Expression

Here's a video of me narrating this post:




Writing is a form of expression. Expression is what we need. In this life we're given this vessel of flesh and bones. We can do a number of things: speak about how are day is going, walk to work, cook ourselves dinner. 24/7 our brains are active: having us do things, contemplating, figuring things out. And being a person, there is always an ever-present pull towards something. Our brain's can conjure up feelings that are indescribably beautiful, painful, or tragic. To experience feeling, is one of the unique gifts of being human. And we are drawn to feeling, like moths to a fire...And to experience the same unique feeling with another human being, is one of the great pleasures of being human. It induces a greater feeling of connection, of understanding... I believe it's the shared connection and shared feelings that's sought after by all people. Imagine our earth coming to an apocalyptic end....Imagine witnessing it with another person....imagine witnessing it with a thousand other people just like you. Together, experiencing this undiscovered feeling of beautiful tragedy. While the implications of this event would likely never be desired, could you not say that the feeling of connection and shared experience of an event like this would be....How do I say this...A unique experience of being human, one that could bring a sense of wonder and awe. This is the gift that storytelling brings us. This unique shared experience of a feeling, a feeling that's uniquely crafted by the story, and experienced by those who listen in.

I've just made the realization that I've gone off the topic that I intended. Such a thing often happens when one becomes excited. I intended to write on the purpose of creative outlets for the human soul. How creative outlets (theatre, stand-up comedy, films, paintings, music, etc.) are all ways of conveying these unique feelings that can be shared by many. They're ways that we can express ourselves that are beyond ourselves, beyond what we can say with our spoken word, or express in our face. Art is one of my favorite aspects of humanity. It reminds me of how lucky we truly are to be human. To have the capacity to feel and appreciate. I could have easily been born a rock, an insect.... My time as a living, breathing, human being is short. In an instant we'll be dust. To be able to experience what I can now is one of the greatest privileges in the Universe.

I love that I'm here right now. I love my family. I love music. I love film. I love the world that I was born on. I love the state I live in. I love every living, breathing thing around me. I love everything around me that isn't alive. There is beauty in everything. There is beauty in design. There is beauty in purpose, there is beauty in mistakes, there is beauty in randomness, there is beauty in beauty, and there is beauty in ugliness. It's a unique phenomenon. There is beauty in conformity, and beauty in the unconformed. I smile for the brush stroke that stands out from the rest on the wall of my bedroom, I smile for the rest of the brush strokes, for their cooperation in making the single one stand out. What life makes beautiful is our differences and our similarities. A pattern is most beautiful with a unit of randomness. Chaos is most beautiful with an element of logic nestled within it.

We cry and struggle for things to be different, yet we never fully stop to look at the beauty that we have. But if we did, we would stop moving. We would be static. So this desire for change, this ever-present movement, is appreciated.

Life is perfect...in its imperfection.

Every element on every scale, from the smallest atom to the universe itself and beyond has its own unique niche, and in some form, interacts with every other element besides itself. It's this that has created what is now. The attractions and repelling of these elements to each other that creates the hustling and bustling of the universe. These connections and relationships with everything give us what is now. Never stop being yourself, never feel like you don't belong, because you do. And always will, there's nothing you can do to stop from belonging. We are a family, every single human, rock, and plant, every molecule and star. We are a cosmic blanket, woven together by being who we are. We are surrounded by love and purpose. Be us happy or miserable, we are all in the tapestry, creating hope and hopelessness around us. There is nothing we can do to escape the influence of others, and the influence of ourselves upon others.

All we can do is be. Which we can never not accomplish.

So right now you are doing what is right.

For me, this sense of belonging and purpose is comforting. Yet I will not stay comforted. All I know is I feel a pull. A pull to express myself through writing, and by other means. And for me, I live to express myself, at least for right now. Because right now is all that is.

and as one chapter ends, another begins.

-Nav