Gilliosophy 101:

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Why do I do what I do?

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I've been given the chance to be here in this body, with this mind to participate in Life for awhile. I think about that a lot. What a crazy experience that is! Life is beautiful; and also, full of chaos, anger, misunderstanding, war.

 

I'm interested in loosening the strict mental ties that people have to their labels in life. I'm interested in using the arts to imagine what a more just and beautiful world looks like, and to find other open-minded collaborators to work toward actualizing it. We know what the problems with this world are, but what are the solutions, the alternative scenarios?

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I believe that to "know thyself" really is one of the most important wisdom nuggets out there. I'm interested in using the arts to better know myself. As we better know ourselves, we:

1.) See that we have been socially conditioned to behave and believe as we do; and that we have the power to change any paradigms that no longer serve us.

2.) See that underneath all the labels, we are all made up of the same stuff, whatever you want to call it; elements, atoms, consciousness.

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Knowing those things is empowering because it tells me that the world can be different than it is. What qualities do I look for in an alternate reality?

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I want to live in a world where everyone feels welcome to be exactly as they are. A world where people lift you up when you fall, and everyone knows that things are only good when everyone prospers. This whole concept of "making a profit" should be thrown out the window. Profits have robbed us of our humanity: we let Nestle take clean water out of Michigan to sell back to us in plastic bottles while the residents of Flint Michigan are poisoned. We continue to produce gross quantities of plastic, despite also knowing that it is ending up in the ocean and will eventually end up back in our bodies as micro-plastics. We accept that workers across the globe work for starvation wages in order for us to have the latest technology. Here in Chicago, we have neighborhoods in poverty because of historic, systemic racism, and we do not do nearly enough to level the playing field, while people downtown make six figure salaries and escape to their north suburban homes every night. Billionaires exist! We accept a story that says, "Billionaires made it! if you just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and work hard, that could be you!" But that kind of wealth should not be hoarded by a single individual. With all the things mentioned above - they are all the result of a paradigm that has been fed to us since we were in diapers. But there are other lenses that could replace the profit-motivated one we currently use....

What lens should we use?

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Well, this is the exploration of my life and my art!

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