We have become disciples of a flawed creed. To chase passion and value people is a much wiser way to live; or Ikigai, Detectorists, and the real meaning of life.
Perhaps status and power is only another form of expression of the human desire to connect to the past and present (and future) of humanity, as our societies are structured around immortalising the important and the powerful.
When I was visiting Japan in spring a few years ago, I overheard an American woman ask the tour guide as we walked through the sea of cherry blossoms - “Who was the man responsible for planting all the cherry trees?” I thought it was such a great sum of American cultural mentality - always a single man responsible for something great and marvellous. She was not very satisfied when the guide responded that there was no such man, it was a tradition that evolved over generations.
Thanks for sharing, Brian. Made me close a few online shopping browser windows, full disclosure.
That’s a great anecdote! And yes, that’s true — ancient myths very much had a notion that the worst thing was to be forgotten and status and power were the way to avoid it. Part of my view about the arbitrary nature of existence though is that I won’t be around whether I’m being remembered or not, so I’d rather have a fulfilling time on Earth!
I need to sit and contemplate this essay more (and I will) but one small point—I have had some rather transcendent experiences running through huge museums, getting lost, even photographing things because the museum is about to close, and I want to look at them but I don’t have time. I even did this once when I was ill (not contagious) and was almost crawling out the door because I was so weak and the museum was so huge and I had run through it. I admit it’s more exciting if you get to a weird part of the museum with the art nobody is excited about and you are all alone. Maybe spending time in those corners was more amazing, but I don’t know if there really is ONE right way to look at art. It’s amazing to spend a lot of time on one painting, and it’s amazing to be in some absurdly crowded show where everyone is going nuts and you can barely see and it’s amazing to see the sweep of 20 paintings from one period, and run around between them, and it’s amazing to stumble across something very obscure and just get interested in it for a long time some reason. I used to go to my city’s non-impressive art museum constantly as a child, and look at the same paintings over and over. Sometimes a small museum with 20 obscure paintings can also be an incredible experience. I don’t know what will make the magic happens so I do all the things, and something happens that is weird and elevating and it doesn’t seem to follow any specific pattern—it’s more a matter of surprise for me. The ‘great painting’ may not have the same effects as others. And I still don’t know enough about art but it can do different things at different times, and the contemplation method is cool but I think the ‘scanning and wandering aimlessly’ method also has virtues.
Just wanted to say that I know just what you mean. My husband and I were delayed in arriving at the Prado Museum and spent an absurd 25 minutes there dashing about. Yet we were exhilarated, and still look back on the experience fondly.
The Prado is so perfect for that! Yes! And people DO want to look so hard at the some of the paintings, like the Bosch. Everyone is crowded around it. You would have to go 50x to get your fill.
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia was the one where I just got so entranced that I could not stop. It was like being pulled by a magnet —there are lots of niche rooms with niche things that are so gripping, and it is full of surprises —and somehow then I forgot about my body, and I could barely make it to the door when it closed.
Brian, well done as always! In reading this essay, I cannot help but think of Jimmy Buffett. While wildly successful on many levels, it was his passion and love for life and new experiences that made his music and lifestyle so popular. In my far past, I used to opine that the result of a good life was experiencing different things and going on adventures of different types so that in the end, you sit on a barstool with a beer and swap stories with others who may have had different adventures.
Alas, I too have fallen into the drudgery, though it is not about accumulating things for status, but to ensure my family is taken care, safe and secure.
Yet, at least I am passionate about the work and the mission. That makes it worthwhile. I followed the adage “do what you love and the rest will work itself out” and it has.
This is wonderful, comprehensive and beautifully written. I can't wait to watch the Detectorists! One thing I've been thinking about a lot in this context is how hard it is to opt out as an individual. Because, as Astra Taylor illustrates so well in The Age of Insecurity, failing to keep up in a capitalist world can often mean losing everything. It's like we're born somewhere in the middle of that story about the fishing trip and what option do we have if we want to fish more but to go up so we can eventually afford to buy it? It doesn't seem as easy as all that to go the other way! Many people who do quite consciously value people and passion nonetheless must get up every day and join the rat race just to not end up on the streets. So the problem is a collective one. Can we create communities of care that provide the security we would need to live in this richer way? I frankly shudder at the manifest misery of the lives of billionnaires and others who want to be them and wonder how we would convince those people of how much more beautiful life could be in a little fishing boat or whatever your version is of that. You're right that art is one great tool for that, and the film Perfect Days could not be better at making that argument. But what will it take for someone who can buy all the positional goods in the world to sit up and realize they're missing it all? And how can the rest of us find the security we need for that life to be feasible until they do? Well, you're part of that good fight, clearly, so keep on keepin' on. Thanks for this brilliant article.
You quoted Bertrand Russell twice--- in one article?
Awwright--I'm willing to update from yearly to lifetime subscription.
" Leisure is essential to civilization, and in former times leisure for the few was only rendered possible by the labours of the many. But their labours were valuable, not because work is good, but because leisure is good..."
" These landowners are idle...their idleness is only rendered possible by the industry of others...The last thing they have ever wished is that others should follow their example."
