Passionate Living

Runway at Sky Harbor Airport by Kevin Dooley

On Christmas Eve last year, I went to the airport to pick up a friend of ten years. He was coming home after a 2 year stay in Beijing, taking his Master’s degree. In the old days there would’ve been 3 of us who picked him up, but since we’ve grown up and pursued our own career paths this time it was only me who went.

There’s always something about airports, isn’t there? I think it’s because an airport is a place where everybody either leaves or arrives, but no one stays. When I got there, a young couple of an Indonesian girl and a foreign man were hugging each other like they wouldn’t let go. That and the entire night atmosphere of the airport made me think.

Yes, there were a lot of people that night. There were Chinese, Arabian, Indian, and of course Indonesian people filling up the gates of the airport. There were families waiting for their relatives to arrive, friends that haven’t seen each other for a while, and groups of backpackers that are here to start their adventure of the Archipelago.

As beautiful as an airport is for a place of hellos and goodbyes, nobody stays. At least not for long. There are people there 24 hours a day, but it isn’t exactly a home for anyone.

And that got me thinking about how we live life. An Islam proverb says, “Live life like someone who is crossing the street: travel light and walk fast“. And that’s how I saw the people at the airport that night: they were there, but they knew they would be leaving soon so they didn’t attach themselves with the place, no matter how beautiful it was.

The truth is, the days are long but the years are short. We are here for only a short time, and there is much value to be made. The proverb is wise in saying: live life to the amount that is enough, without being wasteful.

Do you know where this argument is going? That’s right: I feel the way most of us live right now is wasteful. We are wasteful with our time (as if we will always have tomorrow), we are wasteful with our health (as if our youth will last forever), and we are wasteful with every other resource we have (as if there is no accountability over the use of them). And yet, we have a life purpose to fulfill and a job to do.

I won’t explain this much, at least not in one blog post. The point is: live life like a traveler. Absorb the experience in life to make you grow as a character and help you understand how to be your happiness.

Too much baggage will only weigh you down. Yes, they are fun, and even the most shoestring backpacker still needs to bring a backpack. But most of the time, we fill our spaces with superficial and unnecessary possessions that only drain our energy and our minds, when we should be thinking about our priorities.

Check in, then check out. Fasten your seat belt. And don’t forget to put the tray in an upright position.

Enjoy the flight.

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*This is the 2nd candidate for picture of the blog: Nice red antique aircraft.

*Why is it not as easy to find good songwriting blogs. I’ve only found 3 so far: this, this, and this.

[1] Photograph by Kevin Dooley. Because sooner or later, we gotta leave the tarmac.

Let’s talk about one of my favorite recent topics, also currently a hot discussion among the creative industry: unauthorized copying, or more commonly known as “piracy”. I live in Indonesia which, if you don’t know yet, has a (software) piracy rate of 84% according to NationMaster [1] – meaning most people here are accustomed to using copied products as part of their daily lives. The culture has grown so familiar with the use of copied products, it almost feels like the natural thing to do and there is little burden on the conscience of a person who uses copied products since everybody else around her is doing the same.

Now let me first say that unauthorized copying of intellectual property is a vast subject and concerns the interests of plenty of parties, especially copyright owners, publishers, and intellectual property lawyers. Therefore, it can be a sensitive issue to discuss because it determines the livelihood (or income) of a portion of the population whose profession is within these areas. Unauthorized copying is also connected to the distribution and growth of human culture, and there are many proponents who advocate that culture should be free, as in speech [2].

It would take a vast effort to attempt to discuss the many implications of unauthorized copying and copyright. And the black-and-whiteness of it is blurred into a million shades of gray by various parties each with their own vested interests. So I just simply want to talk about how piracy hurts the art that we make, especially our creative capabilities.

Where should I start?

Let’s talk about paintings. If you’ve gone to an art museum lately (or just simply Google some artists and their paintings to see some), what crosses your mind when you see these legendary works of art that have invited the interests of generations of people even though it’s just a still picture that never changes? Think about it: in an era where we have high-definition motion pictures with full surround sound theater simulation, why does a painting still have its value, maybe even more so than before? This is what I think: it’s the story that’s important – even when the medium is simple and low-tech, it’s the connection, conversation, and personal insights and inspirations that people are looking for in art.

Let’s talk about beauty. There’s a growing fondness towards minimalism lately, and it’s occurring in our civilization that’s self proclaimed as the most advanced civilization in the course of human history. The funny side to it is, less actually costs more: there is a premium on minimalist design, and people who have the resources gladly pay the price for the ability to show that they are sophisticated and have an elegant taste. And on the true side of the minimalist philosophy, there is a large amount of art that’s created using limited resources but is still acknowledged as a beautiful body of work.

Let’s talk about what I’ve learned as an artist. To tell you the truth, each time I tell fellow musicians or friends that I use 100% original software I get the frequent eyebrow – and mixed reactions between “Wow, I respect you” and “Gee, that’s stupid”. But their under appreciation of the resources that they have actually leads them to under appreciate their own creative capabilities, and in the end it’s their own art that gets hurt because of how they take things for granted (at least, that’s what I see and feel happens to my fellow artists).

