Richard Bach “Jonathan Livingstone Seagull”
My father gave me this book to read when was I nine years old. Since then I keep coming back to it to find different meaning and to remind me of what I was expecting of myself through the years.
This book taught me to doubt the flock and instead of a caring about what other people think — look intently at my dreams and believe in them more firmly.
When I am becoming bitter at the society I live in or when I am in a state where I start to blame others for my struggles and tribulations — words from this book always come rushing through my mind to rescue me from falling further into a pathetic and useless abyss.
Last year, I found myself often coming back to this piece of dialogue that happens between Fletcher and Jonathan towards the end of the book. At one point Fletcher asks Jonathan about love:
”I don’t understand how you manage to love a mob of birds that has just tried to kill you.”
“Oh, Fletch, you don’t love that! You don’t love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That’s what I mean by love. It’s fun when you get the knack of it.”
from “Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The New Complete Edition (English Edition)” by Richard Bach, Russell Munson
Morning Diary/Art Diary
Writing a diary for me is as natural as brushing my teeth, but writing Morning Diary was something new that I started to do last year.
Immediately after I wake up, I sit and write in my morning diary everything that comes to mind: the dream I just saw, feelings I feel, goals I hope to achieve through the day or life, or any other thought that rushes through my mind at the moment. I trained myself to write without evaluating what I am writing, and be present while I do so; I don’t stop till at least one or two pages are full of written text.
This habit helps me see clearly into what’s happening in my sub-conscious and encourages me to stay focused on the bigger picture. Writing in the morning added a lot of balance and clarity to my inner life.
Now there is another diary I started recently — Art Diary (or in my case a collage diary). Basically, it’s the same concept as morning diary — just not bound by any specific time and written words. I express my inner world through the art without caring about showing it to somebody else — I do it just for myself, and I try to do it as honestly as I can. Then, when work is finished, and I feel inclined to do so — I put it online.
Art Diary frees me from shackles of commercialism that I sometimes find myself in after concentrating too much on work, and this year . It has fueled my creativity when I was feeling uninspired or loss, and became a great way to transform negative energy and frustration into something creative (which, lets be honest, is how I usually use it ;).
Camera: Konica Auto-Rex
I was always obsessed with half-frame cameras, and for some time wanted a half-frame SLR camera, but when I got my hands on this rare Konica Auto-Rex — my mind was blown away, cause I got not just what I wanted but something even more.
So what’s special about this camera is that it has this lever which lets you change from full frame to half frame anytime you want — which is pretty amazing. Now the only other camera I know that can do something like that is automatic Fuji TX-1(Rollei Tx-1) that can switch between a wide frame and full frame. This camera has AE mode (in those times called EE for “Electric Eye” ), but also it can operate entirely without batteries.
I completely fall in love with it, and it inspired me to produce a lot of new work.
Documentary Movies
There is a lot of documentary movies that I can’t stop recommending to people interested in the creative process (What Happened, Miss Simone?, In No Great Hurry, Obayashi Nobuhiko`s documentary about Akira Kurosawa in Dreams and e.t.c/), but there is one movie that I discovered last year, in particular, that made a significant impact on me - it is called “Listen to me Marlon”. It was released in 2015 and it took me 2 years to finally discover it (thanks to Sight&Sound Magazine article). And I glad I did.
This movie made entirely with narrative voice of Marlon Brando And is absolutely amazing (if you listen closely that is), and I believe it has that special life-changing impact force that only a few films possess.
A Story
If you are on medium than you, probably, also believe in a power of a story and its ability to pass values through times and space.
I stumbled upon this one accidentally when was searching for an American Indian music for my one-year-old son who appears to be into it recently. And so without further ado:
The little boy asked his grandfather:
‘Grandfather, grandfather — teach me to be an Indian.’
Grandfather said: ‘Come with me down to the pond.’When they reached the pond Grandfather said:
‘Pick up that stick over there and put it down into the bottom of the pond and stir it around very fast, very fast.’
As the little boy did this the rocks at the bottom of pond became dislodged, the plants wrapped around the stick and were jerked out of the muddy water, the fish — and other water animals swam away to the other side of the pond. Grandfather said: ‘Now come, sit next to me. And let us watch.’
As the water cleared grandfather said:
‘Now put it back the way it was.’
The little boy looked at grandfather:
‘Grandfather, I cannot do that!’
Grandfather replied: ‘Now you know what it is to be a human being.Now you are learning what it is a human being…’
So there it is, 5 things that inspired me in 2018.
