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One day you will no longer be loved (that it should come to this)  by Jake and Dinos Chapman

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Cognitive Dissonance

Inconsistencies of the mind are rampant and commonly undiagnosed. The rifts we create in our contradictory ideologies are manufactured products to rationalise the irrational and maintain a conceptual notion whilst an antithetical ethos can be practiced.

You’re a member of the French aristocracy in the 15th Century and life is good. You attend the church regularly where you’re told that a good Christian does not yearn for money, power, lust or fame but rather exhibits characteristics of forgiveness, generosity and remains meek even in the most testing circumstances. This is to say that you must walk in the footsteps of Christ. Once the priest finishes his sermon, you go home to your country château where your 10-15 servants have been preparing for a soiree where you and other members of the aristocracy eat, drink, tell dirty jokes and share stories of war and bloodshed.

But you are a good Christian.

This is cognitive dissonance and as implicated by the above example, it is a tool of convenience for mental discrepancy. Cognitive dissonance allows us to forgo the uncomfortable tension that’s associated with conflicting thoughts. It is especially strong when we believe something about ourselves but behave in a different way. If I believe I am good but do something bad, then the discomfort I feel as a result is cognitive dissonance.

In the 50s, Dr. Leon Festinger conducted a classic experiment where students were engaged in very boring tasks. The students were then given a request by one of Festinger’s staff. They were asked if they could step in for an employee who was absent and tell the next subject that the experiment they just engaged in was actually very fun and entertaining. One group of these students was offered $20.00 for this lie whilst the other was only offered $1.00. For the $1.00 group, the cognitive dissonance came from the knowledge that the experiment was in fact boring and $1 was insufficient reward for lying. Many of the $1.00 subjects actually convinced themselves that the experiment was fun after they made the decision to tell the next subject to reduce the dissonance between their prior beliefs and their behaviour.

The $20.00 subjects on the other hand felt no dissonance because they felt comfortable in lying just for the money. The money was therefore the rationale for the lie. We see this behaviour very frequently in white collar crimes. Cognitive dissonance theory predicts that the man who was paid $20.00 knows that the task is dull but he also knows that he has sufficient justification to say it wasn’t.

By discovering how we actually behave and not how some theory says we ought to behave, psychology can help us catch ourselves when we deviate from inner most selves. We can ascertain a stoic level of control over our morality and repel the fleeting temptations that infect our minds. To maintain true north in the bewildering currents that ravage our minds is to fulfil that which is most necessary to sustain and nourish our very being.

If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure. As if you were bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, but satisfied to live now according to nature, speaking heroic truth in every word you utter, you will live happily. And there is no man able to prevent this. Marcus Aurelius

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MIA

There is a fine line that sits between the end of mainstream adherence and the cusp of niche allegiance in the creative landscape. The creative mind is consistently swimming through the duality of remaining true to one’s own creative processes and values versus succumbing to “what sells”. 

For some, this niche allegiance is a creative obscurity of sorts where the artist feels that too much divergence may jeopardise their foothold in the mainstream landscape. Other artists throw caution to the wind, allowing the chips to fall where they may, and create through a medium of pure, uninhibited freedom as opposed to what the market dictates. All art is a calculated endeavour, however, there is something to be said for the admirable arrogance of the creative mind producing pistachio gelato amongst a sea of vanilla ice cream. 

One such individual is English hip-hop artist Mathangi 'Maya' Arulpragasam, better known as MIA. 

MIA is an all-encompassing artist, provoking thought through subject matter combined with vivid imagery converging to create an omnipotent virus attacking at all sensory levels. MIA has been consistently doing this for over 10 years, creating an individualised style that embodies this “admirable arrogance”. 

A recent example of this is the music video for the first single of her upcoming (and final) album, AIM. The song “Go Off” is accompanied by a video that illustrates MIA’s pure creative production. There are no dancers, no whips, no mansions and no people in general. Instead, MIA utilises video footage of remote mining detonations to coincide with her music. The result is a cultural and environmental commentary so vast and open to interpretation that she essentially invited the viewer/listener to render their own perceptions of what they’re being shown. 

MIA is just one example of what it means to be a true visionary. It is common for visionaries to miss out on the appropriate appreciation even though they are an integral inspiration for mainstream culture. The market place is fickle. It is very doubtful that this impacts the admirable arrogance of MIA in any way. 

From one visionary to another, I’m going to let Andy Warhol have the final word. 

“Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”

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Murakami

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese painter and sculptor combining the fine and the commercial art worlds. Born in 1962 in Tokyo, Japan, Murakami’s fascination with art began at an early age through the medium of Japanese Anime. Often categorised alongside artists working within the tradition of Pop Art, such as Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, and Jeff Koons, Murakami's work has achieved a widespread level of fame beyond the art world. His innovative “Superflat” aesthetic—combining classical Japanese art with contemporary Japanese pop culture—has made him one of the most innovative minds in art today. He continues to explore the links between traditional printmaking and Japanese styles of comics in post-war society in his highly graphic, vibrantly coloured works. 

Despite its outward playfulness, Murakami’s art acts as a cultural critique with subversive undertones hidden in its imagery. Murakami has also pushed the commercial agenda of fine art through the establishment of Kaikai Kiki Co. Ltd., an artist management agency and studio. He has been met with both praise and critique for his unique method of artistic creation through the employment of individuals who actually create the art on his behalf whilst he holds a role more akin to a fashion label’s creative director. Whether condoned or condemned, the influence of Takashi Murakami on the worlds of fashion, pop culture and music cannot be undermined.

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The Distended Self

We live in a time and place where if you’re not somebody, you’re nobody. To be somebody, you must have material goods that validate your social standing and justify your hierarchical ranking. These material goods are simply objects of perceived rarity and essentially, if you can obtain something that someone else can’t, then you’ve overtaken them in class. This is an important notion to understand. It is value creation and the pillar of most western societies based on a concoction of fear and consumerism. This is the disease that perpetuates the distended self and the source of mental instability. 

Right now in Australia, some 1 million adults have depression and over 2 million have some form of anxiety disorder. These numbers portray only the results of a deeply ingrained systematic malfunction in our society. We look up to those who are above us and reach ever so enthusiastically for all the things they possess. We too want those brand names and facial features, but at what cost? The individual self is ignored. The most pertinent battle to create a noble human is replaced by a hunger for shit we don’t need and a constant fear that if these things aren’t ascertained then we are somehow irrelevant, insignificant and invaluable. 

We develop mental disorders perpetuated by these feelings but we’re wrong. We’ve been fooled into thinking that our net worth is determined by our net worth. We’ve been tricked into thinking that a diamond is worth a lot of money because it’s the only way to differentiate yourself from the bum next to you. As always, in the words of someone who can speak with more clarity.... I present Tyler Durden. 

“God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables – slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.”

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Saturn Devouring His Son, 1819, Francisco Goya

Size: 146x83 cm Medium: oil, canvas

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Goya

In an essay titled “Self Reliance”, Ralph Waldo Emerson said that ‘to be great is to be misunderstood’. In the case of the 18th century painter Francisco Goya, greatness and immortality were achieved through immense calamity. 

Born in a Northern Spanish Village in 1746, Francisco Goya’s artistic career was initially established and developed through orthodox avenues. At the age of 14, Goya was apprenticed to Jose Luzan, a local painter, later continuing his studies in Italy. Returning to Spain in 1771, Goya painted frescoes for the local cathedrals in the decorative, rococo tradition popular at the time. As he built his reputation in these fields, Goya moved up to painting in Madrid, developing his genre of painting scenes of everyday life. Goya became established as a portrait painter for the Spanish Aristocracy and was named painter to the king in 1786. 

In 1792 however, Goya sustained an illness so serious that he was left permanently deaf. It was within the confines of this silence that Goya heard the echoes of demons. His work flourished, entering a realm of darkness unprecedented in religious art at the time and appropriately known as the “black period” of his work. The cruel and grotesque world created by Goya during this period can only be understood as the culmination of his analysis of human folly accrued through the confines of voyeurism. The brutality of the war between France and Spain at this time and the unfathomable capabilities of men to slaughter each other surely added to the creation of some of the most haunting masterpieces in the world of art. 

Had he not gone deaf and experienced the atrocities war, Goya may well have continued painting the aristocracy and in all likelihood would have joined their powdered wig-wearing ranks. Through immense trauma however, Goya’s imagination dwelled on the inherent evil within the people he observed, producing an array of work more akin to illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy than 18th century paintings. This would suggest that mediocrity does not create legacy. Idiosyncrasy and perpetuating the peculiar does. 

“Imagination abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters; united with her, she is the mother of the arts and source of their wonders.” Goya

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It is an inherent human trait to seek meaning and purpose. Collectively, we have come from humble beginnings as mere single-celled organisms, seeking truth in the stars whilst shielding fragile embers. Today’s headlines read of manned missions to Mars and the conquest of a previously unimaginable frontier. how far we’ve come...

Or have we? 

