AN ARTIST EMPOWERED

You can't outsource your soul work

Eden Maxwell

Mind Control

It can be insidiously easy to fall into mindless cultural bias, customs, rote, habits, and meaningless, yet powerful belief systems. Aware of these generational traps, creators are mindful to avoid them. Can you recall the last time your standard had been challenged?

There is nothing new about mind control in images or words.

Recall George Orwell¹s dire vision of the future in his 1949 novel Nineteen-Eighty-Four where newspeak (the politically correct speech of Oceania) manipulated the language and, as a direct result, controlled the minds of its citizens--where Œreality¹ meant white was black, black was white, and where Œthoughtcriminals¹ received their final form of punishment in Room 101 as dispensed by the Ministry of Love.

Freedom of speech must be matched with freedom of thought--this is the power of art made manifest. How can you create original work if you think and feel along party lines, or in clichés?

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Painter, writer, and kiteflier of some note, Eden Maxwell grew up on the mean streets of the inner city and fought his way out of the projects to find his walking shoes. He has contributed to many publications--from Popular Science to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and his art is in private collection here and abroad. Eden's the bestselling author of Kiteworks and The Magnificent Book of Kites, Sterling Publishing; he's also ghostwritten books for HarperCollins and Kensington publishers.

Eden blogs regularly about purpose, meaning, and persevering as an artist on his website--where you can also find out more about about his powerful and exciting new book, An Artist Empowered: Define and Establish Your Value as an Artist--Now (2008); you may email him at artist@edensart.com

http://www.edensart.com