MEANINGFUL PROJECTS GIVE US PURPOSE!
PURPOSEFUL PROJECTS REINFORCE OUR SENSE OF MEANING.
My life has been rich with moments that would compel me to think and ponder and—perhaps—romanticize over the nature of my life and existence. I was born without clear purpose or meaning or value. I was an unwanted child. Throughout my childhood I would come to know pain, sorrow, loss, misfortune, responsibility, hatred, abandonment, and even abuse. I would come to know these things way too well. They would define me and everything I would ultimately aspire to do. While I would also come to know joy and happiness and fortunate…and to some specific degree privilege and abundance, all of the negative seemed to cast a very dramatic and powerful shadow. It’s thru most of this that I would come to understand or at least appreciate purpose and meaning. Meaning and purpose within our lives—our actions and activities. Our studies and experiments. Our products and even in how we serve…as people. How we serve others and even ourselves. I believe that purpose and meaning are sometimes the critical defining factors that lead us to greater paths…or not.
During this Arts Quarter, I’ve discovered that I am no more in love with the tasks or efforts in handmade art as I am with doing uneventful tasks…unless there is specific purpose. With that in mind, my Spirituality as an African American Man will always stand at the forefront. My Spirituality isn’t defined nor governed by what is familiar to Christians nor other groups. While my roots are in the Catholic and Christian communities, I’ve come to a place where my Spirituality must—must—be custom and unique. Individual and an outlier. I believe in that which existed for People of Color before the doctrines and definitions and the associated destruction brought and wrought by Euro-Caucasians.
“The Dichotomy of…” stands as a great way to reveal who I am and the often polar aspects that influence and impact my life. Even within the distinctions of the two, there’s an abundance of elements and ingredients that reside within the middle. Incorporating my Spirituality and those associated beliefs, ideas, concepts, paradigms and perspectives is much more fundamental now than ever before.