Humans take delight in looking further and further into the possibilities of exploration. Yet once exploration is undertaken the nuances we once took wonder in, we proceed take for granted. It has been proven throughout history and the countless invasions upon indigenous communities. 

Every invasion has one common consequence; the destruction of the environment along with that of the native culture. 

However, this is not an article looking to align with the views of Greenpeace. 

Rather it is questioning our idea of exploration. 

Is the goal to conquer and overthrow? 

To most this may seem a primitive method of establishing civilisation. 

The true premise of exploration is the acceptance of a challenge set by ourselves to push the envelope. To gain a better understanding of our capabilities. To test our technological prowess. In the process the intricacies that provided us with curiosity in the first place are forgotten or at least set aside. 

The human wonder of the unknown is overthrown by the mechanical cogs of industry. The labyrinth that once filled us with intrigue and wonder has led us to an anticipating Minotaur. As Nietzsche most hauntingly expressed; ‘And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.’

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Keanu Reeves & Carrie-Anne Moss in The Matrix

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Unplug

Disclaimer: Efforts are being made here to provoke thought and better yet, action within each reader. 

There are infinite constituents that assemble the present moment. Currently you are reading this article, your heart is beating thanks to an involuntary muscular contraction and you are breathing, inhaling and exhaling. These simple actions essentially propagate our existence into the forthcoming moment. There is an intangible component occurring also via electrical activity within your central nervous system that is of most interest here. 

In today’s society how often do we “unplug” (to use a term this writer gladly appropriates from the film The Matrix)? In The Matrix, the term “unplug” reflects the freedom that inherently results from detachment from the mechanical, computer generated reality developed to keep humans under control. Without painting too bleak a picture, it is not much of an extension to see parallels with the experiences of Neo in the Matrix with our own. Neo seeks freedom. He doesn’t know from exactly what but he knows something is amiss. He’s known it his whole life. His detachment from the artificial world of the Matrix opens up a universe of endless possibility. 

Our world is not entirely different from the world of the Matrix. We have the world of the artificial at our fingertips. In this case, the artificial refers to social media and the lives we have created on these fabricated portals. It is so easy to get lost in the cacophony of social media surrounding us everyday. Whether it’s Vine, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, LinkedIn (you get the point) or any other of the innumerable programmed ecosystems that make up the social media universe, it is easy to concede that our world is essentially a platform for a fictitious existence. One where individuals can be seen in the perfect light, free of flaws or imperfections. It is easy to lose your bearings in this microcosm because it requires no thought, just like the breathing or involuntary heart contractions that your body has been undertaking. We lose countless hours of our time to these constructs and what are we receiving in return? What we ultimately achieve is a lack of human interaction and more importantly, self-awareness. 

This article is about the necessity to embrace the present moment. Unplug from the artificial, and revel in your own unique individual human experience. Practice silence and allow your internal voice to be heard. In the words of Deepak Chopra, “In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.”

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Kaizen – The Japanese Pursuit of Unattainable Perfection

Often times there exist words in foreign languages so specific and intricate in meaning that no English equivalent can be procured. Few are more beautiful than the Japanese word Kaizen, which roughly translates to the pursuit of unattainable perfection. Kaizen represents a core ethical approach to every task one undertakes in life and is an ethos inextricable from Japanese culture. Kaizen can therefore essentially be broken into two truisms; 1) Define a standard 2) Raise this standard This is a concept that’s foreign to most Western societies due to a deeply ingrained splinter within our social framework. Ultimately, most individuals in Western society view their jobs or careers as a mere means to accumulate assets over all else and believe having 500+ connections on LinkedIn will somehow create and environment conducive of this goal. This is a fallacy like no other. A façade manufactured by social misconceptions in order to sell careers that can only be described as neo-slavery. The concept of Kaizen shatters this matrix, as it requires first and foremost the undertaking of a vocation, not a job. Individuals who practice this eternal pursuit of perfection display an obsession with their craft based on an untarnished level of passion. A perfect example of Kaizen in practice can be seen in 90-year-old Sushi chef, Jiro Ono. His restaurant, Sukiyabashi Jiro is nothing more than a small compartment in the Ginza Train Station Exit in Tokyo. This compartment however has three Michelin stars, making it one of the top restaurants on earth. Jiro personifies Kaizen, continually pushing the boundaries of his craft whilst also recognising that there can never be absolute perfection. The beauty of Kaizen is in the process. This is to say, in the finite time we have, we must be conscious enough to do and perfect something we love, rather than endure something we despise. I’m going to leave the lingering words to Jiro Ono. ‘You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That’s the secret to success and is the key to being regarded honourably.’