BEINGHUMAN A MANIFESTO GAYNOR O'FLYNN
INTRO
This manifesto is for artists who find their art, practice & belief is not in tune with the modern art world’s zeitgeist. For artists who want to work beyond fame, fortune & ego to reclaim the role of artists for humanity & the planet. Gaynor O’Flynn London 2016
EVOLUTION LEGACY MARKET AUTISM DELUSION DUALISM EGO MYTH HYPE DIGITAL EXPLOITATION PROPERTY LIKES COMPLIANCE
WHY?
SEERS CALLING FREEDOM POWER DEPTH ACTION PRACTICE UNITY DISCIPLINE SPACE UTILITY I MIND COURAGE INFINITY SENSE CHANGE EXPERIENCE MATTER ACCEPTANCE SIMPLICITY RELAXATION SURRENDER REALITY DREAM MEDITATION REVOLUTION OPENING BODY MIND HEART HONESTY MIRROR RESPONSIBILITY GRACE GRATITUDE WISDOM INTELLECT HEALING PROVOCATION LOVE LIBERATION MAGIC BEAUTY BEING INTUITION DEATH WISDOM ART
HOW?
WHY?
EVOLUTION
Throughout human evolution the creativity of the human mind has been at the core of all human achievement, both enlightened & unenlightened.
LEGACY
Humanity has made its mark like no other animal on planet earth. Our collective imagination, creativity & innovation wields great power & with it great responsibility. But the legacy of humanity is not the legacy of any one human but a collective legacy of all our human minds, all our bodies & all our artistry, as we swarm & trend, through space & time.
MARKET
Art reflects the culture of the time in which it is created & in our culture, at this time, market forces dominate. In this market, the neo liberal obsession with personal freedom has created a strange role for the modern artist, a narcissistic role, which can trap us in the relentless pursuit of attention, fame & fortune.
AUTISM
Digital technology has given us tools that fuel this narcissism. Distancing us from both nature itself & our own true nature, as our collective behavior becomes more & more autistic.
DELUSION
We delude ourselves with our own creativity as we script, produce, direct, act & edit what we see, do & feel to suit our storyline, our own personal drama, creating our own academy award-winning movie where we are also the star.
DUALISM
We invest in this life story, a story of our hopes & fears, likes & don’t likes, loves & hates. Accepting & rejecting, our mind invests in this dualistic vision, which in turn fuels our distracted, ignorant action. Drowning in this dualistic data we become slaves to the illusion of control, the illusion of power, the illusion of ‘I, me & mine’.
EGO
This belief in our individual supremacy feeds our ego & our desire to make our mark, to be special, to be immortal. The media, academics, galleries, curators & buyers of the art market fuel this cult of the genius artist, the revolutionary, the maverick & the loner. We lose contact with our innate goodness & wisdom.
MYTH
When market forces collide with this myth, the art world divides into the 99% & the 1%. Most artists are excluded from the elite 1% yet still believe in the myth, investing their time, thoughts & energy in the pursuit of a VIP pass.
HYPE
We artists then create our own hype, our own brand & our own marketing strategy as we launch product ‘I’ onto the world. This mythical way of thinking & working dominates the modern art & cultural industries.
DIGITAL
In the digital age, artists often do this under the auspices of a new ‘collectivism’, using the so called ‘sharing economy’ & ‘social networks’ with their new forms of communication, business & peer production. The expanded workforce of the art world may look ‘proletarian’ but few of us really question the business models driving this & what this really means for humanity.
EXPLOITATION
The value of the tech companies is based on the ownership of mass produced information, ideas & creativity. The companies understand our role as artists so they woo us, hungry for our ideas & content. They exploit our love affair with ‘me, myself & mine’ as we naively still believe the revolution will be digitized.
PROPERTY
As early adopters, artists freely give their labour, their time & their intellectual property, helping to build & sustain multi trillion dollar tech companies. This creates enormous personal wealth for tech superstars are neither open nor transparent & do not play or pay fair.
LIKES
In global hipster hotspots there are emerging tribes of artists who react by focusing on authenticity, the handmade & an alleged non-corporate philosophy. Yet we all remain workers in the mass data machine. Geo located, our every like & dislike feeds a cognitive economy where our minds & art are digitally raped & pillaged.
COMPLIANCE
This new economy needs our utter compliance so the digital overlords invest heavily in neuroscience research to understand the neuroplasticity of our minds. This keeps millions of nodes of creative, educated, connected & networked human beings swarming around the global, digital hive. But how & where will we swarm in the future?
HOW?
SEERS
Historically the role of artists was very different. Artists were the dreamers, the seers, the teachers, the healers, the visionaries & the storytellers. Humanity used the alchemical power of art to create social & inner change.
CALLING
We as artists can find the courage to reclaim this role & return to our true calling. We can listen to our hearts & use our senses, our creativity & our talent to pursue a more enlightened path. We can slow down our mind, relax, listen to our body, trust our intuition & learn to respond to life with more wisdom & compassion.
FREEDOM
We can stop being slaves of our creativity & employ our creativity to help us on our journey home to our hearts. This is freedom, this is joy & this is very natural.
