4A. Brainwashed

Seth Godin’s manifesto,“Brainwashed” http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/66.01.Brainwashed explores the seven layers necessary to reinvent yourself after the brainwashing we have endured from years in the system.  Here I summarize two of the layers and how they connect to my own creative work and this blog.

1. Acknowledge the Lizard

We all have a lizard brain, it’s the part of our brain that worries and gets angry.  Being laughed at is its worst fear.  The fear leads to “the resistance,” or shutdown, the voice that keeps your head down and urges you to follow directions.  The resistance lives in fear and threatens to shut us down at the first sign of challenging social mores.  The resistance is easy to provoke, so we follow rules, and the resistance wins.  This resistance cripples artists and prevents their genius from transforming into art.  We need to recognize the lizard, and then ignore it.  We need to realize that we might get laughed at, but we need to push that aside and do our work, our art.

2. Learn

Learning is the key.  School used to exist to learn a trade, not anymore.  School does not end when you graduate, it is now, it is never ending.  It is the trials and errors, the experiences and the failures of shipping and learning.  Reinvention is a path, discard what you think you know and instead learn.

For me, the Blog we are creating this quarter is the definition of acknowledging the lizard and learning.  I’ve never blogged before, I’ve never made a soundscape before, I’ve never put my work and thoughts and ideas on the internet for others to critique, but I am learning or at least trying to learn.  I am experimenting with new mediums and techniques and trying to overcome “the resistance” and be comfortable putting my work out there, and even when I am not completely comfortable with it, doing it anyway.  I presented a song, my first time doing so, and I failed.  I was not happy with it, I was embarrassed to play it for others, for the fear they were judging me and my worth, based on my first try at something new.  I acknowledged the lizard, ignored it, made the art, and presented it, but then “the resistance” came back.  In a way doing the assignment was sort of contradictory, because the main reason I did was because a professor told me to and failure to do so would have resulted in social punishment, however I also did it to learn.  Learning is something I have always done and loved, and this blog is a perfect example.  At I was unsure of how to do most everything associated with the blog and assignments, but the more I learn about it and the more I do, the more I enjoy it and want to learn even more.  I think the various exercises make me a better artist, person, and student, because I am getting more comfortable with myself as an artist and a person sharing ideas, and as a student, not only doing assignments for the grade to but to learn and enjoy as well.