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“It is a union that suggests the essential mystery of the world.
Art for me is not an end in itself, but a means of evoking that mystery. ”
—
René Magritte on putting seemingly unrelated objects together in art
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jux·ta·po·si·tion
noun
- the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.
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Thanksgiving often represents the ultimate juxtaposition. Its a time and place in which generations, and the thoughts & ideas & opinions that accompany them, intersect. It is a time and a place in which people, “ones” I will call them are forced to sit beside other ‘ones’:
The ones intermittently stepping with both uncertainty and moments of certain confidence … growing into who they will be.
The ones intermittently standing in a space of satisfaction and moments of dissatisfaction … who grapple with who they are <and what they have done and have not done>.
The ones intermittently looking at how things have changed, for good and bad, who desperately hold on to who and what everyone was … while every bone in their body wants to see how it will be better for those around them despite how much has changed.
All of those ‘ones’ together make Thanksgiving fraught with juxtapositions.
And we wonder why there is often conflict? Thanksgiving often forces us to view the past, present and future in one forced viewing. And not only that but instead of the more common sit back and introspectively view your own intersection of past, present & future this one is more often done in a collaboration & consensus event where all participants weigh in and offer some thoughts. The participants aren’t typically some random people pulled of the street or employees in some department you only see in the break room, these participants are representative of what truly happened in your past, are most likely semi involved in your present and , whether you like it or not, are places you will visit again in your future.
The juxtaposition of what is in your own mind and what is in others minds shifts the intangible to tangible as real as the turkey being served on a plate to everyone.
I often do think that Thanksgiving is art coming to Life.
We picture the picture.
We choose the palette of colors to use.
We all place a brush on the canvas.
And, in the end, we gaze at the end product … each seeing it through our own lens of what Life means to us and what we mean to Life.
Juxtapositions can be difficult.
Difficult to, well, like. Or maybe to embrace easily.
Difficult to easily see how the good and bad embody, well, good shit.
Difficult to see a reality that matches, well, the reality we had in our head before we were forced to encounter this juxtaposition.
Regardless. I have one word for you today, on this thanksgiving, as we ponder this day in which we are faced with juxtaposition … “neighboring.”
In the Modern Guide of Synonyms juxtaposition does not have its own heading. It can only be found under “neighboring.” Juxtaposing can be found only side by side with adjacent, adjoining, contiguous and neighboring. Far too often we, I included, separate past, present and future: “live in the moment”, “learn from the past”, “the future is now.”
All that shit. One year on Thanksgiving I suggested it is the functional dysfunctional being served as a good tasting dish on the day. That on Thanksgiving all of that typically comes together and eats together. But I also suggested: “all I know is that my family is my family and my childhood was my childhood and my future is my future.” I also suggested that the functionally dysfunctional in all aspects, and all the aspects, helped craft the man, the person, I am today. I imagine I am not that different in that aspect from anyone else. I was a victim of it all without becoming a victim of the experience. Just as I will be a victim of the future without becoming a victim of the experience.
Anyway. Past, present and future are neighbors. We see each other every day and say good morning even when grumpy and not awake and talk about what is happening with our kids and lives over the fence in between chores. And these neighbors paint the canvas of our lives. Yeah. Sometimes we don’t always like what we see but sometimes it all comes together just right.
Thanksgiving, while a forced juxtaposition in which we are forced to sit and face past, present & future, is a gathering of neighboring thoughts, adjacent thoughts, adjoining thoughts and contiguous thoughts.
And that, my friends, is what art is.
A gathering of all those thoughts.
A creation borne of the mystery of the world … and our world.
Ponder that this Thanksgiving wherever you are and whoever you are with. Thanksgiving is a piece of art juxtaposing neighboring fragments of your Life & the past, present & future.
Happy Thanksgiving.