POWER
We are human beings, we are artists, we are alive, here, now & we are very powerful. Our thoughts & actions can help or harm our fellow humans, our planet & our self. Only we have the unique capacity to examine our mind, our senses & to make our choices.
DEPTH
Though we invest a lot of time, energy & money in chasing happiness & avoiding unhappiness, deep down we know this pursuit is exhausting & ultimately futile.
ACTION
Shit happens. We cannot avoid pain, sickness or death but we are here, now. We all can choose how to be, act & react when what goes around comes around.
PRACTICE
We may be neurotic artists, with neurotic habits, neurotic thoughts & be creating neurotic art but we can release ourselves from our neurotic trap. We can use the creativity of our mind to suffer more or suffer less. With practice we can train our mind to create great art & a great life.
UNITY
Our words, images, stories & performances can unite, illuminate & heal. Our human consciousness, human body & human heart, give us this incredible opportunity right here, right now.
DISCIPLINE
We can choose to discipline our self or to let our mind, body & senses run amok, controlling our work, our relationships & our life.
SPACE
When we stop the all-consuming focus on ‘me, me, me’, we have space to offer our true selves, true loves & true skills to the world. We lose our fears, are energized, aware, creative & brave. We liberate our minds & spontaneously feel a deep connection to all life. Then our art, eyes & hearts simply shine.
UTILITY
When we replace the cult of individualism with collectivism & compassion, we no longer feel confused, frustrated & disempowered. Our art can be very, very useful. Ironically this selflessness is the best way to be selfish.
I
We leave the cult of individuality. Dissolve our attachment to me & mine, you & I, us & them. Dissolve our attachment to our ego.
MIND
Our mind behaves like our own personal YouTube channel. We replay the same stories over & over & over. These stories also show us the habitual patterns that limit our life & help us to understand our mind, how we work & how predictable we are. We then discover new ways to be.
COURAGE
In our search for certainty, our habits, thoughts, plans & fantasies are very comforting. So we need courage to investigate, challenge & change the way we think.
INFINITY
When we really investigate, we see that everything exists in relation to everything else. ‘I’ am made from an infinite number of particles that depend on an infinite number of particles for survival.
SENSE
When we really examine our mind, our body & our actions, we connect to our innate wisdom. It is then impossible to find this ‘I’ we so strongly believe in. We sense how deeply everything is connected. Throughout space & time, no one & nothing is excluded.
CHANGE
Though we long for certainty, solidity & security we live in volatile times, on a volatile planet & volatility is inevitable. Life isn’t so predictable, everything constantly changes & nothing lasts forever. It was & ever will be so.
EXPERIENCE
Experience arises, plays out & falls away by relying on an infinite web of dynamic relationships. In other words, it is because everything depends on everything else that life moves & we experience it.
MATTER
Because of this deep connection, everything we do matters. Every action, every thought, reverberates in time & space. Our work, our practice, our life & our art matter.
ACCEPTANCE
So though we are not in control we do have choice. We do not need to react with paranoia we simply can be aware & be prepared. We can respond to the joy & suffering in the world without the anxiety & desperation that comes from thinking we can fix it. We can deeply accept this & learn to simply be, calm in chaos.
SIMPLICITY
As artists we can stop confining & defining ourselves as ‘I’ the ‘Artist’. As the days, weeks, months & years come & go, we can simply be more artistic & make more art. We do not want to believe it can be that simple yet if we stop trying so hard it’s an incredible relief.
RELAXATION
The more we relax, the more spontaneous, creative & natural we are. We are less confused, less stressed, judge less & discriminate more. We let life simply flow & become aware of the world as it actually is. This can be put to use in our life, practice & our art.
SURRENDER
We surrender our need to control. We do not give up, despair or fixate on the ‘I’. As we give our self some space we start to feel space is everywhere, in us, in our world & in our art.
REALITY
Nothing is solid, nothing is permanent, not our thoughts, our words, our deeds, our bodies or our lives. What we think is real actually has an illusory quality full of possibility & potentiality. We then discover the true nature of our minds & the calm, luminosity within us that is always present & available.
DREAM
Life is a dream. Yet we are awake, day or night.
MEDITATION
This moment by moment, day-by-day, year-by-year is our meditation. The more we practice this meditation, the more stable we become in our art, our life & our being.
REVOLUTION
This is quite simple yet radical. Meditation is revolutionary.
OPENING
We relate to life directly and experience the present moment as it is. We develop an open, compassionate attentiveness to whatever is going on, not only to our mind but also to our body.
BODY
Our human body becomes a realm of awakening. We use our breath & our energy to connect & sense this open, empty space within us as incredibly real. We no longer need to filter & label our experiences with left-brain thinking, nor make left-brain art. We have a direct, naked experience of our body as a swirling mass of cells with a profound, innate intelligence. This intelligence helps us to make great art.
SKY
The space we experience is like the sky, vast enough to accommodate anything & everything. We see our thoughts & emotions are just like clouds that come & go, day & night, sun & moon yet the sky is always there, no matter what.