The beauty of limitation

Gustavo Dore - The Empyrean

The Mona Lisa stands as one of the most influential work of art to stand, and Gustavo Dore’s illustration of The Empyrean [3] happens to be my personal favorite painting. How can we learn from the great artists before us and use limitation as our canvas and instrument? Because history (and modern culture also) shows us that it isn’t the tools that we have that determines a great work of art, but it’s the man behind the gun (to borrow a term from a musician friend of mine).

Using unauthorized copies of software or products only leads us to confusion; the creative brain doesn’t fare well with too many choices. Exercising limitation upon ourselves will train us to think creatively, to use every single piece of resource that is available to us without having to bend or break the rules. Working with a minimalist approach makes us focus on what we want to achieve and how we plan to achieve it, and not spend time browsing, downloading, and collecting software.

There is a great lesson behind limitation. Unfortunately many people choose to ignore it; they underestimate the power of self-reliance and autonomy. I understand that from a culture perspective, the copyright issue only benefits the publishers and copyright holders and hurts the growth and proliferation of culture. But I truly believe, that the grace of art and the genius of the artist lies in how she can create a gorgeous body of work within the limitation of her resources and without disregarding the rules of other people, even if they be artificial.

How about you? Do you use unauthorized products, or do you keep it clean all the way? Do you think that intellectual property should be made more free, or are you a proponent of copyright? Share your thoughts in the comments

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*I think I may make this a series. Oh wait, I think it’s already part of a series (soon to be published). I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed if you’re interested in this topic. Cheers.

[1] List of software piracy rate by country: NationMaster
[2] Quoted from a phrase popularized by Richard Stallman
[3] Empyrean on Wikipedia

Abstract Colorful Universe Wallpaper by Tom

I mentioned before about Hokky Sitongkir [1], whom I met and talked with at the 3rd TEDxJakarta [2]. His talk started with the introduction on how all things share a similarity between them. I agree with him, because I’ve also found this to be true, except that I use my own term for it: the universe consists of only one image.

I see this again and again whenever I ponder on a problem or a philosophical matter. Even though they maybe different aspects of life, but I always find that we can find a common thread that ties them all together. For example in my case, being a musician and dealing with the shifting music industry landscape that is happening led me to learn about copyright and its true nature – and that has lead me to understand about human self interests.

Hokky also says that we cannot solve a problem using only a single approach or a single method – we need multiple approaches to view the problem from a holistic point of view. So not linear problem solving, but organic problem solving: finding the connections between seemingly unrelated items but using our creativity to bridge the gap and find a genius solution. This is the true power of our human talents.

The simplicity approach

I keep hearing over and over how my friends say that: it’s complicated. Well, let me tell you now that: it’s not. It’s only complicated because you make it complicated – and if you are willing to put aside your drama addiction for a while, you’ll see that the solution is often simple.

This is because principles stay the same. Whoever wherever whatever whenever you are, the principles do not change. Therefore the problems do not change, and the approach we use do not change either – they are timeless and unaffected by any dynamic human progress introduces into our culture and history.

Love has always been an issue – it has always caused tragedies, family feuds, and even launched 1,000 ships [3]. Money has always been the object of pursuit for the majority of people, and economics has always suffered from the many reincarnations of recessions, depressions, and crashes. Politics has always been about the politicians, and never about the people.

Did I mention the simplicity approach?

That’s why I am careful to make claims. Who are we to say that we are the most advanced society in the history of the Earth? Who are we to say that our health is better, our technology is better, our education is better? We cannot prove any of this because it would be difficult to make a quality by quality measurement between the different cultures and eras throughout history.

We assume we are always the best, and also the worst. We assume that our problems are the most complicated – that nobody has ever felt the way we do, nobody has ever had it as tough as we do, and (in the case of music) nobody has ever sounded like we do [1]. I say that this is wrong, because the truth is we are simple beings with predictable problems – we just don’t want to see ourselves that way because then we lose the security of complexity.

So, next time you have a problem, realize this: at least one hundred million other people before you have gone through the same. So don’t make a big drama production over it – just find out the core of the problem and solve it as elegantly as possible. Learn the principles of living and then apply them to your life – and you will find that happiness has always been around the corner, waiting for the day you wake up.

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*This is an ongoing series about the talkers from TEDxJakarta. To receive updates on the next articles, you can subscribe to the feed HERE.

[1] For more on his thoughts, check out: Bandung Fe Institute, a research facility based on complexity
[2] Special Report: 3rd TEDxJakarta, 2009
[3] Quoted from the song “If” by the music group Bread, depicting the Trojan War
[4] Many indie musicians, when asked who they sound like, claim that “our sound is completely unique, we don’t sound like anything you’ve ever heard”. This claim is easily broken.
[5] Photograph by Tom. Beautiful, isn’t it?