Create.

The last year has been a tragic pile of shit for many Americans, immigrants, and humanity in general. With failures of leadership on epic, stunning display from the top down in every sector—it’s obvious the United States has lost respectability on a global scale, as well as any actual and perceived power we imagined we possessed. The US government has also lost the respect of its own populace, which was tenuous and limited to begin with.

There’s a lot of humanitarian tragedy to grieve. There’s a lot of injustice to rage against. There’s a lot of cleanup and rebuilding that needs to happen—but cannot be accomplished until a dozer is taken to the rotten core and the corrupt are toppled from their perches.

Vote. Flip your seats. Call your representatives. Send letters. March. Yes, these are all powerful tools and they help. Cancel any services or accounts that support the regime. Delete any platforms that use your human data and capital to validate their agendas. Every little bit helps.
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There is also another thing you can do. You can create. You can build. People might ask why I haven’t been my usual loud-mouthed-I-told-you-so-self on social platforms… it’s because I’ve been building something. 

Artists and innovators have always been the North Star of our social evolution. Sure, religions and belief systems have been instrumental—but who designed those basilicas? Who painted those murals? Who decorated those houses of worship in the name of love, but also under the influence of INSPIRATION. Who wrote the hymnals, the literature for study, and built the instruments of congregation? Artists were/are the carriers of ideas, the cartographers of how human energy flows along belief channels. Don’t believe me? The art and inspirational works of nearly every system of divinity worship have been articulated through artistry in a form of “influencer power.” The power of inspiration creates iconography, builds masterpieces, sparks human development into new territory.

Creativity and Inspiration are double-edged swords, they destroy AND they create. Sometimes with the same ink stroke. The artist is the one who decides which it will be, this has always been the case.

A poorly designed chapel seats no congregation. An uninspired mural attracts no worship. A faulty innovation prohibits scientific advancement.

But an inspiring performance by a competent symphony can enlist an army of newly awakened righteous believers. A human is capable of being paralyzed by Scheherazade’s solo, heart strings melted by the violinist’s mastery. That human can never be what they were before hearing that piece for the first time. They are forever altered.
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Religions have always known this, which is why they enlist artists for their community cohesion and inspirational storytelling and centuries old marketing campaigns of massive amounts of artistic output to solidify—even codify their belief system into an institutional power. Artists are often inspired by religion so it’s not a difficult creation process for them anyway. Would-be dictators have always known, the media is the influence, the story is malleable. This is why they take over media outlets, write their own narratives, and steal art from the oppressed. They also know that coopting the power of art, the momentum of inspiration from creatives will move their causes forward faster, with more authority and certainty. 

Creators have always been the vehicles of belief systems, of inspiration, of innovative breakthroughs in social structure, law, commerce, technology, mathematics, sciences, and yes, obviously the fine arts. They are all the same inspirational power of human creative ingenuity. I’ve been writing about this with the Muses for years.

We are at a social tipping point in our country’s journey. We’ll never be what we were before, and that’s actually a painfully earned, beautiful gift. The truth that we are now free to re-design, re-think, re-imagine the way we wish to move forward is a Franken-result of what has been taken without permission, without consent. It absolutely sucks, and you should feel free to grieve it.

But creators are resilient. And we are all creators, every one of us. We are creatives who’ve been buried under the weight of collective horror for too long. Trapped in deals with devils for too long. Forced to collaborate with unfit entities for too long.

So here we are; all the gloves removed, all the stop gaps, the perceptions, the “nice” and “cooperative” consents and rule of law are being torched, along with enshrined constitutional protections.

This leaves what, exactly? Fear? Terror? Uncertainty? All those things designed to freeze innovation, to block creativity and put people into a place of survival? Indeed. A place of easy control and compliance.

So—beat them at their own game. Cut the hamstrings of their global takeover agenda. Create. Inspire. Innovate. Build. Use their tools against them if you must. How, you ask?

By connecting with your own creative inspiration. Make art. Build systems. Design processes. Test theories and move through new scientific breakthroughs. Tune your cello and get back to practice. Support a local theater group. Buy coffee from a non-brand mom and pop. Author your books.

But most of all—connect with the artists, innovators and founders who align with your vision. Unify the field by gathering strength within the creative communities. Lower your prices, not your worth, and get your creative products in the hands, on the minds, and into the general population of people desperate for a new North Star.

If you’re still with me, and you happen to have a copy of Murder of Crows, now is the time to re-read the dedication at the front of that novel. It was published fourteen years too soon, but better early than never, I suppose.

You, dear creator, are the arbiter of this unfolding story, which gives you the power to decide with that ink-stroke what is destroyed with your decision, and what will be created from your choice.

May the Muses keep you lit.
With love,
Athena