Change.

Ari Weinzweig on attending to authenticity ...

Being attentive to little things that others might miss, Meyerowitz makes clear, is a skill we can work to master. It’s not, though, an exact science. As Meyerowitz says, “Be open to your own intuition and instincts and you will find your way.” What your way will reveal, I can’t know, but I do know that when we’re tuned in we start to see a wealth of amazing things that are all around us. Interesting insights may well ensue. As Meyerowitz says,

At any given moment there is the possibility to say “Ah!” You catch your breath. You are inspired. You are at that moment suddenly feeling alive and awake. Some connection with the whole, has pressed itself to your senses. In that moment, there’s the tiniest little change—so tiny, it’s been smothered by all the energy around you—at that moment you stop.

Meyerowitz shares a great example that came from his time in Paris many years ago. As he sets the scene: “You’re walking down the street and all of a sudden you come to this sweet spot where you catch the smell of a buttery croissant.” I can certainly relate and maybe you can as well. You notice the subtle smell, and in a wonderful way, it calls to you. But then, Meyerowitz reminds us, the logical mind might likely kick in: You probably weren’t looking for a croissant. Maybe you already ate breakfast earlier, and stopping to see more might make you a few minutes late for your meeting. The tendency for most of us, then, would simply be to keep walking. As Meyerowitz says, “You take two steps and it is gone!” Our mind is quickly occupied by other things. Meyerowitz suggests we do the opposite. We would do well, he says, to back up and follow our nose. Go closer. Explore. Learn more. What we find just might change our lives. 

Authenticity.

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light, and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: "It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to."

Jim Jarmusch

Where.

Gotlib, Lilies, n/d

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."

Jim Jarmusch

Curiosity.

To surround anything, however monstrous or ridiculous, with an air of mystery, is to invest it with a secret charm, and power of attraction which to the crowd is irresistible. False priests, false prophets, false doctors, false patriots, false prodigies of every kind, veiling their proceedings in mystery, have always addressed themselves at an immense advantage to the popular credulity, and have been, perhaps, more indebted to that resource in gaining and keeping for a time the upper hand of Truth and Common Sense, than to any half-dozen items in the whole catalogue of imposture. Curiosity is, and has been from the creation of the world, a master-passion. To awaken it, to gratify it by slight degrees, and yet leave something always in suspense, is to establish the surest hold that can be had, in wrong, on the unthinking portion of mankind.

Charles Dickens