The subjective is not a character defect, no more than a fishes inability to breath air is a character defect. So since we can’t rid ourselves of the subjective, why not cultivate it? A great many scientific discoveries came from exactly this, an experimenter getting an idea, and many others say “Oh no, that’s nonsense. You’re foolish to waste your time on that”!

I often enjoy subjective things more than objective things like trying to judge art and say one is better than another. Why must we rank them? Why can’t we just enjoy them? I agree. My basis for evaluating art, if you can call it that, is noticing where it takes me in my head, and even then I just view it as my personal experience.

If to me a work of art feels like watching paint dry, then for me it’s not good. So yes, my tastes in art are wide ranging, almost always something new leads me in a new and interesting direction in my head. It isn’t always challenging, but neither is “real life.” Sometimes the light material is better for me than something heavy, deep and meaningful. As a teen I was once accosted by someone for that very reason. I was reading one of those books of collected Garfield comic strips. They said that it wasn’t deep. That assertion struck me as meaningless.

So yes, as for why I sample so widely in building my own understanding of life and the world, I don’t see how someone can avoid it, and no I don’t feel any moral qualms about it. I’m guided by my own experience in choosing things to take from. If I can manage to synthesize this together, well that is helpful in making it easier to think about, and I’m still not doing anything wrong by that.

People who only like “metal” music to me don’t seem like real musicians. I love ACDC and I also love show tunes. I like metal, but if I really want to head bang I want Beethoven.

Metallica is like a mix of both at times. I see that, yes.

I think in its day they considered it like we do metal. They did. Some really thought it was an insult to their senses and sensibilities. We have writing attesting to such.

Like the Eiffel tower. Now it’s a sacred landmark. But like the tower, there is something behind its presence that defies individual validation, persists despite that. That’s the main thing I look for in my own seeking. Does the thread I am pursuing persist despite small set validation or rejection, and if so what’s keeping it going? These are the things that I feel have substance.

Thank you. I am thankful for the support of my friends here in this thing I do, and I do sincerely hope it helps their own work and search.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~