Why I Care

I am very young, and I will admit that I do not know very much. But I do know there is nothing of more paramount importance or more significant power than the Truth. It is what every single Spiritual Teacher and Sage of every tradition from every period from every part of the world has taught to those who would hear them. There is no freedom without Truth.

The Truth is often difficult to accept, especially in this world where Truth is so often muddled and scattered. It is inherently belligerent, for it is at constant war with deception. Deception is easy. It requires no conscience, no thought, no will, no spirit to take in; it is painless perception. Truth is exactly the opposite; it is difficult, complex, and often a painful reality. Truth can tear down our entire world and break us perhaps beyond repair, even though it is just alignment of perception to reality. That is why Art is so important.

An Artist uses lies to tell the Truth, and therefore destroys the ability of deception to deceive. The paintings of the Greats are merely assortments of refractions of light in various patterns that our eyes perceive to be an image. The compositions of music that could not go unrecognised today are just sounds of different pitch and tone played in different orders by various machines. The written works of the greats are simply sentences of letters which can be digested to mean exactly what the words are on their own.

If deception did not exist, we would never find any value, but simply observe the colours as colours, the sounds as sounds, and the letters as letters. But what we find in that final creation is the humanity of it all. Because within the lies, we eventually find what is True and that causes so much less pain and terror compared to outright Truth. Art can go to both ends of the coin, telling an Artist the Truth within his lies, or telling observers the Truth within the lies of an Artist.

False art exists, however, and it can be more dangerous than outright lies. False Art can bury Truths even further than simple lies can, because it can take on the perceived value of a real piece of Art that defeats deception rather than spreads it. Deception portrays lies as Truth, but Art portrays Truth using lies. We believe the lies, and we find the Truth.

I believe that writing is of particular importance. The world is the most well-read and literate it has ever been. It is reading constantly, whether it be pages of textbooks, words on a screen, signs, subtitles, or anything else. Almost everyone will agree, however, that we live in a deeply troubled society. I say this is because the world has deceived itself into a false form of reality that says our lives are never more than what they seem. That we are not of much value. With so many people reading so much, and facing mountains of deception to climb before they find Truth, why can’t the writings of Artists be used to help them on the journey?

Perhaps I favour writing because I have always had an affinity for language. I have been fluent and/or able to get by with native speakers at some point in my life in eight different languages and have always found ease getting into a workflow with writing, as well as understanding complex works from a young age.

But there are other mediums of Art that will help find Truth; The painter can create images that words cannot describe; musical sounds have been shown to have practically otherworldly properties (such as healing illnesses of the mind); photography, filmmaking, theatre, dance, sculpting, ceramics and all sorts of other things can open the minds, hearts, and souls of those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

All hands were made to tell stories, whether it be our own, the stories of others, or the stories of those who never were. I will tell mine by writing. I care about writing because I care about Art. I care about Art because I care about freedom, and the Truth will set us all free.

-Saif Toukan
Busybird Work Experience Student