Creative Engagement—Art & Culture

Evolutionary Enlightenment Day in Williamsburg Brooklyn, 11211

November 6th, 2010

A Talk on the Romantic Era

by:

EnlightenNext Director of Education Jeff Carreira

Jeff Carreira Speaking in Williamsburg Brooklyn, NYC

What I took away from Jeff Carreira’s awesome presentation was yet another understanding of life as an evolving process.  From that perspective, Jeff enlightened us on how the Romantic era, the 60s cultural revolution, and today’s hipster culture are one manifesting expression. From this understanding, you can see how hipster culture is the latest manifestation of an unfolding aesthetic process.  The following is an essay comprised of some of Jeff’s points, and also what it inspired creatively for me.

Christiana - Sherri O'Connor

Even though this expression of self—be it through creativity and art, or distinct stylistics—is taking place within our postmodern period and loaded with individualism, narcissistic behavior and practices, (and the cynicism) it is nothing “New”.  The Romantics essentially kicked it all off.

The Romantics you could say were reactionary artists, poets, and philosophers, in that, most of their work was in response to rising urban populations, and industrialism for example.  They wanted to do and be anything other than the status quo.  They expressed this with a certain flair for exoticism.

We also face an era of big change and new things. Today, we like to think ourselves as ultra-unique, different, and special too.  And as for artists and thinkers, I guess that would go for our work as well.  With the historical context that Jeff introduced, I sense a clearer vision forming of what consciously evolving art might be influenced by.

First, I think what Jeff was pointing to was a sense of autonomy.  I can best describe this as “Little Autonomy”—highly narcissistic, inspired by a separate sense of self.   And REAL Autonomy—understanding that because the creative process is ever-new, It/We literally is/are Autonomy… without the need to identify with the self.

Second, using the moving train analogy!  The train is a trajectory, always moving forward, the train had a starting point and has never stopped, nor returned.  Now consider our perception of history: we postmodernist like to pick and choose what history we identify with, everything else is (dealt with antagonistically) null and void. Obviously, not really so.  And in that false autonomy of picking and choosing, we misinterpret what it means to be free from history.

Exodus - Jake Messing

In Evolutionary Enlightenment, we understand it to be the recognition of the higher self, distinguishing this from our culturally conditioned self, and choosing to respond from the very best part of ourselves rather than from historically outdated modes of cultural engagement. And, of course, an end to past Karma.

Third, and last, for the postmodern creative lost in her narcissism, she thinks she is autonomous because history ‘means nothing at all’ (either by choice, or by the arrogance of ignorance) and this is her movement–an extreme expression of individualism.  Her train will soon run out of fuel.

Towards Modernity, the Romantics were the lightest thing to happen after some not-so light times.  One of the main expressions of hipster culture (which is greatly influencing culture at-large in America and Europe) is that each person has to be one-of-a-kind.  We’re nothing “New”.  The Romantics were doing the same thing. They were fueled by the need to question the norms and values of that time. What they gave birth to was this massive creative growth spurt, which we are the manifestation of.  They did things that no one dared do, they created a culture together in very small numbers.  While the rest of culture was going off gung-ho in one direction, they boldly stood and questioned the direction of science, and industrialism (think Frankenstein).

Las Tres Marias - Maria Berrio

Jeff creatively shed light on the many gradations between the Romantics, Hippies, and Hipsters.  An artist who engages her creativity in the nature of the Impulse, will transcend and include history to aesthetically find the next expression. An evolutionarily enlightened artist takes it much deeper. She makes the connection in a very profound way, that views herself as part of and as the process itself.  Only by knowing our human history, will we more accurately transcend and include prior manifestations. Her work expresses a trajectory (directly or indirectly), it does so simply through the understanding that a trajectory started somewhere, and she respects that, lets it positively inspire her—and Eros be the inspiration and reason of her creativity.

We should be in complete love with that notion, and let it liberate us. Then what fills us is much more than culture itself.  If we were completely living for the creative process, I don’t think these concerns would ever come to mind—through our art we would be manifesting pure consciousness.  That said, If you have a subjective inkling of something, how would you go about making it an objective Knowing? Until that day comes, we can create “as if”… just like the Romantics did.