You are responsible for the things you help put in the world. If you do not think something should exist in the world, do not participate in it.

- Mike Monteiro

via SwissMiss

“I’m absolutely obsessed with finding a way of communicating ideas through the body to audiences that might move them, touch them, help them think differently about things.”

Great TED talk by Wayne McGregor where you see him shaping a dance (inspired by the physical letters of T, E, D) in real time.

It’s especially interesting as I’ve been thinking about the nature of creation, and how “copying” relates to (or feeds?) the creative process. (Read this Brainpicking article for more.) That’s a side discussion however.

Watch the video, go dance!

“I’m hoping that today, what you’re going to do is go away and make a dance for yourself, and if not that, at least misbehave more beautifully, more often.”

Read/watch more at the TED blog >>

So sweet.
:)

by Sapling Press

Dear Fork,

I understand that we haven’t spoken since I ran away with the dish, but I thought you should know that you have a son. His name is spork. He has your hair.

Sincerely,
Spoon

More beautifully letterpressed hilarity by Sapling Press.
text from dearblankpleaseblank.com

via SwissMiss

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

—Carl Sagan

When we are most affected by the arts, whether through participation or observation, we experience the sublime…

During these moments, we are not thinking; in fact, we are most empty of our thoughts. All of our attention focuses on the present moment.

Artists and scientists both, that allow themselves to dwell in these moments of mental stillness, often begin to feel a larger interconnection with all things around them—their sense of self begins to fade.

In a very deep sense, creativity and the sublime, through the arts and sometimes through the sciences, act as a gateway towards a depth within ourselves.

- Jeff Lieberman
on Arresting Stillness: A Photographic Art at Integral Life
(click through for the full quote)

When you talk or write or film, you work with the music inside you, the music that formed you. [...] So for this age, for your time, I want you to just think about this: Think about NOT waiting your turn.

Later on…

If you can… fall in love, with the work, with people you work with, with your dreams and their dreams. Whatever it was that got you to this school, don’t let it go. Whatever kept you here, don’t let that go. [...]

And don’t stop. Just hold on… and keep loving what you love…

- Robert Krulwich, Commencement Speech at Berkeley May 7, 2011

Read the full, very worthwhile speech here.

It’s about journalism, but his wisdom applies to all fields (oh! how the working world has changed!) Read and be inspired… And enlightened!

You are 1 person out of 7 billion people
On 1 planet out of 8 planets
In 1 star system out of 100 billion star systems
In 1 galaxy out of 100 billion galaxies
And you are enormously insignificant.

via swissmiss

(Be sure to click through to read the comments. I especially like the first commenter’s point of view.)

Current neuroscience research confirms what creatives intuitively know about being innovative: that it usually happens in the shower. After focusing intently on a project or problem, the brain needs to fully disengage and relax in order for a “Eureka!” moment to arise.

Scott McDowell on The 99 Percent

Go Read It: Developing Your Creative Practice: Tips from Brian Eno

And that was my moment of awareness: that woman across the court who did not know me, and whom I did not know, was a person. She had thoughts of her own. She was. Our lives would never touch. I would never know her name. And yet it was she who revealed to me my first glimpse of personhood.

- Madeleine L’Engle

via Echo-location
(where you can read this snippet in greater context.)