy ending. How do we turn this around? How do we stop fearing and start loving again? The answer was surprisingly simple for me. You educate yourself. You learn about 'different'; what 'different' believes and what 'different' wants out of life. Along the way you come to realize 'different' also has family they love, has their favorite meal, has best friends they enjoy spending time with. They have also suffered. They have also lost. Along the way, you discover 'different' is not so very.... different. And I don't know about you, but I find it very hard to fear someone I've come to understand, appreciate and respect. Fear and love are opposite sides of a coin that never see each other. And you, lucky soul, get to pick which side of that coin faces upward. It's time we opened our minds. It's time we opened our hearts. We can pick up an unbiased book or explore unbiased documentaries on 'different' lifestyles, cultures, religions and political views. If we make the effort, I have complete faith we will come to understand each other better, and very likely even appreciate and respect each other. It’s built into the nature of our humanity; to protect, love and feel empathy for our family. We just need to acknowledge our family is much bigger than we once thought. On to the new music… A New Song for You to Enjoy: (C-002) ‘FutureFade | Mood Exhibit | Lost Language Collab’ This is my second collaboration, similar in origin to my first. Mood Exhibit (amazing musician... great guy) created an 18 minute base stem (really 1 long track with 6 unique but connected sections; enough content to go wild over). He then offered it up to open collab, and many musicians accepted said challenge; 15 creations at final count. The skill level of these folks is astounding. Here's my take on this highly entertaining offering. I hope you enjoy it. Click the image link below to take a listen. (Opens SoundCloud in a separate window. And you can check out Mood Exhibit's 'Lost Language' playlist while you're in the neighborhood.) A Painting Update (015) ‘Polarities’ This next painting is all about the symbolism of opposites; one side peaceful, the other destructive. Normally my paintings are pretty smooth with very few visible brush strokes. (Realistic rather than artistic. Probably programming resulting from too many years in Photoshop retouching lifestyle photography.) This time I went crazy with application techniques. I tried to paint thicker 'one shot, then leave em alone' strokes. That was really hard for me. I even used the brush differently on both sides (soft, thoughtful strokes for the moon side; and hastily loaded brushes and aggressive jabs for the sun side). That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Many thanks my friends.
Smiles, Justin
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AuthorHello everyone. I'm Justin Mackay. I'm a creative soul, an explorer of life's mysteries, and a big fan of all the beauty in the world. If you're just here for the paintings, then head on over to my Art tab. If you wish to delve deeper into the odd thoughts of a pondering mind, then this is the place for you. Archives
February 2018
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