IM - AG - I - NA - TION

Ø  Imagination – and the pigment of it

“Well you have quite the colorful imagination”, that is what she said to the little boy who had written in bold Crayola letters a paragraph about a young elf who became friends with an eagle and flew to beautiful places. The story was accompanied by an equally vivid and bright drawing from his handy 64-Pack Crayon container. “It’s the pigment” he said boldly with confidence to her. “It’s the what?” she asked. He stated clearly again with confidence “The pigment. The pigment of my imagination. That’s what my dad told me. He said what you said, that I had a colorful imagination. And another time when I thought I saw some fairies and elves out playing under trees in our orchard, he said that what I thought I saw was a “pigment of my imagination”, and that it was colorful; my imagination. My daddy does some painting and drawing sometimes and he said he mixes pigments to make different colors, so I guess since my imagination is so colorful it’s gotta have lots of pigment”.

I think we all have a pallet of assorted pigments to choose from in our imaginations too. I think sometimes though we lose touch with it in our on-going attempts to make rational thoughts of things in our lives. We seem to need structure and try to keep things black and white. I love great black and white photographs, charcoal drawings, black ink and shading in art. A well executed rendering in black and white, or an excellent composition with light and dark contrast can be riveting and dramatic. Images captured, images created. Im-ag-i-na-tion.

I Imagine, if you use the pigments of your Imagination, you too can capture a great and inspiring Image. It may come to fruition in any number of ways as you pursue the action and task at hand to accomplish it. The work and labor of the task must always begin with the idea and an image in mind of the outcome and final result.

I think the broader you allow for your experiences to build on the pigments you have to add to your pallet, and the more open you are to choosing a broad variety of them for expression, the better for it you and all you touch will be.  Think bold, think inclusive, think outside your box, and keep building your collection of colors to add to your crayon toolbox, and never stop stretching your imagination. Soon that “figment” of your imagination of what you might be, you might do, – is being done with passion and flare, boldly and colorfully!

May your soul be full of color and your imagination never-ending. Peace.

"color creek" - CristPix Creative Images copyright 2012

Independence needs you

Ø  Independence –

There is a certain contradiction in our American value of individual freedom and independence, especially as it relates to community, people known and unknown, acquaintances, friends and even family. I love that we cherish freedom and independence; that our nation was built on that foundation. That so many of our ancestors came here to get away from oppression, tyranny, persecution, or others who were here, or came involuntarily, we all had the personal intention and expectation to live freely and have personal independence. We all still strive for this and place it very high on our list of personal values, core beliefs, and “rights”.

The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence all relate to freedom, independence, liberty of people. They also all speak eloquently and directly to the collective of “the People”, the collective inhabitants of the separate States and the United States. These documents are all Charters of our Government; language written to establish rule and hence a collective governance to provide the “people” means of equity, fair-dealing, representation, and direct participation in our pursuits of Life, Liberty and Happiness.

They expressly state matters of equality and separate from a specific religious doctrine, but make no doubt they are all in place to govern, to provide a safe and equitable opportunity for all citizens. The language most know is:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. But just after that the Declaration states “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”.

Our very rights as individuals therefore are established and protected with our consent to a Government of our choosing, as a people with individual choices, but by majority consent through an established governing body. It also states shortly after “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes”.

So there is where we have the personal challenge of contradictions in our individual, vs “we the people”, rights and governance to pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness, to have Independence and Freedom, and how we see and determine what is “equitable”. If you add to the governance quandary, our spiritual or religious dogmas, you can clearly see the challenges we all face and play out our entire lives.

What I find most interesting though is the basics of most governing laws pretty much align with the commonalities in the World’s religions: It is wrong to Lie, Steal, and Kill. We should embrace all living creatures with compassion, respect, peace and non-violence, do not covet.

We have the independence and freedom within our heart and soul to choose happiness, take actions that are compassionate, giving and loving, for a United Humanity. We just have to get over ourselves, get past our Egos, in order to contribute to the greater good of community, society and all the earth. See it isn’t about “me” or “you”, it is about “us”. This is exactly why our current politicians in government  continue to fail US, they are still too caught up in their own power, self-worth, partisanship, greed and alliances to PACs and large financial contributors, Corporations “too big to fail”, to actually humble themselves to “serve” their individual voting constituency first and foremost, rather than their identified party and platform. Our Government has the appropriate democratic structure and underpinnings set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What we no longer have is a national agenda, and elected representation, in place to serve those ideals at their core for the equality, benefit, independence, freedom, liberty and justice for all.

Use your independence to take the time to research those you may be voting for, read the Pros and Cons, look at their collective record. What’s on their resume to take a government, tax paid public job to serve you and I – are they qualified; have the performed as you want them to? Forget the paid propaganda and political advertisement bullshit, ignore and forget the bandwagon, banner-waving, drum-beating hyperbole that comes from special interests and other self-centered egomaniacs that thrive on soapbox hysteria. Think and act with responsibility for your family, neighbor’s community and it will be good for you as a part of that body.

Think and vote with informative choice and intention to have those elected truly be accountable to your community, not to their deep-pocket special interests.

Photo credit CristPix Creative Images - copyright all rights reserved