" The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich"
-all from In Praise of Idleness ( 1935) a terrific collection of essays
"One person’s greater sense of awe does not lead to someone else’s loss of it."
Amen.
In some ways, BK, this may be my fav essay of yours. As long as I don't have to give up all the others I've read or the ones I hope you'll write in the future. Hey, wait: I get to keep this one without having to give up the others?
Great essay. I especially liked the line: “However, just as a fish is unaware of water because they know nothing else,” it reminded of something McLuhan once said, “whoever discovered water it certainly wasn’t the fish.”
This make me think of a visit to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain with our grown children and our Spanish exchange son, whom we were visiting. We would pick a piece that was "untitled" and sit and stare at it trying to come up with a title. It was a huge piece several feet each way, rectangular. It was all black brush strokes of varying depths and lengths, going in different directions except for the lower left corner that was blank/white. Our Spanish exchange son said he "had it' - Title it Unfinished and we all laughed and moved on to our next challenge. The guard looked at us like we were crazy, but it was fun, interactive and a great memory - nothing to do with status...
Makes me regret I stayed in the US after Reagan set up our economy to move money from the middle class to the top. Hard to not focus on material necessities when the cost of living goes up and the wages do not. Now we have Reagan Economics times ten. Just trying to stay positive, thank you for your beautiful essay.
What a wonderful essay. Thank you. Years ago, I spent a few days on a remote ranch, deeply pondering which human flaw most profoundly ruins a life. The answer I found was greed. All these years later, I still believe that.
What, then, most beautifully enriches a life—and each day within it? Delight.
Your writing gladdens and inspires me, as always. And your tying in both Detectorists and Perfect Days is just brilliant. A friend introduced me to Andy and Lance and the rest of the Danebury folks, and I fell in love with them immediately, and with Johnny Flynn’s music and the beauties of nature around them. (Also, Mackenzie Crook’s writing is flat-out hilarious!) I felt the same response to Perfect Days. Wim Wenders knows how to capture on film the *feeling* of delight in the world. Books and music and nature (trees especially) are Hirayama’s passions, and he loves sharing them with others. What better way to spend our perfect days?
Perhaps status and power is only another form of expression of the human desire to connect to the past and present (and future) of humanity, as our societies are structured around immortalising the important and the powerful.
When I was visiting Japan in spring a few years ago, I overheard an American woman ask the tour guide as we walked through the sea of cherry blossoms - “Who was the man responsible for planting all the cherry trees?” I thought it was such a great sum of American cultural mentality - always a single man responsible for something great and marvellous. She was not very satisfied when the guide responded that there was no such man, it was a tradition that evolved over generations.
Thanks for sharing, Brian. Made me close a few online shopping browser windows, full disclosure.
That’s a great anecdote! And yes, that’s true — ancient myths very much had a notion that the worst thing was to be forgotten and status and power were the way to avoid it. Part of my view about the arbitrary nature of existence though is that I won’t be around whether I’m being remembered or not, so I’d rather have a fulfilling time on Earth!
Ozymandias' preening inscription...was a timeless testament to the fact...
he was a total ass, powerful or not! A total ass, who did not appreciate that....
" At the end of the game, the King and the Pawn go into the same box"
(old Italian saying)
Playing your best; apprecating the Other; enjoying the game.
I need to sit and contemplate this essay more (and I will) but one small point—I have had some rather transcendent experiences running through huge museums, getting lost, even photographing things because the museum is about to close, and I want to look at them but I don’t have time. I even did this once when I was ill (not contagious) and was almost crawling out the door because I was so weak and the museum was so huge and I had run through it. I admit it’s more exciting if you get to a weird part of the museum with the art nobody is excited about and you are all alone. Maybe spending time in those corners was more amazing, but I don’t know if there really is ONE right way to look at art. It’s amazing to spend a lot of time on one painting, and it’s amazing to be in some absurdly crowded show where everyone is going nuts and you can barely see and it’s amazing to see the sweep of 20 paintings from one period, and run around between them, and it’s amazing to stumble across something very obscure and just get interested in it for a long time some reason. I used to go to my city’s non-impressive art museum constantly as a child, and look at the same paintings over and over. Sometimes a small museum with 20 obscure paintings can also be an incredible experience. I don’t know what will make the magic happens so I do all the things, and something happens that is weird and elevating and it doesn’t seem to follow any specific pattern—it’s more a matter of surprise for me. The ‘great painting’ may not have the same effects as others. And I still don’t know enough about art but it can do different things at different times, and the contemplation method is cool but I think the ‘scanning and wandering aimlessly’ method also has virtues.
Just wanted to say that I know just what you mean. My husband and I were delayed in arriving at the Prado Museum and spent an absurd 25 minutes there dashing about. Yet we were exhilarated, and still look back on the experience fondly.
The Prado is so perfect for that! Yes! And people DO want to look so hard at the some of the paintings, like the Bosch. Everyone is crowded around it. You would have to go 50x to get your fill.
