On building community, Part II

Let' shift our thinking: stop working at our "day job" so we can consume (as in buy stuff to play with), and work at our "day job" so we can create (make stuff to play with).

It's not "new" thinking. Musicians flip burgers so they can play music in garages; actors wait on tables so they can perform in small theatres; artists work in galleries and bookstores so they can go home to their studios and paint or sculpt or ... sharing their creative experiences within their communities/groups/"tribes" ... where rank/status is awarded fairly(?).

And there is no reason this can't be done with science, technology, engineering, mathematics.

This is the paradigm shift in thinking that I have been searching for ... it's so obvious (at least to me) that I am astounded at my myopia ...

If we just sit around and "philosophize" about ideas, we are like the ancients who argued over the number of angels that could fit on the head of a pin.

We have to take the "real object" (a musical chord or riff, color combinations and visual perspective, robotic devices ... the sharp edged rock becoming a prybar) and apply imagination and create the "new real object" ... this is the infusion of renewal into our lives:

Existing "thing" + Imagination = New "thing"

This what engages the "child at play" in us. We are not consumers of packaged goods, we are creators of "new goods" ... which we will, of course, use to live better lives and, in turn, feed the creative experience.

As we do this with others, we form community.