Hidden Ignored Denied
There’s never any knowing which of our actions, which of our idlenesses won’t have things hanging on it forever. (E. M. Forster)
My question is: what does it mean to become a self? That is my place of engagement. I don’t have to travel to far distant places to explore my question. Rather in my own community and the circle of all the people I meet I can find the challenges and the processes I would like to understand and learn from. In this sense my community is not an ordinary or insignificant place; it is a place where an individual’s potential may blossom or wither, where community can grow or not. In this sense the place where I live and the network of people with whom I connect everyday is the most important and potentially fruitful place to be.
When studying Social Sculpture in Oxford Brookes part of our creative strategies work was to explore the words hidden, ignored and denied. The role of the Social Sculptor is to warm the space of meeting and through this to make it is possible to engage freely and appropriately with that which is hidden,ignored and denied in our culture. In doing this work as a creative strategy the artist is able to find the point of engagement which is their question.
In my case the problem I was most concerned with was the numbing out of legitimate soul pain. The Good Life as described by the media describes a world of perfect happiness devoid of struggle and process. This world is an illusion.
When Goethe said that we would live as lonely strangers on earth unless we were able to embrace the reality of ,'Dying and Becoming' he was pointing to this need to live in process, to know that we are constantly growing out of what we are into a deeper and more subtle version of ourselves.This process is accompanied by anxiety, fear and even depression as what we were disappears and what we will become is still to emerge. This pain of being in process and growing is what is called legitimate pain which is very different from neurotic pain.The difference lies in the fact that when we avoid legitimate pain we cause ourselves more pain whereas if we learn to embrace it it will lead us to a place of metamorphosis and joy. Neurotic pain has none of this creative potential not enabling a new self to emerge but rather laming us.
My project , ' The Search for the Deep Self ,' is an attempt to create a space where this reality may be explored. If you wish to find out more I suggest you look at the website http://www.becomingaself.org which actually has photographs of how the space is created as well as a web version of the work.
Since the work was made I have used it in many ways. Within the container of the exhibition it has been possible to meet with different groups of people and to enter into dialogue about this question. These different groups have posted comments on the website describing their experiences.
The issue of being in a constant state of becoming and that this is a challenging experience was something I experienced as completely negated and ignored in mainstream culture which is at pains to ensure we don't at any costs feel in any way unhappy.
The need to take ones life seriously and realize that it matters who one is and what ones standpoint is, is something of what Joseph Beuys meant when he said everyone was an artist, ie everyone has the power of imagination and can re imagine and re create both themselves and the world. Embracing this truth involves embracing the challenge of 'dying and becoming' as described by Goethe.
I sense that this is a deeply worthwhile thing to bring into common discourse.My work is an attempt to celebrate that process and to assert the significance of each persons life and contribution.
For further informatiom see http://www.becomingaself.org