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia was the one where I just got so entranced that I could not stop. It was like being pulled by a magnet —there are lots of niche rooms with niche things that are so gripping, and it is full of surprises —and somehow then I forgot about my body, and I could barely make it to the door when it closed.
Detectorists is a fine show. Nice essay. Thanks Brian.
Brian, well done as always! In reading this essay, I cannot help but think of Jimmy Buffett. While wildly successful on many levels, it was his passion and love for life and new experiences that made his music and lifestyle so popular. In my far past, I used to opine that the result of a good life was experiencing different things and going on adventures of different types so that in the end, you sit on a barstool with a beer and swap stories with others who may have had different adventures.
Alas, I too have fallen into the drudgery, though it is not about accumulating things for status, but to ensure my family is taken care, safe and secure.
Yet, at least I am passionate about the work and the mission. That makes it worthwhile. I followed the adage “do what you love and the rest will work itself out” and it has.
This is wonderful, comprehensive and beautifully written. I can't wait to watch the Detectorists! One thing I've been thinking about a lot in this context is how hard it is to opt out as an individual. Because, as Astra Taylor illustrates so well in The Age of Insecurity, failing to keep up in a capitalist world can often mean losing everything. It's like we're born somewhere in the middle of that story about the fishing trip and what option do we have if we want to fish more but to go up so we can eventually afford to buy it? It doesn't seem as easy as all that to go the other way! Many people who do quite consciously value people and passion nonetheless must get up every day and join the rat race just to not end up on the streets. So the problem is a collective one. Can we create communities of care that provide the security we would need to live in this richer way? I frankly shudder at the manifest misery of the lives of billionnaires and others who want to be them and wonder how we would convince those people of how much more beautiful life could be in a little fishing boat or whatever your version is of that. You're right that art is one great tool for that, and the film Perfect Days could not be better at making that argument. But what will it take for someone who can buy all the positional goods in the world to sit up and realize they're missing it all? And how can the rest of us find the security we need for that life to be feasible until they do? Well, you're part of that good fight, clearly, so keep on keepin' on. Thanks for this brilliant article.
You quoted Bertrand Russell twice--- in one article?
Awwright--I'm willing to update from yearly to lifetime subscription.
" Leisure is essential to civilization, and in former times leisure for the few was only rendered possible by the labours of the many. But their labours were valuable, not because work is good, but because leisure is good..."
" These landowners are idle...their idleness is only rendered possible by the industry of others...The last thing they have ever wished is that others should follow their example."
" The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich"
-all from In Praise of Idleness ( 1935) a terrific collection of essays
(all from one of the great men of the 20th C.)
"One person’s greater sense of awe does not lead to someone else’s loss of it."
Amen.
In some ways, BK, this may be my fav essay of yours. As long as I don't have to give up all the others I've read or the ones I hope you'll write in the future. Hey, wait: I get to keep this one without having to give up the others?
Sweet.
Great essay. I especially liked the line: “However, just as a fish is unaware of water because they know nothing else,” it reminded of something McLuhan once said, “whoever discovered water it certainly wasn’t the fish.”
This make me think of a visit to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain with our grown children and our Spanish exchange son, whom we were visiting. We would pick a piece that was "untitled" and sit and stare at it trying to come up with a title. It was a huge piece several feet each way, rectangular. It was all black brush strokes of varying depths and lengths, going in different directions except for the lower left corner that was blank/white. Our Spanish exchange son said he "had it' - Title it Unfinished and we all laughed and moved on to our next challenge. The guard looked at us like we were crazy, but it was fun, interactive and a great memory - nothing to do with status...
Makes me regret I stayed in the US after Reagan set up our economy to move money from the middle class to the top. Hard to not focus on material necessities when the cost of living goes up and the wages do not. Now we have Reagan Economics times ten. Just trying to stay positive, thank you for your beautiful essay.
What a wonderful essay. Thank you. Years ago, I spent a few days on a remote ranch, deeply pondering which human flaw most profoundly ruins a life. The answer I found was greed. All these years later, I still believe that.
What, then, most beautifully enriches a life—and each day within it? Delight.
Your writing gladdens and inspires me, as always. And your tying in both Detectorists and Perfect Days is just brilliant. A friend introduced me to Andy and Lance and the rest of the Danebury folks, and I fell in love with them immediately, and with Johnny Flynn’s music and the beauties of nature around them. (Also, Mackenzie Crook’s writing is flat-out hilarious!) I felt the same response to Perfect Days. Wim Wenders knows how to capture on film the *feeling* of delight in the world. Books and music and nature (trees especially) are Hirayama’s passions, and he loves sharing them with others. What better way to spend our perfect days?
There was a study from a while back measuring how long folk actually LOOKED at the art in museums. It's 3 seconds. That depresses me.
That’s the old joke about Americans at the Louvre. “You take the outside, I’ll take the inside, I’ll meet you back here in 15 minutes.”
As always thoughtful and interesting to read. If you haven’t discovered it, Martin Hãgglund’s “This Life” affirms the value you discuss here.
Spot on, Brian. Great writing and outlook on life - very uplifting at this trying time….
a humane and moving essay. Thank you!