HEART
There is nothing to do but lots to undo as we get to know our minds, our bodies & surrender to our calling. We don’t let our life, our art or our practice harden our hearts. We start to trust, hear the song of silence & silently sing along.
HONESTY
Our experience & our beliefs are no longer rigid as we use our senses to simply be & simply do. We create art that is real, naked, beautiful & honest.
MIRROR
We use our minds as a tool for reflection. As we become less uptight, wisdom & compassion spontaneously arise. We see they are inseparable, like two wings on a bird we need them both to fly. Our mind, like a mirror, cannot control or create content but simply reflects.
RESPONSIBILITY
We become aware of how our mind, our ego & our dualistic thinking has a habit of hooking us into patterns of ignorant thoughts & actions. We stop playing the blame game, focus on our own mind & our own actions. We are responsible artists who make responsible art.
GRACE
As we practice this new way of being, we become kinder. We create art with wisdom, compassion & grace.
GRATITUDE
We develop an attitude of profound gratitude to everyone & everything. The good, bad & indifferent are opportunities to train our mind & to move us beyond hope & fear. Then when we make art, we are generous & our art is made with love.
WISDOM
We remain open with a beginners mind. We take time to still the mind & tend to the heart. Even when we struggle we are strong. We learn how to get out of our own way for long enough to allow our own innate wisdom to manifest.
INTELLECT
When we enter the art world we no longer have to fit or fix. We may not know who we are but we know how we are & what we were born to be & do. We use our intellect but only when needed. We no longer waste time on the great, intellectual work of art that is the ‘I’.
HEALING
Our plans & schemes are then like forgotten dreams as we go beyond our habits, imagination, greed & ego . When we are brave enough to let go of our story, we create art that heals.
PROVOCATION
We don’t let experience make us resentful or afraid. Adversity becomes our friend as we accept provocation, artistic or otherwise, as an opportunity to train our mind.
LOVE
The ego’s hold loosens as we loosen our hold on our ego. We no longer get caught up in what we will achieve or how good things will be one day & we feel calmer. What we think & do right now is what matters so we do what we love & love what we do.
LIBERATION
When our minds are clearer so are our bodies, our energy, our actions, our life & our art. Others sense our new found liberation, our honesty & our presence.
MAGIC
Letting go of craving attention, fame and fortune, we become more down to earth, pragmatic, disciplined & practical. Our roots are in the earth but our hearts are open to the universe. This is very ordinary yet this is also magic.
BEAUTY
Through this practice we slowly discover our innate beauty & this beauty enters our art. Fully engaged, we develop our artistic skills with disciplined attention as our art starts to create itself, we just simply need to turn up & put in the hours.
BEING
Our relationships become clean & clear. We are no longer demanding of others. We are more alert, our senses heightened as we create art with our whole being. Our being is in our doing.
INTUITION
We trust our intuition.
DEATH
Today is the death of yesterday & the birth of tomorrow. Knowing nothing lasts forever, knowing we will die one day, we cherish every moment. We make art now while we are alive & breathing.
WISDOM
Our creations & delusions are numberless, as we as artists vow to liberate them. We are wise.
ART
As we practice this way of being, we embody it in our art and our life. Our art & our life are real. We know this is excellent
GAYNOR O’FLYNN
Gaynor O’Flynn is an artist, curator & spiritual nomad. For 30 years she has created art across art disciplines, across the globe. She believes in the power of art for social & inner change & embeds this belief in her work. At the core of her life & practice is the belief that ancient wisdom can not only survive but also thrive in the modern world. She believes the role of artists is to heal & unite humanity & help keep our collective wisdom alive. Pilgrimage is central to Gaynor’s life & work. She has travelled, trekked, filmed & created art works at sacred sites across the globe. She is also a campaigner. She has spoken to millions globally on humanitarian & environmental issues including ‘Fair Trade For Artists’ & has worked in a media capacity for The Dalai Lama. She founded Beinghuman & The Beinghuman Collective in 2000 with an artwork, film & webcast from Spiti, a remote Himalayan Valley. She launched Artists For Nepal at Venice Biennale 2015 & has curated Kathmandu International Art Festival.
She has worked with award winning artists & luminaries including Bjork, PJ Harvey, Martin Creed, Richard Long, Germaine Greer & New Order, on locations including New York, Mumbai, Dakar, Easter Island & the Himalayas. Gaynor learned to meditate at an early age. Her first teacher was her father who had lived & trained in a Cistercian monastery in Ireland. Since then Gaynor has learned from many masters but she has never aligned to any one lineage, tradition or teacher. She believes all traditions have the similar aims of altruism & kindness at their heart. This has empowered Gaynor to foster an open spirit of enquiry in her art practice & life, beyond dogma, cultural or tribal constraints. She is a consummate early adopter of technology, works extensively in the interactive space with both scientists & neuroscientists exploring connections between mind, body, light & sound. The BBC called her, "That conscious, cathartic voice". Frieze said, “An exhilarating show.” Artrocker say, “Bloody brilliant!” & Le Cool London, “Hugely enlightening”.
Š & ℗ Gaynor O'Flynn & Beinghuman Ltd. 2016 all rights reserved
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