Derek Kirkup

This is the phrase I have been pondering lately; the cliché that appears through Hollywood films and on the lips idealists and optimists everywhere.

It’s a phrase that seems to say so much, yet unless one knows how to dream, it really means nothing.

And I am not all that convinced many of us do know how to dream.

Often in this context one might receive advice such as ‘Don’t let anything stop you’, or indeed, ‘Don’t let anyone stop you’. But what if you have no dream? How does one find a dream to follow?

What rarely seems to be discussed is that perhaps the biggest obstacle to having a dream and achieving it is ourselves. We never get to the dreaming stage because we want to know the dream we pursue is right for us. We don’t want to waste our time on the ‘wrong’ dream.

What we don’t seem to understand is that there are no wrong dreams. It is not the dream itself that matters, it is having a dream that is important and especially, choosing not to doubt it.

No one can objectively decide upon their ability to achieve a dream, there are far too many unknowns between now and the point where the dream is attained. Why bother to question it? If to imagine attaining your dream makes you feel good, then allow that power to take you.

It is the surrendering to the possibilities, the good and the bad, the forces of nature, without resistance, that is the essence of dreaming.

Like a canoeist rowing downstream, we merely stabilize ourselves in the irreversible current of life. If we remain conscious, we can ensure we avoid the rocks, drifting safely through the rapids and out in to an Ocean Sunset. The longer we choose to row against the current, the greater the likelihood we hit the rocks.

Allow yourself to drift, allow yourself to daydream, allow yourself to feel good about your dreams.

Never question why.

Only how? 

Picture - ryafacan.deviantart.com

I’m spending some time at the moment writing strictly in standard notation and I would greatly appreciate hearing from instrumentalists of all kinds. I would like to be able to write for you and also to hear your feedback on the playability of the pieces I am writing. 

Whether you are a beginner or whether you passed grade 8 years ago, I would like to write for you and find out what my pieces are like to play.

Drop me a line via the email link above and let’s make a connection!

I have been experiencing an interesting new phase lately. Having spent so much of my early twenties being an individual in constant use of his intellect, but little else, I am now finding myself with less and less to say in words. Indeed, I commence this post out of a sense of fear or perhaps even mourning for this side of me that has been so prevalent for such a long time.

It is in fact rather disempowering to experience. It’s not that I have nothing to say, I’m sure I can and still do make somewhat useful observations. It’s just that, the compulsion to do so is rapidly diminishing, amidst a sense that I am struggling to really find the value of these observations.

Simultaneously, my lust to descend ever further in to the intuitive world of art and emotion grows stronger. But where as in the world of words, one can make compelling arguments with language and evidence, in the world of emotion, I am often finding myself frustrated that these tools are inadequate. I am finding that what I want to convey, cannot be conveyed with the tools I am so used to using, and any attempt to do so leaves me feeling disappointed.

I am reminded of some wise words that the purpose of art is not to draw conclusions, but to explore. How true this continues to feel as I delve deeper in to story and music. And the reasons are becoming quite clear to me.

The stage for humanity has already been set. The struggles repeated. We live, we love, we learn, we die. Those fundamentals of humanity and life have not changed in the millions of years we have been evolving, and they don’t look set to change any time soon.

It is said that there are only seven stories, and with those seven stories there is also a set number of characters. These have been present since ancient times, studied in the archetypes of Carl Jung, and they remain unchanged today, simply because life remains unchanged.

It is no surprise then that one may find oneself at a point in life where to philosophize seems meaningless. Even in an age of science, where we come to know the world and universe around us in even more detail, allowing us to live more comfortably and efficiently, we still cannot change the fundamentals of life, love, learning, exploration and of course death.

When observing from this position one is challenged with many thoughts, the most glaring of which is of course - Why? What is the point of it all? But answering that does not matter and is at this stage of human knowledge, an excercise in futility.

The next thought that follows, and perhaps more a feeling, is a sense of liberation. A sense that all the dramas, all the pain and suffering, ultimately push humanity forwards. One might call all pain, growing pain, as long as time moves forwards.

And it seems, that as long as time does move forward, though we cannot change the fundamentals, we can do our best to keep everyone moving in the same direction. That does not imply any specific goal, other than moving toward openness and love over resistance and fear.

So then, if the purpose of art is not to conclude, but to explore, it would seem that all we can do in our art is provoke rather than lead. In telling stories we cannot tell an audience who to be, but we can remind them of who they are and especially, we can remind our audience that the game, the ride as Bill Hicks’ wonderfully refers to it, never changes.

Though I used to have faith that wonderfully worded, profound observations have the power to change anyone, as life goes on my experience of arrogance tells me that they can only change those who are humble enough to listen.

Perhaps then, the quest of any artist, whether conscious or unconscious, is very simply to find new ways to provoke, new ways to express experience, and perhaps novel ways that can reach ever more complex personalities in an ever more complex world. And hopefully, by reminding audiences of the simplicity of life, its poetry and story, we can…

Well, perhaps words cannot capture the possibilities.

I’m sure for many these words state nothing more than the obvious, but having spent many years of my life ignorant and unaware of these basic truths, I hope I can offer some insight to someone.